Ep 386 | Psalms 49-86, Come Follow Me 2026 (August 24-30)

**Bryce Dunford** (0:03)
Hey everybody, welcome to Talking Scripture, a podcast where we illustrate relevance and application of the Scriptures in Come Follow Me.

**Mike Day** (0:10)
We also dive into the history and cultures of the text.

**Bryce Dunford** (0:13)
Thanks for taking the time to share and subscribe to this podcast.

**Mike Day** (0:16)
For show notes, head over to our website, talkingscripture.org. Welcome to Talking Scripture, I'm Mike.

**Bryce Dunford** (0:25)
And I'm Bryce.

**Mike Day** (0:26)
Today, we're going to be in the second of three lessons that cover the Psalms.
These Psalms that we're covering today are going to be Psalms 49 through 86 So if you're just now joining us, and you didn't listen to the stuff that we did in our last podcast where we talked about what's going on in the Psalms, and how are they being used, and when were they written, and what's the purpose, you might want to go back and listen to that one, because we're assuming that you've already heard all that stuff, so Bryce and I are not going to repeat ourselves.

**Bryce Dunford** (0:52)
But we'll do a very, very quick summary.
We believe, as do scholars around this planet, that the setting of the Psalms is a temple ordinance, a temple festival. Now when we go into the temple, it's an individual ordinance, but in ancient Israel it was more like a collaborative group festival celebration in the temple. It was their group temple ceremony. And the setting of that is where we believe these Psalms come from. So they're very temple-oriented, they're very planet-salvation-oriented, they're ritualistic, they're music-oriented. Imagine a group play, so to speak, reverently held in the temple where there was singing and praises and music and ordinances.

**Mike Day** (1:37)
Hugh Nibley talks a lot about this where he says all music and all drama of all the ages in all cultures come from the temple. And as I've studied other cultures and other New Year festivals, I see so many common themes, so many of the world like checking the boxes, and they're in all these cultures. And we see echoes of this today.

**Bryce Dunford** (1:57)
So scholars that are not of our faith have come to the conclusion that the Psalms were written in a temple ceremony setting. And now we have Latter-day Saints scholars who have the lens of the Book of Mormon and they have the modern day endowment. And they're saying, wait a minute, we could put these back in order. The order has been scrambled. What we find in the Book of Psalms has been scrambled and we can put them back in order so that it lays out very similar to our modern day endowment.
Among it all, you're just going to find some wonderful little one-liners that vibrate that tuning fork inside you. And that's why I personally love the Psalms, is I love to just highlight those verses that just sing. So we'll point out some of those that mean something to our souls, but we're also going to point out some of the doctrine that we would find in the setting of an ordinance like the temple.

**Mike Day** (2:51)
And so with that, why don't we just jump into it? Why don't we just start with the 49th Psalm? And big picture, I think the 49th Psalm, a lot of it is talking about resurrection. Now I know it doesn't say resurrection, and I know there's a lot of arguments against the idea that the Old Testament speaks of the resurrection. But just take a look at what is going on in this Psalm. Verse three of Psalm 49, my mouth shall speak of wisdom.
And then skip over to verse 14, like sheep, they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for he shall receive me. Now that word power in the Hebrew is also the word for hand. And so there are some really provocative translations of verse 15 that I think have a little bit more depth, especially in a temple setting. So I'm going to read another person's translation. This is Robert Alter's translation of verse 15, and it reads as follows, And from the grip of Sheol he will take me. So imagine in your mind God grabbing you by the hand and pulling you out of death.
Another translation, this is Berlin and Breitler's, it goes like this, But God will redeem my life from the clutches of Sheol, for he will take me. And I really like that, especially as we think about the temple and how these things are associated with resurrection and coming back to the Savior. And so once again, translation matters, and I think that reading the Psalms with the lens of the temple and the Book of Mormon really helps. We don't read anything like this in the Old Testament. Psalm 49 is teaching this idea, but, boy, when you read the Book of Mormon, it really pops. Look at Alma 11, verse 42