Psalm 53:1

A Portrait of Sinners

For the choir director: on Mahalath. A Davidic Maskil.

1 The fool says in his heart, "God does not exist." They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.

Psalm 53:1 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 53:1

The fool hath said in his heart, [there is] no God
The Targum adds, "of whom is revenge"; or there is no God to punish and avenge the wicked;

corrupt are they;
the Chaldee paraphrase is, "the wicked have corrupted their ways"; as all flesh had done in the old world, ( Genesis 6:12 ) ;

and have done abominable iniquity;
iniquity is the abominable thing that God hates, and makes men abominable in his sight; in ( Psalms 11:1 ) , it is read, "abominable worlds": the Targum paraphrases the words, "they are far from good, for iniquity is found in them"; see ( Revelation 21:8 Revelation 21:27 ) ;

[there is] none that doeth good; (See Gill on Psalms 14:1).

Psalm 53:1 In-Context

1 The fool says in his heart, "God does not exist." They are corrupt, and they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.

2 God looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise and who seeks God.

3 Everyone has turned aside; they have all become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.

4 Will evildoers never understand? They consume My people as they consume bread; they do not call on God.

5 Then they will be filled with terror- terror like no other- because God will scatter the bones of those who besiege you. You will put them to shame, for God has rejected them.

Footnotes

• [a] Ps 14:1