Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Should we fear God?The Torah, prophets, and Wisdom literature relentlessly command fear of YHWH — Deuteronomy 6:13, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 9:10, Matthew 10:28, and Hebrews…
Does anyone ever do anything good?Psalm 14:3, Psalm 53:3, and Paul quoting them at Romans 3:12 say absolutely no one does good — not one.
Psalms 5:9(v13)For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
Psalms 140:3(v13)They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips.
Psalms 10:7(v14)His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
Isaiah 59:7-8(v15)Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in…
Psalms 14:3(v12)They have all gone aside. They have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
Show all 42 cross-references
Proverbs 1:16(v15)for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.
Ecclesiastes 7:20(v12)Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and doesn’t sin.
Proverbs 6:18(v15)a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
Isaiah 59:8(v12)They don’t know the way of peace; and there is no justice in their ways. They have made crooked paths for themselves; whoever goes in them…
Isaiah 64:6(v12)For 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…
Isaiah 53:6(v12)All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Matthew 23:27-28(v13)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of…
Psalms 57:4(v13)My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a…
Ecclesiastes 7:29(v12)Behold, I have only found this: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.”
Jeremiah 9:3-5(v13)“They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to…
Psalms 52:2(v13)Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Isaiah 59:3(v13)For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
Ezekiel 13:7(v13)Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?”
Matthew 12:34-35(v13)You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The good man…
James 3:5-8(v13)So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a…
Psalms 36:3(v13)The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
Psalms 109:17-18(v14)Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him. He clothed himself also with cursing as…
Jeremiah 5:16(v13)Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
Romans 3:4(v13)May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be justified in your words, and might…
Deuteronomy 32:33(v13)Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps.
Psalms 12:3-4(v13)May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts, who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own.…
Psalms 59:12(v14)For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.
Ephesians 2:3(v12)We 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…
1 Peter 2:25(v12)For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Job 20:14-16(v13)yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him. He has swallowed down riches, and he will vomit them up again. God will…
Philemon 1:11(v12)who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.
Genesis 1:31(v12)God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
Ephesians 2:8-10(v12)for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.…
James 3:10(v14)Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
Genesis 6:6-7(v12)Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created…
Exodus 32:8(v12)They have turned away quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and have worshiped it, and…
Psalms 53:1(v12)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.
Jeremiah 2:13(v12)“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken…
Matthew 25:30(v12)Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Philippians 2:12-13(v12)So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation…
Titus 2:13-14(v12)looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might…
James 1:16-17(v12)Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv12, 13, 14, 1612. It is added, There is no one who…
12. It is added, There is no one who doeth kindness By this we are to understand, that they had put off every feeling of humanity. For as the best bond of mutual concord among us is the knowledge of God, (as he is the common Father of all, he wonderfully unites us, and without him there is nothing but disunion,) so inhumanity commonly follows where there is ignorance of God, as every one, when he despises others, loves and seeks his own good.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv12–1612 They are all gone out of the way,…
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Ver. 12. Become unprofitable] Or rotten, nasty, stinking, as the Hebrew hath it, Psa 14:3. The old world was grown so foul, that God was forced to wash it with a deluge.
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.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv12–16They are all gone out of the way: viz.…
They are all gone out of the way: viz. of truth, or life: see Psa 14:3; 36:4; 58:3. This doth illustrate thee former charge.
They are together become unprofitable; unuseful, and, which is more noisome, fit only for the dunghill, as the word signifies: this follows also in Psa 14:1-7 see Job 15:16.
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There is none that doeth good, no, not one; the same as Rom 3:10, though more exactly according to the words of the Psalm, where also it is twice repeated: see Psa 14:1,3.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv12–16Their throat is an open sepulchre,.... The several vices…
Their throat is an open sepulchre,.... The several vices of the instruments of speech are here, and in the following verse, exposed: "the throat" is said to "be an open sepulchre", as in Psa 5:9, so called, for its voracity and insatiableness; both as an instrument of speech, for the words of the wicked are devouring ones; and as an instrument of swallowing, and so may denote the sinner's eager desire after sin, the delight and pleasure he takes in it, the abundance of it he takes in, and his insatiable greediness for it; likewise for its filthy stench, the communication of evil men being corrupt; and because, as by an open grave, persons may fall unawares to their hurt, so the evil communications of wicked men, as they corrupt good manners, are dangerous and hurtful: R. Aben Ezra explains it by , "immediate destruction", or sudden death:
with their tongues they have used deceit; which may design the sin of flattery, for the words in Psa 5:9; the place referred to, are, "they flatter with their tongue"; either God or men, themselves or others, their princes or their neighbour; for there are flatterers in things sacred and civil, there are self-flatterers, court flatterers, and flattering preachers, and all abominable and mischievous; or the phrase may design the sin of lying, either politically, officiously, perniciously, and religiously; and in this latter way, either with respect to doctrine or practice:
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the poison of asps is under their lips; or as in Psa 140:3, "adders' poison is under their lips". The asp is but a small creature, and so is the tongue, Jam 3:5, but there is a world of mischief in it, signified by poison; which, as that, is latent and secret, is under it; and as that stupefies and kills insensibly, so an evil tongue does, and that in a deadly and incurable manner: oftentimes the Jews speak of the evil imagination, or corruption of nature entering into persons, and operating in them, "as poison in an angry serpent" (w).
