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Psalms 15:3 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

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3 Whose tongue is not false, who does no evil to his friend, and does not take away the good name of his neighbour;

Cross Reference

Psalms 101:5-8 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

I will put to death anyone who says evil of his neighbour secretly; the man with a high look and a heart of pride is disgusting to me. My eyes will be on those of good faith in the land, so that they may be living in my house; he who is walking in the right way will be my servant. The worker of deceit will not come into my house; the false man will have no place before my eyes. Morning by morning will I put to death all the sinners in the land, so that all evil-doers may be cut off from Jerusalem.

Exodus 23:1-33 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

Do not let a false statement go further; do not make an agreement with evil-doers to be a false witness. Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision: But, on the other hand, do not be turned from what is right in order to give support to a poor man's cause. If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him. If you see the ass of one who has no love for you bent down to the earth under the weight which is put on it, you are to come to its help, even against your desire. Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause. Keep yourselves far from any false business; never let the upright or him who has done no wrong be put to death: for I will make the evil-doer responsible for his sin. Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false. Do not be hard on the man from a strange country who is living among you; for you have had experience of the feelings of one who is far from the land of his birth, because you yourselves were living in Egypt, in a strange land. For six years put seed into your fields and get in the increase; But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted; so that the poor may have food from it: and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees. For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath; so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you. Take note of all these things which I have said to you, and let not the names of other gods come into your minds or from your lips. Three times in the year you are to keep a feast to me. You are to keep the feast of unleavened bread; for seven days let your bread be without leaven, as I gave you orders, at the regular time in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt); and let no one come before me without an offering: And the feast of the grain-cutting, the first-fruits of your planted fields: and the feast at the start of the year, when you have got in all the fruit from your fields. Three times in the year let all your males come before the Lord God. Do not give the blood of my offering with leavened bread; and do not let the fat of my feast be kept all night till the morning. The best of the first-fruits of your land are to be taken into the house of the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk. See, I am sending an angel before you, to keep you on your way and to be your guide into the place which I have made ready for you. Give attention to him and give ear to his voice; do not go against him; for your wrongdoing will not be overlooked by him, because my name is in him. But if you truly give ear to his voice, and do whatever I say, then I will be against those who are against you, fighting those who are fighting you. And my angel will go before you, guiding you into the land of the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, and they will be cut off by my hand. Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do as they do; but overcome them completely, and let their pillars be broken down. And give worship to the Lord your God, who will send his blessing on your bread and on your water; and I will take all disease away from among you. All your animals will give birth without loss, not one will be without young in all your land; I will give you a full measure of life. I will send my fear before you, putting to flight all the people to whom you come; all those who are against you will go in flight, turning their backs before you. I will send hornets before you, driving out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite before your face. I will not send them all out in one year, for fear that their land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you. Little by little I will send them away before you, till your numbers are increased and you take up your heritage in the land. I will let the limits of your land be from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the waste land to the river Euphrates: for I will give the people of those lands into your power; and you will send them out before you. Make no agreement with them or with their gods. Let them not go on living in your land, or they will make you do evil against me: for if you give worship to their gods, it will certainly be a cause of sin to you.

Jeremiah 9:4-9 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil. Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back. There is wrong on wrong, deceit on deceit; they have given up the knowledge of me, says the Lord. So the Lord of armies has said, See, I will make them soft in the fire and put them to the test; this I will do because of their evil-doing. His tongue is an arrow causing death; the words of his mouth are deceit: he says words of peace to his neighbour, but in his heart he is waiting secretly for him. Am I not to send punishment for these things? says the Lord: will not my soul take payment from such a nation as this?

1 Peter 2:1-2 BBE

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB STRONG

So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk, Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers' breasts, so that you may go on to salvation;

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 15

Commentary on Psalms 15 Matthew Henry Commentary

John Gill   Keil & Delitzsch   Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible  

Psalm 15

The scope of this short but excellent psalm is to show us the way to heaven, and to convince us that, if we would be happy, we must be holy and honest. Christ, who is himself the way, and in whom we must walk as our way, has also shown us the same way that is here prescribed, Mt. 19:17. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' In this psalm,

  • I. By the question (v. 1) we are directed and excited to enquire for the way.
  • II. By the answer to that question, in the rest of the psalm, we are directed to walk in that way (v. 2-5).
  • III. By the assurance given in the close of the psalm of the safety and happiness of those who answer these characters we are encouraged to walk in that way (v. 5).

