Psalms 49:2

⁹Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.

¹⁹He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands.

¹My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality. ²For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue,^[+] and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, ³and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” ⁴haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you and personally drag you before the courts? ⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

⁷The LORD makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. ⁸He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s. He has set the world on them.

⁴Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the LORD’s way, nor the law of their God. ⁵I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of the LORD, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is the maker of them all.

¹⁵The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

⁹Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; ¹⁰and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. ¹¹For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.