1 {To the chief Musician. On Mahalath: an instruction. Of David.} The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
{To the chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David.} The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves, they have done abominable works: there is none that doeth good. Jehovah looked down from the heavens upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. They have all gone aside, they are together become corrupt: there is none that doeth good, not even one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, eating up my people [as] they eat bread? They call not upon Jehovah. There were they in great fear; for God is in the generation of the righteous. Ye have shamed the counsel of the afflicted, because Jehovah [was] his refuge. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When Jehovah turneth again the captivity of his people, Jacob shall be glad, Israel shall rejoice.
The wicked [saith], in the haughtiness of his countenance, He doth not search out: all his thoughts are, There is no God!
according as it is written, There is not a righteous [man], not even one; there is not the [man] that understands, there is not one that seeks after God. All have gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable; there is not one that practises goodness, there is not so much as one: their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; asps' poison [is] under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; swift their feet to shed blood; ruin and misery [are] in their ways, and way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the things the law says, it speaks to those under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world be under judgment to God. Wherefore by works of law no flesh shall be justified before him; for by law [is] knowledge of sin. But now without law righteousness of God is manifested, borne witness to by the law and the prophets; righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all,and upon all those who believe: for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which [is] in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood, for [the] shewing forth of his righteousness, in respect of the passing by the sins that had taken place before, through the forbearance of God; for [the] shewing forth of his righteousness in the present time, so that he should be just, and justify him that is of [the] faith of Jesus. Where then [is] boasting? It has been excluded. By what law? of works? Nay, but by law of faith; for we reckon that a man is justified by faith, without works of law. Is [God] the God of Jews only? is he not of [the] nations also? Yea, of nations also: since indeed [it is] one God who shall justify [the] circumcision on the principle of faith, and uncircumcision by faith. Do we then make void law by faith? Far be the thought: [no,] but we establish law.
A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand it.
For the time past [is] sufficient [for us] to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, walking in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-drinking, revels, drinkings, and unhallowed idolatries.
And according as they did not think good to have God in [their] knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind to practise unseemly things;
Because, knowing God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but fell into folly in their thoughts, and their heart without understanding was darkened:
But *I* say unto you, that every one that is lightly angry with his brother shall be subject to the judgment; but whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be subject to [be called before] the sanhedrim; but whosoever shall say, Fool, shall be subject to the penalty of the hell of fire.
And Samaria hath not sinned according to the half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters by all thine abominations which thou hast done.
And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of Man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually. And Jehovah repented that he had made Man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
{A Song, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. To the chief Musician. Upon Mahalath Leannoth. An instruction. Of Heman the Ezrahite.} Jehovah, God of my salvation, I have cried by day [and] in the night before thee.
He saith in his heart, ùGod hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will never see [it].
He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved; from generation to generation I shall be in no adversity.
and there were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed before the children of Israel.
Thou shalt not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every [thing that is] abomination to Jehovah, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burned in the fire to their gods.
Make not yourselves unclean in any of these things; for in all these have the nations which I am casting out before you made themselves unclean. And the land hath become unclean; and I visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomiteth out its inhabitants. But *ye* shall observe my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of all these abominations: the home-born, and the stranger that sojourneth among you; (for all these abominations have the men of the land done, who were before you, and the land hath been made unclean); that the land vomit you not out, when ye make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. For whoever committeth any of these abominations, ... the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. And ye shall observe my charge, that ye commit not [any] of the abominable customs which were committed before you; and ye shall not make yourselves unclean therein: I am Jehovah your God.
And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was full of violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is full of violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 53
Commentary on Psalms 53 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 53
Ps 53:1-6. Upon Mahalath—(See on Ps 88:1, title). Why this repetition of the fourteenth Psalm is given we do not know.
1-4. with few verbal changes, correspond with Ps 14:1-4.
5. Instead of assurances of God's presence with the pious, and a complaint of the wicked, Ps 14:5, 6 portrays the ruin of the latter, whose "bones" even "are scattered" (compare Ps 141:7), and who are put to shame as contemptuously rejected of God.