This psalm, with slight variations, repeats Psalm 14. The “fool” in Scripture is not an ignorant person or a theoretical atheist. Agnosticism was unknown to Old Testament writers, who lived in a polytheistic world. The fool values things incorrectly and is encouraged by experience to act as if God would never intervene. The psalmist states that the world is full of such people. However, their time will pass, and God will rescue his people from them, whether they are traitors to Israel or enemies from outside. We should never think we are exempt from Scriptural condemnation. For example, how often have we thought, ‘I thank God I am not like this Pharisee?’ We are ‘foolish’ too. The traitor inside us creates a convenient hierarchy of values. In this and many other psalms, we pray to God to remove our wrongdoings.