Psalm 15b – “Church Survival Guide”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 17 Aug 2014

Translation:

1. A psalm belonging to David.

Yahweh, who will be a guest in Your tent?

Who will settle down on the mountain of Your holiness,

2. Walking perfectly,

and working righteousness,

and speaking truth in his heart?

3. He has not been a busybody with his tongue;

he has not done evil to his neighbor;

and he has not raised a reproach against his close [friend].

4. A reprobate is considered dishonorable in his eyes,

but the ones who respect Yahweh he considers honorable.

He vowed, and despite his loss he will not make a retraction.

5. He has not lent his money at interest,

and he has not accepted a bribe against an innocent man.

The one who does these will not be overthrown forever!

Intro:

· After Psalm 14, which describes the typical ungodly man, comes Psalm 15, which describes the typical godly man.

· In my first sermon on Psalm 15, I looked at the Psalm from a soteriological point of view – what does it take to personally be saved, and what does it look like personally as you are conformed to the character of God?

· To frame that sermon, I asked the question: “What would it take for you to get a bedroom in the White House?” And we answered that in order to stay there, you either need to fulfill all the requirements and be elected President of the United States, or someone who did fulfill the requirements of President could invite you to stay with him.

· Looking at it from that perspective, we see Psalm 15 as a list – and it’s not even an exhaustive list, because there are others, such as Isaiah 33:14-16 and Psalm 28 (“Who can ascend the hill of the LORD”) and the beatitude list in Matthew 5 – but anyway here’s one list of what it takes to get into heaven:

1. Live a perfect life

2. Always do what is right

3. Always speak the truth

4. Never say anything mean

5. Be a perfect judge of other people’s character

6. Keep all your promises

7. Never put poor people at a disadvantage

8. Never do anything unjust.

· And if we’re honest with ourselves, we have to concede that we cannot fulfill these requirements, so like the White House paradigm, our only hope of getting in is if someone else who has fulfilled these requirements invites us in.

· As we read in the previous psalm, no one is righteous, so there is no other man who can help us get in. Our only hope is in God’s own Son Jesus who emptied Himself of his divine glory to be a man and perfectly fulfill all the righteous requirements of God’s law, and then be punished with death and hell on the cross in order to suffer the consequences of sin in our place and give us His perfect righteousness.

· It is by His invitation that we get into heaven, and when the devil says, “Wait, God, you would be wrong to let Nate into heaven because Nate has not met the qualifications,” Jesus will smile and say, “I paid for Nate’s sins and I met the qualifications for Him because I love him and I want to live with him forever.”

· The word “sojourn” in v.1 of this Psalm is used throughout the Bible to describe the status of aliens and dependents, and that’s exactly what we are in heaven. (Slone)

· Boy, that motivates me to aspire to the character of my savior and live the rest of my life as closely as I can to this list here in Psalm 15, by the power of the Holy Spirit!

· That’s the soteriological and individual application of this Psalm which I covered last time.

· Now, in this follow-up sermon on Psalm 15, I want to look at the Psalm from more of an ecclesiological angle – what do the people of God look like corporately and how does that work out in corporate church worship?

· You know, church life can be challenging. Each of our church traditions has a history to it, and people who don’t know the history can find it all very confusing, and, of course, those who do know the history feel compelled to enlighten others with their view of who was on the right side of history. One day my family had a guest at the dinner table after church and we were filling them in on the backgrounds of several Presbyterian denominations. There’s the OPC and RPCNA that split off from the Northern Presbyterian church. (My elder friend in the OPC says with tongue in cheek that OPC stands for the “Only Perfect Church”^{^[1]}). And then the PCA that my Dad helped start split off from the PCUS before the mainline merged into the PCUSA, and then the EPC split off the OPC (which was originally called the PCA) while the RPCNA merged with the PCA. And then there’s the Scottish Covenanter RPCGA which has been pretty stable all along. It was at this point that my unenlightened guest asked in total confusion, “RPCGA? What’s that?” And my son Beni quipped, “RPCGA stands for Reformed People Can’t Get Along!”^{^[2]}

· But seriously, there is an “indissoluble connection between the adoration of God in the temple and its evidences in life… Who then is accepted of God in his worship on earth, and so has the essentials of a character fitting him for heaven? This question is of the greatest weight and the most solemn moment.” ~William Plumer

Exegesis

**1. A psalm belonging to David. Yahweh, who will be a guest in Your tent? Who will settle down on the mountain of Your holiness?**

· In Hebrew, the word “your” – referring to God – is connected with the word “holiness” rather than with the word “hill.” There is nothing intrinsically holy about a place such as a mountain, rather, it is the presence of God and His holiness which make a place holy, and for this reason, I kept the more literal translation of the “mountain of His holiness.”

