Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 14 (MT) / Psalm 13 (LXX) is 'the fool says in his heart there is no God' psalm — a meditation on universal human corruption. Nearly identical to Psalm 53. The LXX text of 14:1–3 contains a major 3-verse plus (inserted after v. 3) that is NOT in MT — a collection of other OT quotations that Paul preserves verbatim at Romans 3:10–18. This is one of the most famous LXX expansions in the Psalter.
Notable Variants
The major LXX plus after 14:3 — several verses of additional text (Isa 59:7–8, Prov 1:16 material) inserted into the LXX text. Paul at Romans 3:10–18 cites this LXX-expanded form. The 'fool says no God' opening cited indirectly at Rom 3:11.
Structural Notes
MT Ps 14 = LXX Ps 13. MT has 7 verses; LXX has a substantial plus after v. 3. This is one of the clearest examples of a major LXX/MT textual divergence in the Psalter.
For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt; their deeds are vile. There is no one who does good.
Masoretic (WLC)
אָמַר נָבָל בְּלִבּוֹ אֵין אֱלֹהִים הִשְׁחִיתוּ הִתְעִיבוּ עֲלִילָה אֵין עֹשֵׂה־טוֹב
The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt; their deeds are vile. There is no one who does good.
Septuagint (LXX)
εἶπεν ἄφρων ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν θεός διέφθειραν καὶ ἐβδελύχθησαν ἐν ἐπιτηδεύμασιν οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν χρηστότητα οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός
The fool said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They corrupted themselves and became abominable in their deeds. There is no one who does good — not even one.
'THE FOOL SAYS, NO GOD' — the Hebrew Bible's paradigmatic phrase for practical atheism. 'Fool' (aphrōn in LXX, naval in Hebrew) describes not intellectual-doubt but moral-inattention to God.
LXX adds 'not even one' (ouk estin heōs henos) — the totalizing negation that Paul's Romans 3:12 preserves verbatim.
The LXX's ebdelychthēsan ('became abominable') uses the bdelyg- root — Matthew 24:15's 'abomination of desolation' (bdelygma tēs erēmōseōs) cites Daniel 9:27 with this vocabulary.
The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of humanity to see if there is anyone who acts wisely, anyone who seeks God.
'The LORD looks down from heaven' tracks MT. The divine-inspection of humanity becomes eschatologized at Romans 14:10 ('we will all stand before the judgment seat of God').
All have turned aside; together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good — not even one.
Masoretic (WLC)
הַכֹּל סָר יַחְדָּו נֶאֱלָחוּ אֵין עֹשֵׂה־טוֹב אֵין גַּם־אֶחָד
All have turned aside; together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good — not even one.
Septuagint (LXX)
πάντες ἐξέκλιναν ἅμα ἠχρεώθησαν οὐκ ἔστιν ποιῶν χρηστότητα οὐκ ἔστιν ἕως ἑνός (+ LXX plus: τάφος ἀνεῳγμένος ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτῶν ταῖς γλώσσαις αὐτῶν ἐδολιοῦσαν ἰὸς ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν ὧν τὸ στόμα ἀρᾶς καὶ πικρίας γέμει ὀξεῖς οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἐκχέαι αἷμα σύντριμμα καὶ ταλαιπωρία ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν καὶ ὁδὸν εἰρήνης οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οὐκ ἔστιν φόβος θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν)
All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (LXX PLUS:) Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they deceive; the venom of asps is under their lips; their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes.
THE MAJOR LXX PLUS. After v. 3's 'not even one,' the LXX text continues with approximately 8 additional lines of material, compiled from elsewhere in the OT: the 'throat is an open grave' (from Ps 5:9/10 = LXX 5:10), 'venom of asps' (Ps 140:3 = LXX 139:4), 'mouth full of cursing' (Ps 10:7 = LXX 9:28), 'feet swift to shed blood' (Isa 59:7–8), 'no fear of God before eyes' (Ps 36:1 = LXX 35:2).
PAUL'S ROMANS 3:10–18 CATENA. Paul cites this entire LXX plus at Romans 3:10–18 as a single unit, which is why his catena reads as a continuous condemnation — the LXX text already had done the compilation. Paul did not create the anthology; he inherited it from LXX Ps 14:3.
Whether the LXX plus was present in the LXX translator's Hebrew Vorlage, was inserted later into Greek Ps 14 from the Pauline citation, or represents a pre-Christian Jewish anthology is scholarly disputed. Scholarly consensus: the plus is a pre-Pauline Greek anthology inserted into some LXX manuscripts; other manuscripts lack it.
This is one of the most discussed textual-critical cases in the entire Bible. TCR preserves MT (the shorter text without the plus).
Do they not know, all these workers of evil — those who devour my people as they eat bread, who do not call on the LORD?
'Those who devour my people as they eat bread' tracks MT. The 'eat my people like bread' image recurs at Micah 3:3 for predatory social-leaders.
There they are — utterly terrified! For God is with the generation of the righteous.
'God is with the generation of the righteous' tracks MT. The covenant-protection theology.
You would shame the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
'The LORD is their refuge' tracks MT.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
'Oh, that salvation would come from Zion!' tracks MT. The eschatological-longing for Davidic restoration supplies Romans 11:26's Pauline Zion-Redeemer theology.