Psalms 1

General context

The psalm opens by calling blessed the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. Instead his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he meditates in that law day and night. The poem compares him to a tree planted by rivers of water: it brings forth fruit in its season, its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does prospers. The ungodly, the poem says, are not so; they are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. The closing line gives the reason: the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly will perish.

Cited passages: Psalms 1:1, Psalms 1:2, Psalms 1:3, Psalms 1:4, Psalms 1:5, Psalms 1:6

Psalms 1 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The text as printed here carries no heading, so the psalm names no author, occasion or setting. No speaker identifies himself; the poem describes in the third person and never addresses God directly. It names "the law of the Lord" as the object of delight and meditation but does not say which commands are meant or where they are read. "The judgment" and "the congregation of the righteous" are named without saying when or where they occur. Only two groups appear, the righteous and the ungodly (also called sinners and the scornful); no individual, nation, king or event is mentioned. The tree, rivers and chaff are images, not places. What the psalm establishes is a contrast of two ways and their ends; it does not explain how the prospering of verse 3 relates to trouble elsewhere in the book.

Cited passages: Psalms 1:2, Psalms 1:5, Psalms 1:1, Psalms 1:3, Psalms 1:6

Literary context

The poem is built on contrast. It opens with three things the blessed man does not do, "walketh not", "nor standeth", "nor sitteth", and then turns with "But" to the one thing he does: delight and meditate. Two similes carry the comparison, a tree planted by rivers of water against chaff the wind drives away, and the tree image is developed in three clauses (fruit, leaf, prospering) while the chaff gets a single line. "Therefore" in verse 5 draws the consequence and "For" in verse 6 gives the reason. The word "way" frames the whole: "the way of sinners" in verse 1, then "the way of the righteous" and "the way of the ungodly" set side by side in the last verse. The closing line balances "knoweth" against "shall perish". The psalm speaks about God, not to him, which sets it apart from the prayers that follow.

Cited passages: Psalms 1:1, Psalms 1:2, Psalms 1:3, Psalms 1:4, Psalms 1:5, Psalms 1:6

Key moments

1. Three things not done (Psalms 1:1). The blessed man is defined first by the counsel, way and seat he avoids.
2. Delight in the law (Psalms 1:2). His delight is in the law of the Lord, in which he meditates day and night.
3. The planted tree (Psalms 1:3). He is compared to a tree by rivers of water that fruits in season and does not wither.
4. Chaff in the wind (Psalms 1:4). The ungodly are compared to chaff that the wind drives away.
5. Two ways, two ends (Psalms 1:6). The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly perishes.

For reflection

The tree brings forth fruit "in his season" while the chaff is simply driven away; what does the timing built into that image suggest about when the psalm expects the difference between the two ways to become visible?