Shared ground
Psalm 62:9–10 argues that neither people nor possessions can carry the weight of ultimate confidence. The psalm levels social rank: “low” people are like a breath and “high” people are “a lie,” and when put on scales they prove “weightless.” That is an explicit claim about human unreliability as a foundation.
The passage then names two financial paths that can look stabilizing but are rejected: using “oppression” as leverage and becoming “vain” (overconfident or inflated) through “robbery.” Finally, it addresses even honest gain: if riches increase, the issue is the inner attachment—“setting the heart” on wealth.
Where interpretation differs (only where needed)
Some readers take “low” and “high” mainly as economic classes (poor and rich). Others hear a broader social contrast (ordinary people and influential elites). Either way, the point lands the same: no social category is solid enough to serve as a final support.
Some read “men of high degree are a lie” as describing how elites can be deceptive (they mislead or promise what they will not deliver). Others take it as a statement about their unreliability: their seeming “weight” in society does not match what they can actually provide when tested.
“Oppression” and “robbery” can be read as individual actions (a person exploiting or stealing) or as wider patterns in a society (power used to extract from the vulnerable). The wording supports either, and the psalm’s warning targets the false security those methods appear to offer.
“Do not set your heart on riches” is taken by some primarily as a warning about misplaced trust (treating wealth as the thing that will keep you safe). Others hear it more broadly as an identity-level attachment (wealth becoming what defines the person). The language of “heart” naturally reaches into both trust and desire.
Why the disagreement exists
The psalm uses compressed poetry and social shorthand (“low/high”) without spelling out the exact categories. It also uses metaphor (“breath,” “lie,” “balances”) that can be mapped either onto moral deception or practical unreliability—or both. Finally, terms like “oppression” can name a single act or a whole way of using power, and the text does not limit it.
What this passage clearly contributes
These verses undercut two common anchors of security: human status (whether low or high) and financial power (whether gained by harm, theft, or even ordinary increase). Explicitly, the psalm says humans are “lighter than a breath” when weighed, and it forbids trusting in oppression or becoming inflated through robbery. By inference, it presents a moral and spiritual diagnosis: the “heart” can fasten onto wealth and treat it as a substitute foundation, which the psalm rejects.
