to alter · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
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…
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 oath…
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.
Psalms 16:3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
Isaiah 32:5-6 The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.
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.
Job 32:21-22 Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 15:1–end
Here is, I. A very serious and weighty question concerning the characters of a citizen of Zion (Psa 15:1): "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, b…
Love and hate are regulated by a regard to God.
sweareth . . . hurt--or what so results (compare Lev 5:4).
John Gill on Psalms 15:4
In whose eyes a vile person is contemned,.... A "vile" man is a very wicked, profligate, and abandoned creature, one that is to every good work reprobate; and such sometimes are in high places, Psalm 12:8; and are greatly caressed and esteemed by the men of the world; but then, as they are an abomination to God, they should be despised by his people, let them be what they will as to their riches, honours, and wisdom among men; as Haman was by Mordecai, Esther 3:2; and Ahab by Elisha, 2 Kings 3:14; and such who keep company with, and express a delight and pleasure in such sort of persons, ought by no means to have a place in the house of God. Some understand this of a good man being "despised…
Psalm 15:4
4. In his eyes the offcast [or reprobate [296] ] is despised; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord; when he hath sworn to his own hurt, he changeth not.
The first part of this verse is explained in different ways. Some draw from it this meaning, that the true servants of God are contemptible and worthless in their own estimation. If we adopt this interpretation, the copula and, which David does not express, must be supplied, making the reading thus, He is vile and despised in his own eyes. But besides the consideration, that, if this had been the sense, the words would probably have been joined together by the copula and, I have another reason which leads me to think that Da…
The Church Fathers
When people swear an oath, they make a promise with God as their witness. But when God himself makes a promise, it is more appropriate to say that he has sworn. For "to swear" means "to speak justly" or "to speak truthfully." Now a person speaks truthfully when he promises those things which are fulfilled. Therefore God's swearing consists in making promises and fulfilling them, as it says elsewhere: "The Lord has sworn truthfulness to David, and he will not deceive him."
"The malicious one has been brought to nought in his sight" [Psalm 15:4]. This is perfection, that the malicious one have no force against a man; and that this be "in his sight;" that is, that he know most surely that the malicious is not, save when the mind turns itself away from the eternal and immutable form of her own Creator to the form of the creature, which was made out of nothing. "But those that fear the Lord, He glorifies:" the Lord Himself, that is. Now "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." As then the things above belong to the perfect, so what he is now going to say belongs to beginners.
Whoever abhors the wicked, even if they are very rich, while "honoring those who fear the Lord," even if they are very lowly and poor, will live in honor and respect. There is therefore need to consider how in the apparent reply of God complete instruction in virtue emerges, the intention being for a person first to attend to piety and righteousness, then to keep one's distance from all wicked behavior, and after this not to admire the deportment of the rich if piety does not accompany wealth.… One should have especial regard for the poor provided they did not have a change of heart for the worse as a result of poverty but rather continued to be devoted to a godly way of life.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Alliance And Society With The Enemies Of God · Saints deprecate — Saints deprecate
Company · EVIL — EVIL
Conduct, Christian · Honouring others — Honouring others
Covenants · The Jews: Regarded, as sacred — The Jews: Regarded, as sacred
Holiness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Integrity · 16:19,20; — 16:19,20;
Oaths · The Jews: Generally respected the obligation of — The Jews: Generally respected the obligation of
Swearing Falsely · Saints abstain from — Saints abstain from
Witness · Incorruptible — Incorruptible
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The distich which contains the question and that containing the general answer are now followed by three tristichs, which work the answer out in detail. The description is continued in independent clauses, which, however, have logically the value of relative clauses. The perff. have the signification of abstract presents, for they are the expression of tried qualities, of the habitual mode of action, of that which the man, who is the subject of the question, never did and what consequently it is not his wont to do. רגל means to go about, whether in order to spie out (which is its usual meaning), or to gossip and slander (here, and the Piel in Sa2 19:28; cf. רכל, רכיל). Instead בּלשׁנו we hav…
The godly speak truthfully and act faithfully in their relationships. Unlike the wicked, they are open and transparent (12:2-4).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on 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.
"In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord." We must be as honest in paying respect as in paying our bills. Honour to whom honour is due. To all good men we owe a debt of honour, and we have no right to hand over what is their due to vile persons who happen to be in high places. When base men are in office, it is our duty to respect the office; but we cannot so violate our consciences as to do otherwise than contemn the men; and on the other hand, when true saints are in poverty and distress, we must sympathize with…
