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Psalms 14:3

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

They are all gone aside - They will not walk in the straight path. They seek crooked ways; and they have departed from truth, and the God of truth.

They are all together become filthy - נאלחו neelachu . They are become sour and rancid; a metaphor taken from milk that has fermented and turned sour, rancid, and worthless.

There is none that doeth good, no, not one - This is not only the state of heathen Babylon! but the state of the whole inhabitants of the earth, till the grace of God changes their heart. By nature, and from nature, by practice, every man is sinful and corrupt. He feels no good; he is disposed to no good; he does no good. And even God himself, who cannot be deceived, cannot find a single exception to this! Lord, what is man?

The Vulgate, the Roman copy of the Septuagint, the Athtopic, and the Arabic, add those six verses here which are quoted by St. Paul, Romans 3:13-18; (note). See the observations at the end of this Psalm.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

They are all gone aside - This verse states the result of the divine investigation referred to in the previous verse. The result, as seen by God himself, was, that “all” were seen to have gone aside, and to have become filthy. The word rendered “gone aside” means properly to go off, to turn aside or away, to depart; as, for example, to turn out of the right way or path, Exodus 32:8. Then it means to turn away from God; to fall away from his worship; to apostatize, 1 Samuel 12:20; 2 Kings 18:6; 2 Chronicles 25:27. This is the idea here - that they had all apostatized from the living God. The word “all” in the circumstances makes the statement as universal as it can be made; and no term could be used more clearly affirming the doctrine of universal depravity.

They are all together become filthy - The word “all” here is supplied by the translators. It was not necessary, however, to introduce it in order that the idea of universal depravity might be expressed, for that is implied in the word rendered “together,” יחדו yachedâv That word properly conveys the idea that the same character or conduct pervaded all, or that the same thing might be expressed of all those referred to. They were united in this thing - that they bad become defiled or filthy. The word is used with reference to “persons,” as meaning that they are all “in one place,” Genesis 13:6; Genesis 22:6; or to “events,” as meaning that they occurred at one time, Psalm 4:8. They were all as one. Compare 1 Chronicles 10:6. The idea is that, in respect to the statement made, they were alike. What would describe one would describe all. The word rendered “become filthy” is, in the margin, rendered “stinking.” In Arabic the word means to become “sharp,” or “sour” as milk; and hence, the idea of becoming corrupt in a moral sense. Gesenius, Lexicon. The word is found only here, and in the parallel Psalm 53:3, and in Job 15:16, in each of which places it is rendered “filthy.” It relates here to character, and means that their character was morally corrupt or defiled. The term is often used in that sense now.

There is none that doeth good, no, not one - Nothing could more clearly express the idea of universal depravity than this expression. It is not merely that no one could be found who did good, but the expression is repeated to give emphasis to the statement. This entire passage is quoted in Romans 3:10-12, in proof of the doctrine of universal depravity. See the note at that passage.