Psalm 13 [MT 14]

"There is no God." There is no foundation, then how does the building stand? There is no keel, then how does the ship stabilize? There is no captain, then how is the ship readied? There is no builder, then how is the house built? There is no architect, then who founded the city? There is no farmer, then how do the fields bear their bundles? There is no music, then how can there be the harmony on the lyre of the world? There is no one to foresee, then how does foreknowledge permeate everything? There is no charioteer, then how is the chariot of the four elements driven? There is no sculptor, then how are statues of people in the world crafted? There are no builders of arches, then who has built the arch of heaven for you? There is no gold worker, then who has placed the golden disc sun in heaven as on a table? There is none who brings a torch, then who gave the moon of the night to you as a silver torch? There is none who brings light, and who has given to you a light with clear splendor? There is none who alone makes great lights, then who has put the ascending lamps of the stars in the sky for you?… Is there no Creator about whom the creature testifies?

It was the fool who said through Pharoah, "I have not known this God"; and the depth of the sea became a tomb for him. The fool said through Sennecharib, "God is not able to snatch Hezekiah from my hands," and he was killed by his sons. The fool said through Nebuchadnezzar, "Who is this God who can snatch you from my hand? Who is the most powerful of men?" … Judas the denier of God was destroyed by a noose because he had deemed God as a man to be betrayed.

They are corrupt—wounded and rotten, smelling rank, seeping foulness and poison, not seeking medicine. They become abominable like pigs rolling in the mud of sin; like dogs returning to vomit, they run with rage.… Because they have despised the thinking of God, pious people despise them. They are corrupt like worm-infested garments, as rusted iron, as those who have touched death and the ashes of dead bones.… "There is no one who does good, not one." Not Herod killing innocent babies, not the Jew who called Jesus Beelzebub when he cast out demons, not the one endeavoring to keep the law perfectly, not priests acting dishonorably, not scribes writing for naught, not Pharisees pressing and pushing rules, not Sadducees debating, not Judas selling him, not the master boxing the slave's ear, not Pilate condemning him, not the people shouting.… "There is no one who speaks good," when all the disciples fled as they abandoned him. John ran off naked. Peter denied him, the disciples fled, the spear of doubt pierced the soul of Mary. There was no one who showed the fruit of love in his suffering.… Even after his death, the soldier pierced his side.… Surely he has visited us and wants to save, but none desires to be shown the medicine.

This statement [about fools] is directly followed by one pointing out that their actions correspond with their thoughts: "They are corrupt, and their behavior is evil." The unrighteous person corrupts his body in every possible way: stealing, committing adultery, cursing, getting drunk, and doing similar things.… Count on it: those who are fools in their thoughts will do wicked deeds. As the Lord said [to the Pharisees], "How can you speak good things when you are evil?" And they truly were evil, because their thoughts were wicked.

"The fool has said in his heart, There is no God" [Psalm 14:1]. For not even have certain sacrilegious and abominable philosophers, who entertain perverse and false notions of God, dared to say, "There is no God." Therefore it is, has said "in his heart;" for that no one dares to say it, even if he has dared to think it. "They are corrupt, and become abominable in their affections:" that is, while they love this world and love not God; these are the affections which corrupt the soul, and so blind it, that the fool can even say, "in his heart, There is no God. For as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." [Romans 1:28] "There is none that does goodness, no not up to one." "Up to one," can be understood either with that one, so that no man be understood: or besides one, that the Lord Christ may be excepted. As we say, This field is up to the sea; we do not of course reckon the sea together with the field. And this is the better interpretation, so that none be understood to have done goodness up to Christ; for that no man can do goodness, except He shall have shown it. And that is true; for until a man know the one God, he cannot do goodness.

"They are corrupt." By turning away from the sound thinking found in the Scriptures, they show that they have fallen into corrupt patterns of thought. The punishment for sin comes next. Defiled by their despicable unbelief, they become abominable to the Lord by their errors.

We cannot do good unless we have come to Christ through God's mercy. For when we approach him and do not turn away from him, without a doubt every good is performed. This is the end that was promised in the heading of the psalm.

Some have denied that there is a divine spirit altogether. They have openly professed that God is not the ruler of everything, that his name is nothing but empty and that he is of no substance. Others worship gods who do not exist, denying him who is God alone. Some suggest that indeed there is a God in name, but they contend that he does not oversee earthly matters or look on human affairs. In summary, therefore, all these people have come together into the single position of atheism (godlessness), believing that there is no God. Since they are not bold enough to announce this openly, they persuade themselves in their hearts, being foolish and senseless in the matter of truth, that God does not exist. (A natural understanding about God and the innate seeds of the instinct drive all of them to confess a recognition of God; they are not so bold to deny this fact with their lips, so they pretend to recognize him not as the only God but as an innumerable plurality.) … Their godless position is brought to light from their works (as indeed a tree is judged by its fruit), with their villainy and a way of living like it. They have poisoned their own spirit, betraying it to their bodies with whatever corruption, and as men act in madness with men and through whatever other monstrous and abominable acts, they defile their own selves. In this way it was shown that even if they mustered ten thousand gods, even if they blared out with their lips and confessed God governs all things, in their hearts, and really in their minds, there is not the least recognition of God. Such, therefore, was the life of these people before the advent of our Savior.

The fact that God exists is not doubted by those who accept the sacred Scriptures—both the Old and New Testaments, I mean—or by the majority of the Greeks, for, as we have said, the knowledge of God's existence has been revealed to us through nature. However, since the wickedness of the evil one has so prevailed over people's nature as even to drag some of them down to the most unspeakable and extremely wicked abyss of perdition and to make them say that there is no God, … then the Lord's disciples and apostles, made wise by the all-Holy Spirit, did by his power and grace show signs from God and draw up those people alive in the net of their miracles from the depths of the ignorance of God to the light of his knowledge.

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. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. [Psalms 14:1-3] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

[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? Those who mocked the counsel of poor and lowly Hezekiah for trusting in God rather than arms will realize that the one who made himself dependent on God enjoyed a hope that was not disappointed.

