Psalm 53 commentary

PSALM 53 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
For the director of music. According to mahalath.
[b] A maskil[c] of David.
I TRODUCTIO
SPURGEO , "Title. To the Chief Musician. If the leader of the choir is privileged
to sing the jubilates of divine grace, he must not disdain to chant the miseries of
human depravity. This is the second time he has had the same Psalm entrusted to
him (see Psalms 14:1-7.), and he must, therefore, be the more careful in singing it.
Upon Mahalath. Here the tune is chosen for the musician, probably some
mournfully solemn air; or perhaps a musical instrument is here indicated, and the
master of the choir is requested to make it the prominent instrument in the
orchestra; at any rate, this is a direction not found in the former copy of the Psalm,
and seems to call for greater care. The word "Mahalath" appears to signify, in some
forms of it, "disease, "and truly this Psalm is THE SO G OF MA 'S DISEASE--
the mortal, hereditary taint of sin. Maschil. This is a second additional note not
found in Psalms 14:1-7, indicating that double attention is to be given to this most
instructive song. A Psalm of David. It is not a copy of the fourteenth Psalm,
emended and revised by a foreign hand; it is another edition by the same author,
emphasised in certain parts, and rewritten for another purpose.
Subject. The evil nature of man is here brought before our view a second time, in
almost the same inspired words. All repetitions are not vain repetitions. We are slow
to learn, and need line upon line. David after a long life, found men no better than
they were in his youth. Holy Writ never repeats itself needlessly, there is good cause
for the second copy of this Psalm; let us read it with more profound attention than
before. If our age has advanced from fourteen to fifty-three, we shall find the
doctrine of this Psalm more evident than in our youth.
CO STABLE, "This psalm is another version of the one that appears in Book1as
Psalm 14. David wrote it, and "mahalath" is a tune name. One interesting difference
between this psalm and Psalm 14is that this one contains the name Elohim whereas
Psalm 14has Yahweh.
". . . Psalm 53"s position between Psalm 52 , 54favors an ancient tradition relating
to the life of David. Psalm 52relates to the story of Doeg (cf1Samuel22) and Psalm
54to the incident of the Ziphites (cf1Samuel23; 1 Samuel 26). The term "fool"

(nabal, Psalm 53:1) is suggestive of abal, who acted foolishly to David and his men
(cf1Samuel25)." [ ote: VanGemeren, p388.]
David reflected on the wickedness of the entire human race and voiced confidence
that God would punish sinners. He longed for God to establish His kingdom on
earth (cf. Matthew 6:10).
1 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.
BAR ES, "The fool hath said in his heart ... - For the meaning of this verse, see
the notes at Psa_14:1. The only change in this verse - a change which does not affect the
sense - is the substitution of the word “iniquity,” in Psa_53:1-6, for “works,” in Psa_14:1-
7.
CLARKE, "The fool hath said in his heart - The whole of this Psalm, except a
few inconsiderable differences, is the same as the fourteenth; and, therefore, the same
notes and analysis may be applied to it; or, by referring to the fourteenth, the reader will
find the subject of it amply explained. I shall add a few short notes.
Have done abominable iniquity - Instead of ‫עול‬ avel, evil or iniquity, eight of
Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have ‫עלילה‬ alilah, work, which is nearly the same as in
Psa xiv.
GILL, "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, Gen_6:12;
and have done abominable iniquity; iniquity is the abominable thing that God
hates, and makes men abominable in his sight; in Psa_11:1, it is read, "abominable
worlds": the Targum paraphrases the words, "they are far from good, for iniquity is
found in them"; see Rev_21:8;
there is none that doeth good; See Gill on Psa_14:1.
HE RY 1-6, "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); their nature is vitiated
and spoiled, and the more noble the nature is the more vile it is when it is depraved, as
that of the angels. Corruptio optimi est pessima - The best things, when corrupted,
become the worst. Their iniquity is abominable; it is odious to the holy God, and it
renders them so; whereas otherwise he hates nothing that he has made. It makes men
filthy, altogether filthy. Wilful sinners are offensive in the nostrils of the God of heaven
and of the holy angels. What decency soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain that
wickedness is the greatest defilement in the world. 6. The fruit of sin. See to what a
degree of barbarity it brings men at last; when men's hearts are hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin see their cruelty to their brethren, that are bone of their bone -
because they will not run with them to the same excess of riot, they eat them up as they
eat bread; as if they had not only become beasts, but beasts of prey. And see their
contempt of God at the same time. They have not called upon him, but scorn to be
beholden to him. 7. The fear and shame that attend sin (Psa_53:5): There were those in
great fear who had made God their enemy; their own guilty consciences frightened
them, and filled them with horror, though otherwise there was no apparent cause of fear.
The wicked flees when none pursues. See the ground of this fear; it is because God has
formerly scattered the bones of those that encamped against his people, not only broken
their power and dispersed their forces, but slain them, and reduced their bodies to dry
bones, like those scattered at the grave's mouth, Psa_141:7. Such will be the fate of
those that lay siege to the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Rev_20:9. The
apprehensions of this cannot but put those into frights that eat up God's people. This

enables the virgin, the daughter of Zion, to put them to shame, and expose them,
because God has despised them, to laugh at them, because he that sits in heaven laughs
at them. We need not look upon those enemies with fear whom God looks upon with
contempt. If he despises them, we may. 8. The faith of the saints, and their hope and
power touching the cure of this great evil, Psa_53:6. There will come a Saviour, a great
salvation, a salvation from sin. Oh that it might be hastened! for it will bring in glorious
and joyful times. There were those in the Old Testament times that looked and hoped,
that prayed and waited, for this redemption. (1.) God will, in due time, save his church
from the sinful malice of its enemies, which will bring joy to Jacob and Israel, that have
long been in a mournful melancholy state. Such salvations were often wrought, and all
typical of the everlasting triumphs of the glorious church. (2.) He will save all believers
from their own iniquities, that they may not be led captive by them, which will be
everlasting matter of joy to them. From this work the Redeemer had his name - Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins, Mat_1:21.
JAMISO 1-4, "Psa_53:1-6. Upon Mahalath - (See on Psa_88:1, title). Why this
repetition of the fourteenth Psalm is given we do not know.
with few verbal changes, correspond with Psa_14:1-4.
K&D, "The well-grounded asyndeton ‫יבוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ה‬ ‫יתוּ‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫ה‬ is here dismissed; and the
expression is rendered more bombastic by the use of ‫ל‬ֶ‫ו‬ ָ‫ע‬ instead of ‫ה‬ ָ‫יל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֲ‫.ע‬ ‫ל‬ֶ‫ו‬ ָ‫ע‬ (the
masculine to ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ְ‫ו‬ ַ‫,)ע‬ 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.
SBC 1-2, "There seems to be something intentionally emphatic about the charge against
the atheist in the text, as though the wickedness of a man in saying, "There is no God,"
were lost in the folly of it, as though when David heard a man sneeringly remark that
there was no God he forgot for a moment the man’s sensuality and licentiousness in his
astonishment at his weakness.
I. Suppose a man to say absolutely, "There is no God," thus going beyond the heathen, as
some few profess to have done, then in this case the folly is so palpable that all nature
seems to protest against it. The question, Who made all these things? confounds such
miserable atheism.
II. The denial that God rules and governs the world by just laws, punishing the wicked
and rewarding the just, may also, without much difficulty, be convicted of folly, for
consider, is it possible to think of God as being otherwise than perfect? An imperfect
God is no God at all; if perfect, then He must be perfect in goodness, in holiness, in
truth.
III. There is one other manner in which a man may deny God. He may refuse homage to
that God whom we worship as revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice two or
three points from which the folly of such a man may appear open and manifest. (1) Most
holy and thoughtful men have found in the revelation which God has made to man

through the Lord Jesus Christ the satisfaction of all their spiritual wants. (2) Observe the
wonderful power that this revelation has had: how it has unquestionably been the
mainspring, the chief mover, of all the history of the world since the time that Christ
came. (3) If Christ be not "the Way, the Truth, and the Life,’’ at least there is no other.
Either God has revealed Himself in Christ, or He has not revealed Himself at all, for
there is no other religion in the world which any one will pretend to substitute.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 2nd series, p. 165.
ELLICOTT, "(1) And.—The conjunction is wanting in Psalms 14:1.
Iniquity.—Instead of the general term, “doings,” in Psalms 14, as if the adapter of
the Psalm felt that a word applicable to good as well as evil was not strong enough to
express the hideousness of the profanity.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. And this he
does because he is a fool. Being a fool he speaks according to his nature; being a
great fool he meddles with a great subject, and comes to a wild conclusion. The
atheist is, morally as well as mentally, a fool, a fool in the heart as well as in the
head; a fool in morals as well as in philosophy. With the denial of God as a starting
point, we may well conclude that the fool's progress is a rapid, riotous, raving,
ruinous one. He who begins at impiety is ready for anything.
o God, being interpreted, means no law, no order, no restraint to lust, no limit to
passion. Who but a fool would be of this mind? What a Bedlam, or rather what an
Aceldama, would the world become if such lawless principles came to be universal!
He who heartily entertains an irreligious spirit, and follows it out to its legitimate
issues is a son of Belial, dangerous to the commonwealth, irrational, and despicable.
Every natural man is, more or less a denier of God. Practical atheism is the religion
of the race.
Corrupt are they. They are rotten. It is idle to compliment them as sincere doubters,
and amiable thinkers--they are putrid. There is too much dainty dealing nowadays
with atheism; it is not a harmless error, it is an offensive, putrid sin, and righteous
men should look upon it in that light. All men being more or less atheistic in spirit,
are also in that degree corrupt; their heart is foul, their moral nature is decayed.
And have done abominable iniquity. Bad principles soon lead to bad lives. One does
not find virtue promoted by the example of your Voltaires and Tom Paines. Those
who talk so abominably as to deny their Maker will act abominably when it serves
their turn. It is the abounding denial and forgetfulness of God among men which is
the source of the unrighteousness and crime which we see around us. If all men are
not outwardly vicious it is to be accounted for by the power of other and better
principles, but left to itself the " o God" spirit so universal in mankind would
produce nothing but the most loathsome actions.
There is none that doeth good. The one typical fool is reproduced in the whole race;
without a single exception men have forgotten the right way. This accusation twice
made in the Psalm, and repeated a third time by the inspired apostle Paul, is an
indictment most solemn and sweeping, but he who makes it cannot err, he knows
what is in man; neither will he lay more to man's charge than he can prove.

EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS
Whole Psalm. Probably the two Psalms refer to different periods; the fourteenth to
the earlier portion of the world, or of Jewish history; the fifty-third to a later,
perhaps a still future time. Jehovah, through Christ, is frequently said to turn to the
world to see what its condition is, and always with the same result. "All flesh had
corrupted its way" in the days of oah, and, "when the Son of Man cometh" again,
it is intimated that he will scarcely "find faith on the earth." The two Psalms also
apply to different persons. The former refers to the enemies of God, who tremble
when his presence is made known; they are in great fear, because vengeance is
about to be inflicted on them for their sins. Here the Supreme Being is called
Jehovah. In the fifty-third Psalm the interests of God's people are principally kept
in view. The ungodly are regarded as plotting against the righteous, and it is in this
relation their case is considered. The fear that was just and reasonable in the
fourteenth Psalm, because it concerned the unrighteous under a sense of impending
judgment, is said to be unfounded in the fifty-third, because God was in the midst of
his people, scattering the bones of their enemies, and showing himself, not as
Jehovah, but as the Elohim of his redeemed children. The fourteenth Psalm
contemplates judgment; the fifty-third deliverance; and thus, though seemingly
alike, a different lesson is conveyed in each. The Psalm, then, descriptive of the
universal and continuous corruption of man's nature, very properly occupies an
introductory place in a series intended to represent the enemies of Messiah, who
oppose his church during his absence, and who are to attempt to resist his power
when he comes again. Before entering upon an examination of the character of these
opponents, this Psalm teaches that, until changed by grace, all are gone astray;
"there is none righteous, no, not one, "and that for all there is but one remedy, the
Deliverer coming out of Zion, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. R. H.
Ryland, M.A., in "The Psalms restored to Messiah, "1853.
Whole Psalm. The state of earth ought to be deeply felt by us. The world lying in
wickedness should occupy much of our thoughts. The enormous guilt, the
inconceivable pollution, the ineffably provoking Atheism of this fallen province of
God's dominion, might be a theme for our ceaseless meditation and mourning. To
impress it the more on us, therefore, the Psalm repeats what has been already sung
in Psalm
14. It is the same Psalm, with only a few words varied; it is "line upon line, precept
upon precept; "the harp's most melancholy, most dismal notes again sounded in our
ear. ot that the Lord would detain us always, or disproportionately long, amid
scenes of sadness; for elsewhere he repeats in like manner that most triumphant
melody, Ps 40:6-12 108:6-13; but it is good to return now and then to the open field
on which we all were found, cast out in loathsome degradation. Andrew A. Bonar, in
"Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms, "
1859.
Whole Psalm. A second edition of the fourteenth Psalm, with variations more or less
important, in each verse. That either of these compositions is an incorrect copy of
the other is highly improbable, because two such copies of the same Psalm would
not have been retained in the collection, and because the variations are too uniform,
consistent, and significant, to be the work of chance or mere traditional corruption.
That the changes were deliberately made by a later writer is improbable, because