· Not just anybody can saunter into God’s presence. To enter into God’s presence in worship with the people of God is a special privilege. Let us treat Him with reverence and express appreciation for inviting us.

v2 tells us of the general character of God’s people, using 3 participles:

1. “Walking uprightly/ blamelessly/with integrity/perfectly^{^[3]}”

a. We talked about how that means obeying^{^[4]} God’s laws in the Bible and trusting^{^[5]} in God’s salvation from our violations of His law.

2. The Second participle is “Working righteousness”

a. cf. Prov. 11:18 The wicked man does deceptive work, But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. (NKJV)

b. Zeph. 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger. (NKJV)

3. And the third participle in v.2 is “speaking truth”

a. Jesus Himself said: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24, NKJV).

b. William Plumer commented on this verse: “Nothing more marks an heir of perdition, a child of the devil, than lying... (John viii. 44) …truth is an essential quality to the peace, honor, and ornament of life… The doom of liars is most fearful (Rev. xxi. 8, 27 ; xxii. 15)… The good man's heart is the best part about him. He loves holiness. He hates sin. Indwelling sin and outbreaking sin greatly annoy and distress him. He hates vain thoughts. He loves God's law. If he could have his wish he never would sin again. He abliors iniquity. He despises the crooked ways of carnal men. He is honest with God, with men, with himself…^{^[6]}”

Now, the three positives in v.2 are followed by three negatives in v.3 which are more specific still:

1. “Doesn’t back-bite/slander/act like a busybody”

· fulfilling the law in Lev 19:16a “ You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people”

2. “He doesn’t do evil to his neighbor.”

That much should be obvious, but one thing we should consider is the converse of that statement. The opposite of not doing evil is not doing nothing; the opposite of doing evil is doing good. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Priest and Levite did not do anything to harm the man who was beaten up on the side of the road, they just did nothing. That did not embody the values of Jesus. The person in the parable who acted in accordance with the character of God was not the men who merely did not do evil, but the Samaritan who positively did good to the victimized man. (Slone)

3. The third thing he does not do is “raise a reproach” or “cast a slur” on anyone “near” him.

I like the way John Gill summarized it in his commentary: “He does not himself raise any scandalous report on his neighbour, nor will he bear to hear one from another, much less will he spread one; nor will he suffer one to lie [about] his neighbour, but will do all he can to vindicate him, and clear his character.”

Now, after three positive qualifications in v.2 and three negative qualifications in v.3, verse 4 begins with aligning ourselves with the way God thinks and judges:

4. A reprobate is considered dishonorable in his eyes, but the ones who respect Yahweh he considers honorable. He vowed, and despite his loss^{^[7]} he will not make a retraction.

· “[T]he feeling of the righteous towards the wicked is not that proud, haughty, malignant contempt, which marks the behaviour of the wicked towards the children of God. It is just, true, [and] benevolent. It is the abhorrence of his character, not of his person.” ~William Plumer

· Notice how many of these characteristics of righteousness have to do with the things that we say. As the people of a God who is personal and who communicates, communication in keeping with the character of God should be a hallmark of our existence. This is one reason why sharing the gospel message is part and parcel of genuine Christianity.

· And “what the [Psalm] says of keeping an oath is to be understood also of every sort of promise. For its object is to inculcate truth and fidelity among men. But it makes special mention of the oath, because, it is the pre-eminent way that good faith is kept or broken.” ~Luther

· Sometimes, however, we miscalculate, and then we are tempted to do less than we promised because it would be too expensive or too difficult to do all that we promised.