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. First he proposes their malice. Second he certifies that this malice is in them, at "The Lord from heaven," etc. The first is divided into two. First he proposes the root of their malice. Second the progress of their malice: "They are corrupt," etc. As it is said in Sir. 10: "The beginning of all sin is pride, and the beginning of man's pride is to fall away from God." That a man, therefore, does not have God in his heart is the principle of malice; and therefore he says, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God": Wis. 1: "Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins." But can he say this? To say in one's heart is to think. But can one think that God does not exist? Anselm says that no one can. Likewise Damascene. The knowledge of God is naturally implanted in all: no one can think that what is naturally known does not exist. But it should be known that we can speak about the knowledge of God in two ways: namely, according to himself, or as regards us. If in the first way, then without doubt it cannot be thought that he does not exist: for no proposition can by its nature be thought false whose predicate is included in the definition of the subject. It should be noted, however, that existence in God is different from existence in other things, because the existence of God is his substance. Therefore, whoever speaks of God according to himself, speaks of his existence; and therefore according to himself it cannot be thought that he does not exist. And the statement of Damascene is resolved: because what is naturally implanted is known indeterminately, namely that God exists, but not what God is; but this is held through faith. "God" is said from "Theos," which means "to burn away all malice." Therefore someone says that God does not exist when he thinks that he is not omnipotent, and that he does not have care of human affairs: Job 21: "Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?" This can be referred to the Jews who said that Christ was a mere man, not God. Jn. 10: "You, being a man, make yourself God." These Jews, not believing in him who was promised in the law, say "there is no God" -- this one, namely, who preaches to us. And the fool said this, because they were unwilling to receive the wisdom of God, having the eyes of their mind blinded; Ps. 81: "They have not known, nor have they understood." Wis. 2: "For their own malice has blinded them." Or here the sinner is rebuked. First for the sin of the heart in consent, at "The fool has said." Second for the sin of action, at "They are corrupt." Third for the sin of habit, at "And they have become abominable." First he calls the sinner a fool; because he does not have wisdom, so that he says, etc. Likewise, because spiritual things have no savor for him; 1 Cor. 2: "The natural man does not perceive the things of God." Consequently, the progress of malice is set forth: "They are corrupt and have become abominable." Just as the two parts of justice are to do good and to avoid evil, so the two parts of injustice are to do evil and to avoid good. And first he sets forth the first part. Second, the second. Concerning the first, he sets forth two things. First, the perversity of vices. Second, their abomination. In bodies, corruption follows from the evaporation of natural heat expelled by an alien heat. For the natural heat of the soul is the love of God. When, therefore, the alien love of concupiscence and of other sins enters, God departs. And therefore, when he said "there is no God," he immediately adds "they are corrupt": Jer. 5: "They have denied God and said, It is not he," namely, the punisher of sinners, the rewarder of the just: Sir. 21: "The heart of the fool," namely of the sinner, "is like a broken vessel." They are corrupt, therefore -- sinners through evil action: Jn. 3: "Their works were evil" -- because after they lose gratuitous goods through consent, the natural goods in them are corrupted; and therefore punishment follows them: Ps. 96: "A fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about." Likewise, when a body putrefies, it becomes abominable. So the soul of a person, as long as the love of God is in it, is acceptable to God; but when it is corrupted through sin, it becomes abominable. What is abominable is that from which human appetite recoils: and therefore he says, "And they have become abominable," namely to God and men -- sinners through the habit of sinning: Jer. 2: "How exceedingly base have you become, repeating your ways." Hos. 9: "They were alienated in confusion, and became abominable like the things they loved." And he said "in their pursuits," because through these they arrive at abominable things. Or they do so studiously, according to Jerome. For God finds more abominable the studied willingness to sin than the sin itself: Job 34: "They have deliberately turned away from him, and would not understand any of his ways." Another reading has: "They have corrupted and made abominable their pursuit," namely of wisdom and discipline: Prov. 1: "They have held discipline hateful, and have not received the fear of the Lord": Ez. 8: "You shall see yet greater abominations." Consequently he treats of the avoidance of good. "There is none who does good," because "there is no just man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Eccl. 7). "Not even one," that is, except Christ, because he alone had neither contracted sin nor committed sin. The Blessed Virgin had contracted sin: Eccl. 7: "One man among a thousand I have found; a woman among all these I have not found." Or "not even one," because not even one person perfectly does good. This is true, given that they have said "there is no God," and "they are corrupt."

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. So he does not literally look down but shows his own mercy. He looks down from heaven, not through fences and gates in the sky, but because from heaven he has visited humankind.… He sees them to serve them and to embrace them as a friend.… He appears to them who have faith in him in order that he may see who is sick and who needs the doctor and who is poor and who requires Christ, the storehouse of the Father.… Then after they see the Lord of the prophets has looked down from heaven so that he may see, … they say, "It is not enough, Lord, that you look down from heaven. Descend.… Come, … Son of the Father. Seek what is made in your image."

"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]. It may be interpreted, upon the Jews; as he may have given them the more honourable name of the sons of men, by reason of their worship of the One God, in comparison with the Gentiles; of whom I suppose it was said above, "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God," etc. Now the Lord looks out, that He may see, by His holy souls: which is the meaning of, "from heaven." For by Himself nothing is hid from Him.