such a liberty would hardly have been taken with a Psalm of David, and because the
latter form, in that case, would either have been excluded from the Psalter or
substituted for the first form, or immediately connected with it. The only
satisfactory hypothesis is, that the original author afterwards rewrote it, with such
modifications as were necessary to bring out certain points distinctly, but without
any intention to supersede the use of the original composition, which therefore still
retains its place in the collection. Thus supposition is confirmed by the titles, which
ascribe both Psalms to David... As a general fact, it may be stated, that the
variations in the Psalm before us are such as render the expression stronger, bolder,
and in one or two cases more obscure and difficult. J. A. Alexander, 1850.
Whole Psalm. This Psalm is a variation of Psalms 14:1-7. In each of these two
Psalms the name of God occurs seven times. In Psalms 14:1-7, it is three times
Elohim, and four times Jehovah; in the present Psalm it is seven times Elohim.
Christopher Wordsworth, 1868.
Whole Psalm. God, in this Psalm, "speaketh twice, "for this is the same almost
verbatim with the fourteenth Psalm. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins, to
set us blushing, and to set us trembling because of them: there is need of "line upon
line" to this purpose. God, by the psalmist, here shows--
I. The fact of sin. God is a witness to it. He
looks down from heaven and sees all the sinfulness of
men's hearts and lives. All this is open and naked
before him.
II. The fault of sin. It is iniquity (Psalms 53:1; Psalms 53:4);
it is an unrighteous thing; it is that in which there
is no good (Psalms 53:1; Psalms 53:3); it is going back from God
(Psalms 53:3).
III. 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 account,
none that we need to stand in awe of. Men's bad
practices flow from their bad principles.
IV. The folly of sin. He is a fool (in the
account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right)
who harbours such corrupt thoughts. The "workers of
iniquity, "whatever they pretend to, "have no
knowledge; "they may truly be said to know nothing
that do not know God. Psalms 53:4.
V. The filthiness of sin. Sinners are "corrupt"
(Psalms 53:1); their nature is vitiated and spoiled;
their iniquity is "abominable; "it is odious to the
holy God, and renders them so; whereas, otherwise he
"hates nothing that he has made." What neatness
soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain that
wickedness is the greatest nastiness in the world.
VI. The fruit of sin. See to what a degree of
barbarity it brings men at last! See their cruelty

to their brethren! They "eat them up as they eat
bread." As if they had not only become beasts, but
beasts of prey. See their contempt of God at the
same time--they have not called upon him, but
scorn to be beholden to him.
VII. The fear and shame that attends sin (Psalms 53:5).
"There were they in great fear" who had made God
their enemy; their own guilty consciences frightened
them and filled them with horror. This enables the
virgin, the daughter of Zion, to put them to shame
and expose them, "because God hath despised them" VIII. The faith of the saints,
and their hope and power
touching this great evil (Psalms 53:6). There will come
a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin.
O that it might be hastened! for it will bring in
glorious and joyful times. There were those in Old
Testament times that looked and hoped, that prayed
and waited for this redemption. Such salvations were
often wrought, and all typical of the everlasting
triumphs of the glorious church. Condensed from Matthew Henry, 1662-1714.
Ver. 1. The fool hath said in his heart, etc. It is in his heart he says this; this is the
secret desire of every unconverted bosom. If the breast of God were within the reach
of men, it would be stabbed a million of times in one moment. When God was
manifest in the flesh, he was altogether lovely; he did no sin; he went about
continually doing good: and yet they took him and hung him on a tree; they mocked
him and spat upon him. And this is the way men would do with God again. Learn--
First. The fearful depravity of your heart. I venture to say there is not an
unconverted man present, who has the most distant idea of the monstrous
wickedness that is now within his breast. Stop till you are in hell, and it will break
out unrestrained. But still let me tell you what it is--you have a heart that would kill
God if you could. If the bosom of God were nor within your reach, and one blow
would rid the universe of God, you have a heart fit to do the deed. Second. The
amazing love of Christ-- "While we were enemies, Christ died for us." Robert
Murray Macheyne, 1813-1843.
Ver. 1. There is no God. ny'is properly a noun, and means nonentity, or
nonexistence: "nothing of God, "or "no such thing as God." It cannot be explained
as a wish--" o God!" i.e., O that there were no God! --because ny'in usage always
includes the substantive verb, and denies the existence, or at least the presence, of
the person or thing to which it is prefixed. This is also clear from the use of the same
word in the last clause, where its sense is unambiguous. J. A. Alexander on Psalm
XIV.
Ver. 1. There is no God. Thus denying the agency of Providence, for the word
Elohim, here translated God, means judge (compare Exodus 22:28), and has
reference not to the essence, but to the providence of the Deity. Daniel Cresswell,
1776-1844.
Ver. 1. It is to be noted that Scripture saith, The fool hath said in his heart, and not
"thought in his heart; "that is to say, he doth not so fully think it in judgment, as he

hath a good will to be of that belief; for seeing that it makes not for him that there
should be a God, he doth seek by all means accordingly to persuade and resolve
himself, and studies to affirm, prove, and verify it to himself as some theme or
position, all which labour, notwithstanding that sparkle of our creation light,
whereby men acknowledge a Deity, burneth still within; and in vain doth he strive
utterly to alienate it or put it out, so that it is out of the corruption of his heart and
will, and not out of the natural apprehension of his brain and conceit, that he doth
set down his opinion, as the comical poet saith, "Then came my mind to be of my
opinion, "as if himself and his mind had been two diverse things; therefore, the
atheist hath rather said, and held it in his heart, than thought or believed in his
heart that there is no God. Francis Bacon (1560-1626), in "Thoughts on Holy
Scripture".
TRAPP, "Psalms 53:1 « To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, [A Psalm]
of David. » The fool hath said in his heart, [There is] no God. Corrupt are they, and
have done abominable iniquity: [there is] none that doeth good.
Maschil, a Psalm of David] Purposely set down here the second time {see Psalms
6:1} to instruct what every man is by nature, and that he who is scholar to his own
carnal reason is sure to have a fool to his master. The heathens are very obstinate in
propugning man’s nature, witness Cicero, and both the Senecas, saying, that if men
would but follow the bent of their own natures they could not do amiss. And we
have much ado to persuade people that their natures are so foul, their ways so
wicked, &c. Twice, therefore, is this psalm recorded, that all may be convinced that
there is no safety in such a condition; nothing better than to hasten out of it.
ELLICOTT, "(1) And.—The conjunction is wanting in Psalms 14:1.
Iniquity.—Instead of the general term, “doings,” in Psalms 14, as if the adapter of
the Psalm felt that a word applicable to good as well as evil was not strong enough to
express the hideousness of the profanity.
PETT, "Psalms 53:1
‘For the Chief Musician; set to Mahalath. Maschil of David.’
The Psalm is once again dedicated to the Choirmaster or Chief Musician, and is set
to the tune of Mahalath (which possibly means ‘sickness’, and may be the opening
word of another Psalm for which this tune was first composed. Or it may be a
mournful tune bewailing the sickness of mankind in his sins). It is again a Maschil
of David. This last may refer to the original Psalm and not to the adaptation.
The World’s Verdict On The Living God And God’s Verdict On Them (Psalms
53:1-3).
The man who is corrupt and sins in a way which is an abomination to God (a
concept regularly found in Proverbs) is here described as ‘a fool. By his actions he
has foolishly treated God as though He does not exist.

Psalms 53:1
‘The fool has said in his heart,
Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity,
There is none who does good.’
In these words a general verdict is passed by God on mankind. one are good. All
are in one way or another corrupt. They behave like fools because they reject the
idea of Him as the One Who is, and the One to Whom they are accountable. They
may do this by having many gods, and worshipping idols who but represent aspects
of creation (compare Romans 1:18-23), or simply by gross disobedience to the
covenant with God (the Law of Moses), but the underlying fact is that in their hearts
they reject the living God who speaks to them through the wonder of creation and
through their consciences. They say that there is no such God. It is expressive of
those who do outwardly worship YHWH, but who in their hearts ignore Him. They
worship Him outwardly in the Temple area, but in their lives they live as though He
does not exist.
‘The fool.’ This is describing the morally perverse person who rejects the idea of
living a godly life. ‘Folly’ in the Old Testament is a term used to describe the person
who behaves foolishly in that he forgets or misrepresents God or refuses to do His
will (Deuteronomy 32:6; Deuteronomy 32:21; Job 42:8; Psalms 74:18; Psalms
74:22), he commits gross offences against morality (2 Samuel 13:12-13) or sacrilege
(Joshua 7:15), or he behaves churlishly and unwisely (1 Samuel 25:25). See also
Isaiah 32:5-6. Under other Hebrew words for ‘fool’ he is prominent in Proverbs.
Inevitably he always sees himself as wise.
‘In his heart.’ It is not his intellect that rejects the idea of God, but his mind, will
and emotions. He may ‘believe in God’, but he does not want to have to face up to
God because of what it might involve in a transformed life. He likes living as he is.
See Psalms 73:11; Jeremiah 5:12; Zephaniah 1:12.
‘They are corrupt, they have done abominable iniquity.’ Compare Genesis 6:11.
They are corrupt within and their lives reveal what they really are, sinful, violent,
idolatrous, and/or sexually perverted. See Romans 1:18-32.
‘There is none who does good.’ This is the final verdict on the world. They are cited
in Romans 3:10 in order to demonstrate that all men are sinners. All mankind are
fools in this sense, for sin is folly. The difference is that some have found forgiveness,
and have begun to live in a new way. God is declaring that there is no true, positive,
untainted goodness in the world. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God
(Romans 3:23). All are likewise guilty.
CO STABLE, "A fool in the ancient Hebrew view of life was a person who did not
acknowledge God"s existence intellectually, practically, or both (cf. Romans 1). He
lived as though God does not exist. Such a viewpoint leads to unrestrained behavior.

