3 He who doesn't slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his friend, Nor casts slurs against his fellow man;
I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won't tolerate one who is haughty and conceited. My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, He will serve me. He who practices deceit won't dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood won't be established before my eyes. Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land; To cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh's city.
"You shall not spread a false report. Don't join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice; neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause. "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don't leave him, you shall surely help him with it. "You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. "Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked. You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous. "You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, seeing you were aliens in the land of Egypt. "For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the animal of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and with your olive grove. "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed. "Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don't invoke the name of other gods, neither let them be heard out of your mouth. "You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh. "You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning. The first of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. "Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don't provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from your midst. No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."
Take you heed everyone of his neighbor, and don't you trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders. They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh. Therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how [else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. Shall I not visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 15
Commentary on Psalms 15 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 15
Ps 15:1-5. Those who are fit for communion with God may be known by a conformity to His law, which is illustrated in various important particulars.
1. abide—or, "sojourn" (compare Ps 5:4), where it means under God's protection here, as (Ps 23:6, 27:4, 6) communion.
tabernacle—seat of the ark (2Sa 6:17), the symbol of God's presence.
holy hill—(Compare Ps 2:6).
2. walketh—(Compare Ps 1:1).
uprightly—in a complete manner, as to all parts of conduct (Ge 17:1), not as to degree.
worketh—or, "does."
righteousness—what is right.
in his heart—sincerely (Pr 23:7).
3. He neither slanders nor spreads slander.
4. Love and hate are regulated by a regard to God.
sweareth … hurt—or what so results (compare Le 5:4).
5. (Compare Le 25:37; De 23:19, 20).
usury is derived from a verb meaning "to bite." All gains made by the wrongful loss of others are forbidden.
taketh reward, &c.—The innocent would not otherwise be condemned (compare Ex 23:8; De 16:19). Bribery of all sorts is denounced.
doeth these, &c.—Such persons admitted to God's presence and favor shall never be moved (Ps 10:6; 13:5).