9 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 53 To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, [A Psalm] of David. The word "mahalath" is only used here and in Psalms 88:1. Some, with Aben Ezra, take it to be the first word of a song, to the tune of which this psalm was set; others, with Jarchi, that it is the name of a musical instrument on which it was sung; a hollow...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The fool hath said in his heart, [there is] no God,.... 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, Genesis 6:12; and have done abominable iniquity; iniquity is the abominable...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
God speaks once, yea, twice, and it were well if man would even then perceive it; God, in this psalm, speaks twice, for this is the same almost verbatim with the fourteenth psalm. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins, to set us a blushing and trembling because of them; and this is what we are with so much difficulty brought to that there...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. And this he does because he is a fool. Being a fool he speaks according to his nature; being a great fool he meddles with a great subject, and comes to a wild conclusion. The atheist is, morally as well as mentally, a fool, a fool in the heart as well as in the head; a fool in morals as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men,.... In Psalms 14:2, it is read, "the Lord" or "Jehovah"; in everything else there is an agreement in this verse; [See comments on Psalms 14:2]; to see if there were [any] that did understand; the Targum is, "that were understanding" in the law; it doubtless means understanding in divine and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Every one of them is gone back,.... From God, and the way of his commandments. In Psalms 14:3, it is, "they are all gone aside"; [See comments on Psalms 14:3]; they are altogether become filthy; [there is] none that doeth good, no, not one. What follows in this verse is the same as Psalms 14:3.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?.... In Psalms 14:4, it is, "have all the workers", c. There are none of them but what have, unless given up to judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, to believe a lie, as antichrist and his followers, 2 Thessalonians 2:10 [See comments on Psalms 14:4]; who eat up my people, [as] they eat bread; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
There were they in great, fear, [where] no fear was,.... Before; neither of God nor man, nor any dread of punishment, but the utmost security, Revelation 18:7; also [See comments on Psalms 14:5]; for God hath scattered the bones of [him] that encampeth [against] thee; either against Christ, or against his church and people; who set themselves...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O that the salvation of Israel [were come] out of Zion!.... Or, "who will give (f) out of Zion the salvation of Israel?" The Targum adds, "except the Lord"; and this is a request to him for it: and, as in Psalms 14:7, it may be a wish for the first coming of Christ, to work out salvation for his people; here it may be expressive of the desire of...