He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
Psalm 15 began with David’s searching question: “LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” (v.1). The answer continues in verse 3. The man who dwells acceptably with God is not known only by public worship, outward profession, or correct sacrifices. He is known by his life before men, especially by his tongue. Verse 2 described the man positively: he walks uprightly, works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart (v.2). Verse 3 turns to what he refuses to do. He will not backbite, he will not do evil to his neighbour, and he will not take up a reproach against him.
“He that backbiteth not with his tongue.” The tongue appears first because speech quickly reveals the heart. Jesus taught that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Matthew 12:34). Backbiting is speech against another, especially when the person is absent and cannot answer. It is the cowardly use of the tongue. It wounds from behind. It may wear the face of concern, information, warning, or zeal, but if it unjustly tears down a neighbour, it is sin. The man who abides with God does not use his tongue as a hidden knife.
The Bible is severe against such speech. “He that uttereth a slander, is a fool” (Proverbs 10:18). A whisperer separates chief friends (Proverbs 16:28). The words of a talebearer go down as wounds into the innermost parts of the belly (Proverbs 18:8). James warns that the tongue is a little member, but it boasteth great things and can set on fire the course of nature (James 3:5-6). David’s doctrine is plain. A man cannot delight in slander and dwell near the holy God in fellowship. A foul tongue does not fit a holy hill.
This does not forbid righteous rebuke, faithful witness, church discipline, or necessary warning. God commands His people not to hate a brother in the heart, but to rebuke him plainly and not suffer sin upon him (Leviticus 19:17). Christ gave order for dealing with trespass in the church (Matthew 18:15-17). Paul required accusation against an elder to proceed only with proper witnesses, and public sin to be rebuked before all (1 Timothy 5:19-20). Psalm 15:3 condemns backbiting, not righteous judgment by God’s rule. There is a great difference between speaking truth for holiness and whispering evil for harm.
“Nor doeth evil to his neighbour.” The man fit to dwell with God does not simply restrain his tongue; he also restrains his hand, plans, influence, and conduct. He does not injure his neighbour by fraud, cruelty, oppression, deceit, neglect, or revenge. The LORD commanded Israel, “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). The New Testament calls this the royal law (James 2:8). Therefore, a man who harms his neighbour while claiming fellowship with God lies against the very character God requires.
Notice the word “neighbour.” This brings holiness down into ordinary life. It is easier for men to speak of dwelling in God’s tabernacle than to treat the person beside them with justice, mercy, and truth. But God joins the two. A man’s religion is tested in his house, business, church, speech, promises, debts, corrections, and daily dealings. John wrote that if a man says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar (1 John 4:20). Nearness to God is not proved by religious talk while evil is done to others.
“Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.” A reproach is a report, accusation, charge, or shameful statement that brings blame or disgrace upon another person. This phrase reaches beyond inventing evil. The godly man will not take it up. He will not pick up a reproach, receive it gladly, carry it forward, improve it, enjoy it, or help it travel. The law commanded, “Thou shalt not raise a false report” (Exodus 23:1). It also forbade going up and down as a talebearer among the people (Leviticus 19:16). A reproach may come to him, but it must not find a home in him. He must not make his ear a sewer for slander or his mouth a channel to spread it.
This is a searching rule. Many men would never dare invent a false report, but they are willing to receive one. They say, “I am only repeating what I heard.” They say, “There may be something to it.” They say, “I am not judging.” But love does not rejoice in iniquity; it rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). Charity covers a multitude of sins, not by hiding lawful charges that must be addressed, but by refusing a malicious appetite for disgrace (1 Peter 4:8). The man of Psalm 15 does not feed on reproach.
This verse is necessary for church life. The church is the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15), and those who dwell there must not devour one another with the tongue. Paul warned that if saints bite and devour one another, they should take heed that they be not consumed one of another (Galatians 5:15). He commanded all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking to be put away from believers (Ephesians 4:31). A church may have right doctrine, right ordinances, and right order, yet be damaged by backbiting, neighbour-evil, and reproach carried from ear to ear. God hates a false witness that speaketh lies and him that soweth discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:16-19).
The verse also warns against hypocrisy. A man may sing well, pray well, speak doctrinal words, and appear zealous for truth, yet fail the test of Psalm 15:3. If his tongue wounds the absent, if his conduct injures his neighbour, if his ear welcomes reproach, he is not walking as one fit to abide in God’s tabernacle. This is practical fellowship, not legal justification by works. A sinner is justified freely by grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). But the justified man is called to walk in the light, and fellowship with God is contradicted by walking in darkness (1 John 1:6-7).
Jesus Christ is the perfect man of Psalm 15. No guile was found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22). When He was reviled, He reviled not again (1 Peter 2:23). He did no evil to His neighbour, but went about doing good (Acts 10:38). He received not malicious reproach as truth, for He judged righteous judgment and not according to appearance (John 7:24). Every saint must learn from Him. The tongue, hand, ear, and heart must be brought under His rule.
Psalm 15:3 therefore presses holiness into speech and neighbourly conduct. The man who would dwell with God must not be a backbiter, a wrongdoer, or a carrier of reproach. He must speak truth, do good, refuse slander, and love his neighbour under the eye of Jehovah. The holy hill is not for polished hypocrites with poisonous tongues, but for those who walk uprightly before God and men.
He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.
Psalm 15 began with David’s searching question: “LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” (v.1). The answer continues in verse 3. The man who dwells acceptably with God is not known only by public worship, outward profession, or correct sacrifices. He is known by his life before men, especially by his tongue. Verse 2 described the man positively: he walks uprightly, works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart (v.2). Verse 3 turns to what he refuses to do. He will not backbite, he will not do evil to his neighbour, and he will not take up a reproach against him.
“He that backbiteth not with his tongue.” The tongue appears first because speech quickly reveals the heart. Jesus taught that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Matthew 12:34). Backbiting is speech against another, especially when the person is absent and cannot answer. It is the cowardly use of the tongue. It wounds from behind. It may wear the face of concern, information, warning, or zeal, but if it unjustly tears down a neighbour, it is sin. The man who abides with God does not use his tongue as a hidden knife.
The Bible is severe against such speech. “He that uttereth a slander, is a fool” (Proverbs 10:18). A whisperer separates chief friends (Proverbs 16:28). The words of a talebearer go down as wounds into the innermost parts of the belly (Proverbs 18:8). James warns that the tongue is a little member, but it boasteth great things and can set on fire the course of nature (James 3:5-6). David’s doctrine is plain. A man cannot delight in slander and dwell near the holy God in fellowship. A foul tongue does not fit a holy hill.
This does not forbid righteous rebuke, faithful witness, church discipline, or necessary warning. God commands His people not to hate a brother in the heart, but to rebuke him plainly and not suffer sin upon him (Leviticus 19:17). Christ gave order for dealing with trespass in the church (Matthew 18:15-17). Paul required accusation against an elder to proceed only with proper witnesses, and public sin to be rebuked before all (1 Timothy 5:19-20). Psalm 15:3 condemns backbiting, not righteous judgment by God’s rule. There is a great difference between speaking truth for holiness and whispering evil for harm.
“Nor doeth evil to his neighbour.” The man fit to dwell with God does not simply restrain his tongue; he also restrains his hand, plans, influence, and conduct. He does not injure his neighbour by fraud, cruelty, oppression, deceit, neglect, or revenge. The LORD commanded Israel, “thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). The New Testament calls this the royal law (James 2:8). Therefore, a man who harms his neighbour while claiming fellowship with God lies against the very character God requires.
Notice the word “neighbour.” This brings holiness down into ordinary life. It is easier for men to speak of dwelling in God’s tabernacle than to treat the person beside them with justice, mercy, and truth. But God joins the two. A man’s religion is tested in his house, business, church, speech, promises, debts, corrections, and daily dealings. John wrote that if a man says he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar (1 John 4:20). Nearness to God is not proved by religious talk while evil is done to others.
“Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.” A reproach is a report, accusation, charge, or shameful statement that brings blame or disgrace upon another person. This phrase reaches beyond inventing evil. The godly man will not take it up. He will not pick up a reproach, receive it gladly, carry it forward, improve it, enjoy it, or help it travel. The law commanded, “Thou shalt not raise a false report” (Exodus 23:1). It also forbade going up and down as a talebearer among the people (Leviticus 19:16). A reproach may come to him, but it must not find a home in him. He must not make his ear a sewer for slander or his mouth a channel to spread it.
This is a searching rule. Many men would never dare invent a false report, but they are willing to receive one. They say, “I am only repeating what I heard.” They say, “There may be something to it.” They say, “I am not judging.” But love does not rejoice in iniquity; it rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). Charity covers a multitude of sins, not by hiding lawful charges that must be addressed, but by refusing a malicious appetite for disgrace (1 Peter 4:8). The man of Psalm 15 does not feed on reproach.
This verse is necessary for church life. The church is the house of God (1 Timothy 3:15), and those who dwell there must not devour one another with the tongue. Paul warned that if saints bite and devour one another, they should take heed that they be not consumed one of another (Galatians 5:15). He commanded all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking to be put away from believers (Ephesians 4:31). A church may have right doctrine, right ordinances, and right order, yet be damaged by backbiting, neighbour-evil, and reproach carried from ear to ear. God hates a false witness that speaketh lies and him that soweth discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:16-19).
The verse also warns against hypocrisy. A man may sing well, pray well, speak doctrinal words, and appear zealous for truth, yet fail the test of Psalm 15:3. If his tongue wounds the absent, if his conduct injures his neighbour, if his ear welcomes reproach, he is not walking as one fit to abide in God’s tabernacle. This is practical fellowship, not legal justification by works. A sinner is justified freely by grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). But the justified man is called to walk in the light, and fellowship with God is contradicted by walking in darkness (1 John 1:6-7).
Jesus Christ is the perfect man of Psalm 15. No guile was found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22). When He was reviled, He reviled not again (1 Peter 2:23). He did no evil to His neighbour, but went about doing good (Acts 10:38). He received not malicious reproach as truth, for He judged righteous judgment and not according to appearance (John 7:24). Every saint must learn from Him. The tongue, hand, ear, and heart must be brought under His rule.
Psalm 15:3 therefore presses holiness into speech and neighbourly conduct. The man who would dwell with God must not be a backbiter, a wrongdoer, or a carrier of reproach. He must speak truth, do good, refuse slander, and love his neighbour under the eye of Jehovah. The holy hill is not for polished hypocrites with poisonous tongues, but for those who walk uprightly before God and men.