A psalm of David.

Psa 15:1-5

Here is,

  • I. A very serious and weighty question concerning the characters of a citizen of Zion (v. 1): "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Let me know who shall go to heaven.' Not, who by name (in this way the Lord only knows those that are his), but who by description: "What kind of people are those whom thou wilt own and crown with distinguishing and everlasting favours?' This supposes that it is a great privilege to be a citizen of Zion, an unspeakable honour and advantage,-that all are not thus privileged, but a remnant only,-and that men are not entitled to this privilege by their birth and blood: all shall not abide in God's tabernacle that have Abraham to their father, but, according as men's hearts and lives are, so will their lot be. It concerns us all to put this question to ourselves, Lord, what shall I be, and do, that I may abide in thy tabernacle? Lu. 18:18; Acts 16:30.
    • 1. Observe to whom this enquiry is addressed-to God himself. Note, Those that would find the way to heaven must look up to God, must take direction from his word and beg direction from his Spirit. It is fit he himself should give laws to his servants, and appoint the conditions of his favours, and tell who are his and who not.
    • 2. How it is expressed in Old-Testament language.
      • (1.) By the tabernacle we may understand the church militant, typified by Moses's tabernacle, fitted to a wilderness-state, mean and movable. There God manifests himself, and there he meets his people, as of old in the tabernacle of the testimony, the tabernacle of meeting. Who shall dwell in this tabernacle? Who shall be accounted a true living member of God's church, admitted among the spiritual priests to lodge in the courts of this tabernacle? We are concerned to enquire this, because many pretend to a place in this tabernacle who really have no part nor lot in the matter.
      • (2.) By the holy hill we may understand the church triumphant, alluding to Mount Zion, on which the temple was to be built by Solomon. It is the happiness of glorified saints that they dwell in that holy hill; they are at home there: they shall be for ever there. It concerns us to know who shall dwell there, that we may make it sure to ourselves that we shall have a place among them, and may then take the comfort of it, and rejoice in prospect of that holy hill.
  • II. A very plain and particular answer to this question. Those that desire to know their duty, with a resolution to do it, will find the scripture a very faithful director and conscience a faithful monitor. Let us see then the particular characters of a citizen of Zion.
    • 1. He is one that is sincere and entire in his religion: He walketh uprightly, according to the condition of the covenant (Gen. 17:1), "Walk before me, and be thou perfect' (it is the same word that is here used) "and then thou shalt find me a God all-sufficient.' He is really what he professes to be, is sound at heart, and can approve himself to God, in his integrity, in all he does; his conversation is uniform, and he is of a piece with himself, and endeavours to stand complete in all the will of God. His eye perhaps is weak, but it is single; he has his spots indeed, but he does not paint; he is an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile, Jn. 1:47; 2 Co. 1:12. I know no religion but sincerity.
    • 2. He is one that is conscientiously honest and just in all his dealings, faithful and fair to all with whom he has to do: He worketh righteousness; he walks in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, and takes care to give all their due, is just both to God and man; and, in speaking to both, he speaks that which is the truth in his heart; his prayers, professions, and promises, to God, come not out of feigned lips, nor dares he tell a lie, or so much as equivocate, in his converse or commerce with men. He walks by the rules of righteousness and truth, and scorns and abhors the gains of injustice and fraud. He reckons that that cannot be a good bargain, nor a saving one, which is made with a lie, and that he who wrongs his neighbour, though ever so plausibly, will prove, in the end, to have done the greatest injury to himself.
    • 3. He is one that contrives to do all the good he can to his neighbours, but is very careful to do hurt to no man, and is, in a particular manner, tender of his neighbour's reputation, v. 3. He does no evil at all to his neighbour willingly or designedly, nothing to offend or grieve his spirit, nothing to prejudice the health or ease of his body, nothing to injure him in his estate or secular interests, in his family or relations; but walks by that golden rule of equity, To do as he would be done by. He is especially careful not to injure his neighbour in his good name, though many, who would not otherwise wrong their neighbours, make nothing of that. If any man, in this matter, bridles not his tongue, his religion is vain. He knows the worth of a good name, and therefore he backbites not, defames no man, speaks evil of no man, makes not others' faults the subject of his common talk, much less of his sport and ridicule, nor speaks of them with pleasure, nor at all but for edification. He makes the best of every body, and the worst of nobody. He does not take up a reproach, that is, he neither raises it nor receives it; he gives no credit nor countenance to a calumny, but frowns upon a backbiting tongue, and so silences it, Prov. 25:23. If an ill-natured character of his neighbour be given him, or an ill-natured story be told him, he will disprove it if he can; if not, it shall die with him and go no further. His charity will cover a multitude of sins.
