What Does Psalm 15:5 Mean in the King James?
He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
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
The verse joins money that bites and judgment bought with the same outcome: a life that refuses both does not totter.
THE MEANING
Your footing is tied to how you handle another person’s need and innocence: money does not bite into their resources, and judgment is not sold against them. This verse presents that integrity as a life that remains unshaken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that extracting profit from need or buying an unjust outcome can secure you; the verse places lasting stability with the one who refuses those gains.
THE ROOT
נֶשֶׁךְ
neshekh
GROWS FROM
נשך
n-sh-k
to bite
The word translated “usury” comes from the root for biting. The image reveals a charge that bites into the resources of the person who needs the loan, giving the verse’s warning a physical edge.
ALSO GROWS
nashakh: to bite
נָשַׁךְ
This is the verb behind the image: the lender’s extra charge is described with the language of a bite.
neshekh: interest or usury
נֶשֶׁךְ
This noun names the charge as the bite itself, linking financial gain to what it takes from the borrower.
שֹׁחַד
shochad
GROWS FROM
שחד
sh-ḥ-d
to bribe
The “reward” here is a bribe, a payment that bends judgment against an innocent person. Alongside the bite of usury, it shows two ways gain can take hold: by pressing on need or by purchasing a verdict.
ALSO GROWS
shachad: to bribe
שָׁחַד
The verb names the act of using payment to influence a decision.
shochad: a bribe or corrupting gift
שֹׁחַד
The noun identifies the payment the verse refuses when it is used against the innocent.
יָמוֹט
yamut
GROWS FROM
מוט
m-w-t
to totter, slip, or waver
“Moved” carries the image of losing one’s footing. Set beside the refusal to profit by biting another’s resources or bending justice, the verse connects steady ground with hands free of those gains.
ALSO GROWS
mot: to totter or slip
מוֹט
This form carries the root’s basic image of unstable footing.
emmot: I totter or slip
אֶמּוֹט
The same root appears in the first-person form in Psalm 16:8, where the speaker says he will not be moved.
THE PATTERN
Refusing to make another person’s need or innocence a source of gain is bound to a life with firm footing.
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.THE THREAD
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.The same Hebrew root, מוט (m-w-t), appears in “never be moved.” Psalm 15 links an unshaken life with refusing profit from need and bribery; Psalm 55 uses the same image for the righteous person sustained by the LORD.
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