John Gill Commentary Psalms 49:1

"Hear this, all ye peoples; Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world," — Psalms 49:1 (ASV)

Hear this
Not the law, as some Jewish writers ^F12 interpret it, which was not desirable to be heard by those that did hear it; it being a voice of wrath and terror, a cursing law, and a ministration of condemnation and death; but rather (ad atywxa) , "this news", as the Targum; the good news of the Gospel; the word of "this" salvation; the voice from heaven; the word not spoken by angels, but by the Lord himself: or (hmkxh taz) , "this wisdom", as Kimchi interprets it; which the psalmist was about to speak of, (Psalms 49:3) ; also the parable and dark saying he should attend unto and open, (Psalms 49:4) ; and indeed it may take in the whole subject matter of the psalm;

all [you] people :
not the people of Israel only, but all the people of the world, as appears from the following clause; from which it is evident that this psalm belongs to Gospel times; in which the middle wall of partition is broken down, and there is no difference of people; God is the God both of Jews and Gentiles; Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer of one as well as of the other; the Spirit of God has been poured out upon the latter; the Gospel has been sent into all the world, and all are called upon to hear it;

give ear, all you inhabitants of the world ,
or "of time"; so the word is rendered "age", the age of a man, (Psalms 39:5) . The inhabitants of this world are but for a time; wherefore Ben Melech interprets the phrase by (Nmwh yvna) , "men of time", the inhabitants of time; it is peculiar to the most High to "inhabit eternity", (Isaiah 57:15) . Under the Gospel dispensation there is no distinction of places; the Gospel is not confined to the land of Judea; the sound of it is gone into all the world, and men may worship God, and offer incense to his name, in every place; and whoever fears him in any nation is accepted of him.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F12: Midrash Tillim in loc. Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 106. 2.