Psalm 53:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

NIV: Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

NASB: Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.

CSB: All have turned away; all alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.

NLT: But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!

KJV: Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

NKJV: Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

In the prior verse, God was poetically said to be searching "to see if" anyone was fully willing to follow Him. Here, we're given an answer that precisely evaluates the human race. It says every human being has fallen away and become corrupt. No one does what is good in God's sight. This is a cornerstone concept in Christianity: that no person, anywhere, can claim to be "good enough" to meet God's standards.

Adam and Eve were the first human beings. When they sinned, they passed sin onto the human race. Soon their son Cain displayed a wicked spirit by killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4). Several generations later sin had snowballed to point that the human race was completely corrupt. In the days before the flood, "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).

This trend is not something of the past; it's a constant presence in human hearts. The prophet Isaiah wrote that all of us have gone astray, and like sheep we have gone our own way (Isaiah 53:6). Our way is the opposite of God's way. He is completely holy; we are completely unholy.

The declaration here is echoed in Romans 3:11. People seek some form of the divine, but no one is naturally interested in the truths about sin. A common quip says that sinners do not seek God for the same reason criminals do not seek a police officer.

David's worshipful song points out the recklessness and evil of denying the existence of God. That attitude leads to evil, but God also notes that the entire human race has chosen to ignore Him and go their own way. Those who oppose God will, eventually, be thoroughly defeated by God's holiness. The psalm ends with David's prayer for the salvation and restoration of Israel.

This brief collection of verses is arranged for use in music or worship. It is similar to Psalm 14 and is quoted in part in Romans 3. Here David depicts the human race as evil and incapable of producing any truly good deeds in God's sight. David, the psalmist, longs for the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. When the kingdom arrives, there will be great joy. Ephesians 2:1–3 also portrays humanity as spiritually evil, and Isaiah 12 also describes the kingdom as a time of great joy.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.