There Is None Who Does Good
To the choirmaster: according to pMahalath. A Maskil1 of David.
53 qThe fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
2 God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,2
who seek after God.
3 They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
4 Have those who work evil no knowledge,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon God?
5 There they are, in great terror,
rwhere there is no terror!
For God sscatters the bones of him who encamps against you;
you put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
16 tSend the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from uSela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
2 Like fleeing birds,
like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at vthe fords of the Arnon.
3 “Give counsel;
grant justice;
wmake your shade like night
at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
do not reveal the fugitive;
4 let xthe outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them1
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
5 ythen a throne will be established in steadfast love,
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.”
6 zWe have heard of the pride of Moab—
how proud he is!—
aof his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
in his idle boasting he is not right.
7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
blet everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
8 For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and ethe vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
and passed over the sea.
9 Therefore fI weep with ethe weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over gyour summer fruit and your harvest
the shout has ceased.
10 hAnd joy and gladness are taken away from ithe fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no jsongs are sung,
no cheers are raised;
no ktreader treads out wine lin the presses;
I have put an end to the shouting.
11 Therefore mmy inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.
12 And when Moab presents himself, when nhe wearies himself on othe high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
13 This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab pin the past. 14 But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, qlike the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be rvery few and feeble.”
