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Psalm 53:1

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.

1For 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.
2God looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any who understood, who seek after God.
3Every one of them has gone back. They have become filthy together. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
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Psalm 53:2 →
Notice

The words spoken in the fool’s heart lead into a sweeping verdict on human conduct, leaving little room for a reader to claim moral superiority.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What difference does it make that the denial of God is spoken in the heart?

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How do you respond to the breadth of “There is no one who does good”?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 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
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 psalms repeat the fool’s inward denial of God and the same verdict that no one does good.
Psalm 10:4The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.Both passages connect wickedness with an inward refusal to acknowledge God, whether in the heart or in one’s thoughts.
Psalm 32:1By David. A contemplative psalm. Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Sin is the shared concern: Psalm 53 names its corruption, while Psalm 32 speaks of the blessing of forgiveness.
Matthew 12:34You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.Both passages locate evil within the heart and connect that inward condition with what a person says.
Romans 3:10–31As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one.Both texts give a sweeping verdict on human goodness: no one does good, and no one is righteous.
Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’Both passages use the language of foolishness in relation to God, though Luke describes a particular man’s death.
Romans 1:28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;Both texts connect the refusal to acknowledge God with corrupt conduct.
Mark 7:21For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,Both passages connect the human heart with evil, and Mark names specific sins that proceed from within.
Romans 8:7because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.Both passages describe inward opposition to God, expressed as denial in the psalm and hostility in Romans.
1 Kings 14:24There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD drove out before the children of Israel.Both texts describe abominable conduct, with Kings naming practices in the land that followed those of other nations.
Job 15:16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!Both texts pair corruption with abominable conduct, treating iniquity as a grave feature of human life.
Where this verse fits

Guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.

What the Bible says about guilt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 53:1–3 and underline each “no one”

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Encouragement

Your self-assessment is not the final word on your heart. God looks down from heaven, and his judgment reaches beneath every claim to goodness.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 53:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 53 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).