What does Psalm 49:3 mean?

The psalmist has called on all people to listen (Psalm 49:1–2), and now promises to speak valuable words.

The message God conveys in His Word, the Bible, exudes wisdom. Psalm 119:98–99 quotes the writer as saying, "Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation." When the Lord called Joshua to succeed Moses as Israel's leader, He told him to carefully study the Book of the Law and carefully obey everything in it. As a result, Joshua would be prosperous and successful (Joshua 1:8).

The wisdom God gives through His Word outstrips by far the wisdom of the world. The apostle Paul writes, "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:20–24).