o In Joshua chapters 9-10, the children of Israel were entering into the Promised Land, but Joshua, their leader made a miscalculation that tempted him to go back on his promise. You see, one of the Canaanite tribes tricked Joshua into thinking that they were not locals whose destruction God had commanded, but rather a family from far away that was just passing through like the Israelites were. So Joshua made an alliance with them, and they disappeared, and Joshua figured he’d never see them again. But in the next chapter they turn up again with a bunch of armies on their heels asking Joshua to protect them, and Joshua realizes that they had tricked him. Now, instead of wiping out this Canaanite tribe as God had told him to do, he was being asked to save them from being killed by the other Canaanite tribes. Joshua asked God, “What do I do?” Wipe them out like you told me to, or protect them like I promised to? And God said, in effect, “Keep your promise; even if it hurts,” so he saved the Gibeonite tribe and enfolded them into the Israelite community.

o Nowadays in business, we have similar opportunities to keep our promises, even if it hurts. I was just reading in the newsletter of a missionary my family supports about how they had just gotten a clothes washer installed. The company that installed the washer, however, made a miscalculation: they wrenched down a little too hard on the water hoses that connect the washing machine to the house plumbing and burst a water line in the wall, causing the upstairs laundry room to flood. The water then flowed over the ceiling of the first floor living room and down the exterior wall of the house, saturating the insulation. My missionary friend reported, “Wonderfully, the appliance store took full responsibility and sent a crew to tear up wet flooring, remove wallboard from the soaked exterior wall, and install thirteen large heaters and fans to dry it out!” There is a great example of keeping your contract even if it hurts.

· Now, if it is that important to God that we keep our word, then we need to be careful about what we promise to do. We must be careful not to promise things we cannot do or don’t intend to do.

o For instance, there’s the parent who says, “Bobby, stop playing in the street; do you want me to give you a spanking? Bobby, get out of the street, right now, I mean it! Bobby, get out of the street this minute, or so help me!” What does this kind of empty threatening teach a child? For one thing, the child learns that his parents don’t really mean what they say, so the rules can be bent with impunity.

o This also includes promises we are tempted to make for the sake of convenience, but which cause rifts in our relationships when we do not keep our word,

§ such as the acquaintances who accept a dinner invitation in order to appear friendly, but who never will actually come over,

§ or the husband who tries to stop his wife’s nagging by promising to do something which he does not really intend to do.

§ Such things destroy trust and relationships. It takes extra time on the front end to talk things through honestly, but the benefits of honesty far outweigh the temporary convenience bought by a careless commitment.

§ When we are careful with our words, it matches the character of Jesus who is called the Word of God.

Finally, two sins having to do with money are mentioned in verse 5.

5. He has not lent his money^{^[8]} at interest, and he has not accepted a bribe against an innocent man. The one who does these will not be overthrown forever!

1. The first financial thing that the people of God should be known for is not charging interest/usury.

This is part of God’s law, repeated three times in the Torah:

o Exodus 22:25 “If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.” (NASB)

o Leviticus 25:35-36 “Now in case a countryman of yours becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Do not take usurious interest from him, but revere your God, that your countryman may live with you.” (NASB)

o Deut. 23:20a “You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest…” (NASB, cf. 27:25 which also mentions the “innocent”)

Now, for the children here, “interest” on a loan, means that someone (like a bank) has said, “We will give you $100,000 to help you buy a house if you will pay us back $1,000 a month for the next 300 months.” So the bank loans me $100,000, and I buy my house with it, and then after 300 months of paying $1,000 a month, how much have I had to pay back to the bank? $300,000! The bank only lent me $100,000, but they made me pay back $300,000. That means they made $200,000 off of their loan to me, and that $200,000 is called “interest.”
Now, some scholars translate the Hebrew word neshek to mean charging an inappropriately high rate of interest^{^[9]}, but others say it means charging any interest at all.

The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary indicates that in English, the word “usury” originally meant any kind of interest, but that the broad meaning had become obsolete and that by 1828, the word “usury” just meant “illegal interest” Since the King James translation of “usury” was made some 200 years before Webster, it is possible that, at the time the King James Bible was translated, the word “usury” which those translators chose meant any kind of interest. The fact that most English Versions translated after Webster’s 1828 Dictionary went with the word “interest” seems to support that interpretation.^{^[10]}

After reading about a dozen commentaries on the subject, I really like the position that Matthew Henry and Charles Spurgeon took that if the borrower is going to be making profit off the borrowed money (or the rented land), then it is reasonable for the lender to receive a share of the profits.

