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Psalm 1 Audio

Psalm 1 is the doorway to the Psalter: six verses setting two ways of living side by side — one rooted like a tree by water, the other blown off like chaff.

6 verses

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Psalm 1 — full text

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Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the LORD’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.
The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

World English Bible (WEB) — public domain. The reading follows this text word for word.

What Psalm 1 is saying

The psalm is built on a single contrast, and it commits to it completely. The first three verses describe a person who refuses three things and delights in one; the last three describe the alternative in half the words, which is part of the point.

The tree image does the heavy lifting. It is not planted by a river but by "streams of water" — irrigation channels, something deliberately dug. The fruitfulness is not spontaneous.

When people reach for it

Psalm 1 is where most read-the-Psalms plans begin, and at six verses it is short enough to hear before the day starts.

Common questions

What is Psalm 1 about?

Psalm 1 contrasts two ways of living: one rooted and fruitful like a tree planted by irrigation channels, the other insubstantial as chaff blown away by wind. It introduces the whole book of Psalms.