14:1 fool. The fool may be highly intelligent by the world’s standards, but is oblivious to the true nature of reality (Eccl. 2:14). To be called a fool is a moral judgment.

There is no God. The fool denies the existence of God as a matter of human concern. This is practical atheism. God is held to be unconcerned about the affairs of the world and especially the affairs of the individual. See “Mankind’s Guilty Knowledge of God” at Rom. 1:19.

corrupt. Note the use of this psalm by Paul in Rom. 3:10–18. Foolishness points to lack of morality, not absence of native intellect.