Psalm 49:1-12

^I “leader” = natsach. Properly, something that glitters from a distance. So, something that stands out, excels, has status/standing (such as a chief musician or superintendent of Temple services). This can also mean to be permanent or enduring.
^II “Korahites” = ben + Qorach. Literally “sons of Korah.” Ben is son, age, child. It is son in a literal or figurative sense. Qorach is from qarach (to shave bald, perhaps freeze). This is Korah, perhaps meaning “ice.”
^III “Psalm” = mizmor. From zamar (making music; used specially of music to worship God; music with singing, singing praise, singing psalms); may be from zamar (to trim or prune). This is a melody or a psalm.

^IV “hear” = shama. This is to hear, call, consent, or consider. It implies listening intelligently, giving attention, and, because of these two factors, obedience and action are often implied.
^V “peoples” = am. From amam (to darken, hide, associate; creating shadows by huddling together). This is people or nation. It can be used specifically for a tribe, collectively of troops or armies, or figuratively to refer to a flock of animals.
^VI “give ear” = azan. Perhaps from ozen (ear, hearing, audience, show; properly, broadness – applied to its ear in reference to its shape). Properly, this is to expand or broaden one’s ear i.e. listen intently, pay attention, heed.
^VII “inhabitants” = yashab. This is to sit and so to remain and so to dwell. It is sitting for any reason – as a judge, in order to ambush, or just sitting quietly. Causatively, this can mean settling or marrying. This can also mean continue, endure, or establish.
^VIII “world” = cheled. 5x in OT. Root may mean to glide along quickly. This is life or a lifetime as a short length of time. It can also be an age, duration, or the world – all as transient.

^IX “low” = ben + adam. Ben is the same as “Korahites” in Superscript. See note II above. Adam is perhaps from adam (to be red, make ruddy); related to adamah (ground, dirt, earth). This is man, humankind, also Adam’s name. It refers to a human individual or humanity.
^X “high” = ben + ish. Ben is the same as “Korahites” in Superscript. See note II above. Ish is perhaps from enosh (human, humankind, mortal); from anash (to be weak, sick, or frail). This is man, husband, another, or humankind.
^XI “rich” = ashir. From ashar (to be rich, gain, accumulate). This is rich in a literal or figurative sense. It can also be noble or a rich person.
^XII “poor” = ebyon. From abah (to consent, obey, want, yield, accept). This is needy, poor, beggar. Someone who is wanting.
^XIII “together” = yachad. From yachad (to join, be united). This is a unit, both, altogether, unitedness, alike.

^XIV “mouth” = peh. This is mouth in a literal or figurative sense. So, more literally, it can be beak or jaws. More figuratively, it refers to speech, commands, or promises.
^XV “speak” = dabar. This is generally to speak, answer, declare, or command. It might mean to arrange and so to speak in a figurative sense as arranging words.
^XVI “wisdom” = chokmoth. 5x in OT – 3x of lady wisdom in Proverbs 1, 9, and 14. From the same as chokmah (wisdom, wit, skillfulness); from chakam (to be wise or teach wisdom; this is wisdom in thought, word, or action). This is wisdom or wise woman.

^XVII “meditation” = haguth. 1x in OT. From hagah (to speak, declare, make a sound, imagine, or mutter; a murmur, moan, or growl, whether from delight or anger; to study, ponder, or meditate). This is a meditation or musing.
^XVIII “heart” = leb. May be related to labab (to encourage; properly, to be encased as with fat; used in a good sense, this means to transport someone with love; used in a bad sense, it can mean to dull one’s senses). This is the heart, courage, one’s inner self, the mind, or the will. Heart is only used in a figurative sense in the Old and New Testaments.
^XIX “understanding” = tebunah. From bin (to discern, consider, attend to; distinguishing things in one’s mind or, more generally, to understand). This is understanding, discernment, discretion, intelligence, skill, fruit, an argument.

^XX “incline” = natah. This is to stretch or spread out, to extend, or bend. In can also imply moral deflection.
^XXI “ear” = ozen. Related to “give ear” in v1. See note VI above.
^XXII “proverb” = mashal. From mashal (to compare, speak in a proverb or riddle – to speak in allegory or liken). This is proverb, parable, taunt, discourse, maxim, adage, poem.