(w) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 62. 2. Yoma, fol. 9. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv12–15They have all turned aside - From the good…
They have all turned aside - From the good way. They are become unprofitable - Helpless impotent, unable to profit either themselves or others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv12–16Verse 12. They are all gone out of the…
Verse 12. They are all gone out of the way] παντες εξεκλιναν, they have all diverged from the right way, they have either abandoned or corrupted the worship of God: the Jews, in forsaking the law and the prophets, and the Gentiles, in acting contrary to the law which God had written on their hearts. And the departure of both from the truth proves the evil propensity of human nature in general.
They are together become unprofitable] ηχρειωθησαν. They are useless, good for nothing; or, as the Hebrew has it, נאלחו neelachu, they are putrid: he views the whole mass of mankind as slain and thrown together, to putrefy in heaps. This is what is termed the corruption of human nature; they are infected and infectious. What need of the mercy of God to save from such a state of degeneracy!
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There is none that doeth good] In Ro 3:10 it is said, There is none righteous; here, There is none that doeth good: the first may refer to the want of a righteous principle; the second, to the necessary consequence of the absence of such a principle. If there be no righteousness within, there will be no acts of goodness without.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv12–16They have all gone out of the way -…
They have all gone out of the way - They have “declined” from the true path of piety and virtue.
They are together - They have at the same time; or they have equally become unprofitable. They are as one; they are joined, or united in this declension. The expression denotes union, or similarity.
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Become unprofitable - This word in Hebrew means to become “putrid” and “offensive,” like fruit that is spoiled. In Arabic, it is applied to “milk” that becomes sour. Applied to moral subjects, it means to become corrupt and useless. They are of no value in regard to works of righteousness.
There is none ... - This is taken literally from the Hebrew.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv13–16Their, &c.--From generals, the apostle here comes to particulars,…
Their, &c.--From generals, the apostle here comes to particulars, culling from different parts of Scripture passages which speak of depravity as it affects the different members of the body; as if to show more affectingly how "from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness" in us.
throat is an open sepulchre-- (Psa 5:9); that is, "What proceeds out of their heart, and finds vent in speech and action through the throat, is like the pestilential breath of an open grave."
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with their tongues they have used deceit-- (Psa 5:9); that is, "That tongue which is man's glory (Psa 16:9; Psa 57:8) is prostituted to the purposes of deception."
the poison of asps is under their lips-- (Psa 140:3): that is, "Those lips which should 'drop as an honeycomb,' and 'feed many,' and 'give thanks unto His name' (Sol 4:11; Pro 10:21; Heb 13:15), are employed to secrete and to dart deadly poison."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv13, 1513. An open sepulchre—As swallowing the once living; and,…
13. An open sepulchre—As swallowing the once living; and, like the whited sepulchres of the Saviour’s words, full of dead men’s bones.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn v1313. an open sepulchre] Perhaps as “uttering abomination.” “Emitting…
13. an open sepulchre] Perhaps as “uttering abomination.” “Emitting the noisome exhalations of a putrid heart (Bp Home on Psa_5:9).
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv12–14(12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is…
(12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is used to express a state of moral corruption and depravity. “Together” means “altogether;” “the whole mass of mankind, with one consent, has fallen to ruin.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson1891 · Public DomainOn vv12, 13, 1512. None that doeth good. Not one absolutely good.…
12. None that doeth good. Not one absolutely good. According to the flesh all tended to evil.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey1900 · Public DomainOn vv12–1612. “All have gone away from him, they have…
12. “All have gone away from him, they have all together failed; there is no one that doeth good, no, not one.” Man has been a failure in all dispensations. He failed in Eden, winding up with the fall. He failed in antediluvian times, swept away by the great flood. He failed in the patriarchal dispensation, going down into Egyptian slavery. He failed in the Jewish dispensation, culminating in the awful destruction of Jerusalem and the people by the Roman armies. He failed in the dispensation of our Savior’s ministry, winding up with the disgraceful scene of Calvary. According to the prophecies, the Gentile dispensation, amid whose fugitive retreat we now live, is, like its predecessors, destined to wind up with the horrific tragedies of the great tribulation. Is not that very discouraging? Not to me. Man was never created an independency. Hence when left alone he has always failed, and always will. This is to us a most profitable lesson. Shall we not heed the warning of our ruined predecessors and all fly to God, who is the only success? Whosoever departs from God plunges into ruin, world without end.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey1914 · Public DomainOn vv12–16They have all turned aside, they are together become…
They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one [ Psa_14:1-3 ; Psa_53:1-3 ]:
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13, 15Their ... Their
Their ... Their
The word "their" refers to the "Jews and Greeks" of Romans 3:9.
