Psalm 15 Overview
Who may dwell with YHWH?
Psalm 15
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 15
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 15 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Introduction to Psalm 15
Author:
Purpose:
- To instruct God's people how to live together in his presence.
Content:
- Those who obey God's law by loving their neighbour will experience the protection and privileges of God's people.
Message:
- God cares about how we treat each other, and his people will love their neighbours.
Psalm 15 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Background Orientation for Psalm 15
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- YHWH's ‘holy mountain’ and ‘dwelling place’ are two images that represent the protection and privileges that God's people enjoy (see also Ps 27:5; 61:5).
- These ethical standards are found in the Israelite law codes; e.g. Lev 19:11 prohibits speaking deceitfully. The law codes also prohibit slander (Lev 19:16), charging interest to a fellow Israelite (Lev 25:36–37), and bribes (Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19).
Background Situation for Psalm 15
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participants in Psalm 15