Tap any verse number for what that verse means.
1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
2God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.
3Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
5There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.
6Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
Understand This
Psalm 53, explained
What Psalm 53 is saying
Nearly identical to Psalm 14, this Elohistic doublet replaces YHWH with Elohim throughout, likely reflecting its placement within the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42–83). The psalm is a wisdom meditation on universal human corruption, declaring that the fool (nabal) who denies God produces a society devoid of goodness. The variation in verse 5 from Psalm 14 introduces imagery of scattered bones and divine rejection of the wicked.
The background behind it
The relationship between Psalms 14 and 53 has generated significant scholarly discussion. The Elohistic substitution and the altered verse 5 suggest different liturgical traditions or editorial contexts, possibly reflecting the psalm's use in northern Israelite worship.
Themes running underneath
The nabal is not an intellectual atheist but a practical one—living as though God is irrelevant. The psalm's sweeping indictment ('there is no one who does good') establishes the universal need for divine intervention, a text Paul leverages extensively in Romans 3.
Why it still matters
The psalm's unflinching diagnosis of human moral incapacity prevents any triumphalism and points toward the necessity of divine salvation originating from Zion—a hope that transcends individual moral achievement.
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.