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Their throat is an open grave
The word "throat" is a metonym for everything that people say that is unrighteous and disgusting. Here "open grave" is a metaphor that refers to the stench of the evil words of the people. (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
Their tongues have deceived
The word "tongues" is a metonym for the false words that people speak. AT: "People speak lies" (See: Metonymy)
The poison of snakes is under their lips
Here "poison of snakes" is a metaphor that is used to represent the great harm of the evil words that the people speak. The word "lips" refers to the words of the people. AT: "Their evil words injure people just like the poison of a venomous snake" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness
Here "mouths" is a metonym that represents the evil words of the people. The word "full" exaggerates how often people speak bitterly and curse. AT: "They often speak curses and cruel words" (See: Metonymy and Hyperbole and Generalization)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 12. It is added, There is no one who…
12. It is added, There is no one who doeth kindness By this we are to understand, that they had put off every feeling of humanity. For as the best bond of mutual concord among us is the knowledge of God, (as he is the common Father of all, he wonderfully unites us, and without him there is nothing but disunion,) so inhumanity commonly follows where there is ignorance of God, as every one, when he despises others, loves and seeks his own good.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 They are all gone out of the way,…
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Ver. 12. Become unprofitable] Or rotten, nasty, stinking, as the Hebrew hath it, Psa 14:3. The old world was grown so foul, that God was forced to wash it with a deluge.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–16 They are all gone out of the way: viz.…
They are all gone out of the way: viz. of truth, or life: see Psa 14:3; 36:4; 58:3. This doth illustrate thee former charge.
They are together become unprofitable; unuseful, and, which is more noisome, fit only for the dunghill, as the word signifies: this follows also in Psa 14:1-7 see Job 15:16.
Read full note →
There is none that doeth good, no, not one; the same as Rom 3:10, though more exactly according to the words of the Psalm, where also it is twice repeated: see Psa 14:1,3.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Their throat is an open sepulchre,.... The several vices…
Their throat is an open sepulchre,.... The several vices of the instruments of speech are here, and in the following verse, exposed: "the throat" is said to "be an open sepulchre", as in Psa 5:9, so called, for its voracity and insatiableness; both as an instrument of speech, for the words of the wicked are devouring ones; and as an instrument of swallowing, and so may denote the sinner's eager desire after sin, the delight and pleasure he takes in it, the abundance of it he takes in, and his insatiable greediness for it; likewise for its filthy stench, the communication of evil men being corrupt; and because, as by an open grave, persons may fall unawares to their hurt, so the evil communications of wicked men, as they corrupt good manners, are dangerous and hurtful: R. Aben Ezra explains it by , "immediate destruction", or sudden death:
with their tongues they have used deceit; which may design the sin of flattery, for the words in Psa 5:9; the place referred to, are, "they flatter with their tongue"; either God or men, themselves or others, their princes or their neighbour; for there are flatterers in things sacred and civil, there are self-flatterers, court flatterers, and flattering preachers, and all abominable and mischievous; or the phrase may design the sin of lying, either politically, officiously, perniciously, and religiously; and in this latter way, either with respect to doctrine or practice:
Read full note →
the poison of asps is under their lips; or as in Psa 140:3, "adders' poison is under their lips". The asp is but a small creature, and so is the tongue, Jam 3:5, but there is a world of mischief in it, signified by poison; which, as that, is latent and secret, is under it; and as that stupefies and kills insensibly, so an evil tongue does, and that in a deadly and incurable manner: oftentimes the Jews speak of the evil imagination, or corruption of nature entering into persons, and operating in them, "as poison in an angry serpent" (w).
(w) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 62. 2. Yoma, fol. 9. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–15 They have all turned aside - From the good…
They have all turned aside - From the good way. They are become unprofitable - Helpless impotent, unable to profit either themselves or others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Verse 12. They are all gone out of the…
Verse 12. They are all gone out of the way] παντες εξεκλιναν, they have all diverged from the right way, they have either abandoned or corrupted the worship of God: the Jews, in forsaking the law and the prophets, and the Gentiles, in acting contrary to the law which God had written on their hearts. And the departure of both from the truth proves the evil propensity of human nature in general.
They are together become unprofitable] ηχρειωθησαν. They are useless, good for nothing; or, as the Hebrew has it, נאלחו neelachu, they are putrid: he views the whole mass of mankind as slain and thrown together, to putrefy in heaps. This is what is termed the corruption of human nature; they are infected and infectious. What need of the mercy of God to save from such a state of degeneracy!
