Psalm 15 · a question people ask

What do "usury" and "a bribe" mean in 15:5?

In the text

"He who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent" (15:5). Usury is neshekh, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "interest, usury (lit. something bitten off)" (tap usury). In the Law the WEB gives the same word as interest: "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest" (Exodus 22:25); "You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit" (Leviticus 25:37), of a brother who "has become poor" (Leviticus 25:35); and "interest of money, interest of food" (Deuteronomy 23:19). In that verse and the next, the WEB's lend on interest (Deuteronomy 23:19) and charge … interest (Deuteronomy 23:20) are a verb, not this word; Brown-Driver-Briggs gives it as "pay, give interest": "You may charge a foreigner interest; but you shall not charge your brother interest" (Deuteronomy 23:20). The psalm names no borrower. Bribe is shochad, "present, specif. bribe" (Brown-Driver-Briggs) (tap bribe). The Law says, "You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous" (Exodus 23:8), and "Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person" (Deuteronomy 27:25), where innocent is the Hebrew word of Psalm 15:5's innocent. The psalm doesn't cite these laws; they are set beside it here as they stand.

The verses

“he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.”
Psalm 15:5 · World English Bible
““If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.”
Exodus 22:25 · World English Bible
““‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.”
Leviticus 25:35 · World English Bible
“You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.”
Leviticus 25:37 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 15

Psalm 15: Who shall dwell in your tent?

The WEB's "sanctuary" in 15:1 is ohel in Hebrew, a tent: "I will dwell in your tent forever" (Psalm 61:4) has the same two Hebrew words. And the psalm asks who shall dwell there, but ends on something else: "He who does these things shall never be shaken" (15:5).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions