The verb translated gone astray means to depart, leave–in a moral sense, to leave the right path, to go wrong, to sin. Gone astray will often require adjustments in translation, otherwise the reader may understand nothing more than being physically lost. Some languages express the idea as “evil people are those who have left the straight path” or “evil people are those whose heads were turned.”

The verb translated are … corrupt is found only here, in 53.3, and Job 15.16. (The Arabic cognate is used of milk that turns sour.) The extreme language is like that used in Genesis 6.5 of humankind before the Flood.

The text of verses 1b, 2b-c ,3 is quoted from the Septuagint, in modified form, in Romans 3.10-12.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .