Psalms 89:48 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? - Shall not die - to see death being an expression often used to denote death itself. Death is represented as a real object, now invisible, but which will make itself visible to us when we die. The meaning here is, “All men are mortal; this universal law must apply to kings as well as to other men; in a short time he to whom these promises pertain will pass away from the earth; and the promises made to him cannot then be fulfilled.”

Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? - His life. Will he be able to deliver that from the power of the grave; in Hebrew, שׁאול she'ôl. Death - the grave - Sheol - asserts a universal dominion over mankind, and no one can be rescued from that stern power.

Psalms 89:48

48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.