^XXIII “solve” = pathach. This is to open wide in a literal or figurative sense. So, it is open, draw out, let something go free, break forth. It can also mean to plow, engrave, or carve.
^XXIV “riddle” = chidah. 17x in OT – including the riddle of Samson’s marriage in Judges 14 and “hard questions” posed by the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10. Perhaps from chud (to tie a knot, offer a riddle). This is a riddle, proverb, question, puzzle, intrigue, dark saying.
^XXV “harp” = kinnor. Root may be to twang. This is a lyre or harp.

^XXVI “fear” = yare. This is to fear, be afraid, dreadful. It can also refer to fearful reverence – to fear in a moral sense is to say to revere, respect.
^XXVII “times” = yom. Literally “days.”
^XXVIII “trouble” = ra’. From ra’a’ (to be evil, bad, afflict; properly, to spoil – to destroy by breaking into pieces; figuratively, to cause something to be worthless; this is bad in a physical, social, or moral sense; that which displeases, to do harm or mischief, to punish or vex). This is bad, disagreeable, that which causes pain, misery, something having little or no value, something that is ethically bad, wicked, injury, calamity. This refers to anything that is not what it ought to be – a natural disaster, a disfigurement, an injury, a sin.

^XXIX “iniquity” = avon. Perhaps related to avah (to bend, twist, be amiss). This is sin, mischief, guilt, fault, punishment for iniquity, or moral evil.
^XXX “persecutors” = aqeb. 1x in OT. From the same as aqeb (heel, hind part, hoof, rear guard of an army, one who lies in wait, usurper). This is one who over-reaches or lies in wait – an enemy.
^XXXI “surrounds” = sabab. This is turning around, going around; to surround, cast, walk, fetch. It is to revolve or border in a literal or figurative sense.

^XXXII “trust” = batach. This is to hide for refuge, be secure or sure. Figuratively, it refers to trust, being confident, or hoping.
^XXXIII “wealth” = chayil. From chul (to be firm, strong, prosperous; to endure). This is strength, wealth, ability, activity. It can refer to soldier or a company of soldiers as well as goods. It is a force of people, means, or goods. It can speak of valor, virtue, or strength.
^XXXIV “boast” = halal. This is to be clear – it originally referred to a sound, then a color. It was to shine and then make a show or boast then to rave. In a causative sense it came to mean celebrate, give glory, sing praise, or be worth of praise. Because of the celebratory nature of the word, it could also mean to give in marriage. This is where Hallelujah comes from.
^XXXV “abundance” = rob. From rabab (to be or become much or many, multiply). This is any kind of abundance.
^XXXVI “riches” = osher. Related to “rich” in v2. From ashar (see note XI above). This is fortune or wealth.

^XXXVII “truly…ransom avails” = padah + padah. This is to sever, which is to say to ransom. To secure someone’s release (by paying their debt to free them from slavery) and thus redeem, rescue, deliver, preserve. Can also be the redemption price. The word is repeated twice – the first time as an Infinitive Absolute. The Infinitive Absolute serves to emphasize the sentiment of the word. It is rather like Foghorn Leghorn’s speech pattern, “I said, I said.”
^XXXVIII “one’s” = ish. Perhaps from enosh (human, humankind, mortal); from anash (to be weak, sick, or frail). This is man, husband, another, or humankind.
^XXXIX “life” = ach. This is brother, kindred, another, other, like. It is literally brother, but it can also be someone who is similar, resembling, or related to.
^XL Perhaps literally “no one can ransom a brother.”

^XLI “price” = kopher. 17x in OT – including covering Noah’s ark with pitch in Genesis 6. From kaphar (to appease, cover, pacify, cancel, cleanse, pardon). This is ransom, bribe, price of a life. Properly, it means something that covers something else, it can be a village, bitumen as a coating, a henna plant that dyes, or a ransom price.
^XLII “give” = natan. This is to give, put, set, offer. It is to give literally or figuratively.
^XLIII “God” = Elohim.

