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Psalm 14

Denunciation of Godlessness

To the leader. Of David.

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt; they do abominable deeds;
    there is no one who does good.(A)

The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
    to see if there are any who are wise,
    who seek after God.(B)

They have all gone astray; they are all alike perverse;
    there is no one who does good,
    no, not one.(C)

Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
    who eat up my people as they eat bread
    and do not call upon the Lord?(D)

There they shall be in great terror,
    for God is with the company of the righteous.(E)
You would confound the plans of the poor,
    but the Lord is their refuge.(F)

O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
    When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
    Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.(G)

The Folly of the Godless and God’s Final Triumph

For the music director. Of David.[a]

14 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt.
They do abominable deeds.
There is none who does good.
Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the children of humankind
to see whether there is one who has insight,
one who cares about God.
All have gone astray;
they are altogether corrupt.
There is not one who does good;
there is not even one.
All who do evil—do they not know,
they who eat my people as though they were eating bread?
They do not call on Yahweh.
There they are very fearful[b]
because God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would put to shame the plan of the poor,
because[c] Yahweh is his refuge.
Oh that from Zion[d] would come salvation for Israel!
When Yahweh returns the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be happy.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
  2. Psalm 14:5 Literally “they feared a fear”
  3. Psalm 14:6 Or “but”
  4. Psalm 14:7 Literally “Who will give that from Zion”