"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. 16: "All the ways of man are open to his eyes." He looked down, therefore, by sending his Son -- the Lord the Father from heaven, that is, from the bosom of his loving-kindness: Is. 66: "Heaven is my throne." Or "from heaven," that is, Christ, through whom he will judge sinners. Or alternatively: some say that God does not know singulars and changeable things, because he is immaterial and simple and eternal. And so he does not know according to the movements of things, and according to the mode of his knowability. The response is: on the contrary, because he knows material things immaterially, as Dionysius concludes. And so also the intellect knows: and therefore he says "from heaven," that is, from the height of his dignity and nature. "He looked down upon the children of men." And he wishes to find in us -- by his antecedent will, by which he wills all to be saved -- that which pertains to salvation, namely that we may know God through the intellect and love him through the affections and desire him. And therefore he says, "that he may see," that is, "that he may make us see," because he himself always sees. "Whether there is one who understands," through the intellect: Deut. 32: "Would that they were wise and understood," etc. "Or seeks God," through the affections.

"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.

"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. Second he sets forth a sign, at "The counsel of the poor man." First he raises a question, and interposes within it the fault of the wicked, and speaks thus. I say that they are an open sepulchre, and that God is not in their hearts: but shall they not know that the Lord is in the just generation? As if to say: they ought to know this, and that the Lord is in it: Jer. 14: "You are in our midst, O Lord, and your holy name," etc. Ps. 21: "But you dwell in the holy place, the praise of Israel." Therefore the Lord is in him as in a temple. "And all who work iniquity," namely against God, "who devour my people as the food of bread," as regards neighbors, whom they devour by taking away their goods: Zech. 11: "Let each one devour the flesh of his neighbor": Mic. 3: "They have eaten the flesh of my people and have flayed the skin from them": Sir. 34: "The bread of the needy is the life of the poor man: he who defrauds him of it is a man of blood." "They have not called upon God," that is, they have no hope in God: Is. 59: "They have not called upon God." And it follows from this that they have no security: therefore he says, "There they trembled," etc. Prov. 28: "The wicked man flees when no one pursues": Job 15: "The sound of terror is always in his ears, and when there is peace, he always suspects ambush." But those who call upon God are saved: Joel 2: "All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved": Prov. 18: "The name of the Lord is a most strong tower." Therefore such men will not know that the Lord is in the just generation.

"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. For they said, "If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe in Him; and the Romans will come, and take away both our place and nation." [John 11:48] They feared to lose an earthly kingdom, where no fear was; and they lost the kingdom of heaven, which they ought to have feared. And this must be understood of all temporal goods, the loss of which when men fear, they come not to things eternal.

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.

Like the general over the soldiers and the king over the senate, God is over the generation of the righteous.… If God is in the midst of two or three, how much more is he found in the generation of the righteous where there is a battle-free life, a lack of sadness, rest and inheritance and a kingdom without end.

"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. For it is unjust to leave the Maker of the worlds, and "serve the creature more than the Creator." [Romans 1:25] You have shamed the counsel of the poor, for the Lord is his hope [Psalm 14:6]: that is, you have despised the humble coming of the Son of God, because ye saw not in Him the pomp of the world: that they, whom he was calling, should put their hope in God alone, not in the things that pass away.

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. So they always contradicted his teaching, and the power of his miracles they misrepresented as not from divine power but as having been worked through some other source.

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). He who says, "If you wish to be perfect," etc. (Mt. 19). This counsel the rich always despise: Prov. 1: "You have despised all my counsel, and have neglected my reproofs." And whence? "Because the Lord is his hope": because they have nothing in the world from which they may hope except in God, who is the hope of the saints.

"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 happen what follows, "and so all Israel should be saved." For the Apostle too takes that testimony of Isaiah, where it is said, "There shall come out of Sion He who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:" for the Jews, as it is here, "Who shall give salvation to Israel out of Sion?" "When the Lord shall turn away the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." It is a repetition, as is usual: for I suppose, "Israel shall be glad," is the same as, "Jacob shall rejoice."

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. 49: "Indeed, the captive shall be taken from the strong, and what was seized by the mighty shall be rescued." "And then let Jacob be glad," that is, the people of God inwardly; "and let Israel rejoice" outwardly.