King James Version
Psalms 14
7 verses with commentary
The Fool Says There Is No God
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.</strong> This opening verse makes a devastating diagnosis of humanity's fundamental problem: practical atheism that produces moral corruption. The psalm addresses not theoretical atheism but lived godlessness—behavior that denies God's existence, authority, or...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Fool.**—Heb., *nabal, *from a root meaning “to wither;” hence flat, insipid (*insipiens*)*. *But this is not therefore speculative atheism, but practical—a denial of the moral government of God—so that fool and wicked become almost synonymous.
**They have done abominable works.**—Literally, *they have made to be abhorred their works. *The LXX. and Vulg. have caught the sense, “They have beco...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
6. Parenthetical. Translate: "Oh, that God would weigh me ... then would He know," &c.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.</strong> After diagnosing human corruption (v.1), the psalm now presents divine response—God's searching examination of humanity. The imagery parallels Genesis 6:5 (before the flood) and Genesis 11:5 (at Babel) where God surveys human wickedness. This is not omniscient God...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Looked down.**—Literally, *bent forward to look as from a window. *(Comp. Song of Solomon 6:10.)
**Did understand.**—Better, *any man of understanding, *in contrast with “fool,” in Psalm 14:1, and certainly meaning one who regulates his conduct on the conviction of the existence of a holy and just God.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. Connected with Job 31:6.
**the way--**of God (Job 23:11; Jr 5:5). A godly life.
**heart ... after ... eyes--**if my heart coveted, what my eyes beheld (Ec 11:9; Jos 7:21).
**hands--**(Psa 24:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. filthy: Heb. stinking
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.</strong> This verse answers the question posed in verse 2—God's searching examination finds universal corruption. The threefold emphasis ("all gone aside," "all together become filthy," "none that doeth good") leaves no exceptions, no loopholes, no grounds for self-righteousness. The d...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Filthy.**—Better, *corrupt *or *putrid. *Comp. the Roman satirist’s description of his age:—
“Nothing is left, nothing for future times
To add to the full catalogue of crimes.
The baffled sons must feel the same desires
And act the same mad follies as their sires.
Vice has attained its zenith.”—JUVENAL: *Sat. i.*
Between Psalm 14:3-4 the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX., followed by the Vulg. and...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. Apodosis to Job 31:5, 7; the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (Le 26:16; Am 9:14; Psa 128:2).
**offspring--**rather, "what I plant," my harvests.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
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KJV Study Commentary
This rhetorical question exposes the wicked's moral insensitivity—they 'eat up' God's people like bread (thoughtlessly, habitually) and do not call upon God. The Hebrew 'akal' (eat/devour) suggests consuming the poor as casually as one eats food. The parallel between devouring people and not calling on God reveals that prayerlessness and oppression are connected—those who ignore God inevitably har...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?**—*i.e., *are they so senseless as not to perceive the consequences of their wrong-doing? or if we point the verb as the LXX. and Vulg., “shall they not know?” *i.e., *they are sure to find out *to *what their wickedness is leading them.
**Who eat up.**—Literally, *eating my people, they have eaten bread; on Jehovah they have not called, *which ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
**deceived--**hath let itself be seduced (Pr 7:8; Ge 39:7-12).
**laid wait--**until the husband went out.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. were: Heb. they feared a fear
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.</strong> After diagnosing human corruption (v.1-3) and confronting oppressors (v.4), verse 5 announces divine judgment—the wicked experience terror because God dwells among His people. The verse shifts from describing the wicked's behavior to declaring their fate, moving from diagnosis to consequence.<br><br>"The...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **There were they.**—Literally, *there they feared a fear, i.e., *terror overtook them. Psalms 53 adds, “which was no fear.” The local “there” brings the scene before us as in a picture. We see them *there *before us, these wicked men; *there *in the midst of their intrigues, or their exactions, or their pleasures, the hand of God seizes them, and lo! they are struck with fear. We evidently ha...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
**deceived--**hath let itself be seduced (Pr 7:8; Ge 39:7-12).
**laid wait--**until the husband went out.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.
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KJV Study Commentary
The wicked 'frustrate the plans of the poor' but God is their refuge. The Hebrew 'bush' (put to shame/frustrate) indicates actively working against the vulnerable. Yet the poor have Yahweh as their 'machseh' (refuge/shelter). This anticipates the Beatitudes where the poor in spirit possess the kingdom (Matthew 5:3). Reformed theology affirms God's particular care for the marginalized as evidence o...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Counsel.**—This confidence, this piety, this appeal addressed to the supreme Protector, is in this verse called the “counsel,” the “plan” of the sufferer, and the poet asks, “Would ye then make the sufferer blush for such a thought?” “No, for Jehovah is his refuge.” The Authorised Version has here missed the sense by rendering in the past tense.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
**deceived--**hath let itself be seduced (Pr 7:8; Ge 39:7-12).
**laid wait--**until the husband went out.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. Oh: Heb. Who will give
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.</strong> The psalm concludes with fervent longing for national redemption. After diagnosing human corruption (v.1-3), confronting oppressors (v.4), announcing divine judgment (v.5-6), David now expresses hope for comprehensive salvat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Oh that.**—The thoughts of the exiles turn to the Holy City as the *one *source of deliverance, as if Jehovah’s power would only manifest itself from His hallowed abode. So Daniel looked towards Jerusalem in his prayer. (Comp. the same feeling in Isaiah 40:9-10.) For the expression “turn the captivity,” or, to keep the Heb. idiom, “turn the turning,” comp. Psalm 85:1; Psalm 126:1; Hosea 6:2;...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
**deceived--**hath let itself be seduced (Pr 7:8; Ge 39:7-12).
**laid wait--**until the husband went out.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
A description of the depravity of human nature, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.
--The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but wi...
Read full commentary →