Psalms 53:1

“The fool hath said in his heart, [there is] no God, etc.] The Targum adds, “of whom is revenge”; or there is no God to punish and avenge the wicked; corrupt are they; the Chaldee paraphrase is, “the wicked have corrupted their ways”; as all flesh had done in the old world, (<010612>Genesis 6:12); and have done abominable iniquity; iniquity is the abominable thing that God hates, and makes men abominable in his sight; in (<191101>Psalm 11:1), it is read, “abominable worlds”: the Targum paraphrases the words, “they are far from good, for iniquity is found in them”; (see <662108>Revelation 21:8,27); [there is] none that doeth good; (see Gill on “<191401>Psalm 14:1”).”

“Upon Mahalath--(See on Psa 88:1, title). Why this repetition of the fourteenth Psalm is given we do not know. (Psa 53:1-6) with few verbal changes, correspond with Psa 14:1-4.”

“The fool hath said in his heart ... - For the meaning of this verse, see the notes at Psalms 14:1. The only change in this verse - a change which does not affect the sense - is the substitution of the word “iniquity,” in Psalms 53:1-6, for “works,” in Psalms 14:1-7. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Ps 53 This psalm parallels Ps 14, differing only in verse 5. 53:1-3 Paul uses the Greek translation of this passage in his description of the depravity of all people (Rom 3:10-12).”

“fool: Psa 14:1-7, Psa 92:6; Mat 5:22; Luk 12:20 said: Psa 10:4, Psa 10:6, Psa 10:11, Psa 10:13; Kg1 12:26; Rom 1:21, Rom 1:28 Corrupt: Gen 6:5, Gen 6:6, Gen 6:11-13; Job 14:4, Job 15:16 have done: Lev 18:24-30; Deu 12:31; Kg1 14:24; Eze 16:47, Eze 16:51; Eph 5:12; Pe1 4:3 there is: Rom. 3:10-31 Psalms 53:2”

“The well-grounded asyndeton השׁהיתוּ התעיבוּ is here dismissed; and the expression is rendered more bombastic by the use of עול instead of עלילה. עול (the masculine to עולה), pravitas, is the accusative of the object (cf. Eze 16:52) to both verbs, which give it a twofold superlative attributive notion. Moreover, here השׁחיתו is accented with Mugrash in our printed texts instead of Tarcha. One Mugrash after another is contrary to all rule. Psalms 53:2”