Psa 14:3-4 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 3. They are all gone aside ] They will not walk in the straight path. They seek crooked ways; and they have departed from truth , and the God of truth. They are all together become filthy ] neelachu . They are become sour and rancid ; a metaphor taken from milk that has fermented and turned sour, rancid, and worthless. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. ] This is not only the state of heathen Babylon! but the state of the whole inhabitants of the earth , till the grace of God changes their heart. By nature , and from nature, by practice , every man is sinful and corrupt. He feels no good; he is disposed to no good; he does no good. And even God himself, who cannot be deceived, cannot find a single exception to this! Lord, what is man? The Vulgate , the Roman copy of the Septuagint , the AEthiopic , and the Arabic , add those six verses here which are quoted by St. Paul, . See the notes on those passages, and see the observations at the end of this Psalm. .

‏ Psalms 14:3-4

Verse 3. They are all gone aside] They will not walk in the straight path. They seek crooked ways; and they have departed from truth, and the God of truth.

They are all together become filthy] neelachu. They are become sour and rancid; a metaphor taken from milk that has fermented and turned sour, rancid, and worthless.

There is none that doeth good, no, not one.] This is not only the state of heathen Babylon! but the state of the whole inhabitants of the earth, till the grace of God changes their heart. By nature, and from nature, by practice, every man is sinful and corrupt. He feels no good; he is disposed to no good; he does no good. And even God himself, who cannot be deceived, cannot find a single exception to this! Lord, what is man?

The Vulgate, the Roman copy of the Septuagint, the AEthiopic, and the Arabic, add those six verses here which are quoted by St. Paul, Ro 3:13-18. See the notes on those passages, and see the observations at the end of this Psalm. See Clarke on Ps 14:7.

Verse 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?] Is there not one of them who takes this dreadful subject into consideration? To their deeply fallen state they add cruelty; they oppress and destroy the poor, without either interest or reason.

Who eat up my people as they eat bread] Ye make them an easy and unresisting prey. They have no power to oppose you, and therefore you destroy them. That this is the meaning of the expression, is plain from the speech of Joshua and Caleb relative to the Canaanites. Nu 14:9: "Neither fear ye the people or the land; for they are bread for us."

And call not upon the Lord.] They have no defence, for they invoke not the Lord. They are all either atheists or idolaters.