Psalms 14:1-3

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 

14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven ⁶  at the human race, ⁷ 

to see if there is anyone who is wise ⁸  and seeks God. ⁹ 

14:3 Everyone rejects God; ¹⁰ 

they are all morally corrupt. ¹¹ 

None of them does what is right, ¹² 

not even one!

Genesis 6:5

6:5 But the Lord saw ¹³  that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination ¹⁴  of the thoughts ¹⁵  of their minds ¹⁶  was only evil ¹⁷  all the time. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 6:11

6:11 The earth was ruined ¹⁹  in the sight of ²⁰  God; the earth was filled with violence. ²¹ 

Job 15:16

15:16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, ²² 

who drinks in evil like water! ²³ 

Job 31:33

31:33 if ²⁴  I have covered my transgressions as men do, ²⁵ 

by hiding ²⁶  iniquity in my heart, ²⁷ 

Job 31:1

Job Vindicates Himself

31:1 “I made a covenant with ²⁸  my eyes;

how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? ²⁹ 

Colossians 3:3

3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:1

Exhortations to Seek the Things Above

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Colossians 4:2-3

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. 4:3 At the same time pray ³⁰  for us too, that ³¹  God may open a door for the message ³²  so that we may proclaim ³³  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ³⁴ 

[14:1]  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.

[14:1]  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.

[14:1]  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).

[14:1]  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.

[14:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[14:2]  ⁶ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

[14:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

[14:2]  ⁸ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

[14:2]  ⁹ sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

[14:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “everyone turns aside.”

[14:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[14:3]  ¹² tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[6:5]  ¹³ sn The Hebrew verb translated “saw” (רָאָה, ra’ah), used here of God’s evaluation of humankind’s evil deeds, contrasts with God’s evaluation of creative work in Gen 1, when he observed that everything was good.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn The noun יֵצֶר (yetser) is related to the verb יָצָר (yatsar, “to form, to fashion [with a design]”). Here it refers to human plans or intentions (see Gen 8:21; 1 Chr 28:9; 29:18). People had taken their God-given capacities and used them to devise evil. The word יֵצֶר (yetser) became a significant theological term in Rabbinic literature for what might be called the sin nature – the evil inclination (see also R. E. Murphy, “Yeser in the Qumran Literature,” Bib 39 [1958]: 334-44).

[6:5]  ¹⁵ tn The related verb הָשָׁב (hashav) means “to think, to devise, to reckon.” The noun (here) refers to thoughts or considerations.

[6:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his heart” (referring to collective “humankind”). The Hebrew term לֵב (lev, “heart”) frequently refers to the seat of one’s thoughts (see BDB 524 s.v. לֵב). In contemporary English this is typically referred to as the “mind.”

[6:5]  ¹⁷ sn Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil. There is hardly a stronger statement of the wickedness of the human race than this. Here is the result of falling into the “knowledge of good and evil”: Evil becomes dominant, and the good is ruined by the evil.

[6:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all the day.”

[6:11]  ¹⁹ tn Apart from Gen 6:11-12, the Niphal form of this verb occurs in Exod 8:20 HT (8:24 ET), where it describes the effect of the swarms of flies on the land of Egypt; Jer 13:7 and 18:4, where it is used of a “ruined” belt and “marred” clay pot, respectively; and Ezek 20:44, where it describes Judah’s morally “corrupt” actions. The sense “morally corrupt” fits well in Gen 6:11 because of the parallelism (note “the earth was filled with violence”). In this case “earth” would stand by metonymy for its sinful inhabitants. However, the translation “ruined” works just as well, if not better. In this case humankind’s sin is viewed has having an adverse effect upon the earth. Note that vv. 12b-13 make a distinction between the earth and the living creatures who live on it.

[6:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before.”

[6:11]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew word translated “violence” refers elsewhere to a broad range of crimes, including unjust treatment (Gen 16:5; Amos 3:10), injurious legal testimony (Deut 19:16), deadly assault (Gen 49:5), murder (Judg 9:24), and rape (Jer 13:22).

[15:16]  ²² tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toáe„ba„ et le verbe táb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217ff.). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).

[15:16]  ²³ sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water – freely and in large quantities.

[31:33]  ²⁴ tn Now the protasis continues again.

[31:33]  ²⁵ sn Some commentators suggest taking the meaning here to be “as Adam,” referring to the Paradise story of the sin and denial.

[31:33]  ²⁶ tn The infinitive is epexegetical, explaining the first line.

[31:33]  ²⁷ tn The MT has “in my bosom.” This is the only place in the OT where this word is found. But its meaning is well attested from Aramaic.

[31:1]  ²⁸ tn The idea of cutting a covenant for something may suggest a covenant that is imposed, except that this construction elsewhere argues against it (see 2 Chr 29:10).

[31:1]  ²⁹ tn This half-verse is the effect of the covenant. The interrogative מָה (mah) may have the force of the negative, and so be translated “not to pay attention.”

[4:3]  ³⁰ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:3]  ³¹ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

[4:3]  ³² tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

[4:3]  ³³ tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ³⁴ tn Or “in prison.”