Psalm 53: The Fool's Creed, a Second Time

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

"Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God. There 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. Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!"

Two copies of one psalm

Psalms 14 and 53 are the same poem. Differences: Psalm 53 uses Elohim where Psalm 14 has YHWH; small wording changes ("abominable iniquity" for "abominable works"; "gone back," sag, for "gone aside," sar); and verse 5, which differs from 14:5–6. The pair is one of the clearest pieces of evidence that psalms circulated in more than one collection and were adapted, and that an editor of Psalms 42–83 changed the divine name.

Practical atheism

"There is no God" (en Elohim) is not a philosophical denial but the conviction that God does not see or act (compare Psalm 10:4, 11). The "fool" (naval) is morally senseless, like Nabal in 1 Samuel 25.

53:5 and 14:5–6

Psalm 14:5–6: "There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge." Psalm 53:5: "There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee." Several words share consonants, which suggests that one version reinterpreted or re-read a damaged or difficult text, or that the poem was deliberately applied to a military deliverance. No manuscript shows which form is older. See the passage page.

The heading

"To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David." Mahalath also heads Psalm 88; it may mean "sickness" or name a tune or instrument. The library's Vulgate transliterates: "pro Maëleth." Psalm 14's heading has neither Mahalath nor Maschil: the same poem carried different performance notes in different collections.

No Romans insertion

The library's Vulgate of Psalm 14 (Latin 13) contains a chain of lines from Romans 3:13–18; its Psalm 53 (Latin 52) does not. The insertion belongs to the transmission of Psalm 14 only.