Bible Strands
Psalms 53:4
Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon God.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the corrupt oppressors of Israel, questioning their spiritual blindness amid a declaration of universal human depravity. The speaker stands in the moment of communal lament, contrasting the wicked's behavior with the community's need for divine reliance.
The words — The phrase פֹּ֤עֲלֵ֫י אָ֥וֶן (po.'a.Lei 'A.ven) literally names "workers of wickedness," while אֹכְלֵ֣י עַ֭מִּי אָ֣כְלוּ לֶ֑חֶם (o.khe.Lei 'A.m/i 'A.khe.lu Le.chem) depicts them devouring "my people" as routinely as bread.
The thread — This motif of spiritual ignorance and refusal to invoke God appears in Jeremiah 4:22, where the people are called foolish for not knowing God, and Jeremiah 10:25, which condemns nations that do not acknowledge or call on His name. The imagery of enemies devouring the faithful also echoes the language in Psalms 27:2.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that persistent wickedness stems from a deliberate refusal to seek God, not merely a lack of information. It calls the reader to reject the illusion of self-sufficiency and acknowledge that spiritual blindness precedes moral collapse.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
- Psalms 27:2 When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell.
- Psalms 94:8 Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?
- Isaiah 27:11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- Matthew 23:17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?
- Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.