Psalm 1

Two ways to live

¹If someone does not do what wicked people tell him to do,

if he does not join with sinners ,

if he does not meet with those who laugh at God,

God has blessed that person!

²He is happy when he obeys the Law of the Lord .[#1:2 When we write like this, it is a special name for God. Sometimes people write it as ‘Yahweh’, or as ‘Jehovah’. It is his own name that he told Moses. See Exodus 3:14. It means ‘I am who I am’. This shows that God has always been there and he always will be there.]

He thinks about God's Law during the day and at night.

³He will become like a tree that grows beside streams of water.

It gives its fruit at the right season.

Its leaves do not fall off.

Everything that person does will have a good result.

⁴But wicked people are as empty as chaff .

The wind blows them away.

⁵So they will not go free when God judges them.

Sinners cannot join with God's people,

the people who are right with God.

⁶The Lord takes care of people who respect him.

But wicked people are living in a way that will take them to a bad end.