The fool"s conduct is essentially corrupt, in addition to being abominable to God
(i.e, vile). o one is completely or consistently good because everyone disregards
God from time to time.
GUZIK, "Psalms 53:1-6 – The Faithful God Delivers His People from Fools
This Psalm has the title To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath.” A contemplation
of David. The title describes for us the author, audience, and tune or instrument of
the song (Psalms 88:1-18 is the one other Psalm set to “Mahalath.” This Psalm is
essentially a repetition of Psalms 14:1-7, with a few small modifications, probably
intended to give faith and courage to Israel in the midst of a national challenge, such
as the threat of invasion or a siege.
A. The sad condition of the man who rejects God.
1. (1) David’s analysis of the God-rejecting man.
The fool has said in his heart,
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity,
There is none who does good.
a. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”: David looked at those who
denied the existence of God and came to the conclusion that they are fools. The idea
behind this ancient Hebrew word translatedfool is more moral than intellectual.
David did not have in mind those not smart enough to figure God out (no one is that
smart); he had in mind those who simply reject God.
i. From the italics in the ew King James Version we can see that what the fool
actually says is, “ o God.” “That is, ‘ o God for me.’ So his is a practical as well as
theoretical atheism. ot only does he not believe in God, he also acts on his
conviction.” (Boice)
ii. David says this because of the plain evidence that there is a God; evidence in both
creation and human conscience that Paul described in Romans 1:1-32. The fact that
some men insist on denying the existence of God does not erase God from the
universe; it instead speaks to their own standing as fools. As Paul wrong in Romans
1:22, Professing to be wise, they became fools.
iii. “The Hebrew word for fool in this psalm is nabal, a word which implies an
aggressive perversity, epitomized in the abal of 1 Samuel 25:25.” (Kidner)
iv. The God-denying man is a fool because:

· He denies what is plainly evident.
· He believes in tremendous effect with no cause.
· He denies a moral authority in the universe.
· He believes only what can be proven by the scientific method.
· He takes a dramatic, losing chance on his supposition that there is no God.
· He refuses to be persuaded by the many powerful arguments for the existence of
God.
v. There are many powerful arguments for the existence of God; among them are
these:
· The Cosmological Argument: The existence of the universe means there must be a
creator God.
· The Teleological Argument: The existence of design in the universe means there
must be a designer God.
· The Anthropological Argument: The unique nature and character of humanity
means there must be a relational God.
· The Moral Argument: The existence of morality means there must be a governing
God.
vi. “Which is cause, and which is effect? Does atheism result from folly, or folly
from atheism? It would be perfectly correct to say that each is cause and each is
effect.” (Morgan)
b. The fool has said in his heart: David not only found what the fool said to be
significant; where he said it is also important (in his heart). The God-denying man
David has in mind is not merely troubled by intellectual objections to the existence
of God; in his heart he wishes God away, typically for fundamentally moral reasons.
i. John 3:20 explains it this way: For everyone practicing evil hates the light and
does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
ii. This means that the man David had in mind is not an atheist for primarily
intellectual reasons. “Honest intellectual agnosticism does not necessarily produce
immorality; dishonest emotional atheism always does.” (Morgan)
iii. It means that when we speak with one who denies God, we should not only – or
even primarily – speak to their head, but also to their heart. “Let the preacher aim
at the heart, and preach the all conquering love of Jesus, and he will by God's grace

win more doubters to the faith of the gospel than any hundred of the best reasoners
who only direct their arguments to the head.” (Spurgeon)
iv. The phrasing of said in his heart also reminds us that it is possible for one to say
in his mind that there is a God, yet deny it in his heart and life. One may believe in
God in theory, yet be a practical atheistin the way they live.
v. 1 Samuel 27:1 tells us what David said in his heart on one occasion: ow I shall
perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I
should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to
seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” Was this
not David, in some sense, also denying God and speaking as a fool?
vi. “It is in his heart he says this; this is the secret desire of every unconverted
bosom. If the breast of God were within the reach of men, it would be stabbed a
million of times in one moment. When God was manifest in the flesh, he was
altogether lovely; he did no sin; he went about continually doing good: and yet they
took him and hung him on a tree; they mocked him and spat upon him. And this is
the way men would do with God again.” (Macheyne, cited in Spurgeon)
c. They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity: David here considers the
result of denying God. It leads men into corruption and abominable iniquity. This
isn’t to say that every atheist lives a dissolute life and every God-believer lives a
good life; yet there is a marked difference in moral behavior between those who take
God seriously and those who do not.
d. There is none who does good: As David considered the sin of the God-denier, he
looked out over the landscape of humanity and concluded that there is none who
does good. He did not mean that there is no human good in this world; but that
fallen man is so fallen that he does not by instinct do good, and even the good he
may do is tinged with evil.
· We are born with both the will and the capacity to do evil; no one has to teach a
child to do bad.
· The path of least resistance usually leads us to bad, not good.
· It is often easier to encourage others to do bad, instead of good.
· Many of our good deeds are tinged with selfish, bad motives.
i. “This is no exaggeration, since every sin implies the effrontery of supposedly
knowing better than God, and the corruption of loving evil more than good.”
(Kidner)
ii. “There is too much dainty dealing nowadays with atheism; it is not a harmless
error, it is an offensive, putrid sin, and righteous men should look upon it in that

light.” (Spurgeon)
EBC, "Psalms 53:1-6
I this psalm we have an Elohistic recast of Psalms 14:1-7, differing from its
original in substituting Elohim for Jehovah (four times) and in the language of
Psalms 53:5. There are also other slight deviations not affecting the sense. For the
exposition the reader is referred to that of Psalms 14:1-7. It is only necessary here to
take note of the divergences.
The first of these occurs in Psalms 53:1. The forcible rough construction "they
corrupt, they make abominable," is smoothed down by the insertion of "and." The
editor apparently thought that the loosely piled words needed a piece of mortar to
hold them together, but his emendation weakens as well as smooths. On the other
hand, he has aimed at increased energy of expression by substituting "iniquity" for
"doings" in the same clause, which results in tautology and is no improvement. In
Psalms 53:3 the word for "turned aside" is varied, without substantial difference of
meaning. The alteration is very slight, affecting only one letter, and may be due to
error in transcription or to mere desire to amend. In Psalms 53:4 "all," which in
Psalms 14:1-7 precedes "workers of iniquity," is omitted, probably as unnecessary.
LA GE, "Its relation to Psalm 14—The double addition to the title, which
designates this Psalm as an instructive Psalm, to be sung in a sorrowful manner,
(vid. Introduct.) shows that the compiler recognized this Psalm as having an
independent value along side of Psalm 14. At the same time its position among the
Elohim- Psalm, and between Psalm 52, 54, which is analogous to that of Psalm 14,
shows that the differences of the two texts, which are entirely similar in most
strophes, were regarded as designed. It is manifest that the sevenfold use of the
name of God corresponding with the number of the strophes was to have been
marked by the fact that here Elohim is constantly used, whilst in Psalm 14Elohim is
only used three times, and Jehovah four times, and indeed with an accurate
discrimination of the characteristic differences of these two names. This is at once
partly against the supposition that Psalm 53is the more ancient, (Clericus, Ewald,
Hitzig), partly against the conjecture that David himself revised Psalm 14 (Hengst.
and most of the older interpreters after the Rabbins). The following circumstances
favor a remodelling of the Psalm (and not merely another recension of the same
text); thus: In Psalm 53:1 b, the advance in thought is obscured by the insertion of
“and” between the two verbs, but is then restored by placing instead of that noun,
which in Psalm 14:1 designates human actions and doings in the good sense as well
as in the bad, a word which characterizes evil as unwillingness. Furthermore instead
of the “whole,” Psalm 14:3, we have here Psalm 53:3, “every one of them,” which is
followed directly by ‫,סג‬ which is preferred to ‫ס‬‫ר‬ ; and in Psalm 53:4 a the word “all,”
which is so characteristic in Psalm 14:4, is missing. In Psalm 53:6 a, moreover, the
expression designating deliverance has been strengthened by the plural. Finally and
chiefly, instead of the two distiches, Psalm 14:5-6, there is here a tristich, which
renders the thought expressed there in general terms more definite, by connecting it
with a historical event. That a historical event is presupposed, particularly the

catastrophe of Sennacherib, is accepted by Hitzig, Baur, et al. Hitzig finds the
original text here, whilst he regards Psalm 14:6 as only a retouching of faded
features in the style, which has succeeded badly, whilst Hupfeld recognizes in both
texts merely the ruins of an original identity. Delitzsch, however, reminds us that
such a dependence upon the very letters of the original, and such an alteration of the
original by means of a change of letters is found elsewhere likewise, especially in
Jeremiah. He also refers to the relation of 2 Peter to Jude, and conjectures that a
later poet composed it somewhere about the time of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah.
BI 1-3, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
The folly of unbelief
There were Atheists in David’s days, practical Atheists at least, as there have been in all
days, and probably ever will be, and the general bearing of this psalm teaches us pretty
clearly the judgment which David formed of them. David at once goes off into a
description of the abominably wicked lives of those who said so; the man who says there
is no God is declared by David to be a fool, a man wanting in judgment, in clearness of
head, in powers of reasoning; this is an imputation upon his mind, his intellect: but the
matter does not rest there, for David does not proceed to deplore the weakness of the
Atheist’s faculties, but the rottenness of the Atheist’s heart; he says they are corrupt,
altogether become abominable. He clearly sees the cause of the man’s infidelity in his
wicked course of life. He would not leave off sinning, that were too great a sacrifice, but
at length a light opens upon his mind, but it is a light such as in swampy places
sometimes tempts a traveller from the right way—no light of the sun, no guiding star.
And what is the light? It is this, that after all perhaps all this about God is a cunning
fable, an invention of priests, a mere bugbear to frighten children. And to a man who is
determined to sin this is right comfortable doctrine. It is easy to believe true what we
wish to be true. And what could a man who has become corrupt and abominable wish to
be truer than that there should be no God? This is evidently David’s judgment upon the
matter. But the man is a fool who says there is no God! His wickedness is lost in his folly.
For what folly is his who says there is no God! There is the argument unanswerable,
“Who hath made all these things?. . . The heavens declare the glory of God,” etc. And
equally unreasonable is the denial of God’s moral government. A kind of denial this
which is alluded to in the psalm, “and yet they say, Tush, God shall not see it.” Yet this
view also may, I think, without much difficulty, be convicted of folly; for let us consider,
is it possible to think of God as being otherwise than perfect? Surely not—an imperfect
God is no God at all; if perfect, then He must be perfect in goodness, in holiness and
truth. Can He smile equally on the false and the true, the murderer and the saint? is it
conceivable that St. John and Judas Iscariot should be equally pleasing to their Maker,
differing from each other merely as two stones of different colour differ? Surely all this is
monstrous; it is not merely contrary to the Bible, or to the inventions of priests, but it is
utterly opposed to the plainest dictates of reason. Therefore I find no difficulty in
agreeing with the expression of the text that he who in this way denies God by making
Him only the Creator and Preserver, and not the righteous Ruler and Judge, gives
evidence thereby of his folly. There is, however, one other manner in which a man may
deny God. He may allow all that I have contended for hitherto, and may agree with me
that it is contrary to sound reason to deny it; but he may still refuse homage to that God
whom we worship as revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that there are
such persons, that there always have been such; and we know that the leaders of such a

party have accounted themselves as clearsighted beyond others, men of great freedom of
thought, not slaves to vulgar prejudices, but rather men who have risen above all vulgar
prejudices into an atmosphere of their own. Well, men may be wise in their own conceits
without being really wise, and it seems very possible that these infidels may after all be
of the class of David’s fool. If this be so, it will not take long to show it. For—
1. The holiest and wisest men have found in the revelation of God in Christ the
satisfaction of all their spiritual wants.
2. Then in estimating the reality of the revelation which God has made to us in Jesus
Christ, it is necessary to observe the wonderful power that the revelation has had;
how it has broken up kingdoms and formed others, how it has reduced whole nations
to its dominion and then civilized and informed them; how it has unquestionably
been the mainspring, the chief mover of all the history of the world since the time
that Christ came. Once more, it is to be noted that if Christ be not “the way, the truth,
and the life,” at least there is no other; either God has revealed Himself in Christ, or
He has not revealed Himself at all; for there is no other religion in this world which
any one will pretend to substitute. David, as I have already observed, passes abruptly
from the speech of the fool’s heart to the state of his heart” “corrupt are they, and
become abominable in their wickedness.” What are we to learn from this part of the
text? Surely this most true and valuable lesson, that the denial of God generally
proceeds from the heart more than from the intellect. I do not say that this is so in all
cases; for when systematic attempts are made to destroy the faith of mankind, it is
not to be wondered at if in some instances the belief of simple men should be
disturbed; but depend upon it, the fear of a future judgment, and the wish to get free
from the thought of it, is the root of much unbelief. And yet doubts and fears do
sometimes trouble the mind; the best of men have sometimes felt them; it may be
that to experience them is part of our appointed discipline in this world: if, then, any
person should be so tempted and tried, I should remind him of our blessed Lord’s
promise, “He that will do the will of God shall know of My doctrine, whether it be of
God or whether I speak of Myself.” You see that our Lord gives an essentially
practical rule for strengthening our faith; He does not say, shut yourself up in your
study and go carefully through all the evidences and weigh them with an unbiased
mind—but go and do God’s will. And so when He heard the Pharisees disbelieving,
He did not say, how can ye believe who will not look into evidences, but, “how can ye
believe which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour which cometh
of God only?” Here was the defect: the Pharisees were well read in the law, men of
acute minds, cultivated intellects: if Christ were the Messiah, why could not they,
who were actually looking for Him, recognize His true character? because they were
seeking their own glory, seeking honour one of another, and not that which comes of
God. What a strange reproof was this to those who piqued themselves upon their
wisdom! Christian brethren, let us do God’s will, and then we shall know of the
doctrine that is of God. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)
Cause of infidelity
In Scripture the fool and the sinner often mean the same person, and infidelity is
therefore usually found connected with great depravity. Its progress is gradual; it begins
by opposing those doctrines that impose restraint upon a man’s favorite vices, and from
denying these it proceeds to deny others, and, finally, all the rest. This subject is very
important to the age in which we live, Europe being deluged with impiety. What, then,

