This is explicit in the text: universal turning, shared corruption, and zero exceptions. The verse is not focused on one isolated scandal; it describes a broad, human-level condition.

Where interpretation differs

Some readers take the universals (“all,” “none,” “not one”) as strictly literal, meaning every person without exception is included in the verdict. Others take the language as poetic absolutes meant to portray the dominant reality of the community and the age—still sweeping and severe, but not a statistical claim that no individual ever performs any morally positive act.

A second difference shows up in what “become corrupt” mainly targets: (1) outward conduct (what people do), (2) an inner moral condition (what people are), or (3) social decay (what a society becomes). The verse can support more than one emphasis because it links collective behavior and a shared “spoiled” state.

Why the disagreement exists

The verse uses maximal language typical of poetry (“all… none… not one”), which can function either as strict universality or as emphatic generalization. Also, “does good” can be heard as “habitually practices what is good” rather than “never performs any good act,” which affects how absolute the conclusion sounds.

What this passage clearly contributes

It contributes a stark diagnosis: when God assesses humanity, the observed pattern is universal deviation and shared moral ruin, expressed with deliberate, repeated totalizing language. It also frames wrongdoing as more than a few bad choices by a few people; it is pictured as a group-direction (“together”) and a pervasive absence of “good” good.

one (’e·ḥāḏ)