Intro to the Psalms: Meditating on God’s Word

Psalm 1 (Listen)

Book One

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1:1   Blessed is the man1
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
  nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2   but his delight is in the law2 of the LORD,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.
3   He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
  that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
  In all that he does, he prospers.
4   The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5   Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6   for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.

Footnotes

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

(ESV)