Psalm 14

A Portrait of Sinners

For the choir director. Davidic.

The fool says in his heart, “God does not exist.”(A)
They are corrupt; they do vile deeds.
There is no one who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race(B)
to see if there is one who is wise,
one who seeks God.
All have turned away;
all alike have become corrupt.
There is no one who does good,
not even one.[a](C)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 14:3 Some Hb mss, some LXX mss add the material found in Rm 3:13-18.

Psalm 14

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

Only fools say in their hearts,
    “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
    not one of them does good!

The Lord looks down from heaven
    on the entire human race;
he looks to see if anyone is truly wise,
    if anyone seeks God.
But no, all have turned away;
    all have become corrupt.[a]
No one does good,
    not a single one!

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Footnotes

  1. 14:3 Greek version reads have become useless. Compare Rom 3:12.

14 Bilious and bloated, they gas,
    “God is gone.”
Their words are poison gas,
    fouling the air; they poison
Rivers and skies;
    thistles are their cash crop.

God sticks his head out of heaven.
    He looks around.
He’s looking for someone not stupid—
    one man, even, God-expectant,
    just one God-ready woman.

He comes up empty. A string
    of zeros. Useless, unshepherded
Sheep, taking turns pretending
    to be Shepherd.
The ninety and nine
    follow their fellow.

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Psalm 14(A)

For the director of music. Of David.

The fool[a] says in his heart,
    “There is no God.”(B)
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
    there is no one who does good.

The Lord looks down from heaven(C)
    on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,(D)
    any who seek God.(E)
All have turned away,(F) all have become corrupt;(G)
    there is no one who does good,(H)
    not even one.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.