Psalms 53:1
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The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The well-grounded asyndeton השׁהיתוּ התעיבוּ is here dismissed; and the expression is rendered more bombastic by the use of עול instead of עלילה. עול (the masculine to עולה), pravitas, is the accusative of the object (cf. Eze 16:52) to both verbs, which give it a twofold superlative attributive notion. Moreover, here השׁחיתו is accented with Mugrash in our printed texts instead of Tarcha. One Mugrash after another is contrary to all rule.
Open source ↗This psalm was opened before, and therefore we shall here only observe, in short, some things concerning sin, in order to the increasing of our sorrow for it and hatred of it. 1. The fact of sin. Is that proved? Can the charge be made out? Yes, God is a witness to it, an unexceptionable witness: from the place of his holiness he looks on the children of men, and sees how little good there is among them, Psa 53:2. All the sinfulness of their hearts and lives in naked and open before him. 2. The fault of sin. Is there any harm in it? Yes, it is iniquity (Psa 53:1, Psa 53:4); it is an unrighteous thing; it is that which there is no good in (Psa 53:1, Psa 53:3); it is an evil thing; it is the worst of evils; it is that which makes this world such an evil world as it is; it is going back from God, Psa 53:3. 3. The fountain of sin. How comes it that men are so bad? Surely it is because there is no fear of God before their eyes: they say in their hearts, "There is no God at all to call us to an account, none that we need to stand in awe of." Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles; if they profess to know God, yet in works, because in thoughts, they deny him. 4. The folly of sin. He is a fool (in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right) that harbours such corrupt thoughts. Atheists, whether in opinion or practice, are the greatest fools in the world. Those that do not seek God do not understand; they are like brute-beasts that have no understanding; for man is distinguished from the brutes, not so much by the powers of reason as by a capacity for religion. The workers of iniquity, whatever they pretend to, have no knowledge; those may truly be said to know nothing that do not know God, Psa 53:4. 5. The filthiness of sin. Sinners are corrupt (Psa 53:1…
Open source ↗Ps 53 This psalm parallels Ps 14, differing only in verse 5. 53:1-3 Paul uses the Greek translation of this passage in his description of the depravity of all people (Rom 3:10-12).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me to account.”
He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!
For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell.