What does Psalms Chapter 1 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The psalm blesses the man avoiding ungodly counsel, sinners’ way and the chair of pestilence. It describes meditation day and night and compares him with a tree bearing seasonal fruit. It compares the wicked with dust and contrasts their way and judgment with the just.

Chapter breakdown

The Latin incipit is Beatus vir. The separate edition heading describes the happiness of the just and evil state of the wicked. The psalm blesses the man who has not walked in ungodly counsel, stood in sinners' way or sat in the chair of pestilence. His will is in the Lord's law, upon which he meditates day and night.

In the psalmist’s speech, the psalm compares him with a tree planted near running waters, bearing fruit in due season, whose leaf does not fall; it says all he does shall prosper. It contrasts the wicked emphatically with dust driven from earth's face by wind. It says the wicked shall not rise again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just. The Lord knows the just person's way, while the wicked's way perishes. These are the psalm's declarations and images, without a named person's reported material outcome.

The story inside

Opening: The psalm blesses the man avoiding ungodly counsel, sinners’ way and the chair of pestilence. Development: It describes meditation day and night and compares him with a tree bearing seasonal fruit. Conclusion: It compares the wicked with dust and contrasts their way and judgment with the just.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The psalm blesses the man avoiding ungodly counsel, sinners’ way and the chair of pestilence.
2
It describes meditation day and night and compares him with a tree bearing seasonal fruit.
3
It compares the wicked with dust and contrasts their way and judgment with the just.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 57822–57827
1:1. Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence: 1:2. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
Lines 57829–57831
1:3. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
Lines 57833–57834
1:4. Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.
Lines 57836–57840
1:5. Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just. 1:6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.