are the causes of infidelity? And we name—
1. Vice. It is not the difficulties of Scripture, but its forbidding of their sin that men
dislike. All experience proves this. At first conscience remonstrates, but, unable to
secure obedience, conscience is soon silenced, and the sinner seeks to justify those
propensities which he declares himself unable to subdue. For it is necessary that men
should reconcile their conduct to their opinions, or else there will be continual
misery through self-reproach. And they soon succeed in the endeavour, for when a
man studies to deceive himself he always can do so. His wishes, not his reason,
decide upon the truth. The libertine hates the purity of religion; the dissolute, its
temperance; the proud, its meekness; the gay worldling, its piety. But if they cannot
get rid of the authority of religion, the thought of the future will make them tremble.
Hence they labour to destroy that authority, so that conscience may have no more
ground for her reproaches. They represent death as an eternal sleep, and, that men
may indulge unrestrainedly the passions of brutes, they labour to show that his end
is as theirs. Another proof that infidelity springs from vice is that it usually keeps
pace with the passions. When these are strong it is strong. It flourishes in prosperity,
but loses its confidence in adversity. Many instances might be adduced in proof that
to the infidel the approach of death is terrible. Such is one chief source of infidelity.
(S. Smith, D. D.)
Theoretical Atheism
We cannot converse with any human being without instinctively judging of his
intellectual capacity. We cannot help assigning him a place either amongst those
superior or inferior in intellect. But sometimes we meet with those who will believe
what, to all others, is absurd; or disbelieve what, to all others, is evident. Such a man we
designate as a fool. And they, also, deserve to be so regarded who, when convinced of the
truth of a physical or moral law, yet act as if they knew that which they believe to be
certainly false. They will learn wisdom neither from observation or experience. The
profligate, the inebriate, the frivolous, are of these fools. The former class may be termed
theoretical, the latter, practical fools. In proportion to our respect and reverence for a
powerful understanding is our contempt for him who says “there is no God.” Now, such
denial of the existence of God may be either theoretical or practical. It is theoretical
when we affirm that no such being exists, but practical when, admitting His existence,
we act, in all respects, as though we believed that He did not exist. Let us speak, at
present, of the first of these errors—the theoretical. It may show itself in either of two
forms.
I. That of absurd credulity. For surely it is such credulity to believe an assertion when no
evidence is brought forward to sustain it, and especially when, from the necessity of the
case, the evidence, if it did exist, is beyond the reach of the human understanding. Now
the Atheist declares to us that there is no God. What is the proof of his assertion? There
is none. It is no proof to say that nothing exists but what manifests itself either to the
senses or to consciousness. How does he know but that, among the truths which have
thus far escaped his notice, one may be the existence of God? See this argument drawn
out at length in Foster’s Essays.
II. Absurd incredulity. Its unbelief is as unreasonable as its belief. For—
1. The idea of power, of cause and effect, is the universal and spontaneous suggestion
of the human intelligence. We cannot imagine an effect without a cause. And that the

Creator, shown to be infinite in power and wisdom, is also a holy God. We have
ample proof that He loves virtue and hates vice. Socrates, from an observation of the
works of creation and Providence, arrived at very nearly this conception of the Divine
character. Now, the Atheist, in the face of all this evidence, affirms that there is no
God. But this is to deny the existence of the elementary principles of human
intelligence. And this Atheistic belief is absurd because it wholly fails in the purpose
for which it is intended. He would seek to get rid of the idea of immortality and of
future moral retribution. But we do exist, whether there be a God or not: why, then,
may we not continue to exist? And there is a moral government, with its penalties
and rewards, now: why may it not continue to be? Even if there be no God, that
government is; why, then, may it not be carried on through eternity? Such is the
absurdity of Atheism. It asserts that which cannot be known by any finite
intelligence, and it denies that which cannot be disbelieved without denying the
essential laws of human thought, and this for a reason which would remain
unaffected whether Atheism be true or false. (F. Nayland.)
Practical Atheism
We may not be theoretical Atheists, but yet we may be such in practice. Now, many are
so. They admit the existence of God, bat they live as if they denied it, and thus they are
guilty of practical Atheism. To show this, let us—
I. Unfold the conception we have formed of God. We all conceive of Him—
1. As a person. We cannot have the idea of qualities as existing without a subject in
which they exist.
2. And to God we ascribe self-existence. He must be the cause of causes, or else there
must be an infinite succession of causes, which is absurd.
3. To this conception we add on the idea of eternity, both in the past and in the
future.
4. And also infinite and absolute power.
5. Omniscient wisdom, as contrasted with the limited wisdom of even the greatest of
men.
6. And every moral attribute in infinite perfection. “He is a rock, His way is perfect: a
God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.”
7. And He is not only the Judge, but the Father of us all. This shown not only in His
providence, but yet more in our redemption.
II. How important to us, then, must be the fact of His existence. No other fact is
comparable to it. It is by far the most practical truth that we can conceive. And what
must be the condition of the man who believes in the existence of such a God, and yet
suffers not this belief to exert any practical influence upon his conduct? What folly can
be compared with his? And yet, are not many of you chargeable with it? Some pass
whole months without even thinking, in any devout way, of God. Others, under the
influence of passion, or fear of being thought precise, will knowingly disobey God. The
reason of all such practical Atheism is that they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge. Hence are they given over to their evil ways. Think what must be the end of
this. But God, in the Gospel of His Son, is offering to us reconciliation. “I will,” saith He,
“take from you the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.” Give Him now your

hearts. (F. Nayland.)
Unkindness of scepticism
The Philadelphia Inquirer tells this story of the late Washington McLean: One terribly
snowy, sleety day in Washington, he was sitting in the Riggs House reading-room,
looking out upon the dreary scene on Pennsylvania Avenue. Presently, in came Colonel
Bob Ingersoll, the great agnostic. As he entered the apartment he held out his hand,
saying, “Hello, Wash., how do you do?” Mr. McLean took his hand, and, as he did so,
said, “Bob, I wish you could have been here a little while ago. I saw a scene out there that
made me wish I was twenty years younger. A poor, old, crippled soldier was limping
across the Avenue, when a young, lusty fellow ran by him, and, as he did so, kicked the
crutch from him, and tumbled him down into the slush.” “The villain,” said Ingersoll,
“he should have been sent to the penitentiary.” “Do you really think so?” said McLean.
“Why, certainly!” replied the colonel. “What else could I think? And yet, Bob,” said
McLean, “that is what you are doing every week in the year. Here are poor, old, infirm
Christians, with nothing to aid or support them but their belief in religion, nothing to
keep them out of the mire of despair but faith, and yet you go about kicking the crutch
from under them worse than even this fictitious fellow did to this fictitious soldier.” Very
true, with the one exception that our faith is a living thing, and can never be knocked
away. (Sword and Trowel.)
2 God looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
BAR ES, "God looked down from heaven ... - See the notes at Psa_14:2. The
only change which occurs in this verse is the substitution of the word ‫אלהים‬ 'Elohiym,
rendered “God,” for “Yahweh,” rendered Lord, in Psa_14:2. The same change occurs also
in Psa_14:4, Psa_14:6. It is to be observed, also, that the word “Yahweh” does not occur
in this psalm, but that the term used is uniformly. ‫אלהים‬ 'Elohiym, God. In Psa_14:1-7
both terms are found - the word ‫אלהים‬ 'Elohiym three times Psa_14:1-2, Psa_14:5, and
the word ‫יהוה‬ Yahweh four times, Psa_14:2, Psa_14:4,Psa_14:6-7. It is impossible to

account for this change. There is nothing in it, however, to indicate anything in regard to
the authorship of the psalm or to the time when it was written, for both these words are
frequently used by David elsewhere.
GILL, "God looked down from heaven upon the children of men,.... In Psa_
14:2, it is read, "the Lord" or "Jehovah"; in everything else there is an agreement in this
verse; See Gill on Psa_14:2;
to see if there were any that did understand; the Targum is, "that were
understanding" in the law; it doubtless means understanding in divine and spiritual
things;
that did seek God; the above paraphrase is, "seeking doctrine from before the Lord".
K&D, "In both recensions of the Psalm the name of God occurs seven times. In Psa_
14:1-7 it reads three times Elohim and four times Jahve; in the Psalm before us it is all
seven times Elohim, which in this instance is a proper name of equal dignity with the
name Jahve. Since the mingling of the two names in Psa_14:1-7 is perfectly intentional,
inasmuch as Elohim in Psa_53:1, Psa_53:2 describes God as a Being most highly exalted
and to be reverentially acknowledged, and in Psa_52:5 as the Being who is present
among men in the righteous generation and who is mighty in their weakness, it becomes
clear that David himself cannot be the author of this levelling change, which is carried
out more rigidly than the Elohimic character of the Psalm really demands.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men. He
did so in ages past, and he has continued his steadfast gaze from his all surveying
observatory.
To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Had there been one
understanding man, one true lover of his God, the divine eye would have discovered
him. Those pure heathens and admirable savages that men talk so much of, do not
appear to have been visible to the eye of Omniscience, the fact being that they live
nowhere but in the realm of fiction. The Lord did not look for great grace, but only
for sincerity and right desire, but these he found not. He saw all nations, and all
men in all nations, and all hearts in all men, and all motions of all hearts, but he saw
neither a clear head nor a clean heart among them all. Where God's eyes see no
favourable sign we may rest assured there is none.
Ver. 2. That did seek God. Although all things are full of God, yet is he to be sought
for of godly men, by reason of the darkness which compasseth our minds through
original sin. For both the flesh, and the senses, and earthly affections do hinder us
from knowing of him, yea, though he be present. Peter Martyr, 1500-1562.
Ver. 2-3. Their sin is described in gradation. They do not understand, because a true
knowledge of things divine forms the basis of proper conduct towards God; they do
not ask for God, because they only care for him whose clear and sure insight
apprehends him as their highest possession; they are gone aside, because he who
cares not for him is sure to get estranged from him, and to deviate from his paths;
and they are altogether become filthy (i.e., worthless), because man's proper

strength and fitness for virtue must well from the fountain of communion with God.
Agustus F. Tholuck.
PETT, "Psalms 53:2
God looked down from heaven on the children of men,
To see if there were any who understood, Who sought after God.’
But God would not judge men without a fair examination, and so He looked down to
see if there were any who understood and who sought after Him. (In Jeremiah 5:1
ff. he challenges Jeremiah to do the same). The vivid anthropomorphism brings out
the truth of God’s constant examination and assessment of the human race
(compare Genesis 11:5), and His call to accountability. He examines men in depth
testing out, not what they say to Him, but their true understanding, and response
Psalms 53:3
‘Every one of them is gone back, they are together become filthy,
There is no one who does good, no, not one.’
He declares that all have turned aside, even the best; all have walked in ways that
are sinful, all have become morally tainted (compare Job 15:16). There was not one
man on earth who continually did good and did not sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20). (For the
thought of the one man Who would come Who would not sin see Isaiah 50:2 with
Isaiah 50:4-9; Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12).
CO STABLE, "Verse 2-3
David pictured God looking down from His heavenly habitation and examining
human beings individually. Wise people acknowledge God"s presence and pursue
Him because He is the source of all goodness and blessing. Fools disregard Him and
go their own way. God observed that everyone turns away from Him. The whole
race has become sour like milk (Heb. "alah; cf. Psalm 14:3; Job 10:10; Job 15:16).
When people do not use milk for its intended purpose, namely, to drink, it turns
sour. Likewise when people do not use their lives for their intended purpose,
namely, to honor and glorify God, they spoil. o one is completely good. Every
individual has fallen short of this standard of perfection (cf. Romans 3:10-12).
GUZIK, "(2-3) Heaven’s analysis of fallen humanity.
God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
Every one of them has turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,

o, not one.
a. God looks down from heaven upon the children of men: While man may wish to
forget about God, God never forgets about man. He is always observing man,
looking down from heaven upon the children of men.
i. In man’s rejection of God, there is often the wish that God would just leave us
alone. This is an unwise wish, because all human life depends upon God (Acts 17:28;
Matthew 5:45). This is an impossiblewish, because God has rights of a creator over
His creation.
ii. “The words remind us of God descending from heaven to observe the folly of
those building the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5) or looking down upon the
wickedness of the race prior to his judgment by the flood.” (Kidner)
iii. One of the differences between this Psalm and Psalms 14:1-7 is that word Elohim
replaces Yahweh repeatedly; it is difficult to discern the exact reason why.
iv. Both the similarities and the differences of the two Psalms are instructive. “Some
slight alterations show how a great song may be adapted to meet the need of some
special application of its truth.” (Morgan)
b. To see if there are any who understand, who seek God: When God does look
down from heaven, one thing He looks for is if there is any understanding or seeking
among humanity.
i. God looks for this not primarily as an intellectual judgment; He doesn’t wonder if
there are any smart enough to figure Him out. He looks for this more as a moral and
spiritual judgment; if there are men whounderstand His heart and plan, and who
seek Him for righteousness sake.
ii. We deceive ourselves into thinking that man, on his own, really does seek God.
Don’t all the religion and rituals and practices from the beginning of time
demonstrate that man does indeed seek God? ot at all. If man initiates the search
then he doesn’t seek the true God, the God of the Bible. Instead he seeks an idol that
he makes himself.
iii. “You have gone through this form of worship, but you have not sought after
God. I am sick of this empty religiousness. We see it everywhere; it is not
communion with God, it is not getting to God; indeed, God is not in it all.”
(Spurgeon, from a sermon on Romans 3:1-31)
c. Every one of them has turned aside, they have together become corrupt: When
God looks, this is what He finds. He finds that man has turned away from God, and
has therefore become corrupt.
i. Poole on turned aside: “Or, are grown sour, as this word signifies, Hosea 4:18.

