Psalm 15: Access to God

A psalm of David.

[Preliminary Comments: A very short psalm of David that declares the rights and wrongs of life that will give access to God or will mean rejection by Him. God demands right attitudes and actions.]

v.1 The Crucial Question: Who can have access to God?

v.1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

v.2-5 A Twelve-fold Answer

Note: We have added numbers to list the answers

v.2a,b Free of fault and does what is right

v.2 The one [1] whose walk is blameless,
    [2] who does what is righteous,

v.2c,3a Whose tongue does not abuse the truth

    [3] who speaks the truth from their heart;
v.3 [4] whose tongue utters no slander,

v.3b,c Acts & speaks rightly with others

[5] who does no wrong to a neighbor,
    [6] and casts no slur on others;

v.4a,b Rightly distinguishes between good and bad people

v.4 [7] who despises a vile person
    [8] but honors those who fear the Lord;

v.4c,d Whose word is their bond

[9] who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    [10] and does not change their mind;

v.5a Who does not make gain out of others

v.5 [11] who lends money to the poor without interest;

v.5b Who will not participate in injustice

    [12] who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

[Additional Thoughts: Perhaps an exposé of what it means to be righteous: their general behavior [v.2], right use of the tongue [v.2,3], has right responses to good and bad people [v.4], whose word can be trusted [v.4] and who neither benefits from power over others nor takes corrupt payoffs to condemn the innocent [v.5]. The crucial thing about this list is that attitude and behavior affect the possibility of a relationship with God who demands righteousness, truth, integrity and fairness.

After perhaps going back and meditating on individual verses, now read it meaningfully out loud straight through:

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

2 The one whose way of life is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
3 whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbour,
    and casts no slur on others;
4 who despises a vile person
    but honours those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
5 who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken.

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: