Passage

Psalms 53.1

Book: Psalms · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. ^{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."

"2. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there were any that did understand, That did seek after God. 3. Every one of them is gone back; They are together become filthy; There is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalms 53:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"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."

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

KJV (KJV)

"1. 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."

"2. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalms 53:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. 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."

"2. God from the heavens looked on the sons of men, To see if there be an understanding one, [One] seeking God. 3. Every one went back, together they became filthy, There is none doing good, not even one." (Psalms 53:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: various (David majority; Asaph, Korah, Moses, Solomon, anonymous)
Audience: worshipping Israel (corporate + individual devotion)
Location: Israel, various periods
Time period: composition spans c. 1400 BC (Moses, Ps 90), c. 400 BC; principal Davidic composition c. 1000 BC

Theological reading

Key words

H0430 - elohim, elohim (Strong's H430). Also appears in: Genesis 1.1, Genesis 1.2, Genesis 1.14-19.
H2896 - tov, tov (Strong's H2896). Also appears in: Genesis 1.14-19, Genesis 1.21, Genesis 1.24-28.
H3820 - lev, lev (Strong's H3820). Also appears in: Genesis 6.5, Genesis 6, Genesis 18.1-15.
H6213 - asah, asah (Strong's H6213). Also appears in: Genesis 1.14-19, Genesis 1.24-28, Genesis 1.26.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.