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BOOK ONE(A)

True Happiness

Happy are those
    who reject the advice of evil people,
    who do not follow the example of sinners
    or join those who have no use for God.
Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,
    and they study it day and night.
(B)They are like trees that grow beside a stream,
    that bear fruit at the right time,
    and whose leaves do not dry up.
They succeed in everything they do.

But evil people are not like this at all;
    they are like straw that the wind blows away.
Sinners will be condemned by God
    and kept apart from God's own people.
The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord,
    but the evil are on the way to their doom.

Book I

(Psalms 1–41)

Psalm 1

The Two Ways

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,(A)
but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.(B)
They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper.(C)

The wicked are not so
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.(D)
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous,(E)
for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.(F)