Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 49:5

"Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, When iniquity at my heels compasseth me about?" — Psalms 49:5 (ASV)

Should I fear? —Here the problem is stated not in a speculative, but personal form. The poet himself feels the pressure of this riddle of life.

When the iniquity of my heels. —The Authorized Version seems to interpret “heels” as footsteps, similar to Symmachus. Its rendering, “when the evil of my course entangles me,” makes good sense but does not align with the context.

Instead, translate it as when iniquity dogs me at the heels; that is, when wicked and prosperous men pursue him with malice. This interpretation is more natural than understanding the word heel in its derived sense as supplanter; the sense is also the same.

There is no direct reference to Genesis 3:15, though possibly the figure of the heel as a vulnerable part, and of wickedness lying like a snake in the path, may have occurred to the poet.

The Syriac, however, suggests a different reading: “malice of my oppressors.”