Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 49:7

"None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him;" — Psalms 49:7 (ASV)

None of them can. —Brother is here used in the wide sense of Leviticus 19:17 and Genesis 13:11 (where it is rendered “the one”). The sense is the same whether we make it nominative or accusative. Death is the debt which all owe, and which each must pay for himself. No wealth can buy a man off. God, in whose hand are the outcomes of life and death, is not to be bribed; nor, as the next verse says, even if the arrangement were possible, would any wealth be sufficient.