Psalm 1

The Two Ways

How happy is the one who does not
walk in the advice of the wicked
or stand in the pathway with sinners
or sit in the company of mockers!(A)
Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction,
and he meditates on it day and night.(B)
He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams[a]
that bears its fruit in its season,(C)
and its leaf does not wither.(D)
Whatever he does prospers.(E)

The wicked are not like this;
instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.(F)
Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment,(G)
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,(H)
but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.(I)

Footnotes

  1. 1:3 Or beside irrigation channels

Book One

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

Blessed is the man[a]
    who (A)walks not in (B)the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in (C)the way of sinners,
    nor (D)sits in (E)the seat of (F)scoffers;
but his (G)delight is in the law[b] of the Lord,
    and on his (H)law he meditates day and night.

He is like (I)a tree
    planted by (J)streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its (K)leaf does not wither.
(L)In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
    but are like (M)chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked (N)will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in (O)the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord (P)knows (Q)the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 1:1 The singular Hebrew word for man (ish) is used here to portray a representative example of a godly person; see Preface
  2. Psalm 1:2 Or instruction