Mazmur 14:1

Psalm 14 ¹ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ²  “There is no God.” ³ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ⁴ 

none of them does what is right. ⁵ 

Mazmur 36:4

36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;

he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; ⁶ 

he does not reject what is evil. ⁷ 

Mazmur 53:1

Psalm 53 ⁸ 

For the music director; according to the machalath style; ⁹  a well-written song ¹⁰  by David.

53:1 Fools say to themselves, ¹¹  “There is no God.” ¹² 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ¹³ 

none of them does what is right. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 84:10-11

84:10 Certainly ¹⁵  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ¹⁶ 

I would rather stand at the entrance ¹⁷  to the temple of my God

than live ¹⁸  in the tents of the wicked.

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹⁹ 

The Lord bestows favor ²⁰  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ²¹ 

[14:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ² tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ³ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[36:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.

[36:4]  ⁷ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.

[53:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 53. This psalm is very similar to Ps 14. The major difference comes in v. 5, which corresponds to, but differs quite a bit from, Ps 14:5-6, and in the use of the divine name. Ps 14 uses “the Lord” (יְהוָה, yÿhvah, “Yahweh”) in vv. 2a, 4, 6, and 7, while Ps 53 employs “God” (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) throughout, as one might expect in Pss 42-83, where the name “Yahweh” is relatively infrequent. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[53:1]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מָחֲלַת (makhalat, “machalath”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term also appears in the heading of Ps 88.

[53:1]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.

[53:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[53:1]  ¹² sn There is no God. This statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that he is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[53:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they do evil [with] injustice.” Ps 14:1 has עֲלִילָה (’alilah, “a deed”) instead of עָוֶל (’aval, “injustice”). The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[53:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[84:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I choose being at the entrance of the house of my God over living in the tents of the wicked.” The verb סָפַף (safaf) appears only here in the OT; it is derived from the noun סַף (saf, “threshold”). Traditionally some have interpreted this as a reference to being a doorkeeper at the temple, though some understand it to mean “lie as a beggar at the entrance to the temple” (see HALOT 765 s.v. ספף).

[84:10]  ¹⁸ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[84:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”