1 To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They have acted corruptly; they have made their deeds abominable; there is no one who does good.
Romans · AD 56 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 [Like the Assyrian army in the days of Hezekiah], all will come to know through experience the one fighting against them; fear will strike them from a source they did not expect. I mean, who would have thought they would be destroyed by an angel? That God cares for the Jews?
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 Above, the Psalmist reproached the deceitfulness of his enemies; here he sets forth their malice. The title is: "Unto the end, a Psalm of David." And concerning this he does two things. First he manifests their malice. Second he sets forth the hope of his liberation from them, at "Shall they not know," etc. And concerning the first he does two things.
The Fool Says There Is No God 2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of man, to see whether there is anyone who acts wisely, who seeks God.
Asterius of Cappadocia · AD 341 When you hear the Lord looks down from heaven, think not of his divine and incorporeal nature that he has bowed and bent down, or has bent his knee or nodded his head, but realize his visitation, forgiveness and kindness. Although he is said to have a head, ears, eyes, mouth and hands, and to sit and to rise, yet he is not altogether constituted of members and parts.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord from heaven looked out upon the sons of men, to see if there be one understanding, or seeking after God" [Psalm 14:2].
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 "The Lord." Here, first, he certifies the fault. Second, he expounds it, at "Their throat." Sin is certified through iniquity; and therefore here he sets forth God's investigation, saying: you say that there is no God; but this is false, because "the Lord has looked down from heaven upon the children of men": Prov.
3 All have turned aside; together they have become foul; there is no one who does good, not even one.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 It was right to show openly the magnitude of the disease that lingered with sinister purpose for all people before the advent of the Savior: as it was manifested to all, his sojourn on earth became straightforwardly necessary. As all have sinned, all lacked the glory of God, and now they are all justified by his grace.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "All have gone out of the way, they have together become useless:" that is, the Jews have become as the Gentiles, who were spoken of above. "There is none that does good, no not up to one" [Psalm 14:3], must be interpreted as above.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 "Whose mouth is full of cursing." Here he shows how they harm openly, because through detractory words: "and bitterness," that is, bitter words: Lev. 19: "You shall not curse the deaf." Or when one speaks words against God that provoke injury or wrath: Is. 5: "Their roaring is like that of a lion." "Their feet are swift." Here he shows how they harm by deed.
4 Do all the workers of iniquity not know — those who eat my people as they eat bread, who do not call on the LORD?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Shall not all, who work iniquity, know?" [Psalm 14:4]. He threatens the judgment. "Who devour My people as the food of bread:" that is, daily. For the food of bread is daily food. Now they devour the people, who serve their own ends out of them, not referring their ministry to the glory of God, and the salvation of those over whom they are.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 "Shall they not." Here he treats of the hope of liberation. And first he shows that the wicked do not have hope, because "shall they not know." Second he shows what this hope is, at "Who shall give from Zion." Concerning the first, he does two things. First he shows that they will not know this hope.
5 There they were seized with dread, for God is in the generation of the righteous.
Diodorus of Tarsus · AD 390 Such people will never learn from experience what a harsh thing it is to do wrong to the Lord's people, so bitter are they toward us as to wish to treat us like a meal of bread.… Since they are ready to swallow us raw, then, and do not have the Lord before their eyes, fear will overtake them from a quarter where they do not expect it.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "They have not called upon the Lord." For he does not really call upon Him, who longs for such things as are displeasing to Him. "There they trembled for fear, where no fear was" [Psalm 14:5]: that is, for the loss of things temporal.
6 You would shame the counsel of the afflicted, but the LORD is his refuge.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 These words that are now put forth can be understood in my opinion in light of the Jews trying to upset the plan of the Savior, because they thought that he was lacking power. They did not consider carefully the treasure of his divinity.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For God is in the just generation." It refers to what went before, so that the sense is, "shall not all they that work iniquity know that the Lord is in the just generation;" that is, He is not in them who love the world.
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 And he shows this by a sign: because "you have confounded the counsel of the poor man," that is, you have considered it contemptible and have blasphemed it as far as you were able: and this is the counsel of the poor man, that he may know that the Lord is his hope: Ps. 21: "He hoped in the Lord; let him deliver him, let him save him, since he desires him" (Mt. 27).
7 Who will give from Zion the salvation of Israel? When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Who will give salvation to Israel out of Sion?" (ver. 7). Who but He whose humiliation ye have despised? is understood. For He will come in glory to the judgment of the quick and the dead, and the kingdom of the just: that, forasmuch as in that humble coming "blindness hath happened in part unto Israel, that the fulness of the Gentiles might enter in," in that other should hap…
Thomas Aquinas · AD 1274 All the ancients expected this. Gen. 49: "The scepter shall not be taken from Judah," etc. But this was expected from Zion, that is, from the Jews: Jn. 4: "Salvation is from the Jews." But when? The answer: we shall have this "when the Lord shall have turned away the captivity of his people," who are in the captivity of sin and the prison of Hell: Is.