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Selected Verse: Psalms 14:3 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 14:3 |
King James |
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
filthy--literally, "spoiled," or, "soured," "corrupted" (Job 15:16; Rom 3:12). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
They are all gone aside - This verse states the result of the divine investigation referred to in the previous verse. The result, as seen by God himself, was, that "all" were seen to have gone aside, and to have become filthy. The word rendered "gone aside" means properly to go off, to turn aside or away, to depart; as, for example, to turn out of the right way or path, Exo 32:8. Then it means to turn away from God; to fall away from his worship; to apostatize, Sa1 12:20; Kg2 18:6; Ch2 25:27. This is the idea here - that they had all apostatized from the living God. The word "all" in the circumstances makes the statement as universal as it can be made; and no term could be used more clearly affirming the doctrine of universal depravity.
They are all together become filthy - The word "all" here is supplied by the translators. It was not necessary, however, to introduce it in order that the idea of universal depravity might be expressed, for that is implied in the word rendered "together," יחדו yachedâv. That word properly conveys the idea that the same character or conduct pervaded all, or that the same thing might be expressed of all those referred to. They were united in this thing - that they bad become defiled or filthy. The word is used with reference to "persons," as meaning that they are all "in one place," Gen 13:6; Gen 22:6; or to "events," as meaning that they occurred at one time, Psa 4:8. They were all as one. Compare Ch1 10:6. The idea is that, in respect to the statement made, they were alike. What would describe one would describe all. The word rendered "become filthy" is, in the margin, rendered "stinking." In Arabic the word means to become "sharp," or "sour" as milk; and hence, the idea of becoming corrupt in a moral sense. Gesenius, Lexicon. The word is found only here, and in the parallel Psa 53:3, and in Job 15:16, in each of which places it is rendered "filthy." It relates here to character, and means that their character was morally corrupt or defiled. The term is often used in that sense now.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one - Nothing could more clearly express the idea of universal depravity than this expression. It is not merely that no one could be found who did good, but the expression is repeated to give emphasis to the statement. This entire passage is quoted in Rom 3:10-12, in proof of the doctrine of universal depravity. See the note at that passage. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The third tristich bewails the condition in which He finds humanity. The universality of corruption is expressed in as strong terms as possible. הכּל they all (lit., the totality); יחדּו with one another (lit., in its or their unions, i.e., universi); אין גּם־אחד not a single one who might form an exception. סר (probably not 3 praet. but partic., which passes at once into the finite verb) signifies to depart, viz., from the ways of God, therefore to fall away (ἀποστάτης). נאלח, as in Job 15:16, denotes the moral corruptness as a becoming sour, putrefaction, and suppuration. Instead of אין גּם־אחד, the lxx translates οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός (as though it were עד־אחד, which is the more familiar form of expression). Paul quotes the first three verses of this Psalm (Rom 3:10-12) in order to show how the assertion, that Jews and heathen all are included under sin, is in accordance with the teaching of Scripture. What the psalmist says, applies primarily to Israel, his immediate neighbours, but at the same time to the heathen, as is self-evident. What is lamented is neither the pseudo-Israelitish corruption in particular, nor that of the heathen, but the universal corruption of man which prevails not less in Israel than in the heathen world. The citations of the apostle which follow his quotation of the Psalm, from τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος to ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν were early incorporated in the Psalm in the Κοινή of the lxx. They appear as an integral part of it in the Cod. Alex., in the Greco-Latin Psalterium Vernonense, and in the Syriac Psalterium Mediolanense. They are also found in Apollinaris' paraphrase of the Psalms as a later interpolation; the Cod. Vat. has them in the margin; and the words σύντπιμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν have found admittance in the translation, which is more Rabbinical than Old Hebrew, מזּל רע וּפגע רע בּדרכיהם even in a Hebrew codex (Kennicott 649). Origen rightly excluded this apostolic Mosaic work of Old Testament testimonies from his text of the Psalm; and the true representation of the matter is to be found in Jerome, in the preface to the xvi. book of his commentary on Isaiah.
(Note: Cf. Plschke's Monograph on the Milanese Psalterium Syriacum, 1835, p. 28-39.) |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Gone - From God, and from the rule which he hath given them. Filthy - Loathsome and abominable to God. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
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 - נאלחו 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 Athtopic, and the Arabic, add those six verses here which are quoted by St. Paul, Rom 3:13-18 (note). See the observations at the end of this Psalm. |
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
27 Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.
6 For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.
20 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.