Psalms 14

The fool says to himself, "There is no God." They are rotten. The things they do are disgusting. There is no one who does good.

1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Note"Fool" in Hebrew (nabal) is not about low intelligence. It describes someone morally and practically senseless, a person who lives as though nothing checks his behavior. "Says in his heart" is the Hebrew way of describing private thought rather than public speech, so the claim is being lived out rather than argued.

2The LORD looked down from heaven at the human race, to see if anyone understood, if anyone was looking for God.

2The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

Note"The LORD" printed this way stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH. Jewish tradition avoided pronouncing it and said "the Lord" instead, and English Bibles keep that practice by using capitals. The picture of God "looking down from heaven" echoes Genesis 11, where God comes down to inspect what people are building.

3They have all turned away. Together they have all become rotten. No one does what is good. Not even one person.

3They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

4Do these people who do wrong know nothing at all? They eat up my people the way they eat bread, and they never call on the LORD.

4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

Note"They eat up my people the way they eat bread" is a Hebrew image for consuming others as casually and thoughtlessly as eating a daily meal, exploiting the vulnerable as ordinary routine. Notice that the speaker changes here: "my people" is God speaking, though the Hebrew gives no explicit marker of the switch, and some read the whole line as the psalmist quoting God.

5Right there, terror took hold of them, because God is with the group of people who do what is right.

5There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.

Note"Generation" here does not mean an age group. The Hebrew word can mean a company or circle of people, those who live a certain way, so this is about the community of the upright, not everyone born at one time.

6You wreck the plans of the poor person, but the LORD is his safe place.

6Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.

Note"The poor" in the Hebrew Bible usually covers more than lack of money: it means the afflicted, powerless, or oppressed, those with no leverage in court or in the marketplace. "Counsel" in older English means plans or purposes, not advice.

7How I wish that Israel's rescue would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings his people back home, Jacob will celebrate and Israel will be glad.

7Oh 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.

NoteZion was originally the fortified hill David captured in Jerusalem; it came to stand for the temple mount, and then for Jerusalem and the whole nation. The phrase behind "brings his people back home" is deliberately open in Hebrew: it can mean returning exiles from captivity or, more broadly, restoring someone's fortunes, and both senses are debated here. Jacob and Israel are two names for the same ancestor (Jacob was renamed Israel in Genesis 32) and so for the nation descended from him; the doubling is standard Hebrew poetic parallelism, not two different groups.