Psalms 15

LORD, who may stay as a guest in your tent? Who may live on your holy hill?

1Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

Note"Tabernacle" translates a word meaning tent. It refers to the portable tent-shrine that housed the ark of the covenant during Israel's early history, and by the time of the psalms the word was still used for God's dwelling place even after the temple was built. The "holy hill" is Zion, the ridge in Jerusalem where the temple stood. The verb behind "abide" is the one used of a guest or resident foreigner taken under a host's protection, someone who has no claim of his own and is admitted by the householder's welcome. Verses 1-5 follow a form scholars call an entrance liturgy: a question asked at the sanctuary gate about who may come in, answered by a list of conditions.

2The person who lives an honest life, and does what is right, and speaks the truth from the heart.

2He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

Note"Walk" is the standard Hebrew idiom for the whole conduct of a life, not for physical walking. "Heart" in Hebrew usage is the seat of thought, intention and decision rather than of feeling; "speaks the truth in his heart" means his speech matches what he actually thinks, with no gap between the two.

3The person who does not spread talk that tears others down, who does no harm to a neighbor, and who does not repeat shameful stories about a friend.

3He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

Note"Backbite" renders a Hebrew phrase meaning roughly to go about on one's tongue, to carry damaging talk from person to person. "Neighbour" here does not mean the person living nearby but any fellow member of the community. "Taketh up a reproach" means picking up a piece of disgrace attached to someone and passing it on; the accusation may even be true, and the fault is in repeating it.

4The person who looks down on someone who is worthless, but honors those who fear the LORD. This is a person who makes a promise, and keeps it even when keeping it costs him.

4In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

Note"Contemned" is an old word meaning despised or held in contempt; it is unrelated to "condemned". The Hebrew of this line is compressed and disputed: it can mean that the worthless person is worthless in his eyes, or, with a different division of the words, that he is lowly in his own eyes: that is, he does not think much of himself. "Fear the LORD" is a standing Hebrew phrase for reverence and loyalty toward God, not for being frightened of him. To "swear" was to bind oneself by an oath sworn in God's name, which made the promise legally and religiously unbreakable; "to his own hurt" means the promise turned out to cost him, and he keeps it anyway.

5The person who does not lend money and charge interest on it, and who will not take a bribe against an innocent person. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

5He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

NoteIn 1611 "usury" meant charging interest of any kind, not, as it does now, charging an unreasonably high rate. Israelite law forbade lending at interest to a fellow Israelite (Exodus 22:25, Leviticus 25:36-37); such loans were emergency relief for a neighbor in distress rather than commercial finance, and profiting from them was treated as exploiting a person's misfortune. "Reward" is the older English word for a payment or bribe, here money taken by a judge or witness to give a verdict or testimony against someone who has done no wrong. "Never be moved" uses the image of a thing so firmly set that it cannot be shaken loose or dislodged from its place.