Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?
Parallel Translations
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Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?
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Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
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(53-5) 'Shall not the workers of iniquity know it, who eat up My people as they eat bread, and call not upon God?'
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Psalms 53:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”
- Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, and on the families that don’t call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob. Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
- Psalms 27:2 When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.
- Psalms 94:8 Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?
- Isaiah 27:11 When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Matthew 23:17-39 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who has been living in it. He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
- Revelation 17:16 The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain David pronounceth God’s vengeance against cruel governors, who having…
David pronounceth God’s vengeance against cruel governors, who having charge to defend and preserve God’s people, do most cruelly devour them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 53:4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?…
Psa 53:4 Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people [as] they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?] Etiam scient in fine, et dolebunt, saith one, Know they shall, to their sorrow, in the end, that they have eaten that on earth which they must digest in hell.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?.... In Psa…
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?.... In Psa 14:4, it is, "have all the workers", &c. There are none of them but what have, unless given up to judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, to believe a lie, as antichrist and his followers, Th2 2:10; See Gill on Psa 14:4;
who eat up my people, as they eat bread; and drink their blood, and are drunken with it, Rev 17:6;
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they have not called upon God; but upon their idols, upon the Virgin Mary, and saints departed. In Psa 14:4, it is, "upon the Lord".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Have the workers of iniquity] For פעלי,…
Verse 4. Have the workers of iniquity] For פעלי, poaley, workers seventy-two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with several ancient editions, the Chaldee, though not noticed in the Latin translation in the London Polyglot, the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and the Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, add the word כל col, all, - ALL the workers of iniquity; which is the reading in the parallel place in Ps 14:3-4. It may be necessary to observe, that the Chaldee, in the Antwerp and Paris Polyglots, and in that of Justinianus, has not the word כל col, ALL.
Have not called upon God] אלהים Elohim; but many MSS. have יהוה Jehovah, LORD.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? - See…
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? - See the notes at Psa 14:4. The only change in this verse is in the omission of the word “all.” This word, as it occurs in Psa 14:1-7 (“all the workers of iniquity”), makes the sentence stronger and more emphatic. It is designed to affirm in the most absolute and unqualified manner that none of these workers of iniquity had any true knowledge of God. This has been noticed by critics as the only instance in which the expression in Psa 14:1-7 is stronger than in the revised form of the psalm before us.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. God is the speaker. The first clause may…
4. God is the speaker. The first clause may be taken as in A.V., ‘Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?’ Are they so ignorant that they cannot distinguish between right and wrong? Cp. Psa_53:2, and Psa_82:5. But a much better connexion with Psa_53:5 is gained by rendering, Have not the workers of iniquity been made to know? i.e. taught by sharp experience to recognise their error. Then Psa_53:5 follows as an answer to the question, pointing to the plain white with the bones of Jerusalem’s besiegers. For this pregnant sense of know cp. Hos_9:7; Jdg_8:16 (taught, lit. made to know).
who eat up &c.] The A.V. follows the Ancient Versions in understanding this to mean, ‘they devour my people as naturally as they take their daily food.’ And this they do without regard to God (in Psalms 14, Jehovah). Cp. for the phrase, Num_14:9, “the people of the land are bread for us”; Num_24:8; and for the fact, Isa_1:7; Jer_10:25; Jer_30:16; Hab_3:14; Psa_79:7. The reference to national deliverance in the following verse excludes (at any rate in this recension of the Ps.) the explanation of ‘my people’ as the godly few in Israel (Mic_2:9; Mic_3:3; Mic_3:5, and often in the prophets), and of ‘the workers of iniquity’ as the nobles who impoverished them by unjust extortions (Mic_3:1 ff; Isa_3:14 f; Pro_30:14).
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4, 5. The corruption of mankind exemplified in their treatment of God’s people; and His Providence demonstrated in the deliverance of them.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Notice the omission of the expressive “all” found…
(4) Notice the omission of the expressive “all” found in Psalms 14
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For "the workers of iniquity" in this verse, Psa…
For "the workers of iniquity" in this verse, Psa 14: "For God is in the generation of the righteous a very considerable change, which must certainly have been intentional. On the second occasion whereto the psalm was made applicable, there must have been a very great catastrophe some vast slaughter of an enemy who had been at open war with Israel. Sennacherib is suggested (Canon Cook). Thou hast put them to shams, because God hath despised them. The clause in Psalm 14 which this replaces runs as follows: "Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his Refuge." Here again, both the phrases used, and the whole tenor of the thought in either case, are different.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?…
Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? They have no wisdom, certainly, but even so common a thing as knowledge might have restrained them. Can they not see that there is a God? that sin is an evil thing? that persecution recoils upon a man's own head? Are they such utter fools as not to know that they are their own enemies, and are ruining themselves?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread. Do they not see that such food will be hard to digest, and will bring on them a horrible vomit when God deals with them in justice? Can they imagine that the Lord will allow them to devour his people with impunity? They must be insane indeed.
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They have not called upon God. They carry on their cruel enterprises against the saints, and use every means but that which is essential to success in every case, namely, the invocation of God. In this respect persecutors are rather more consistent than Pharisees who devoured widow's houses, and prayed too. The natural man, like Ishmael, loves not the spiritual seed, is very jealous of it, and would fain destroy it, because it is beloved of God; yet the natural man does not seek after the like favour from God. The carnal mind envies those who obtain mercy, and yet it will not seek mercy itself. It plays the dog in the manger. Sinners will out of a malicious jealousy devour those who pray, but yet they will not pray themselves.
Ver. 4. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Conscience is a means to curb and restrain, control and rebuke corrupt nature, and the swelling forms of it. It is not there as a native inhabitant, but as a garrison planted in a rebellious town by the great Governor of the world, to keep the rebellion of the inhabitants within compass, who else would break forth into present confusion. David, speaking of the corruption of man by nature, after this question, Whether there be not some knowledge to discover their evil doings to them? yes, says he, Have they no knowledge, who eat up my people as bread Yes; and therefore (Ps 53:5) They are often in fear, God having placed this there to overcome them with fear; and by that to restrain them from many outrages against God's people, whom in their desires, and sometimes practice, they eat up as bread Therefore this knowledge is put in as a bridle to corrupt nature, as a hook was put into Sennacherib's nostrils (Isa 37:29) to rule and tame men, and overcome them with fear. If they had no knowledge they would eat up one another, and the church, as bread; but there is their fear, says he, that is, thence it comes to pass they are kept in awe Thomas Goodwin, 1600-1679.
Ver. 4. Who eat up my people as they eat bread C'est, n'en font non plus de conscience, que de manger un morceau de pain. (That is, they have no more scruple in doing this than in eating a morsel of bread.) French Margin.
Ver. 4. My people. David may call the serious his people, because of his regard for them, and because they were his supporters and friends. They adhered to him in all his afflictions. ("Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, " Ru 1:16.) Benjamin Boothroyd, 1836.
Ver. 4. How far knowledge is and is not a restraint upon ungodliness.
Ver. 4. It is a sin not to call upon God.
I. What is it to call upon God? Three things required
in it.
1. A drawing near to him.
2. A speaking to him. 1Sa 1:12-13.
3. A praying to him. II. How should we call upon God?
1. Reverently, considering (1) God's holiness and greatness; (2) our own sin and weakness. Ge 18:27.
2. Understandingly. 1Co 14:15. (1) Of what we ask. (2) Of whom we ask it.
3. Submissively.
4. Believingly. Mr 11:24 Jas 1:6.
5. Sincerely. Jas 4:3.
6. Constantly. (1) So as to be always in a praying frame. (2) So as to take all occasions of pouring forth our souls in prayer to God. (3) So as to let no day slip without prayer. III. How it appears to be a sin not to call upon God.
1. He hath commanded it. Isa 55:6 1Ti 2:8.
2. Because praying is one of the principal parts of worship we owe to God. I. Who are guilty of this sin?
1. All who pray to any one else but God.
2. All who neglect either public, private, or family prayer.
3. All who pray, but not aright. William Beveridge (1636-1708), in "Thesaurus Theologicus."
Psalms 53:5*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Do those who commit iniquity have no understanding—those ...…
Do those who commit iniquity have no understanding—those ... God?
This question is used to show the shock that the writer feels because the people are so sinful. It can be written as two statements. "Those who commit iniquity act as though they do not know anything. They devour my people as if they were eating bread, and they do not call on God!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
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those who devour my people as if they were eating bread
Destroying people is spoken of as devouring them. Doing it as if they were eating bread implies that they did it very easily or without feeling guilty about it. AT: "those who destroy my people as freely as if they were eating bread" (See: Metaphor and Simile)
God will scatter the bones of whoever will camp against you
Scattering people's bones represents killing them and allowing their bones to remain wherever they have died and not be buried properly. "God will completely destroy whoever will camp against you, and their bones will lie scattered on the ground" (See: Metonymy)
whoever will camp against you
Camping against people represents attacking them. Enemy armies would travel and set up camps to live in temporarily near the people they wanted to attack. AT: "whoever will attack you" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
iniquity
bread
call
fear
shame
reject
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.