Psalms 53:3
in Psalms 53All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Every one of them is gone back; they are together become filthy; There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
KJV
Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
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This verse in Psalms 53
Commentary
9 notes on this verseEvery one of them is gone back,.... From God, and the way of his commandments. In Psa 14:3, it is, "they are all gone aside"; See Gill on Psa 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 Psa 14:3.
This site's exposition
All have turned away
All have turned away and become corrupt together, and no one is left out of it. Paul quotes the line at Romans 3:12 for his case that Jews and Greeks alike are under sin. Verse 2 looked for one who understands.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"The Lord from Heaven has looked forth upon the sons of men, that He might see if there is one understanding and seeking after God" [Psalm 53:3]. What is this? "Corrupted they are," all these that say, "There is no God"? And what? Did it escape God, that they had become such? Or indeed to us would their inward thought be opened, except by Him it were told? If then He understood, if then He knew, what is this which has been said, "that He might see"? For the words are of one inquiring, of one not knowing. "God from Heaven has looked forth," etc. And as though He had found what He sought by looking upon, and by looking down from Heaven, He gives sentence: "All men have gone aside, together useless they have become: there is not one that does good, not so much as one" [Psalm 53:4]. Two questions arise somewhat difficult: for if God looks out from Heaven, in order that He may see if there is one understanding or seeking after God; there steals upon an unwise man the thought, that God knows not all things. This is one question: what is the other? If there is not one that does good, is not so much as one; who is he that travails amid bad men? The former question then is solved as follows: ofttimes the Scripture speaks in such manner, that what by the gift of God a creature does, God is said to do....For hence has been said the following also, "For the Spirit searches all things, even the depth of God;" [1 Corinthians 2:10] not because He that knows all things searches, but because to you has been given the Spirit, which makes you also to search: and that which by His own gift you do, He is said to do; because without Him you would not do it: therefore God is said to do, when you do. And because this by the gift of God you doest, God from heaven is "looking forth upon the sons of men." The former question then, according to our measure, thus has been solved.
The Medieval Church1 voice
"All have turned aside." And first he touches upon the departure from the root. Second he says what follows from this. And concerning this he explains. He says, therefore, he inquires here, but he finds that "all have turned aside, together they have become useless"; …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
); it is an evil thing; it is the worst of evils; it is that which makes this world such an evil world as it is; it is going back from God,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
He is a fool (in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right) that harbours such corrupt thoughts. Atheists, whether in opinion or practice, are the greatest fools in the world.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Every one of them is gone back. The whole mass of manhood, all of it, is gone back. In the fourteenth Psalm it was said to turn aside, which was bad enough, but here it is described as running in a diametrically opposite direction. The life of unregenerate manhood is in direct defiance of the law of God, not merely apart from it but opposed to it. They are altogether become filthy. The whole lump is soured with an evil leaven, fouled with an all pervading pollution, made rank with general putrefaction.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Every one of them is gone back. The whole mass of manhood, all of it, is gone back. In the fourteenth Psalm it was said to turn aside, which was bad enough, but here it is described as running in a diametrically opposite direction. The life of unregenerate manhood is in direct defiance of the law of God, not merely apart from it but opposed to it. They are altogether become filthy. The whole lump is soured with an evil leaven, fouled with an all pervading pollution, made rank with general putrefaction. Thus, in God's sight, our atheistic nature is not the pardoned thing that we think it to be. Errors as to God are not the mild diseases which some account them, they are abominable evils. Fair is the world to blind eyes, but to the all seeing Jehovah it is otherwise. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. How could there be, when the whole mass was leavened with so evil a leaven? This puts an end to the fictions of the innocent savage, the lone patriarch, "the Indian whose untutored mind, "etc. Pope's verse— —evaporates in smoke. The fallen race of man, left to its own energy, has not produced a single lover of God or doer of holiness, nor will it ever do so. Grace must interpose, or not one specimen of humanity will be found to follow after the good and true. This is God's verdict after looking down upon the race. Who shall gainsay it?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Every one of them is gone back - See the notes at Psa 14:3. The only variation here in the two psalms is in the substitution of the word - סג sâg, for סור sûr - words almost identical in form and in sense. The only difference in meaning is, that the former word - the word used here - means “to draw back,” or “to go back;” the other, the word used in Psa 14:1-7, means “to go off, to turn aside.” Each of them indicates a departure from God; a departure equally fatal and equally guilty, whether people turn “back” from following him, or turn “aside” to something else. Both of these forms of apostasy occur with lamentable frequency.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The fool said in his heart This is Titus; when he cut into the curtain and his sword was dripping with blood, he said that he had killed [God] Himself.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֻּלּ֥וֹ | kulo | all of it | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| סָג֮ | sag | he turns back | H5472 → | 14 times |
| יַחְדָּ֪ו | yachdav | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| נֶ֫אֱלָ֥חוּ | neelachu | they are corrupt | H444 → | |
| אֵ֤ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| עֹֽשֵׂה־ | ʾoseh- | [is one who] does | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| ט֑וֹב | tov | <of> good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| אֵ֝֗ין | ʾein | there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אֶחָֽד׃ | ʾechad | [is] one | H259 → | 971 times |
כֻּלּ֥וֹall of it
kuloH3605 →5413 times
סָג֮he turns back
sagH5472 →14 times
יַחְדָּ֪וtogether
yachdavH3162 →141 times
נֶ֫אֱלָ֥חוּthey are corrupt
neelachuH444 →
אֵ֤יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
עֹֽשֵׂה־[is one who] does
ʾoseh-H6213 →2628 times
ט֑וֹב<of> good
tovH2896 →538 times
אֵ֝֗יןthere not
ʾeinH369 →789 times
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אֶחָֽד׃[is] one
ʾechadH259 →971 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 14:3All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
it leads to
- Isaiah 53:6
We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 64:6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 3:10–12
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one.
- Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Psalms 14:1
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Isaiah 53:6
Through
Isaiah 53:6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:25
For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
- 1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- 1 Peter 2:25
Through
Isaiah 64:6Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
it leads to
- Romans 7:18
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
- Romans 7:18
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 53; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.