BOOK 1

The Way of the Righteous and Wicked

¹How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the way of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

²But his delight is in the law of Yahweh,[#1:2 The personal covenant name of God, a form of I AM WHO I AM, cf. Ex 3:14-15]

And in His law he meditates day and night.

³And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,[#1:3 Or canals]

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

⁴¶The wicked are not so,

But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked will not rise in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

⁶For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,[#1:6 Or approves , has regard to]

But the way of the wicked will perish.