^XLIV “ransom” = pidyom. Related to “truly…ransom avails” in v7. 3x in OT. From padah (see note XXXVII above). This is a ransom or redemption.
^XLV “life” = nephesh. Related to naphash (to refresh or be refreshed). This is soul, self, person, emotion. It is a breathing creature. Can also refer to appetites and desires.
^XLVI “is costly” = yaqar. 11x in OT. This is to be precious, costly, rare, valued; properly, to be heavy; figuratively, valuable or inhibit.
^XLVII “never” = olam. This is a long scope of time whether in the past (antiquity, ancient time) or in the future (eternal, everlasting).
^XLVIII “can…suffice” = chadal. This is properly to be flabby – it implies, to stop, fall, end, rest, leave alone, forsake, or desist. Figuratively this can be lacking or idle.

^XLIX “live” = chayah. This is to live or keep alive in a literal or figurative sense. So, it can be revive, nourish, or save.
^L “forever” = netsach. Related to “leader” in Superscript. From natsach (see note I above). This is properly a goal or destination as the bright focus to which one journeys. It can be splendor, truthfulness, or confidence. Most often, it refers to everlastingness, always, continually.
^LI “see” = raah. This is to see in a literal or figurative sense so stare, advise, think, view.
^LII “grave” = shachath. From shuach (to bow or sink down in a literal or figurative sense, humble). This is ditch, trap, grave, or hole. Figuratively, it could be destruction or corruption.

^LIII “look” = raah. Same as “see” in v9. See note LI above.
^LIV “wise” = chokmah. Related to “wisdom” in v3. See note XVI above.
^LV “die” = mut. This is to die in a literal or figurative sense. It can also refer to being a dead body.

^LVI “fool” = kesil. From kasal (being or becoming stupid or foolish; properly, being fat and so figuratively silly or foolish). This is someone who is stupid, silly, or foolish.
^LVII “dolt” = baar. 4x in OT. From baar (to be senseless, stupid, graze); from beir (animal, cattle); from baar (to consume, feed, kindle, be brutish). This is food as eaten, brutish, foolish.
^LVIII “perish” = abad. To wander off, lose self. This implies to perish, destroy, die, vanish, or be broken or corrupt.
^LIX “leave” = azab. To loosen, relinquish, permit, forsake, fail, leave destitute.

^LX “graves” = qereb. Perhaps from qarab (to come near or approach). This is among, in the midst, before, the center It is the inward part, whether literal or figurative. It can also be used for the heart, the site of thoughts and feelings. This word is also used as a technical term for the entrails of the animals who are sacrificed.
^LXI “homes” = bayit. Probably from banah (to build, make, set up, obtain children; to build literally or figuratively). This is house, court, family, palace, temple.
^LXII “forever” = olam. Same as “never” in v8. See note XLVII above.

^LXIII “dwelling places” = mishkan. From shakan (to settle down in the sense of residing somewhere or staying there permanently; to abide or continue). This is a place where one lives – a tabernacle, tent, or other kind of dwelling. It can also be a lair where animals live, the grave, the Temple, or the Tabernacle.
^LXIV “to all generations” = dor + dor. From dur (to move in a circle, which implies living somewhere or remaining there; it can also be the sense of piling or heaping up). This is a revolution of time, which is to say, an age or generation. It can also be a dwelling or one’s posterity.
^LXV “named” = qara. This is to call or call out – to call someone by name. Also used more broadly for calling forth.
^LXVI “lands” = adamah. Related to “low” in v2. From the same as adam (see note IX above). This is ground, earth, soil as red, or land.
^LXVII “own” = shem. May be from sum (to put, place, set). This is name, fame, renown. A name was thought to indicate something essential about a person – something about their individuality. So, this word can also mean honor, authority, or character.

^LXVIII “mortals” = adam. Same as “low” in v2. See note IX above.
^LXIX “abide” = luwn. This is to stay somewhere, usually for the night. It can mean abide, dwell, or endure. By implication, it can mean staying somewhere permanently. Taken in a negative sense, this would mean obstinance, particularly verbal. So, it can also mean murmur, grudge, or complaining.
^LXX “pomp” = yeqar. Related to “is costly” in v8. 17x in OT. From yaqar (see note XLVI above). This is price, precious, splendor, wealth, dignity, pomp.

^LXXI “are like” = mashal. 17x in OT. From mashal (proverb, parable, taunt, discourse, maxim, adage, poem). This is to compare, speak in a proverb or riddle – to speak in allegory or liken.
^LXXII “animals” = behemah. This is animal or cattle. It is often used of large quadrupeds.
^LXXIII “perish” = damah. 15x in OT. This is to be silent, to cease, destroy, perish.