Read full note →
There is none that doeth good] In Ro 3:10 it is said, There is none righteous; here, There is none that doeth good: the first may refer to the want of a righteous principle; the second, to the necessary consequence of the absence of such a principle. If there be no righteousness within, there will be no acts of goodness without.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–16 They have all gone out of the way -…
They have all gone out of the way - They have “declined” from the true path of piety and virtue.
They are together - They have at the same time; or they have equally become unprofitable. They are as one; they are joined, or united in this declension. The expression denotes union, or similarity.
Read full note →
Become unprofitable - This word in Hebrew means to become “putrid” and “offensive,” like fruit that is spoiled. In Arabic, it is applied to “milk” that becomes sour. Applied to moral subjects, it means to become corrupt and useless. They are of no value in regard to works of righteousness.
There is none ... - This is taken literally from the Hebrew.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13–16 Their, &c.--From generals, the apostle here comes to particulars,…
Their, &c.--From generals, the apostle here comes to particulars, culling from different parts of Scripture passages which speak of depravity as it affects the different members of the body; as if to show more affectingly how "from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness" in us.
throat is an open sepulchre-- (Psa 5:9); that is, "What proceeds out of their heart, and finds vent in speech and action through the throat, is like the pestilential breath of an open grave."
Read full note →
with their tongues they have used deceit-- (Psa 5:9); that is, "That tongue which is man's glory (Psa 16:9; Psa 57:8) is prostituted to the purposes of deception."
the poison of asps is under their lips-- (Psa 140:3): that is, "Those lips which should 'drop as an honeycomb,' and 'feed many,' and 'give thanks unto His name' (Sol 4:11; Pro 10:21; Heb 13:15), are employed to secrete and to dart deadly poison."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 13. An open sepulchre—As swallowing the once living; and,…
13. An open sepulchre—As swallowing the once living; and, like the whited sepulchres of the Saviour’s words, full of dead men’s bones.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v13 13. an open sepulchre] Perhaps as “uttering abomination.” “Emitting…
13. an open sepulchre] Perhaps as “uttering abomination.” “Emitting the noisome exhalations of a putrid heart (Bp Home on Psa_5:9).
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 On vv12–14 (12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is…
(12) They are together become unprofitable.—Here the adjective is used to express a state of moral corruption and depravity. “Together” means “altogether;” “the whole mass of mankind, with one consent, has fallen to ruin.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15 12. None that doeth good. Not one absolutely good.…
12. None that doeth good. Not one absolutely good. According to the flesh all tended to evil.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. “All have gone away from him, they have…
12. “All have gone away from him, they have all together failed; there is no one that doeth good, no, not one.” Man has been a failure in all dispensations. He failed in Eden, winding up with the fall. He failed in antediluvian times, swept away by the great flood. He failed in the patriarchal dispensation, going down into Egyptian slavery. He failed in the Jewish dispensation, culminating in the awful destruction of Jerusalem and the people by the Roman armies. He failed in the dispensation of our Savior’s ministry, winding up with the disgraceful scene of Calvary. According to the prophecies, the Gentile dispensation, amid whose fugitive retreat we now live, is, like its predecessors, destined to wind up with the horrific tragedies of the great tribulation. Is not that very discouraging? Not to me. Man was never created an independency. Hence when left alone he has always failed, and always will. This is to us a most profitable lesson. Shall we not heed the warning of our ruined predecessors and all fly to God, who is the only success? Whosoever departs from God plunges into ruin, world without end.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv12–16 They have all turned aside, they are together become…
They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one [ Psa_14:1-3 ; Psa_53:1-3 ]:
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 Their ... Their
Their ... Their
The word "their" refers to the "Jews and Greeks" of Romans 3:9.
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Their throat is an open grave
The word "throat" is a metonym for everything that people say that is unrighteous and disgusting. Here "open grave" is a metaphor that refers to the stench of the evil words of the people. (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
Their tongues have deceived
The word "tongues" is a metonym for the false words that people speak. AT: "People speak lies" (See: Metonymy)
The poison of snakes is under their lips
Here "poison of snakes" is a metaphor that is used to represent the great harm of the evil words that the people speak. The word "lips" refers to the words of the people. AT: "Their evil words injure people just like the poison of a venomous snake" (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness
Here "mouths" is a metonym that represents the evil words of the people. The word "full" exaggerates how often people speak bitterly and curse. AT: "They often speak curses and cruel words" (See: Metonymy and Hyperbole and Generalization)
translationWords
grave
tongue
deceive
curse
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15 3:13-14 Paul here refers to sins of speech, mentioning…
3:13-14 Paul here refers to sins of speech, mentioning a different organ of speech in each of the four lines (talk in 3:13 is literally throat).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.