Psalms Chapter 49 verse 8 Holy Bible
(For the redemption of their life is costly, And it faileth for ever;)
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(Because it takes a great price to keep his soul from death, and man is not able to give it.)
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(For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever,)
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(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
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None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
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For the redemption of their life is costly, No payment is ever enough,
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And precious `is' the redemption of their soul, And it hath ceased -- to the age.
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - For the redemption of their soul is precious; or, costly - too costly, i.e., for them, however rich they may be, to be able to effect it (comp. Job 36:18, 19). And it ceaseth for ever; rather, and one must let that aloes for ever (Cheyne, Kay, Hengstenberg, Revised Version).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) For.--This verse is rightly placed in a parenthesis. "Soul" is the animal life, as generally, and here necessarily from the context. There is no anticipation of the Christian scheme of redemption from sin. A ransom which could buy a man from death, as one redeems a debtor or prisoner, would be beyond the means of the wealthiest, even if nature allowed such a bargain.It ceaseth for ever.--This is obscure. It may mean, either the ransom utterly fails, or the life utterly perishes, and so cannot be ransomed. Or, as in the Prayer Book version, the verb may be taken transitively, "he lets that alone for ever." The first of these is the simplest, and most agreeable to the context.