And so this is a metaphor from corrupted drinks, as the next [become corrupt] is
taken from rotten meat.”
ii. “The Hebrews have the same word for sin and a dead carcase; and again the
same word for sin and stench.” (Trapp)
d. There is none who does good, no, not one: When God finds none who does good,
it is because there are none. It isn’t as if there were some and God couldn’t see them.
David here observes and remembers that man is truly, profoundly, deeply fallen.
i. David’s use of “there is none who does good” suddenly broadens the scope beyond
the atheist to include us. “ ‘After all, we are not atheists!’ we might say. But now, as
we are let in on God’s perspective, we see that we are too included. In other words,
the outspoken atheist of verse 1 is only one example of mankind in general.”
(Kidner)
ii. “What a picture of our race is this! Save only where grace reigns, there is none
that doeth good; humanity, fallen and debased, is a desert without an oasis, a night
without a star, a dunghill without a jewel, a hell without a bottom.” (Spurgeon)
3 Everyone has turned away, all have become
corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
BAR ES, "Every one of them is gone back - See the notes at Psa_14:3. The only
variation here in the two psalms is in the substitution of the word - ‫סג‬ sâg, for ‫סור‬ sûr -
words almost identical in form and in sense. The only difference in meaning is, that the
former word - the word used here - means “to draw back,” or “to go back;” the other, the
word used in Psa_14:1-7, means “to go off, to turn aside.” Each of them indicates a
departure from God; a departure equally fatal and equally guilty, whether people turn
“back” from following him, or turn “aside” to something else. Both of these forms of
apostasy occur with lamentable frequency.
GILL, "Every one of them is gone back,.... From God, and the way of his

commandments. In Psa_14:3, it is, "they are all gone aside"; See Gill on Psa_14:3;
they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one. What follows in this verse is the same as Psa_14:3.
K&D, "Instead of ‫ּל‬ⅴ ַ‫,ה‬ the totality, we have ‫ּו‬ ֻⅴ, which denotes each individual of the
whole, to which the suffix, that has almost vanished (Psa_29:9) from the genius of the
language, refers. And instead of ‫ר‬ ָ‫,ס‬ the more elegant ‫ג‬ ָ‫,ס‬ without any distinction in the
meaning.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 3. Every one of them is gone back. The whole mass of manhood,
all of it, is gone back. In the fourteenth Psalm it was said to turn aside, which was
bad enough, but here it is described as running in a diametrically opposite direction.
The life of unregenerate manhood is in direct defiance of the law of God, not merely
apart from it but opposed to it.
They are altogether become filthy. The whole lump is soured with an evil leaven,
fouled with an all pervading pollution, made rank with general putrefaction. Thus,
in God's sight, our atheistic nature is not the pardoned thing that we think it to be.
Errors as to God are not the mild diseases which some account them, they are
abominable evils. Fair is the world to blind eyes, but to the all seeing Jehovah it is
otherwise.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. How could there be, when the whole
mass was leavened with so evil a leaven? This puts an end to the fictions of the
innocent savage, the lone patriarch, "the Indian whose untutored mind, "etc. Pope's
verse--
"Father of all, in every age;
In every clime adored,
By saint, by savage, or by sage,
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord, "
evaporates in smoke. The fallen race of man, left to its own energy, has not
produced a single lover of God or doer of holiness, nor will it ever do so. Grace must
interpose, or not one specimen of humanity will be found to follow after the good
and true. This is God's verdict after looking down upon the race. Who shall gainsay
it?
Ver. 2-3. See Psalms on "Psalms 53:2" for further information.
Ver. 3. They are altogether become filthy. wxlag neelachu. They are become sour
and rancid; a metaphor taken from milk that has fermented and turned sour,
rancid, and worthless. Adam Clarke, 1760-1832.
Ver. 3. (second clause). The word wxlag, rendered they are become filthy, might be
read, they have become rotten or putrid. John Morison, 1829.
Ver. 3. (last clause). Evil men are not only guilty of sins of commission, having done
abominable iniquity, but they are guilty of many sins of omission. In fact, they have
never done one holy act. They may be moral, decent, amiable, they may belong to
the church; but there is none that doeth good, no, not one. William S. Plumer.

TRAPP, "Psalms 53:3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become
filthy; [there is] none that doeth good, no, not one.
Ver. 3. Every one of them is gone back] Diogenes in a great assembly going
backward of purpose, and seeing every one laughing him to scorn, asked them
aloud, if they were not ashamed so to do? since he went backwards but once, they
did so all the days of their life.
4 Do all these evildoers know nothing?
They devour my people as though eating bread;
they never call on God.
BAR ES, "Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? - See the notes at
Psa_14:4. The only change in this verse is in the omission of the word “all.” This word, as
it occurs in Psa_14:1-7 (“all the workers of iniquity”), makes the sentence stronger and
more emphatic. It is designed to affirm in the most absolute and unqualified manner
that none of these workers of iniquity had any true knowledge of God. This has been
noticed by critics as the only instance in which the expression in Psa_14:1-7 is stronger
than in the revised form of the psalm before us.
CLARKE, "Have the workers of iniquity - For ‫,פעלי‬ poaley, workers seventy-two
of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., with several ancient editions, the Chaldee, though
not noticed in the Latin translation in the London Polyglot, the Syriac, Vulgate,
Septuagint, Ethiopic, and the Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, add the word ‫כל‬ col, all, -
All the workers of iniquity; which is the reading in the parallel place in Psa_14:1-7 : It
may be necessary to observe, that the Chaldee, in the Antwerp and Paris Polyglots, and
in that of Justinianus, has not the word ‫כל‬ col, All.
Have not Called upon God - ‫אלהים‬ Elohim; but many MSS. have ‫יהוה‬ Jehovah,
Lord.
GILL, "Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?.... In Psa_14:4, it is, "have
all the workers", &c. There are none of them but what have, unless given up to judicial
blindness, and hardness of heart, to believe a lie, as antichrist and his followers, 2Th_
2:10; See Gill on Psa_14:4;

who eat up my people, as they eat bread; and drink their blood, and are drunken
with it, Rev_17:6;
they have not called upon God; but upon their idols, upon the Virgin Mary, and
saints departed. In Psa_14:4, it is, "upon the Lord".
K&D, "Here in the first line the word ‫ל־‬ ָⅴ, which, as in Psa_5:6; Psa_6:9, is in its right
place, is wanting. In Psa_14:1-7 there then follow, instead of two tristichs, two distichs,
which are perhaps each mutilated by the loss of a line. The writer who has retouched the
Psalm has restored the tristichic symmetry that had been lost sight of, but he has
adopted rather violent means: inasmuch as he has fused down the two distichs into a
single tristich, which is as closely as possible adapted to the sound of their letters.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? They have no
wisdom, certainly, but even so common a thing as knowledge might have restrained
them. Can they not see that there is a God? that sin is an evil thing? that persecution
recoils upon a man's own head? Are they such utter fools as not to know that they
are their own enemies, and are ruining themselves?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread. Do they not see that such food will be hard
to digest, and will bring on them a horrible vomit when God deals with them in
justice? Can they imagine that the Lord will allow them to devour his people with
impunity? They must be insane indeed.
They have not called upon God. They carry on their cruel enterprises against the
saints, and use every means but that which is essential to success in every case,
namely, the invocation of God. In this respect persecutors are rather more
consistent than Pharisees who devoured widow's houses, and prayed too. The
natural man, like Ishmael, loves not the spiritual seed, is very jealous of it, and
would fain destroy it, because it is beloved of God; yet the natural man does not seek
after the like favour from God. The carnal mind envies those who obtain mercy, and
yet it will not seek mercy itself. It plays the dog in the manger. Sinners will out of a
malicious jealousy devour those who pray, but yet they will not pray themselves.
Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Conscience is a means to curb
and restrain, control and rebuke corrupt nature, and the swelling forms of it. It is
not there as a native inhabitant, but as a garrison planted in a rebellious town by
the great Governor of the world, to keep the rebellion of the inhabitants within
compass, who else would break forth into present confusion. David, speaking of the
corruption of man by nature, after this question, Whether there be not some
knowledge to discover their evil doings to them? yes, says he, Have they no
knowledge, who eat up my people as bread Yes; and therefore (Psalms 53:5) They
are often in fear, God having placed this there to overcome them with fear; and by
that to restrain them from many outrages against God's people, whom in their
desires, and sometimes practice, they eat up as bread Therefore this knowledge is
put in as a bridle to corrupt nature, as a hook was put into Sennacherib's nostrils
(Isaiah 37:29) to rule and tame men, and overcome them with fear. If they had no

knowledge they would eat up one another, and the church, as bread; but there is
their fear, says he, that is, thence it comes to pass they are kept in awe Thomas
Goodwin, 1600-1679.
Ver. 4. Who eat up my people as they eat bread C'est, n'en font non plus de
conscience, que de manger un morceau de pain. (That is, they have no more scruple
in doing this than in eating a morsel of bread.) French Margin.
Ver. 4. My people. David may call the serious his people, because of his regard for
them, and because they were his supporters and friends. They adhered to him in all
his afflictions. ("Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, " Ruth 1:16.)
Benjamin Boothroyd, 1836.
TRAPP, "Psalms 53:4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my
people [as] they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?] Etiam scient in fine, et
dolebunt, saith one, Know they shall, to their sorrow, in the end, that they have
eaten that on earth which they must digest in hell.
PETT, "God Expresses His Surprise At The Inability Of The ations To Recognise
That Israel/Judah Are His People (Psalms 53:4)
Psalms 53:4
‘Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on God?’
God is perplexed at the folly of men. He cannot believe that they are so lacking in
wisdom and common sense. Do they have no knowledge and understanding? Do
they not recognise that those who are in covenant with Him are His people? They
neither call on God nor treat well those who do truly call on Him.
The fact that they do not call on God, that is on YHWH (Psalms 14:5), would appear
to point to foreign nations. They ‘eat up My people as they eat bread’. ‘My people’
must refer here to Israel/Judah, but especially to those who truly call on Him, the
faithful in Israel (Micah 2:9; Micah 3:5). For while ‘my people’ is used of Israel as a
whole it is always with the understanding that they are potentially responding to the
covenant. Those who fail to do so in the end cease to be ‘His people’. They are then
seen as combined with the enemy (this is made clear in the Book of Ezra). Devouring
or eating up His people refers both to depriving them of their possessions, devouring
their wealth, and to oppressing them, giving them a hard time and even doing
violence to them (compare Micah 3:1-3; Isaiah 3:14-15; Ezra 4-5). So the world is
seen as in deliberate antagonism against God, and against true righteousness as
personified in His true people.
‘The workers of iniquity’ are thus those who deliberately continue in the way of sin
having refused to become one of His people. They have turned away from the
covenant. They are not necessarily great sinners as the world would view it, but they
are from God’s viewpoint, because they fail to truly respond to Him.

