Psalm 53:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?

NIV: Do all these evildoers know nothing? They devour my people as though eating bread; they never call on God.

NASB: Have the workers of injustice no knowledge, Who eat up My people like they ate bread, And have not called upon God?

CSB: Will evildoers never understand? They consume my people as they consume bread; they do not call on God.

NLT: Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to God.

KJV: Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.

NKJV: Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon God?

David expresses shock that the wicked are ignorant of the evil they commit by persecuting God's people. They are so blind to their own evil that they do not "call on" God, either in the sense of obeying Him or even acknowledging His existence.

While it's true that some sin is extremely deliberate, some evils are done when a person confuses, fools, or distracts themselves and doesn't consciously grasp the full truth of their actions. When Jesus hung on the cross He prayed for forgiveness for those who crucified Him. He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). When Peter addressed a crowd of Jews in Solomon's Portico, he accused the Jews of killing Jesus, the Author of life, in ignorance (Acts 3:15, 17). In his letter to Timothy, Paul recounted his former life of unbelief and described himself as "a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent." However, he added, "But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Timothy 1:13).

Undoubtedly millions of unbelievers today display ignorance of God by ridiculing believers and by not calling on God. The reason such people are still accountable for that is because such ignorance can be overcome (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:18–20). They need to strip off their ignorance and trust in the Savior before it is too late.

Psalm 53:4–6 writes about the judgment God brings on the wicked. Psalm 73:18–20 also speaks about the terror the wicked will experience when God judges them. By contrast the future of the righteous is bright. Salvation will come to Israel in the form of Messiah's kingdom.

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.