For example, if I borrowed $100,000 in order to buy a crane, and then I did construction work for other people and charged them money for the work I did with the crane, then the person who lent me money to buy the crane in the first place should get some of the money I am charging other people for the work I’m doing with that crane – in addition to being paid back what he loaned me in the first place.
But it’s quite another thing to charge interest to a poor person who is reduced to borrowing money to live from day to day.
It would be wrong to go up to one of the beggars out on the lawn at WalMart or the streetcorner and give them a dollar and say, “In three days, I expect you to pay me back my dollar plus two dollars in interest.” (Actually, I don’t encourage giving cash to panhandlers (I’d rather give food), but that was for the sake of a simple example.)
“[A] citizen of Zion,” wrote Matthew Henry, “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.”

If you have set up a situation where you charged interest for something, the book of Nehemiah, chapter five, gives us an example of how to repent from the sin of charging interest to the poor: The reconstruction Jews appealed to Nehemiah, their governor because they had been having to mortgage their farmland and houses and even sell their children into slavery in order to pay taxes and buy food. Nehemiah wrote the following, “I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, ‘Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.’ So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, ‘…What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God? … stop this usury! Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.’ [So I calculate they were charging 1% interest. It would be next to impossible to find anybody charging an interest rate that low nowadays!] So they [the rich nobles] said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say…” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the LORD. Then the people did according to this promise.” (NKJV)

2. The 2^nd financially-shady thing that the righteous does not do is that he does not take a bribe.

Twice in the Torah, we find laws against taking a shokhed or “bribe”:

Exodus 23:6-8 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.” (NASB)
Deut. 16:19 “You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.” (NASB)

Nowadays, bribes often take the form of some kind of special favor you get in return for helping someone else.

When my sons worked for legislators in the capitol, they said that it was almost always possible to get a free lunch because there was always some special-interest group or lobbyer who was willing to buy lunch for them in order to get the chance to try to convince the legislator to pass a certain law that would benefit the businesses of that special interest group.
It is a bribe if it influences your representative to vote in favor of that special-interest group rather than in the best interest of the people he is representing.
The late abortionist George Tiller contributed heavily to Kathleen Sebelius’ campaign for governor, and in return, while she was in power, she made sure that he did not get prosecuted for his crimes against teenage girls and their children in his abortion clinic. That was essentially bribery.
“When law is administered by favor, the poor are sold for a pair of shoes. But when the balance of justice is held by an impartial hand, the humblest has his rights secured.” ~William Plumer
But it happens at home too: maybe you saw your sister do something wrong and she gave you a piece of candy and said, “Don’t tell Mama what you saw.” When something like that happens to you, God’s word says to just shake that candy – or that bribe – out of your hands and don’t agree with anyone to cover up what is wrong.
“Who can lodge for us with [God who is] a devouring fire? … One who walks righteously and who speaks straight, who rejects profit from oppression, who shakes his hands against holding the bribe, who stops his ear from hearing about bloodshed, and who shuts his eyes from the sight of evil. This is the one who will sit on high. (Isaiah 33:15-16, NAW)

Finally, the psalmist concludes, “Whoever does [all] this will never be moved/ shaken/ overthrown/ run off track” (cf. 10:6 & 13:4).

“In his holy, innocent life, he has the evidence that he is a child of God. He shall never in God's esteem be separated from the congregation of accepted worshippers.” ~Plumer
The word translated “never” in most English Bibles comes from two Hebrew words in this verse, first the standard word לֹ֖א for negating a verb, and then, at the end of the verse, the word לְעוֹלָֽם – usually translated “forever.” This grammatical construction indicates not merely that he “will not be shaken,” but also that his security will endure “forever/into eternity.”
“Gibraltar, the Himalayas and the Appalachian range shall melt like wax, but God's people shall not be moved, to eternity.” ~William Plumer
And, by the way, Jesus Himself has fulfilled all these traits of righteousness, so, according to God’s word, Jesus will not be shaken out of His kingdom. “He will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15), and “of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9:7)! That is good news!

