¹ The fool^[a] says in his heart,
    ‘There is no God.’
    They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
    there is no-one who does good.
² The LORD looks down from heaven
    on the sons of man
    to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
³ All have turned aside,
    They together have become corrupt;
    there is no-one who does good,
    not even one.
⁴ Will evildoers never learn -

   Those who devour my people as men eat bread;
    and who do not call on the Lord?
⁵ They are, overwhelmed with dread,
    for God is present in the company of the righteous.
⁶ You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
    but the LORD is their refuge.
⁷ Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
(NIV)

Footnotes
a. Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.

Psalm 14:- is Psalm that comes from the Davidic collection (ps1-41) and the Elohistic collection (ancient biblical sources Elohistic document).(Ps 42-83). There is a relative minor difference between Ps 14 and Ps 53. It is thought they may originate from the same Psalm and over the years the text was corrupted, or editorial changes happened. Ps 14 the evil doers might be Israelites, while in Ps 53 they are foreigners. It is a well-loved psalm in ancient Israel, today the reader finds difficulty in understanding how it should be read.

v1-3 Society is corrupt, with godlessness and wickedness. People pit themselves against God who not only exists, but in the world v5 is the threat that God punishes and avenges every aggressive act against his people. The psalmist calls for salvation to come to restore the nation. Perhaps remembering the days of Noah when God did this very thing. God was grieved in His heart, because He had made man, and searched to see if there were any who believed, and He found Noah. The sad thing in Sodom and Gomorrah; is that God could not even find 10 people in right standing with Him.

It appears from this verse, that even in David's day, it was hard to find anyone living for God. v7 – is a cry to restore the nation. This psalm is quoted in abbreviated form in OT, and Paul uses v 1-3 in Romans 3:10-18.

Over the years people’s faith in God has waned from belief to ignorance of God. I am so glad for the people who took the trouble to translate and produce bibles. It is good to thank all the people who work in the of producing the bible so that we can read God’s words for ourselves. I remember my first bible and the difficulty my family had to afford or find one for sale. I now have quite a few bibles around our house, so I am not far from any of them, to pick up and ponder on a verse that comes to mind.

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