Psalms 1King James Version
The gate of the Psalter. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Two ways, two ends. The book begins with a clean moral choice.
A compact wisdom poem that opens the entire Psalter like a doorway. It holds two paths before the reader with no middle ground: the righteous who delight in God's law day and night, rooted like a tree by water, and the wicked who are as weightless as windblown chaff. There is no lament here, no crisis. Pure conviction from start to finish.
The life anchored in God's word is stable and fruitful; the life that ignores it has no weight to stand on.
verse: "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." The word 'delight' is the hinge: this is not grinding obligation but genuine hunger.
No superscription, no author named. Placed first intentionally in the final editorial shape of the Psalter. Book 1 territory (Psalms 1-41). A wisdom psalm in the tradition of Proverbs, likely placed here as a theological preface rather than as a liturgical piece.
An unnamed blessed man addressed implicitly; the ungodly as a contrasting class; sinners and scornful as a social progression of spiritual drift. No dialogue, no direct address to God.
Psalm 1 is the deliberate gateway to the whole Psalter, placing law and wisdom before lament and praise. Jewish tradition pairs it with Psalm 2 as a double prologue. It is quoted implicitly throughout the NT wisdom tradition and sets the framing for what kind of people the psalms are written for.
For when you feel the pull to drift, to go along with those who scoff. This psalm is an invitation to root yourself somewhere that does not move.
1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.