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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 14:3

Paul's quotations inside the psalm

In the Hebrew, Psalm 14:3 ends "there is none that doeth good, no, not one." In the library's Vulgate (Psalm 13:3) the verse continues with six more lines: the same chain of quotations Paul uses in Romans 3:13–18. Giguet's Greek and the Hebrew and KJV do not have them.

Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

    The psalm as first composed

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

  2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

    Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt. Non est qui faciat bonum, non est usque ad unum. Sepulchrum patens est guttur eorum; linguis suis dolose agebant. Venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum, quorum os maledictione et amaritudine plenum est; veloces pedes eorum ad effundendum sanguinem. Contritio et infelicitas in viis eorum, et viam pacis non cognoverunt; non est timor Dei ante oculos eorum.

    Latin numbering: Psalm 13:3. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

  3. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    הַכֹּ֥ל סָר֮ יַחְדָּ֢ו נֶ֫אֱלָ֥חוּ אֵ֤ין עֹֽשֵׂה־ט֑וֹב אֵ֝֗ין גַּם־אֶחָֽד׃

    All have turned aside, together they are corrupt; there is none that does good, not even one

    Hebrew numbering: Psalm 14:3.

  4. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

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

  5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from the Old Greek Psalter

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Tous ont dévié, et en même temps sont devenus inutiles; pas un ne fait le bien, pas un seul.

    Greek numbering: Psalm 13:3. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition. The longer text is absent here.

What changed, and why

Paul built Romans 3:10–18 from several passages: Psalm 14:1–3 (or 53:1–3), 5:9, 140:3, 10:7, Isaiah 59:7–8 and Psalm 36:1. Later Christian copyists, it seems, filled out the psalm from Romans. The longer form is found in some Greek manuscripts and entered the Latin Psalter; Giguet's French, made from a printed Greek text, has the shorter form.

The site therefore treats the extra lines as an addition to the Greek and Latin psalm, not as an ancient Hebrew reading. Psalm 53, the Elohim version of Psalm 14, does not have them in the Vulgate.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe library's Vulgate of 14:3 contains the Romans 3:13–18 chain.
  • Strongly supportedThe lines entered the Psalm from Romans. Majority explanation; see Rahlfs' apparatus.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Psalm 14: The Fool Says There Is No God →"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Corruption is universal: "there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Evildoers eat up God's people as they eat bread. But God is with the righteous generation, and the psalm ends with a hope: "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" Psalm 53 is almost the same psalm, using Elohim instead of YHWH.