Psalms 49:7
Psalms 49:77No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.
is rarely engaged in JW apologetic publications. The Watchtower's "corresponding ransom" doctrine teaches that Jesus's death balances Adam's by being a perfect human life given for a perfect human life lost — a careful equivalence that requires Jesus to be merely human, not divine. The verse's blanket claim that "none of them can ever redeem a brother" sits uncomfortably with this framework.
establishes a universal principle: no human being can pay the redemption price. The redemption price is "always beyond their reach" (v. 8). Jesus did pay the redemption price — therefore Jesus is more than a human being. Pair with ("the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own"), (Christ "obtained an everlasting redemption"), and (Christ "offered himself without blemish through an everlasting spirit"). The "corresponding ransom" reading requires Jesus to satisfy the Adamic equivalence as a man — but says no man can redeem at all. The arithmetic works only if Jesus is divine. The price is always beyond human reach. He paid it. Therefore he is more than human.