What Does Psalm 15:4 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Honor is giving weight to those in awe of the LORD; integrity is keeping your word when it costs you.
THE MEANING
A vile person is contemptible in your eyes, while those in awe of the LORD receive your honor. Your word remains binding even when keeping it brings you harm; its cost does not make it exchangeable.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your word is binding only while it benefits you: the promise remains yours even when keeping it hurts.
THE ROOT
יְכַבֵּד
yekhabbed
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty; to give weight.
“honoureth” in this verse is yekhabbed. The Hebrew word for honoring carries the sense of making someone weighty in your regard. Those who are in awe of the LORD are not merely approved of; they are given weight.
ALSO GROWS
kavod: Weight, honor, glory
כָּבוֹד
This familiar word for glory shares the root’s sense of weight, opening up the depth within “honoureth.”
kaved: Heavy, weighty
כָּבֵד
The ordinary sense of heaviness shows the image beneath the act of honoring: someone matters enough to carry weight.
יָמִיר
yamir
GROWS FROM
מוּר
m-w-r
To exchange or substitute; to put one thing in another’s place.
“changeth” in this verse is yamir. The Hebrew also carries the sense of exchange: the pledged word is not swapped out when its cost arrives. The verse ties integrity to refusing to replace a promise with a more convenient one.
ALSO GROWS
hemir: To exchange or change
הֵמִיר
This verb uses the same root and makes the exchange sense visible in the act of changing.
temurah: Substitute, exchange
תְּמוּרָה
This related noun names a replacement, clarifying what the swearer refuses to do with his word.
יִרְאֵי
yir'ei
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear or stand in awe; with the LORD as the object, awe.
“fear” in this verse is yir'ei. The phrase describes people oriented toward the LORD in awe. That stance marks who receives weight and honor in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
yare: To fear, stand in awe
יָרֵא
This form shows the root’s basic sense in a person’s relation to what is feared or revered.
yir'ah: Fear, awe
יִרְאָה
This noun carries the same root into the quality of awe named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Integrity gives weight to what is worthy and keeps a spoken commitment fixed when its cost changes.
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.THE THREAD
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.“Honour” in both verses comes from כבד (k-b-d), the root behind kavod, “weight.” The shared word gives the same physical image: to honor someone is to let them carry weight in your regard.
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