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Human Wickedness[a](A)

53 (B)Fools say to themselves,
    “There is no God.”
They are all corrupt,
    and they have done terrible things;
    there is no one who does what is right.

God looks down from heaven at people
    to see if there are any who are wise,
    any who worship him.
But they have all turned away;
    they are all equally bad.
Not one of them does what is right,
    not a single one.

“Don't they know?” God asks.
    “Are these evildoers ignorant?
They live by robbing my people,
    and they never pray to me.”

But then they will become terrified,
    as they have never been before,
    for God will scatter the bones of the enemies of his people.
God has rejected them,
    and so Israel will totally defeat them.

How I pray that victory
    will come to Israel from Zion.
How happy the people of Israel will be
    when God makes them prosperous again!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 53:1 HEBREW TITLE: A poem by David.

Psalm 53

Denunciation of Godlessness

To the leader: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David.

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

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

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

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

There they shall be in great terror,
    in terror such as has not been.
For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly;[a]
    they will be put to shame,[b] for God has rejected them.(E)

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

Footnotes

  1. 53.5 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb him who encamps against you
  2. 53.5 Gk: Heb you have put (them) to shame

53 (0) For the leader. On machalat. A maskil of David:

(1) A brutish fool tells himself,
“There isn’t any God.”
Such people are depraved, all their deeds are vile,
not one of them does what is good.
(2) God looks out from heaven
upon the human race
to see if even one is wise,
if even one seeks God.
(3) Every one of them is unclean,
altogether corrupt;
not one of them does what is good,
not a single one.

(4) Won’t these evildoers ever learn?
They devour my people
as if they were eating bread,
and they never call on God!
(5) They will be gripped with terror,
even though now they are not afraid;
for God will scatter the bones
of him who is besieging you.
You are putting them to shame,
because God has rejected them.

(6) If only salvation for Isra’el
would come out of Tziyon!
When God restores his people’s fortunes,
what joy for Ya‘akov! what gladness for Isra’el!

53 1-2 Bilious and bloated, they gas,
    “God is gone.”
It’s poison gas—
    they foul themselves, 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 the one.

Don’t they know anything,
    all these predators?
Don’t they know
    they can’t get away with this,
Treating people like a fast-food meal
    over which they’re too busy to pray?

Night is coming for them, and nightmare—
    a nightmare they’ll never wake up from.
God will make hash of these squatters,
    send them packing for good.

Is there anyone around to save Israel?
    God turns life around.
Turned-around Jacob skips rope,
    turned-around Israel sings laughter.