Further application points:

1. Observing outward rituals is not what characterizes God’s people in worship

o John Calvin suggested that the Psalm arose as a meditation about the presence of hypocrites among the people of God. He noted that going to church is not listed among the traits of people who will dwell with God. Does that mean going to church is not important? No, it’s just that anybody can go to church, so the psalm focuses in on distinguishing marks of true righteousness which are not the sorts of things hypocrites do. “[I]f men assume the title of the people of God, without being so in deed and in truth, they gain nothing by their self-delusion.”

o From this Calvin moved to the doctrine of Jesus’ parable of the Wheat and the Tares, noting that it is not possible to form a perfect church where you can be sure that everyone there is a true Christian. Pietists who try to do so are wasting their time on a quixotic mission. The flipside is, don’t become disillusioned when you discover hypocrites in the pews; it is part of the way God has seen fit to administrate His kingdom until Jesus returns.

2. “If we really wish to be reckoned among the number of the children of God, the Holy Ghost teaches us, that we must show ourselves to be such by a holy and an upright life; for it is not enough to serve God by outward ceremonies, unless we also live uprightly, and without doing wrong to our neighbors.” ~John Calvin

o 1John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (NKJV)

o Hebrews 12:14 “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (KJV)

3. “Because God is God, therefore he alone can determine what will and what will not please him in his worshippers. His decision is infallible, and so we should resort to him,” asking, “how is my character?” ~Plumer Therefore we should approach God with reverence,

o Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 “Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.”

o The God that we gather to worship should never be taken for granted. He is the one that Isaiah saw in a vision, “...the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 6:1-5, NKJV)

· The Jews observed all kinds of rituals to remind them of the transcendence of God, but Psalm 15 does not focus on the external preparations for worship, but rather the internal preparation for worshipping God, loving truth and righteousness, loving our neighbors and being considerate toward the poor, and aligning ourselves with the way God thinks about things. These are more important than how you wash or shave or what you eat or wear to church. Those outward things can be meaningful and helpful, but only when they are reflections of what is in our heart toward God. “The kind of worship envisioned here breaks out of the confines of temple and Sabbath to infect the rest of the week and all of life. It is aware of God’s presence day by day and not just at prescribed moments of worship. Here, life becomes a form of worship…” ~G. Wilson

Comparison of Translations

Ps. 15	NAW	KJV	NKJV	ESV	NASB	NIV	LXX	Brenton
א מִזְמ֗וֹר לְדָ֫וִ֥ד יְ֭הֹוָה מִי־ יָג֣וּר בְּאָהֳלֶ֑ךָ מִֽי־יִ֝שְׁכֹּ֗ן בְּהַ֣ר קָדְשֶֽׁךָ׃	1. A psalm belonging to David. Yahweh, who will be a guest in Your tent^{^[11]}? Who will settle down on the mountain of Your holiness?	1 A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?	1 A Psalm of David. LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?	1 A Psalm of David. O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?	1 A Psalm of David. O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?	1 A psalm of David. LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?	1 Ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυιδ. Κύριε, τίς παροικήσει ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου [καὶ]^Syr τίς κατασκηνώσει ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ ἁγίῳ σου;	1 A Psalm of David. O Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? and who shall dwell in thy holy mountain?
ב הוֹלֵ֣ךְ תָּ֭מִים וּפֹעֵ֥ל צֶ֑דֶק וְדֹבֵ֥ר אֱ֝מֶ֗ת בִּלְבָבֽוֹ׃	2. Walking perfectly, and working righteousness, and speaking truth in his heart	2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.	2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart;	2 He who walks blamelessly and ~~does~~ what is right and speaks truth in his heart;	2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart.	2 He whose walk is blameless and who ~~does~~ what is righteous, who speaks the truth ~~from~~ his heart	2 πορευόμενος ἄμωμος καὶ ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην, λαλῶν ἀλήθειαν ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ,	2 He that walks blameless, and works righteousness, who speaks truth in his heart.
ג לֹֽא־רָגַ֨ל׀ עַל־לְשֹׁנ֗וֹ לֹא־עָשָׂ֣ה לְרֵעֵ֣הוּ רָעָ֑ה וְ֝חֶרְפָּ֗ה לֹא־נָשָׂ֥א עַל־קְרֹֽבוֹ׃	3. He has not been a busybody with his tongue; he has not done evil to his neighbor; and he has not raised a reproach against his close [friend].	3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his ~~neighbour~~.	3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend;	3 who does not slander with his tongue [and] does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;	3 He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;	3 and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,	3 ὃς οὐκ ἐδόλωσεν ἐν γλώσσῃ αὐτοῦ οὐ[δὲ]^Syr ἐποίησεν τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ κακὸν καὶ ὀνειδισμὸν οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἔγγιστα αὐτοῦ·	3 Who has not spoken craftily with is tongue, neither has done evil to his neighbour, nor taken up a reproach against them that dwelt nearest to him.
ד נִבְזֶ֤ה׀ בְּֽעֵ֘ינָ֤יו נִמְאָ֗ס וְאֶת־יִרְאֵ֣י יְהוָ֣ה יְכַבֵּ֑ד נִשְׁבַּ֥ע לְ֝הָרַ֗ע וְלֹ֣א יָמִֽר׃	4. A reprobate is considered dishonorable in his eyes, but the ones who respect Yahweh he considers honorable. He vowed to his loss and he will not make a retraction.	4 In 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.	4 In whose eyes a vile person is despised, But he honors those who fear the LORD; He who swears to his [own] hurt and does not change;	4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his [own] hurt and does not change;	4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the LORD; He swears to his [own] hurt and does not change;	4 who X despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who ~~keeps~~ his X oath even when it hurts, X X	4 ἐξουδένωται ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πονηρευόμενος, τοὺς δὲ φοβουμένους κύριον δοξάζει· ὁ ὀμνύων τῷ ~~πλησίον^{^[12]}~~ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἀθετῶν^{^[13]}·	4 In his sight an evil-worker is set at nought, but he honours them that fear the Lord. He swears to his ~~neighbour~~, and ~~disappoints him~~ not. [lt. does not displace it]
ה כַּסְפּ֤וֹ׀ לֹא־נָתַ֣ן בְּנֶשֶׁךְ֮ וְשֹׁ֥חַד עַל־נָקִ֗י לֹ֥א לָ֫קָ֥ח עֹֽשֵׂה־אֵ֑לֶּה לֹ֖א יִמּ֣וֹט לְעוֹלָֽם׃	5. He has not lent his money at interest, and he has not accepted a bribe against an innocent man. The one who does these will not be overthrown forever!	5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.	5 He who does not put out his money at usury, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.	5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.	5 He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.	5 who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.	5 τὸ ἀργύριον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἐπὶ τόκῳ καὶ δῶρα ἐπ᾿ ἀθῴοις οὐκ ἔλαβεν. ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα οὐ σαλευθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.	5 He has not lent his money on usury, and has not received bribes against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved.