    • 4. He is one that values men by their virtue and piety, and not by the figure they make in the world, v. 5.
      • (1.) He thinks the better of no man's wickedness for his pomp and grandeur: In his eyes a vile person is contemned. Wicked people are vile people, worthless and good for nothing (so the word signifies), as dross, as chaff, and as salt that has lost its savour. They are vile in their choices (Jer. 2:13), in their practices, Isa. 32:6. For this wise and good men contemn them, not denying them civil honour and respect as men, as men in authority and power perhaps (1 Pt. 2:17, Rom. 13:7), but, in their judgment of them, agreeing with the word of God. They are so far from envying them that they pity them, despising their gains (Isa. 33:15), as turning to no account, their dainties (Ps. 141:4), their pleasures (Heb. 11:24, 25) as sapless and insipid. They despise their society (Ps. 119:115; 2 Ki. 3:14); they despise their taunts and threats, and are not moved by them, nor disturbed at them; they despise the feeble efforts of their impotent malice (Ps. 2:1, 4), and will shortly triumph in their fall, Ps. 52:6, 7. God despises them, and they are of his mind.
      • (2.) He thinks the worse of no man's piety for his poverty and meanness, but he knows those that fear the Lord. He reckons that serious piety, wherever it is found, puts an honour upon a man, and makes his face to shine, more than wealth, or wit, or a great name among men, does or can. He honours such, esteems them very highly in love, desires their friendship and conversation and an interest in their prayers, is glad of an opportunity to show them respect or do them a good office, pleads their cause and speaks of them with veneration, rejoices when they prosper, grieves when they are removed, and their memory, when they are gone, is precious with him. By this we may judge of ourselves in some measure. What rules do we go by in judging of others?
    • 5. He is one that always prefers a good conscience before any secular interest or advantage whatsoever; for, if he has promised upon oath to do any thing, though afterwards it appear much to his damage and prejudice in his worldly estate, yet he adheres to it and changes not, v. 4. See how weak-sighted and short-sighted even wise and good men may be; they may swear to their own hurt, which they were not aware of when they took the oath. But see how strong the obligation of an oath is, that a man must rather suffer loss to himself and his family than wrong his neighbour by breaking his oath. An oath is a sacred thing, which we must not think to play fast and loose with.
    • 6. He is one that will not increase his estate by any unjust practices, v. 5.
      • (1.) Not by extortion: He putteth not out his money to usury, that he may live at ease upon the labours of others, while he is in a capacity for improving it by his own industry. Not that it is any breach of the law of justice or charity for the lender to share in the profit which the borrower makes of his money, any more than for the owner of the land to demand rent from the occupant, money being, by art and labour, as improvable as land. But a citizen of Zion will freely lend to the poor, according to his ability, and not be rigorous and severe in recovering his right from those that are reduced by Providence.
      • (2.) Not by bribery: He will not take a reward against the innocent; if he be any way employed in the administration of public justice, he will not, for any gain, or hope of it, to himself, do any thing to the prejudice of a righteous cause.
  • III. The psalm concludes with a ratification of this character of the citizen of Zion. He is like Zion-hill itself, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever, Ps. 125:1. Every true living member of the church, like the church itself, is built upon a rock, which the gates of hell cannot prevail against: He that doeth these things shall never be moved; shall not be moved for ever, so the word is. The grace of God shall always be sufficient for him, to preserve him safe and blameless to the heavenly kingdom. Temptations shall not overcome him, troubles shall not overwhelm him, nothing shall rob him of his present peace nor his future bliss.

In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, to answer the characters here given of the citizen of Zion, that we may never be moved from God's tabernacle on earth, and may arrive, at last, at that holy hill where we shall be for ever out of the reach of temptation and danger.