The contextual meaning of any word is most important.

MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 51-100, VOLUME 20 (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 33-34.

5.a. Selah is a scribal notation appearing in many psalms (71 times, plus 3 times in Habakkuk). The exact meaning is unsure, but it almost certainly indicated a pause in the reading of the text, despite ancient Jewish traditions that it meant “forever” or “everlasting.” The question of what the pause was for is much more difficult and has generated a plethora of answers (for convenient summaries and references, see Craigie, 76–77; A. A. Anderson, I, 48–49; M. D. Goulder, The Psalms of the Sons of Korah, JSOT SS 20 [Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1982], 102–4). The suggestions include bowing in prayer or prostration, probably with the recitation of liturgical sayings such as “forever,” “Yahweh is good,” or “for his loyal-love endures forever,” or a shout of “Hallelujah,” or some other appropriate expression. A refrain may have been sung or chanted, or the previous verse repeated, perhaps with a choir or the congregation joining the cantor. Goulder has argued for the meaning of a “cantillation” or “recitative,” in which the relevant section of a major tradition in Israel’s history would be recalled in prayer or in story (e.g., the cantillation of Josh 24 would be appropriate after Ps 44:8). We should remain open to the likelihood that the selah-pause was flexible, used in different ways in different psalms and on different occasions. In some psalms, the selah seems to mark off sections of the psalms into acceptable outlines; in others this does not seem to work well. The function of the selah as a poetic intensifier, at least in some cases, should be allowed. For the role of intensification in Hebrew poetry, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 62–84. Fairly frequently, the selah-pause seems to come just before a climactic statement or between such statements.

MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 51-100, VOLUME 20 (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 33-34.

The fear that drives away from Jesus, which hinders the attention and the finishing of the duty, is not good; but that which generates awe, humility, faithfulness, and careful willingness, is pleasant to the Lord.

Wilhelmus à Brakel, Not To Be Ignored: Commentary on Revelation, Loc. 795.

For it is important that death be faced without delusions, without the false confidence that may arise from a life judged to be successful by human standards. If one perceives death correctly, from the perspective of wisdom, one may live life correctly, in the fear of the Lord.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 360-361.

Taken by itself, the content of Ps 49 may seem to be less than entirely positive and constructive: it contains some practical advice and destroys some dangerous delusions, but it does not seem to offer much more with respect to the issues involved. And yet it is important to read all the wisdom literature in the context of its most fundamental principle, which is that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7). The wisdom teacher in Ps 49 eliminates two possible kinds of human fear: the fear of foes in times of trial (v 6) and the fear that the wealthy have some kind of advantage in the face of death (v 17). The teacher eliminates those fears, without explicitly stating a more positive message; yet the positive message is clear in the whole tradition to which he belongs, that wisdom may be found in the fear, or reverence, of the Lord. That wisdom provides the meaning and purpose of living; that wisdom provides also acceptance and calm in the face of dying.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 360.