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Psalm 14:3
They have all gone aside. They have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
1For the Chief Musician. By David. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who does good.
2The LORD looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any who understood, who sought after God.
3They have all gone aside. They have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on the LORD?
5There they were in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous.
Notice
The closing words, “no, not one,” make the verdict hard to keep at a distance or apply to other people alone.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
How does God's search in verse 2 shape your reading of the verdict in verse 3?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, does this verdict challenge how you measure human goodness?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Romans 3:10–12As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.Romans echoes the psalm's sweeping denial of human goodness with its declaration that no one is righteous.
Isaiah 53:6All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.Both describe everyone turning aside; Isaiah pictures this wandering as sheep going astray, each taking their own way.
Isaiah 64:6For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the …Both describe corruption that includes everyone, with Isaiah comparing human righteousness to a polluted garment.
Romans 3:23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;The psalm's verdict includes everyone, as does Romans' statement that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory.
Psalm 14:1For the Chief Musician. By David. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who …Both verses describe corruption and repeat the declaration that there is no one who does good.
Isaiah 59:13–15transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of …Going aside in the psalm corresponds to Isaiah's confession of turning away from following God.
Isaiah 59:7–8Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.Both describe human wrongdoing, with Isaiah specifying bloodshed and destruction along the paths of those who do evil.
Job 14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.The psalm's denial of goodness parallels Job's denial that anyone can bring cleanness out of what is unclean.
Psalm 58:3The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies.Both describe going astray, while Psalm 58 traces the wicked's waywardness back to birth.
Psalm 143:2Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.Both deny that anyone meets God's standard of goodness, with Psalm 143 expressing this truth in a plea against judgment.
Ephesians 2:3We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the …Both describe shared human corruption, with Ephesians including its speakers among those who lived by the desires of the flesh.
Ezekiel 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.Corruption and uncleanness connect these texts: the psalm describes corruption, while Ezekiel promises God's cleansing from filthiness and idols.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
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Encouragement
You do not have to soften this verdict before bringing it to God. The psalm speaks under his searching gaze; the full extent of human corruption is in his sight.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).