CO STABLE, "The psalmist may have had some specific instance of God"s
deliverance in mind, or he may have spoken of His future judgment as having
already taken place because of its certainty. God Himself would terrorize and shame
His enemies. Evidently David saw God"s people as playing some role in their
enemies" defeat.
GUZIK, " God’s defense of His righteous people.
1. (4-5) God defends His people when attacked.
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,
Who eat up my people as they eat bread,
And do not call upon God?
There they are in great fear
Where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;
You have put them to shame,
Because God has despised them.
a. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge: David first considered the
profound fallenness of man; now he deals with the fate of God’s people in such a
fallen world. God’s people might seem like the weak fools, but David understood
that it is the workers of iniquity who have no knowledge.
i. “The question has almost a tone of surprise, as if even Omniscience found matter
of wonder in men’s mysterious love of evil.” (Maclaren)
b. Who eat up my people as they eat bread: It looks like the workers of iniquity are
strong and have the upper hand. David wondered if the people of God are
abandoned to the fools and the corrupt of this world; to those who do not call upon
God.
i. “As they eat bread, i.e. with as little regret or remorse, and with as much
greediness, and delight, and constancy too, as they use to eat their meat.” (Poole)
ii. And do not call upon God: “Practical atheism is, of course, prayerless.”
(Maclaren)
c. There they are in great fear where no fear was: Here this Psalm briefly but

significantly departs from the words of Psalms 14:1-7. The idea seems to be that
David took Psalms 14:1-7, slightly modified it to meet their present crisis, and used
it to encourage Israel.
i. It seems that it was during a time of attack or siege from an enemy (him who
encamps against you). David trusted that God would put the enemy in great fear,
even though their strategic position gave them no real reason to fear (where no fear
was).
ii. David prayed for something that God had promised an obedient Israel. God
promised to send such fear in passages like Leviticus 26:36 and Deuteronomy 28:65.
iii. David prayed for something that God had done on other occasions. There were
many times when God sent fear into the hearts of Israel’s enemies. Examples
include Joshua against the Canaanites (Joshua 10:10), Gideon against the
Midianites (Judges 7:1-25), when Jonathan and his armor-bearer defeated the
Philistines (1 Samuel 14:1-52), and in the days of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:1-37; 2
Kings 19:1-37) against the Assyrians.
iv. “God they feared not, of men they were greatly feared, and yet here they feared a
fear where no fear was.” (Trapp)
v. “The fear of God is either an impelling motive, leading in the ways of life; or it
becomes a compelling terror, issuing in destruction.” (Morgan)
d. You have put them to shame, because God has despised them: Here God answers
the fool who despises Him with despising the fool in return. However, it seems that it
was not only the fool’s denial of God that provoked the Almighty; it was more
pointedly the fool’s attack against the people of God. We might say that attacking
the people of God is just as foolish as denying God’s existence.
5 But there they are, overwhelmed with dread,
where there was nothing to dread.
God scattered the bones of those who attacked
you;
you put them to shame, for God despised them.

BAR ES, "There were they in great fear ... - Margin, as in Hebrew, “they feared
a fear.” For the general meaning of the verse, see the notes at Psa_14:5. There is,
however, an important change introduced here - the most important in the psalm. The
general sentiment of two verses Psa_14:5-6 in Psa_14:1-7 is here compressed into one,
and yet with such an important change as to show that it was by design, and apparently
to adapt it to some new circumstance. The solution of this would seem to be that the
original form Psa_14:1-7 was suited to some occasion then present to the mind of the
writer, and that some new event occurred to which the general sentiment in the psalm
might be easily applied (or which would express that as well as could be done by an
entirely new composition), but that, in order to adapt it to this new purpose, it would be
proper to insert some expression more particularly referring to the event.
The principal of these additions is found in the verse before us. In Psa_14:5-6, the
language is, “There were they in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous;
ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge.” In the psalm
before us, the language is, “There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God
hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to
shame, because God hath despised them.” “Where no fear was.” The reference here, as in
Psa_14:5, is to the fear or consternation of the people of God on account of the designs
and efforts of the wicked. They were apprehensive of being overthrown by the wicked.
The design of the psalmist in both cases is to show that there was no occasion for that
fear. In Psa_14:5, he shows it by saying that “God is in the congregation of the
righteous.” In the psalm before us fie says expressly that there was no ground for that
fear - “where no fear was,” - and he adds, as a reason, that God had “scattered the bones”
of them “that encamped against” them. That is, though there seemed to be occasion for
fear - though those enemies were formidable in numbers and in power - yet God was
their friend, and he had now showed them that they had no real occasion for alarm by
dispersing those foes.
For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee - Of
the besieger. This, as already intimated, would seem to have been introduced in order to
adapt the psalm to the particular circumstances of the occasion when it was revised.
From this clause, as well as others, it appears probable that the particular occasion
contemplated in the revision of the psalm was an attack on Jerusalem, or a siege of the
city - an attack which had been repelled, or a siege which the enemy had been compelled
to raise. That is, they had been overthrown, and their bones had been scattered,
unburied, on the ground. The whole language of Psa_14:1-7, thus modified, would be
well suited to such an occurrence. The general description of atheism and wickedness in
Psa_14:1-7 would be appropriate in reference to such an attempt on the city - for those
who made the attack might well be represented as practically saying that there was no
God; as being corrupt and abominable; as bent on iniquity; as polluted and defiled; and
as attempting to eat up the people of God as they eat bread; and as those who did not call
upon God. The verse before us would describe them as discomfited, and as being
scattered in slaughtered heaps upon the earth.
Thou hast put them to shame - That is, they had been put to shame by being
overthrown; by being unsuccessful in their attempt. The word “thou” here must be
understood as referring to God.
Because God hath despised them - He has wholly disapproved their character,

and he has “despised “their attempts; that is, he has shown that they were not
formidable or to be feared. They were efforts which might be looked on with contempt,
and he had evinced this by showing how easily they could be overthrown.
CLARKE, "For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth
against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them
- The reader will see, on comparing this with the fifth and sixth verses of Psa_14:1-7, that
the words above are mostly added here to what is said there; and appear to be levelled
against the Babylonians, who sacked and ruined Jerusalem, and who were now sacked
and ruined in their turn. The sixth verse of Psa_14:1-7, “Ye have shamed the counsel of
the poor, because the Lord is his refuge,” is added here by more than twenty of
Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS.
GILL, "There were they in great, fear, where no fear was,.... Before; neither of
God nor man, nor any dread of punishment, but the utmost security, Rev_18:7; also See
Gill on Psa_14:5;
for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee; either
against Christ, or against his church and people; who set themselves against the person,
office, and grace of Christ, and seek to distress and destroy his interest: "the bones of
such God will scatter": that is, he will destroy antichrist and his armies, which are his
strength, as the bones are the strength of the human body; and make such a carnage of
them, that the fowls of the air shall eat their flesh, and their bones shall be scattered here
and there; see Rev_19:17. So the Targum,
"for God scatters the strength of the armies of the wicked.''
Kimchi interprets it of the bones of the nations that shall encamp against Jerusalem, in
the days of Gog; see Rev_20:8; and Aben Ezra observes, that "thee" respects either God
or the Messiah;
thou hast put them to shame; this is either an address of the psalmist unto God,
declaring what he had done; or rather of God the Father to his Son Christ Jesus; and so
Kimchi and Ben Melech say this refers to the Messiah: and it may be expressive of the
shame and confusion that antichrist and his followers will be thrown into, when they
shall make war with the Lamb, and he shall overcome them, Rev_17:14;
because God hath despised them; or rejected them as reprobates; given them up to
a reprobate mind; and being ungodly men, has before ordained them to this
condemnation. The Targum is,
"for the Word of the Lord hath rejected them;''
as filthy, loathsome, and abominable, and cast them alive into the lake of fire, Rev_
19:20.
JAMISO , "Instead of assurances of God’s presence with the pious, and a complaint

of the wicked, Psa_14:5, Psa_14:6 portrays the ruin of the latter, whose “bones” even
“are scattered” (compare Psa_141:7), and who are put to shame as contemptuously
rejected of God.
BE SO , "Psalms 53:5. Where no fear was — Where there was no great or
sufficient cause of fear. They who designed to secure themselves from all fear and
danger, by their contempt of God, and by the persecution of good men, and by other
wicked courses, were, by these means, filled with the terrors which they sought to
avoid. For God hath scattered the bones, &c. —
Hath not only broken the bones, that is, their strength and force, which are often
signified by bones; but also dispersed them hither and thither, so that there is no
hope of a restoration. Of him that encampeth against thee — That is, against thy
people, expressed Psalms 53:4, or Israel, or Zion, as it is in the next verse. Many
refer this to Sheba, who blew the trumpet of rebellion afresh, 2 Samuel 20:2, and
who, being left at last to shift for himself, was shut up in the city of Abel, and there
taken and beheaded; after which, it is thought, his body was exposed to the fowls of
the air, or the wild beasts, insomuch that his bones were at last scattered. Thou hast
put them to shame — Thou, O Zion, or Jerusalem, or thou church of God, for the
great and strange disappointment of their hopes and confidence; because God hath
despised them — Or rejected them. Therefore it is no wonder if they could not stand
before thee.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 5. There were they in great fear, where no fear was. David sees
the end of the ungodly, and the ultimate triumph of the spiritual seed. The
rebellious march in fury against the gracious, but suddenly they are seized with a
causeless panic. The once fearless boasters tremble like the leaves of the aspen,
frightened at their own shadows. In this sentence and this verse, this Psalm differs
much from the fourteenth. It is evidently expressive of a higher state of realisation
in the poet, he emphasises the truth by stronger expressions. Without cause the
wicked are alarmed. He who denies God is at bottom a coward, and in his infidelity
he is like the boy in the churchyard who "whistles to keep his courage up."
For God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee. When the
wicked see the destruction of their fellows they may well quail. Mighty were the
hosts which besieged Zion, but they were defeated, and their unburied carcasses
proved the prowess of the God whose being they dared to deny.
Thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them. God's people may
well look with derision upon their enemies since they are the objects of divine
contempt. They scoff at us, but we may with far greater reason laugh them to scorn,
because the Lord our God considers them as less than nothing and vanity.
Ver. 5. There were they in great fear, where no fear was. There is a fond and
superstitious fear, when men are afraid of their shadows, as Pisander was afraid of
meeting his own soul; and Antenor would never go forth of the doors, but either in a
coach closed upon all sides, or with a target borne over his head, fearing, I guess,
lest the sky should fall down upon it, according to that in the Psalm, They fear
where no fear is. John King, 1559-1621.

Ver. 5. There were they in great fear, where no fear was. Behold how fearful a hell a
wounded conscience is! For why is Cain afraid to be killed, seeing there is none
living to perform it, but his father and mother, and perhaps some women children,
which the Scripture nameth not? It is God's just judgment, that they that will not
fear the Lord who is only to be feared, should stand in fear of them who are justly
no cause of fear. He that lately feared not to kill his brother, is now made a terror to
himself. Hereby also we may consider what is the repentance of the wicked; they see
perhaps the fault together with the punishment, but they admit the fault and lament
the punishment. icholas Gibbens, 1602.
ELLICOTT, "(5) Where no fear was.—This—the most interesting variation from
Psalms 14—appears plainly to have been inserted to bring the Psalm into harmony
with some circumstance belonging to the time for which it was adapted, but to
which we have no clue. As to the choice among the various explanations that have
been given of it, we must remark that the one which takes “fear” in a good sense
(“Then were they in great fright where there was no fear of God”) is excluded by the
fact that the same word is employed in both clauses; and, as elsewhere pâchad is
used of a “cause of terror,” we may render, There were they in great fear, where
there was no cause for fear.
Apparently, from the immediate context, this statement is made not of the enemies
of Israel, but of Israel itself, and was so constantly applicable to a people supposed
to be living under the immediate protection of God, and yet liable to sudden panics,
that we need not try to recover the precise event referred to.
Of him that encampeth against thee.—Literally, of thy besiegers. The bones of the
beleaguering host lie bleaching on the sand. But the text seems to have suffered. The
LXX. and Vulg. have “the bones of them that please men,” and a comparison with
Psalms 14:5-6 shows such a similarity of letters, with difference of meaning, that
both texts look like different attempts to restore some faded MS. Many attempts
have been made to restore the original, but none eminently satisfactory.
TRAPP, "Psalms 53:5 There were they in great fear, [where] no fear was: for God
hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth [against] thee: thou hast put [them]
to shame, because God hath despised them.
Ver. 5. There were they in great fear] Heb. They feared a fear. God they feared not,
of men they were greatly feared, and yet here they feared a fear where no fear was,
viz. without themselves, only facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi, they feared and fled
before their own consciences, their own trembling heart, Deuteronomy 28:65; the
sound of fear that is in their ears, Job 15:21; the sound of a leaf chaseth them,
Leviticus 26:36; they flee where none pursueth, Proverbs 28:1. aturalists tell us of
a certain little bird, quae fertur metu ne in ipsam coelum ruat, imponere sibi semper
dormienti alterum pedem, which for fear lest the sky should fall on her head,
sleepeth still with one foot laid upon her head. The Gauls that dwelt near the
Adriatic Sea, being asked by Alexander the Great what they most feared, answered,
ne supra se coelum corruat, lest the sky should fall upon them. Galen writeth of a

