(To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.} The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none that doeth good.

Unto the end, for Maeleth, understandings to David. The fool said in his hear t: There is no God. They are corrupted, and become abominable in iniquities: there is none that doth good.

(To the chief Musician. On Mahalath: an instruction. Of David.) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God! They have corrupted themselves, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

For the Chief Musician; set to Mahalath. Maschil of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity; there is none that doeth good.

To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

To the Overseer., 'On a disease.', An instruction, by David. A fool said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They have done corruptly, Yea, they have done abominable iniquity, There is none doing good.

The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good.

(To the chief music-maker; put to Mahalath. Maschil. Of David.) The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good.

For the Leader; upon Mahalath. Maschil of David.

(For the Chief Musician. To the tune of 'Mahalath.' A contemplation by David.) The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good.

The fool hath said in his heart - For the meaning of this verse, see the notes at Psalm 14:1. The only change in this verse - a change which does not affect the sense - is the substitution of the word "iniquity," in Psalm 53:1-6, for "works," in Psalm 14:1-7.

The fool hath said in his heart - The whole of this Psalm, except a few inconsiderable differences, is the same as the fourteenth; and, therefore, the same notes and analysis may be applied to it; or, by referring to the fourteenth, the reader will find the subject of it amply explained. I shall add a few short notes.
Have done abominable iniquity - Instead of עול avel, evil or iniquity, eight of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. have עלילה alilah, work, which is nearly the same as in Psalm xiv.

"To the chief Musician upon (a) Mahalath, Maschil, [A Psalm] of David." The fool hath said in his heart, [There is] (b) no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: [there is] none that doeth good.
(a) Which was an instrument or king of note.
(b) Whereas no regard is had for honesty or dishonesty, for virtue nor for vice, there the prophet pronounces that the people have no God.

The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God,.... The Targum adds, "of whom is revenge"; or there is no God to punish and avenge the wicked;
corrupt are they; the Chaldee paraphrase is, "the wicked have corrupted their ways"; as all flesh had done in the old world, Genesis 6:12;
and have done abominable iniquity; iniquity is the abominable thing that God hates, and makes men abominable in his sight; in Psalm 11:1, it is read, "abominable worlds": the Targum paraphrases the words, "they are far from good, for iniquity is found in them"; see Revelation 21:8;
there is none that doeth good; See Gill on Psalm 14:1.

This psalm is almost the same as the Psalm 14:1. The scope of it is to convince us of our sins. God, by the psalmist, here shows us how bad we are, and proves this by his own certain knowledge. He speaks terror to persecutors, the worst of sinners. He speaks encouragement to God's persecuted people. How comes it that men are so bad? Because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Men's bad practices flow from their bad principles; if they profess to know God, yet in works, because in thoughts, they deny him. See the folly of sin; he is a fool, in the account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right, that harbours such corrupt thoughts. And see the fruit of sin; to what it brings men, when their hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. See also the faith of the saints, and their hope and power as to the cure of this great evil. There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a salvation from sin. God will save his church from its enemies. He will save all believers from their own sins, that they may not be led captive by them, which will be everlasting joy to them. From this work the Redeemer had his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins, Matthew 1:21.

Upon Mahalath--(See on Psalm 88:1, title). Why this repetition of the fourteenth Psalm is given we do not know. (Psalm 53:1-6)
with few verbal changes, correspond with Psalm 14:1-4.

The well-grounded asyndeton השׁהיתוּ התעיבוּ is here dismissed; and the expression is rendered more bombastic by the use of עול instead of עלילה. עול (the masculine to עולה), pravitas, is the accusative of the object (cf. Ezekiel 16:52) to both verbs, which give it a twofold superlative attributive notion. Moreover, here השׁחיתו is accented with Mugrash in our printed texts instead of Tarcha. One Mugrash after another is contrary to all rule.