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Psalms 15:3 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

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3 He that backbiteth H7270 not with his tongue, H3956 nor doeth H6213 evil H7451 to his neighbour, H7453 nor taketh up H5375 a reproach H2781 against his neighbour. H7138

Cross Reference

Psalms 101:5-8 STRONG

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB BBE

Whoso privily H5643 slandereth H3960 H3960 his neighbour, H7453 him will I cut off: H6789 him that hath an high H1362 look H5869 and a proud H7342 heart H3824 will not I suffer. H3201 Mine eyes H5869 shall be upon the faithful H539 of the land, H776 that they may dwell H3427 with me: he that walketh H1980 in a perfect H8549 way, H1870 he shall serve H8334 me. He that worketh H6213 deceit H7423 shall not dwell H3427 within H7130 my house: H1004 he that telleth H1696 lies H8267 shall not tarry H3559 in my sight. H5869 I will early H1242 destroy H6789 all the wicked H7563 of the land; H776 that I may cut off H3772 all wicked H205 doers H6466 from the city H5892 of the LORD. H3068

Exodus 23:1-33 STRONG

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB BBE

Thou shalt not raise H5375 a false H7723 report: H8088 put H7896 not thine hand H3027 with the wicked H7563 to be an unrighteous H2555 witness. H5707 Thou shalt not follow H310 a multitude H7227 to do evil; H7451 neither shalt thou speak H6030 in a cause H7379 to decline H5186 after H310 many H7227 to wrest H5186 judgment: Neither shalt thou countenance H1921 a poor H1800 man in his cause. H7379 If thou meet H6293 thine enemy's H341 ox H7794 or his ass H2543 going astray, H8582 thou shalt surely H7725 bring it back H7725 to him again. H7725 If thou see H7200 the ass H2543 of him that hateth H8130 thee lying H7257 under his burden, H4853 and wouldest forbear H2308 to help H5800 him, thou shalt surely H5800 help H5800 with him. Thou shalt not wrest H5186 the judgment H4941 of thy poor H34 in his cause. H7379 Keep thee far H7368 from a false H8267 matter; H1697 and the innocent H5355 and righteous H6662 slay H2026 thou not: for I will not justify H6663 the wicked. H7563 And thou shalt take H3947 no gift: H7810 for the gift H7810 blindeth H5786 the wise, H6493 and perverteth H5557 the words H1697 of the righteous. H6662 Also thou shalt not oppress H3905 a stranger: H1616 for ye know H3045 the heart H5315 of a stranger, H1616 seeing H3588 ye were strangers H1616 in the land H776 of Egypt. H4714 And six H8337 years H8141 thou shalt sow H2232 thy land, H776 and shalt gather H622 in the fruits H8393 thereof: But the seventh H7637 year thou shalt let it rest H8058 and lie H5203 still; that the poor H34 of thy people H5971 may eat: H398 and what they leave H3499 the beasts H2416 of the field H7704 shall eat. H398 In like manner thou shalt deal H6213 with thy vineyard, H3754 and with thy oliveyard. H2132 Six H8337 days H3117 thou shalt do H6213 thy work, H4639 and on the seventh H7637 day H3117 thou shalt rest: H7673 that thine ox H7794 and thine ass H2543 may rest, H5117 and the son H1121 of thy handmaid, H519 and the stranger, H1616 may be refreshed. H5314 And in all things that I have said H559 unto you be circumspect: H8104 and make no mention H2142 of the name H8034 of other H312 gods, H430 neither let it be heard H8085 out H5921 of thy mouth. H6310 Three H7969 times H7272 thou shalt keep a feast H2287 unto me in the year. H8141 Thou shalt keep H8104 the feast H2282 of unleavened bread: H4682 (thou shalt eat H398 unleavened bread H4682 seven H7651 days, H3117 as I commanded H6680 thee, in the time appointed H4150 of the month H2320 Abib; H24 for in it thou camest out H3318 from Egypt: H4714 and none shall appear H7200 before H6440 me empty:) H7387 And the feast H2282 of harvest, H7105 the firstfruits H1061 of thy labours, H4639 which thou hast sown H2232 in the field: H7704 and the feast H2282 of ingathering, H614 which is in the end H3318 of the year, H8141 when thou hast gathered H622 in thy labours H4639 out of the field. H7704 Three H7969 times H6471 in the year H8141 all thy males H2138 shall appear H7200 before H6440 the Lord H113 GOD. H3068 Thou shalt not offer H2076 the blood H1818 of my sacrifice H2077 with leavened bread; H2557 neither shall the fat H2459 of my sacrifice H2282 remain H3885 until the morning. H1242 The first H7225 of the firstfruits H1061 of thy land H127 thou shalt bring H935 into the house H1004 of the LORD H3068 thy God. H430 Thou shalt not seethe H1310 a kid H1423 in his mother's H517 milk. H2461 Behold, I send H7971 an Angel H4397 before H6440 thee, to keep H8104 thee in the way, H1870 and to bring H935 thee into the place H4725 which I have prepared. H3559 Beware H8104 of H6440 him, and obey H8085 his voice, H6963 provoke H4843 him not; for he will not pardon H5375 your transgressions: H6588 for my name H8034 is in him. H7130 But if thou shalt indeed H8085 obey H8085 his voice, H6963 and do H6213 all that I speak; H1696 then I will be an enemy H340 unto thine enemies, H341 and an adversary H6887 unto thine adversaries. H6696 For mine Angel H4397 shall go H3212 before H6440 thee, and bring H935 thee in unto the Amorites, H567 and the Hittites, H2850 and the Perizzites, H6522 and the Canaanites, H3669 the Hivites, H2340 and the Jebusites: H2983 and I will cut them off. H3582 Thou shalt not bow down H7812 to their gods, H430 nor serve H5647 them, nor do H6213 after their works: H4639 but thou shalt utterly H2040 overthrow H2040 them, and quite H7665 break down H7665 their images. H4676 And ye shall serve H5647 the LORD H3068 your God, H430 and he shall bless H1288 thy bread, H3899 and thy water; H4325 and I will take H5493 sickness H4245 away H5493 from the midst H7130 of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, H7921 nor be barren, H6135 in thy land: H776 the number H4557 of thy days H3117 I will fulfil. H4390 I will send H7971 my fear H367 before H6440 thee, and will destroy H2000 all the people H5971 to whom thou shalt come, H935 and I will make H5414 all thine enemies H341 turn their backs H6203 unto thee. And I will send H7971 hornets H6880 before H6440 thee, which shall drive out H1644 the Hivite, H2340 the Canaanite, H3669 and the Hittite, H2850 from before H6440 thee. I will not drive them out H1644 from before H6440 thee in one H259 year; H8141 lest the land H776 become desolate, H8077 and the beast H2416 of the field H7704 multiply H7227 against thee. By little H4592 and little H4592 I will drive them out H1644 from before H6440 thee, until thou be increased, H6509 and inherit H5157 the land. H776 And I will set H7896 thy bounds H1366 from the Red H5488 sea H3220 even unto the sea H3220 of the Philistines, H6430 and from the desert H4057 unto the river: H5104 for I will deliver H5414 the inhabitants H3427 of the land H776 into your hand; H3027 and thou shalt drive them out H1644 before H6440 thee. Thou shalt make H3772 no covenant H1285 with them, nor with their gods. H430 They shall not dwell H3427 in thy land, H776 lest they make thee sin H2398 against me: for if thou serve H5647 their gods, H430 it will surely be a snare H4170 unto thee.

Jeremiah 9:4-9 STRONG

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB BBE

Take ye heed H8104 every one H376 of his neighbour, H7453 and trust H982 ye not in any brother: H251 for every brother H251 will utterly H6117 supplant, H6117 and every neighbour H7453 will walk H1980 with slanders. H7400 And they will deceive H2048 every one H376 his neighbour, H7453 and will not speak H1696 the truth: H571 they have taught H3925 their tongue H3956 to speak H1696 lies, H8267 and weary H3811 themselves to commit iniquity. H5753 Thine habitation H3427 is in the midst H8432 of deceit; H4820 through deceit H4820 they refuse H3985 to know H3045 me, saith H5002 the LORD. H3068 Therefore thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 Behold, I will melt H6884 them, and try H974 them; for how shall I do H6213 for H6440 the daughter H1323 of my people? H5971 Their tongue H3956 is as an arrow H2671 shot out; H7819 it speaketh H1696 deceit: H4820 one speaketh H1696 peaceably H7965 to his neighbour H7453 with his mouth, H6310 but in heart H7130 he layeth H7760 his wait. H696 Shall I not visit H6485 them for these things? saith H5002 the LORD: H3068 shall not my soul H5315 be avenged H5358 on such a nation H1471 as this?

1 Peter 2:1-2 STRONG

KJV ASV YLT DARBY WEB BBE

Wherefore G3767 laying aside G659 all G3956 malice, G2549 and G2532 all G3956 guile, G1388 and G2532 hypocrisies, G5272 and G2532 envies, G5355 and G2532 all G3956 evil speakings, G2636 As G5613 newborn G738 babes, G1025 desire G1971 the sincere G97 milk G1051 of the word, G3050 that G2443 ye may grow G837 thereby: G1722 G846

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.