Psalms 14:1

Psalm 14 ¹ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ²  “There is no God.” ³ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ⁴ 

none of them does what is right. ⁵ 

Mark 2:6-8

2:6 Now some of the experts in the law ⁶  were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds: ⁷  2:7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! ⁸  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 2:8 Now ⁹  immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, ¹⁰  he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? ¹¹ 

Luke 7:39

7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, ¹²  he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, ¹³  he would know who and what kind of woman ¹⁴  this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

¹ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

² tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

³ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

⁴ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

⁵ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

⁶ tn Or “some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

⁷ tn Grk “Reasoning within their hearts.”

⁸ sn Blaspheming meant to say something that dishonored God. To claim divine prerogatives or claim to speak for God when one really does not would be such an act of offense. The remark raised directly the issue of the nature of Jesus’ ministry.

⁹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the shift from the thoughts of the experts in the law to Jesus’ response.

¹⁰ tn Grk “they were thus reasoning within themselves.”

¹¹ tn Grk “Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?”

¹² tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹³ tn This is a good example of a second class (contrary to fact) Greek conditional sentence. The Pharisee said, in effect, “If this man were a prophet (but he is not)…”

¹⁴ sn The Pharisees believed in a form of separationism that would have prevented them from any kind of association with such a sinful woman.