certain melancholic fellow, who hearing that Atlas supported heaven with his
shoulders, was therefore sore afraid lest he should faint under the burden; and
therefore carried his arm before him to save his head. Heraclides, out of Anacreon,
telleth of one Artemon, a timorous man, who kept home as much as might be,
having ever a couple of servants to hold a brazen buckler over his head, lest
anything should fall upon him from above; and if he were at any time necessitated
to go abroad, he was carried in a horse litter that touched the ground almost; and
was thereupon called Periphoretus (Plut. in Pericle).
For God hath scattered the bones] i.e. The strength, the strong troops, saith the
Chaldee; they want decent burial, as Jeremiah 22:19, saith the Syriac.
Thou hast put them to shame] viz. The poor afflicted, Psalms 14:5, because
God hath despised them] i.e. Subjected them to the contempt of the wicked.
ELLICOTT, "(5) Where no fear was.—This—the most interesting variation from
Psalms 14—appears plainly to have been inserted to bring the Psalm into harmony
with some circumstance belonging to the time for which it was adapted, but to
which we have no clue. As to the choice among the various explanations that have
been given of it, we must remark that the one which takes “fear” in a good sense
(“Then were they in great fright where there was no fear of God”) is excluded by the
fact that the same word is employed in both clauses; and, as elsewhere pâchad is
used of a “cause of terror,” we may render, There were they in great fear, where
there was no cause for fear.
Apparently, from the immediate context, this statement is made not of the enemies
of Israel, but of Israel itself, and was so constantly applicable to a people supposed
to be living under the immediate protection of God, and yet liable to sudden panics,
that we need not try to recover the precise event referred to.
Of him that encampeth against thee.—Literally, of thy besiegers. The bones of the
beleaguering host lie bleaching on the sand. But the text seems to have suffered. The
LXX. and Vulg. have “the bones of them that please men,” and a comparison with
Psalms 14:5-6 shows such a similarity of letters, with difference of meaning, that
both texts look like different attempts to restore some faded MS. Many attempts
have been made to restore the original, but none eminently satisfactory.
PETT, "Verse 5
In Their Folly The ations Have Invaded Israel/Judah And, Being Rejected By
God, Have Been Utterly Defeated (Psalms 53:5).
Psalms 53:5

‘There were they in great fear, where no fear was,
For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you,
You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.’
Apart from the first clause this verse is totally different in meaning from Psalms
14:5-6. Clearly it has been adapted to a new situation, an invasion that failed, even
though the consonantal text is similar. It is clear that the adapter realised that he
was dealing with a sacred text, and changed it as little as possible. In Psalms 14:5
the great fear was that of Israel’s enemies. Here it is Israel’s fear because of their
enemies. But the Psalmist points out that there was no need for that fear, because
God was with them. And as a consequence He had scattered the bones of their
enemies who had encamped against them.
Because He had rejected them Israel was able to put them to shame, presumably by
defeating them in some way. This could refer to Judah’s ‘victory’ over Sennacherib
as described in Isaiah 36-37, with the idea that there had really been nothing to fear
because God was with them, although it had certainly seemed at the time that there
was something to fear. But the addition of ‘you have put them to shame’ militates
against this, unless we see it as meaning that they put them to shame by their
prayers. For the people had nothing to do, apart from prayer, with the defeat of the
Assyrians. It could thus refer to some similar invasion that was thwarted, where
there was no real danger because God was with the forces of Israel/Judah. Psalms
53:1-4 are here given as an explanation of why God had rejected their enemies.
EBC, "The most important changes are in Psalms 53:5, which stands for Psalms
14:5 and Psalms 14:6 of Psalms 14:1-7. The first is the insertion of "where no fear
was." These words may be taken as describing causeless panic, or, less probably, as
having a subjective reference, and being equal to "while in the midst of careless
security." They evidently point to some fact, possibly the destruction of
Sennacherib’s army. Their insertion shows that the object of the alterations was to
adapt an ancient psalm as a hymn of triumph for recent deliverance, thus altering
its application from evil-doers within Israel to enemies without. The same purpose is
obvious in the transformations effected in the remainder of this verse. Considerable
as these are, the recast most ingeniously conforms to the sound of the original. If we
could present the two versions in tabular form, the resemblance would appear more
strikingly than we can here bring it out. The first variation-i.e., "scatters" instead of
"in the generation"-is effected by reading "pizzar" for "b’dhor," a clear case of
intentional assonance. Similarly the last word of the verse, "has rejected them," is
very near in consonants and sound to "his refuge" in Psalms 14:6. The like effort at
retaining the general sound of the earlier psalm runs through the whole verse. Very
significantly the complaint of the former singer is turned into triumph by the later,
who addresses the delivered Israel with "Thou hast put them to shame," while the
other psalm could but address the "fools" with "Ye would put to shame the counsel
of the afflicted." In like manner the tremulous hope of the original, "God is his
refuge," swells into commemoration of an accomplished fact in "God has rejected
them." The natural supposition is that some great deliverance of Israel had just
taken place, and inspired this singular attempt to fit old words to new needs.
Whatever the historical occasion may have been, the two singers unite in one final

aspiration, a sigh of longing for the coming of Israel’s full salvation, which is
intensified in the recast by being put in the plural ("salvations") instead of the
singular, as in Psalms 14:1-7, to express the completeness and manifoldness of the
deliverance thus yearned for of old, and not yet come in its perfection.
LA GE, "Str. V. Psalm 53:5. Where no terror was.—This does not mean blind
alarm or unnecessary fear, but the sudden and unexpected breaking in of judgment
at a time, when the enemies of the Israelites saw no reason to be terrified, and felt
themselves entirely secure, and were without fear or care (Calvin, Venema, Hengst,
Delitzsch). Examples of such ruin are: the confederates under Jehoshaphat ( 2
Chronicles 20:22 sq.), the host of Sennacherib ( Isaiah 37:36). Parallel cases are: Job
15:21; 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Some supply after Aben Ezra “as this one,” which would
express that it surpassed all others, was unheard of.—Scattered.—This is the
consequence of the overthrow. It was the greatest disgrace that the bones which had
not been gathered and buried, should be scattered ( Psalm 141:7; Ezekiel 6:5), to
become the prey of wild beasts, or manure of the field ( Jeremiah 8:3; Jeremiah
9:21; Jeremiah 14:4; Jeremiah 25:33). The enemy is here designated by the
collective in the singular, and as the besieger of the people of Israel, which leads to
an external enemy. It is otherwise with Psalm 14. The participle might in itself,
connected with Elohim, mean: who surrounds thee protecting, Psalm 34:7;
Zechariah 9:8. But this reference is here prevented partly by the position of the
participle, partly by the fact that it is not said then, whose bones, etc. Another
reading is followed by the Sept, Vulg, Syr.: the bones “of those who please men,” by
which Arab. and Æthiop understand hypocrites. But Aquil, Symm, Jerome, have
our text.—Many interpreters, without any reason, refer these words to a future
judgment.
K&D, "The last two lines of this tristich are in letters so similar to the two distichs of
Psa_14:1-7, that they look like an attempt at the restoration of some faded manuscript.
Nevertheless, such a close following of the sound of the letters of the original, and such a
changing of the same by means of an interchange of letters, is also to be found elsewhere
(more especially in Jeremiah, and e.g., also in the relation of the Second Epistle of Peter
to Jude). And the two lines sound so complete in themselves and full of life, that this way
of accounting for their origin takes too low an estimate of them. A later poet, perhaps
belonging to the time of Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, has here adapted the Davidic Psalm
to some terrible catastrophe that has just taken place, and given a special character to
the universal announcement of judgment. The addition of ‫ד‬ ַ‫ח‬ ָ ‫ה‬ָ‫י‬ ָ‫ּא־ה‬‫ל‬ (supply ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ = ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬
‫ם‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ Psa_84:4) is meant to imply that fear of judgment had seized upon the enemies of
the people of God, when no fear, i.e., no outward ground for fear, existed; it was
therefore ‫אלהים‬ ‫ת‬ ַ ְ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ח‬ (1Sa_14:15), a God-wrought panic. Such as the case with the host of
the confederates in the days of Jehoshaphat (2Ch_20:22-24); such also with the army of
Sennacherib before Jerusalem (Isa_37:36). ‫י‬ ִⅴ gives the proof in support of this fright
from the working of the divine power. The words are addressed to the people of God:
Elohim hath scattered the bones (so that unburied they lie like dirt upon the plain a prey
to wild beasts, Psa_141:7; Eze_6:5) of thy besieger, i.e., of him who had encamped
against thee. ְ‫ך‬ָ‫ּנ‬‫ח‬ .eeht tsniaga instead of ָ‫ך‬ֶ‫ּנ‬‫ח‬ = ָ‫יך‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ָ‫ע‬ ‫ה‬ֶ‫ּנ‬‫ח‬.

(Note: So it has been explained by Menachem; whereas Dunash wrongly takes the
‫ך‬ of ‫חנך‬ as part of the root, overlooking the fact that with the suffix it ought rather to
have been ָ‫ך‬ֶ‫ּנ‬‫ח‬ instead of ְ‫ך‬ָ‫ּנ‬‫ח‬. It is true that within the province of the verb âch does
occur as a pausal masculine suffix instead of écha, with the preterite (Deu_6:17; Isa_
30:19; Isa_55:5, and even out of pause in Jer_23:37), and with the infinitive (Deu_
28:24; Eze_28:15), but only in the passage before us with the participle. Attached to
the participle this masculine suffix closely approximates to the Aramaic; with proper
substantives there are no examples of it found in Hebrew. Simson ha-Nakdan, in his
‫הקונים‬ ‫חבור‬ (a MS in Leipzig University Library, fol. 29b), correctly observes that
forms like ְ‫ך‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫,שׁ‬ ְ‫ך‬ ָ ַ‫,ע‬ are not biblical Hebrew, but Aramaic, and are only found in the
language of the Talmud, formed by a mingling of the Hebrew and Aramaic.)
By the might of his God, who has overthrown them, the enemies of His people, Israel has
put them to shame, i.e., brought to nought in a way most shameful to them, the project
of those who were so sure of victory, who imagined they could devour Israel as easily and
comfortably as bread. It is clear that in this connection even Psa_53:5 receives a
reference to the foreign foes of Israel originally alien to the Psalm, so that consequently
Mic_3:3 is no longer a parallel passage, but passages like Num_14:9, our bread are they
(the inhabitants of Canaan); and Jer_30:16, all they that devour thee shall be devoured.
BI, "Then were they in great fear where no fear was.
Idle fears
Every one must have heard of borrowing trouble. It is generally done by persons who
have little real trouble of their own. Now, this habit of making oneself uneasy about little
or nothing, of groping among dark and painful subjects, which might have been avoided,
is, in part, constitutional; it may rise from the physical habit, or from temporary physical
causes: and in that case the preacher has nothing to say about it in his official relation to
the self-tormentor. But there are many instances in which the thing is not constitutional,
or at least only so in part; cases in which it is clearly one’s own fault that he vexes himself
in the fashion which we have described, and must be held responsible, in great measure,
for his own discomfort. Let us limit ourselves, now, to one special topic under the
general head, and think of the case of those who borrow trouble by permitting
themselves to be the victims of their fears. Of such persons the number is, unfortunately,
great, and as for the causes of their alarm and anxiety, their name is Legion. What
deserves special attention is this: that in a large number of cases there is really no
ground at all for the anxieties into which they fall; and that many have found, after
giving themselves no end of distress, that they had been afraid where no fear was; that
the distress was the result of their imagination; that the evils they dreaded never came to
pass; that, while they were shivering and shaking, all was going forward welt. This is the
special case to which your attention is called; the very case described by the psalmist;
and it may be useful to consider wherein lies the sinfulness of this thing, and by what
means the fault may be cured. I spoke of this habit as a sin. There is a great difference in
the quality and degree of sins; some are graver than others, some are positive and some
negative. This is a sin of thoughtlessness and carelessness; the sin of one who overlooks
what he might have observed, and ought, by all means, to have heeded, When there is
real danger, a certain kind of fear is in order: not to have it would be foolhardiness; but
as to the habit of being always nervously apprehensive, and never passing a day without
dreading-one knows not exactly what, or dreading what we have no sound reason for

