Psalms
Chapter 14
1
The Folly of Those Who Deny God
The fool says in his heart,“God does not exist.”All have strayed, all are perverted,there is no one who does good.
2
The Lord looks down from heaven upon the race of Adam,to see if there are anywho seek God and act wisely.
3
They have all turned aside: corrupt—all of them alike.
4
Will they ever learn—these doers of evil? For they devour my people, —that is their food—and do not call upon the Lord.
5
But suddenly terror strikes them: God was on the side of the just!
6
You may confound the hope of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.
7
Oh would, that I see Israel’s salvation coming from Zion! When the Lord brings home the exiles, what joy it will be for Jacob, what happiness for Israel!
Commentaries
14
The ‘fool’ in the Scriptures is neither an ignoramus nor a theoretical atheist. Agnosticism is a phenomenon unknown to the Old Testament writers, who lived in a polytheistic world. his values are flawed, and his experience encourages him to behave in a manner that God would never act. The world, murmurs the psalmist, is full of people like this. But their time will come: God will save his people from them, whether they are traitors to Israel or enemies from outside. We, for our part, should never consider ourselves exempt from Scriptural denunciations. How often, for example, have we thought, ‘I thank God; I am not like this Pharisee?’ No, we are ‘foolish’ too! The traitor inside us establishes his convenient hierarchy of values. In this psalm, as in many others, we pray to God to destroy what is worst in ourselves.