^{^[1]} Actually, it’s the Orthodox Presbyterian Church

^{^[2]} Actually it stands for Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Assembly

^{^[3]} Plumer quotes Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Douway, and Alexander in support of “perfect”

^{^[4]} Psalm 119:1 “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the LORD. (NASB)

^{^[5]} “…The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You! (Psalm 84:11-12, NKJV)

^{^[6]} He goes on to observe, “The first clause of this verse requires rectitude or sincerity in the largest sense; the second, honesty and justice; the third, truth, or a correspondence between the signs of language or gesture, and one's real thoughts.”

^{^[7]} LXX, Syriac, Latin, Arabic and Ethiopic substitute a similar-looking Hebrew word which means “neighbor” instead of “loss.” Although their interpretation removes some of the intensity of the statement, it does not attack the basic meaning of keeping a promise.

^{^[8]} The Hebrew is literally “silver” which has been an almost-universal form of currency due to its value compared to its mass and due to how easy it is as a metal to cut or re-cast into different sizes.

^{^[9]} G. Wilson suggested that neshek was limited to “interest on money” and that there was a different term for “interest on grain and other goods,” but he said “it remains uncertain.”

^{^[10]} This was also the conclusion of Calvin “David seems to condemn all kinds of usury in general,” Plumer, and Morrison, “can a man who really fears God, and is acting under the direction of his principles, suffer himself to take advantage of a distressed neighbor, because he happens to have more than he, at any given time, of this particular commodity of money? The law of God, whatever may be the avaricious feeling of the human heart, says. No; the principle of true benevolence says. No; the honor of the Christian profession says. No.”

^{^[11]} Some Hebrew manuscripts (incl. Cairo) pluralize “tents.” But that doesn’t make much difference.

^{^[12]} The Vaticanus and Theodotian’s Greek translation followed the Hebrew more literally “to his hurt,” but Symmachus went wide with “swear to be other.”

^{^[13]} According to Field’s reconstruction of Origen’s Hexapla, multiple ancient Greek versions instead went with sphalle “shall not stumble”