judging to be imminent; this certainly shows a culpable forgetfulness of certain truths
which form the basis of a peaceful life. Such an exhibition of weakness is what God’s
servants ought never to make: if they suffer in that fashion, they put themselves in the
place of the unjust. From panic and foolish dismay, their faith, their love, their trust,
should save them; and when it is not so, we infer that in faith, love, and trust they must
be far below the mark. Let us proceed to point out a cure for the habit thus hastily
analyzed. First, then, we say to the timid, Keep God in mind. What should you fear, if
you know that He is overhead? And next turn your minds steadily away from dark views
of things. As Charles Kingsley puts it, “Never begin to look darkly at a subject, without
checking yourself and saying, Is there net a bright side to this? Has not God promised
the bright side to me? Is not my happiness in my own power? Do not I know that I am
ruining my mind, and endangering the happiness of those dear to me by looking at the
wrong side? There are two ways of looking at every occurrence—a bright and a dark side.
Two modes of action—which is most worthy of a rational being, a Christian, and a
friend? It is absurd as a rational being H torture oneself unnecessarily. It is inconsistent
in a Christian to see God’s wrath, rather than His mercy, in everything.” And, next, there
is a remedy against unreal fears, which, with any intelligent man or woman, ought H
have great force. It lies in considering how, in real trouble, real, positive, and terrible
distress, God in His providence has brought good out of evil. Even real disasters end in
blessing, and light comes gloriously out of darkness. What then of your fears? There may
be no foundation for them whatever, and in that case you ought to be ashamed of them.
But even grant the worst, and suppose that they may be realized: what then? Cannot the
same power turn them to good? May clot what you dread become to you the very thing
you need to complete your development? Either way, fear not. If your fears are vain, it is
mere self-torment; if there be ground for them, trust the Lord in this thing, and you may
yet rejoice that the evil did not fail to come. In conclusion: if any ask how to do what is
necessary to render himself independent of idle fears, or how to learn to bear the real
troubles of this world, our answer must be, that the way is—first, to pray; and, secondly,
to practise. Ask for the grace that you need; ask it day by day; such prayers cannot be
vain. And, again, practise, by forcing your mind off from morbid, gloomy thoughts, by
denying it the luxury of sentimental revelry, by insisting that it shall think of God’s love
and goodness, by telling it that it shall look out of the windows into the sunlight, and not
inside into the gloom and shadow. And as life passes on, you will find comfort and
courage in your soul, where timidity and distress used to be, and, with the ending of this
world, there shall come a large experience such as many of us must have had in our own
little lives. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
Fear, without danger
I may say to every believer in Jesus, that his condition is very like that of the landsman
on board ship when the sea was rather rough, and he said, “Captain, we are in great
danger, are we not?” As an answer did not come, he said, “Captain, don’t you see great
fear?” Then the old seaman gruffly replied, “Yes, I see plenty of fear, but not a bit of
danger.” It is often so with us; whoa the winds are out and the storms are raging there is
plenty of fear, but there is no danger. We may be much tossed, but we are quite safe, for
we have an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast, which will not start. (C. H.
Spurgeon.)

6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of
Zion!
When God restores his people,
let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
BAR ES, "Oh that the salvation of Israel ... - The only change here from Psa_
14:7 is that the word ‫אלהים‬ 'Elohiym, God, is substituted for “Jehovah,” Lord, and that
the word rendered “salvation” is here in the plural. On the supposition that the psalm
was adapted to a state of things when the city had been besieged, and the enemy
discomfited, this language would express the deep and earnest desire of the people that
the Lord would grant deliverance. Perhaps it may be supposed, also, that at the time of
such a siege, and while the Lord interposed to save them from the siege, it was also true
that there was some general danger hanging over the people; that even the nation might
be described as in some sense “captive;” or that some portions of the land were subject
to a foreign power. The desire expressed is, that the deliverance might be complete, and
that the whole land might be brought to the possession of liberty, and be rescued from
all foreign domination. That time, when it should arrive, would be the occasion of
universal rejoicing.
CLARKE, "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! - I have
already shown that the proper translation is, “Who shall give from Zion salvation to
Israel?” The word salvation is in the plural here, deliverances: but many MSS., with the
Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon, have it in the singular.
When God brinyeth back - When Jehovah bringeth back, is the reading of more
than twenty of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., with the Septuagint, Syriac, and
Chaldee, and Justinianus’ Polyglot Psalter.
For larger notes and an analysis, the reader is requested to refer to Psa_14:1-7; and for
a comparison of the two Psalms he may consult Dr. Kennicott’s Hebrew Bible, where,
under Psa_14:1-7, in the lower margin, the variations are exhibited at one view.
GILL, "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!.... Or, "who will
give (f) out of Zion the salvation of Israel?" The Targum adds, "except the Lord"; and this
is a request to him for it: and, as in Psa_14:7, it may be a wish for the first coming of
Christ, to work out salvation for his people; here it may be expressive of the desire of the
church for his coming in a spiritual manner, in the latter day, to take to himself his great

power, and reign; to destroy antichrist, and deliver his people from bondage and
oppression by him; when the Gentiles shall be gathered in, the Jews will be converted,
and all Israel saved; see Rom_11:25. It is in the original text, "salvations" (g); denoting
the complete salvation of the church; when all her enemies will be destroyed, and all
peace and prosperity shall be enjoyed by her; See Gill on Psa_14:6.
when God bringeth back the captivity of his people: who have been carried into
it by antichrist, Rev_13:10;
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad; for now the kingdoms of this world
will become Christ's; the marriage of the Lamb will be come, and the bride made ready,
through the calling of the Gentiles, and the conversion of the Jews; which will occasion
the twenty four elders, the representatives of the Christian church, to give thanks to the
Lord God Almighty, and cause many voices to be heard in heaven, expressing great joy
on this occasion, Rev_11:15.
SPURGEO , "Ver. 6. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion. Would
God the final battle were well over. When will the Lord avenge his own elect? When
will the long oppression of the saints come to its close, and glory crown their heads?
The word salvation is in the plural, to show its greatness.
When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel
shall be glad. Inasmuch as the yoke has been heavy, and the bondage cruel, the
liberty will be happy, and the triumph joyous. The second advent and the
restoration of Israel are our hope and expectation. We have attempted to throw into
rhyme the last two verses of this Psalm:
The foes of Zion quake for fright.
Where no fear was they quail;
For well they know that sword of might
Which cuts through coats of mail.
The Lord of old defiled their shields,
And all their spears he scorned;
Their bones lay scattered over the fields,
Unburied and unmourned.
Let Zion's foes be filled with shame;
Her sons are blessed of God;
Though scoffers now despise their name,
The Lord shall break the rod.
Oh! would our God to Zion turn,
God with salvation clad;
Then Judah's harps should music learn,
And Israel be glad.
TRAPP, "Psalms 53:6 Oh that the salvation of Israel [were come] out of Zion! When
God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, [and] Israel shall
be glad.
Ver. 6. Oh that the salvation] Heb. Salvations; indicat plenam salutem, Let it show

full salvation, saith Kimchi.
PETT, "Verse 6
A Final Cry That Israel/Judah Might Be Freed From The Yoke That is Upon Them
(Psalms 53:6).
Psalms 53:6
‘Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of (or ‘restores the fortunes of’) his people,
Then will Jacob rejoice,
Israel will be glad.’
These words bring the Psalm back on track as parallel with Psalms 14, being almost
word for word the same. The psalmist finishes on a note of longing for Israel’s final
deliverance when their king will rule to the ends of the earth (Psalms 2:8) and they
will thus experience such invasions no more. ‘O that Israel’s deliverance had come’.
This confirms that they are here seen as having been under some kind of
misfortune. In Job 42:10 the verb is translated ‘restores the fortunes’ and clearly
signifies a restoring of fortunes to Job. He is only a captive to his misery. And this
fits all the other places where the verb is used. Thus it is possibly the best translation
here. It could therefore refer to a period of subjection under the Philistines, or some
other enemy of Israel, and a prayer for deliverance from it. But the prayer is finally
not just for deliverance but for final deliverance when God’s final purpose of
deliverance for His people comes about through the establishing of God’s
everlasting rule Psalms 2:8-9; 2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah
11:1-4. And as a consequence of the restoring of their fortunes Jacob (Israel) will
rejoice, and Israel will be glad.
But even if we translate as being in ‘captivity’, it would not necessarily mean exile.
It could equally signify being in subjection in the land. So we are possibly to see
them here as being under the iron rule of some foreign monarch, subject to tribute
and in a period when they were being treated badly. ‘From Zion’ probably has in
mind Mount Zion from which, speaking in an earthly way, God will act. Or the
thought may be that the psalmist was looking to Zion’s king, the anointed of
YHWH, to bring about the deliverance. Either way the deliverance will be of God.
And that is the final certainty, that God will restore His people. And then they will
be glad and rejoice.
‘Brings back the captivity’, or ‘restores the fortunes’, of His people.’ See for the use
of the phrase Job 42:10; Hosea 6:11; Amos 9:14; Ezekiel 16:53; Zephaniah 2:7.
So the message of the Psalm is of God’s calling to account the folly of the nations,
both as regards Himself, and especially as revealed in their attitude towards His
people, having very much in mind here His true people. The thought is that His
being and nature are so obvious in the light of creation and conscience, and His
people so precious, that humanly speaking, from the psalmist’s point of view, God
could only question the behaviour of the world in its treatment of Him and His

people and see it as folly. And it ends on the positive note that salvation is yet
coming for His people.
GUZIK, " (6) Longing for God’s salvation.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When God brings back the captivity of His people,
Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
a. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! David knew that God was
a refuge for His people and that the workers of iniquity would never win. Yet that
was hard to see at the present time, so David expressed his great longing that God
would bring the victory and deliverance He had promised to His people.
b. When God brings back the captivity of His people: This was not the Babylonian
Captivity, many generations after David’s time. Here captivity is used in a general
sense, speaking of any time or situation where God’s people are oppressed and
bound.
i. “We take that phrase ‘turns the captivity’ in the sense in which it admittedly bears
in Job 42:10 and Ezekiel 16:53, namely that of deliverance from misfortune.”
(Maclaren)
c. Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad: David anticipates the coming deliverance,
and calls the people of God to be joyful in consideration of it.
CO STABLE, "Verse 6
3. Yearning for God"s reign53:6
David longed for the time when God would initiate salvation for Israel from Zion.
When he wrote, Israel was at least partially under a hostile foreign power"s control.
The psalmist believed God would one day restore His people and cause them to
rejoice. Because of other Revelation , we know that when Jesus Christ comes back to
reign He will reestablish Israel as His favored nation and will punish her enemies
(cf. Psalm 2; Isaiah 27:12; Isaiah 43:5-7; Jeremiah 12:15; Ezekiel 20:34-38; Ezekiel
20:42; Ezekiel 28:25-26; Daniel 7:13-14; Hosea 12:9; Joel 3:1-2; Amos 9:14-15;
Micah 4:6; Zephaniah 3:20; Zechariah 10:10). [ ote: See John F. Walvoord, Israel
in Prophecy, pp115-31.]
It is foolish to disregard God (cf. Proverbs 1:7). Those who do so will experience
present futility in their lives and future judgment for their folly.
BI, "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion.
The salvation of the Church, and the destruction of her enemies

I. The destruction of the wicked (Psa_53:5).
1. Utter and irreversible.
2. Effected by God.
3. Overtaking them when they regarded themselves as quite secure.
4. Inflicted because of their hostility to the people of God.
(1) He is in covenant relation with His people, and is pledged to help
them.
(2) He is profoundly and tenderly interested in His people (Isa_
49:14-16; Mat_18:5-6; Mat_25:40; Mat_25:45; Act_9:4). An inspiring
and strengthening consideration for the people of God. Motive and
encouragement to those who would aid them. Warning to those who
would injure them.
II. The destruction of the wicked in former times as an encouragement to
the good to expect salvation from present dangers. This we take to be the
connecting link between Psa_53:5; Psa_6:1-10.
1. The poetic view of salvation. It is here represented as deliverance from
captivity.
2. The grand source of salvation. “Out of Zion.”
3. The earnest desire of salvation.
4. The encouragement to expect salvation. God is unchangeable. What
He has done in the past He is able to do in the present. He is faithful.
What He has promised that will He perform. (W. Jones.)

Psalm 53 commentary

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Psalm 53 commentary

More from GLENN PEASE

Recently uploaded

Psalm 53 commentary