Psalms 15 · Verse 4

Psalms 15:4

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.
Psalms 15:4, King James Version

Psalms 15:4 in other translations

BSBwho despises the vile but honors those who fear the LORD, who does not revise a costly oath,
WEBin whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;
ASVIn whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honoreth them that fear Jehovah; He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not;
YLTDespised in his eyes is a rejected one, And those fearing Jehovah he doth honour. He hath sworn to suffer evil, and changeth not;
DARBYIn whose eyes the depraved person is contemned, and who honoureth them that fear Jehovah; who, if he have sworn to his own hurt, changeth it not;
BBEWho gives honour to those who have the fear of the Lord, turning away from him who has not the Lord's approval. He who takes an oath against himself, and makes no change.
WebsterIn whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoreth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

What does Psalms 15:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. Love and hate are regulated by a regard to God. sweareth ... hurt--or what so results (compare Le 5:4).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 In whose eves a vile person is contemned - 7. This man judges of others by their conduct; he tries no man's heart. He knows men only by the fruits they bear; and thus he gains knowledge of the principle from which they proceed. A vile person, נמאס nimas, the reprobate, one abandoned to sin; is despised, נבזה nibzeh, is loathsome, as if he were covered with the elephantiasis or leprosy, for so the word implies. He may be rich, he may be learned, he may be a great man and honorable with his master, in high offices in the state; but if he be a spiritual leper, an infidel, a profligate, the righteous man must despise him, and hold him, because he is an enemy to God and to man, in sovereign contempt. If he be in power, he will not treat him as if worthy of his dignity; while he respects the office he will detest the man. And this is quite right; for the popular odium should ever be pointed against vice. Aben Ezra gives a curious turn to this clause, which he translates thus: "He is mean and contemptible in his own eyes;" and it is certain that the original, נבזה בעיניו נמאס nibzeh beeynaiv nimas, will bear this translation. His paraphrase on it is beautiful: "A pious man, whatever good he may have done, and however concordant to the Divine law he may have walked, considers all this of no worth, compared with what it was his duty to do for the glory of his Creator." A sentiment very like that of our Lord, Luk 17:10 : "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do." Taken in this sense, the words intimate, that the man who is truly pious, who is a proper member of the Church militant, and is going straight to the Church triumphant, is truly humble; he knows he has nothing but what he has received, he has no merit, he trusts not in himself, but in the living God. He renounces his own righteousness, and trusts in the eternal mercy of God through the infinitely meritorious atonement made by Jesus Christ. The language of his heart is: - "I loathe myself when God I see,And into nothing fall; Content that thou exalted be,And Christ be all in all." He honoureth them that fear the Lord - 8. This cause is a proof, however just the sentiment, that Aben Ezra has mistaken the meaning of the preceding clause. The truly pious man, while he has in contempt the honorable and right honorable profligate, yet honors them that fear the Lord, though found in the most abject poverty; though, with Job, on the dunghill, or, with Lazarus, covered with sores at the rich man's gate. Character is the object of his attention; persons and circumstances are of minor importance. The fear of the Lord is often taken for the whole of religion; and sometimes for that reverence which a man feels for the ma jesty and holiness of God, that induces him to hate and depart from evil. Here it may signify the lowest degree of religion, repentance whereby we forsake sin. Sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not - 9. If at any time he have bound himself by a solemn engagement to do so and so, and he finds afterwards that to keep his oath will be greatly to his damage; yet such reverence has he for God and for truth that he will not change, be the consequences what they may. He is faithful also to his promises; his bare word will bind him equally with an oath. He that will not be honest without an oath will not be honest with one. The Hebrew might be thus translated: "He sweareth to afflict himself, and does not change;" and thus the Chaldee has rendered this clause. He has promised to the Lord to keep his body under, and bring it into subjection; to deny himself that he may not pamper the flesh, and have the more to give to the poor.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Psalms 15:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

נִבְזֶ֤ה\׀niv.Zeh[is] despisedH959
בְּֽעֵ֘ינָ֤יוbe.'Ei.Navin view hisH5869
נִמְאָ֗סnim.'Asa rejected [person]H3988
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
יִרְאֵ֣יyir.'Ei[those] fearingH3373
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh<of> YahwehH3068
יְכַבֵּ֑דye.kha.Bedhe honorsH3513
נִשְׁבַּ֥עnish.Ba'he swearsH7650
לְ֝הָרַ֗עle.ha.Ra'to do harmH7489
וְלֹ֣אve.Lo'and notH3808
יָמִֽר\׃ya.Mirhe changesH4171

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 15:4

  • Judges 11:35

    And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.

  • Matthew 5:33

    Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

  • Psalms 101:6

    Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

  • Psalms 101:4

    A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

  • Isaiah 32:5-6

    The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

  • 1 John 3:14

    We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

  • Psalms 16:3

    But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

  • Psalms 119:63

    I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

  • Job 32:21-22

    Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.

  • Daniel 5:17-31

    Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: …

  • 2 Kings 3:13-14

    And Elisha said unto the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said unto him, Nay: for the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee.

  • 2 Samuel 21:1-2

    Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
a vile.
101:4; 2Ki 3:13,14; Es 3:2; Job 32:21,22; Isa 32:5,6; Da 5:17-31
Ac 24:2,3,25; Jas 2:1-9
but.
16:3; 101:6; 119:63; Mt 12:49,50; 1Jo 3:14
sweareth.
Jos 9:18-20; Jud 11:35; 2Sa 21:1,2; Mt 5:33

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 15:3

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

  • Psalms 15:4

    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.

  • Psalms 15:5

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

Read all of Psalms 15

Psalms 15:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Aquel á cuyos ojos es menospreciado el vil; mas honra á los que temen á Jehová: y habiendo jurado en daño suyo, no por eso muda.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Aux yeux duquel l’homme vil est méprisable, mais qui honore ceux qui craignent l’ Éternel; qui jure à son détriment, et ne change pas;
German
Elberfelder 1871		In dessen Augen verachtet ist der Verworfene, der aber die ehrt, welche Jehova fürchten; hat er zum Schaden geschworen, so ändert er es nicht:
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Multiplicatæ sunt infirmitates eorum: postea acceleraverunt. Non congregabo conventicula eorum de sanguinibus, nec memor ero nominum eorum per labia mea.