Psalm 1/Translation/Tips

The following gives a basic Overview of the Psalm, answering the following questions:

• Title-what title best describes this unique psalm?
  • "Happy is the one"
• Purpose–why was this psalm written?
  • To persuade the hearer that following YHWH's instruction is worthwhile.
• Content–In summary, what is said in this psalm?
  • It is not the wicked, but the one who follows YHWH's instruction who is "happy." This is because "YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, and the wicked's way will come to an end.
• Message–what is the general theme of this psalm? What seems to be the main point the psalmist wanted his audience to realize by hearing this psalm?
  • In the end, it's those who follow YHWH's instruction who will flourish.

Every Psalm describes real events. However, many psalms are not written in typical "story" format, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Here, we attempt to understand the real-life story and background that prompted the psalmist to write.

• Story Behind-What was the real-life story that the psalmist saw himself in? What is the main message/theme conveyed by this "story behind"?
  • The theme of the story behind Psalm 1 can be summarized as 'The way of the wicked will come to an end.' At the beginning of this story, wicked people live alongside righteous people, and the wicked people seem to flourish. That is why many people call the wicked people "happy" or "blessed." But the psalmist calls the righteous people the "happy" ones, because there will be a time when judgment comes. YHWH will separate the wicked people from the righteous people and remove the wicked people from the land. Then, the righteous people will alone possess the land, and they will flourish like trees in YHWH's garden.

• Background situation-what are the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken?
  
  

Knowing the layout of the psalm by sections helps us to understand the progression of thought as the poem progresses. The picture below shows the main “chunks” or pieces of the poem. Verse numbers appear on the left. The second column has a title for each section. The large third column contains a brief summary of the section’s content. As you read through the content column, you will see important words and ideas highlighted in similar colors. The icons on the right may be used as memory aids.

v. 1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the counsel of wicked people, has not taken a stand in the way of sinful people, and has not settled in the dwelling place of insolent people!	Happy is the one	...who has not taken a stand in the way of sinful people, but follows the way of YHWH's instruction. He will flourish like a tree!		admiration
v. 2 Instead, his delight is in YHWH's instruction, and he meditates on his instruction day and night.
v. 3 And he will become like a tree transplanted beside water channels that gives its fruit in its season and whose leaves do not wither. And he will cause all that he does to flourish.
v. 4 Not so the wicked people! Instead, they will be like chaff that the wind drives away.	Not so the wicked	When judgment comes, they will be blown away like chaff and will not stand with the righteous.		contempt
v. 5 Therefore, wicked people will not stand firm in the judgment, and sinful people [will not stand] in the group of righteous people.
v. 6 Because YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, and the way of wicked people will come to an end.	Because YHWH	...cares for the way of the righteous, and the way of wicked people will come to an end.		confidence

Progression of Thought-How do the sections of the psalm flow from one to the other? Psalm 1 compares two kinds of people and how they relate to YHWH:

• The first part (verses 1-3) focuses on "the happy" person. This person avoids the way of sinful people, and is devoted to YHWH's instruction. Therefore, this person flourishes like a tree.
• The second part (verses 4-5) deals with "the wicked" people. When the final judgment comes, these people will be blown away like chaff and will not stand with the righteous people.
• The third part (verse 6) focuses on YHWH as the reason for the two different results that the righteous people and the wicked people experience. YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, but the way of wicked people will come to an end.

Part of poetry is communicating emotion. Each section, and even each verse, can contain a number of different emotions. Here are the main emotional themes of each section:

v. 1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the counsel of wicked people, has not taken a stand in the way of sinful people, and has not settled in the dwelling place of insolent people!	Happy is the one	...who has not taken a stand in the way of sinful people, but follows the way of YHWH's instruction. He will flourish like a tree!		admiration
v. 2 Instead, his delight is in YHWH's instruction, and he meditates on his instruction day and night.
v. 3 And he will become like a tree transplanted beside water channels that gives its fruit in its season and whose leaves do not wither. And he will cause all that he does to flourish.
v. 4 Not so the wicked people! Instead, they will be like chaff that the wind drives away.	Not so the wicked	When judgment comes, they will be blown away like chaff and will not stand with the righteous.		contempt
v. 5 Therefore, wicked people will not stand firm in the judgment, and sinful people [will not stand] in the group of righteous people.
v. 6 Because YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, and the way of wicked people will come to an end.	Because YHWH	...cares for the way of the righteous, and the way of wicked people will come to an end.		confidence

In poetry, it is important to keep track of who is speaking, who is the audience, and what it is that the speaker is trying to do with his words. In the chart below, the left-hand column identifies the speaker, who is David. The right-hand column identifies the audience, which in verses 2-11 is unspecified, while in verses 12-15 is YHWH. The middle column tells what the speaker is trying to do with his words (his speech acts) in each section.

Speaker		Verses		Macro Speech Acts				Addressee
Psalmist		v. 1 Happy is the one who has not walked in the counsel of wicked people, has not taken a stand in the way of sinful people, and has not settled in the dwelling place of insolent people!		Celebration (vv. 1–3)				Community
		v. 2 Instead, his delight is in YHWH's instruction, and he meditates on his instruction day and night.		"Happy is the one...!"
		v. 3 And he will become like a tree transplanted beside water channels that gives its fruit in its season and whose leaves do not wither. And he will cause all that he does to flourish.			Specification (vv. 1–2) ... who follows YHWH's instruction! Supporting description (v. 3) He will flourish like a tree.
		v. 4 Not so the wicked people! Instead, they will be like chaff that the wind drives away.		Claim (vv. 4–5)
		v. 5 Therefore, wicked people will not stand firm in the judgment, and sinful people [will not stand] in the group of righteous people.		"Not so the wicked people!"
					Supporting description (vv. 4–5) They will be like chaff, and, therefore, will not survive the judgment.
		v. 6 Because YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, and the way of wicked people will come to an end.		Summary Explanation (v. 6)
				"Because YHWH cares for the way of righteous people, and the way of wicked people will come to an end."

In the psalms, the author skillfully uses language to create poetry. The poetic features of a psalm may include the creative use of words, sounds, structure, and other elements. The poetry is often intended to have an effect on the audience. Here are the most important poetic features in this psalm, which should be retained in a performance or translation of the psalm if possible.

No Standing

There are several similarities between verses 1 and 5:

• Both verses contain negated verbs that mean stand.
• In Hebrew, The phrase in the counsel of wicked people in verse 1a is similar in structure and sound to the phrase in the group of righteous people in verse 5b.
• Thus, just as the righteous person does not stand with wicked people (verse 1), neither will wicked people stand with righteous people (verse 5).

Day-and-Night Meditation

Psalm 1 alludes to multiple passages in the Old Testament:

• Language from Joshua 1:8 includes "meditating" on YHWH's "instruction" "day and night" (verse 2), the "way" (verses 1, 6), and "make successful" (הצליח, verse 3).
• The description of the righteous person as a tree (verse 3) draws from Jeremiah 17:8 and Ezekiel 47:12.
• Verse 3 recalls Joseph. The phrase "and he will cause all that he does to flourish" echoes the description of Joseph in Genesis 39:3, and Joseph is also described as a fruitful tree by a water source in Genesis 49:22.
• The language of "walking," "way," and "sitting/settling" in verse 1 recalls Deuteronomy 6 and the command to love YHWH with one's whole being.
• The Psalms follow immediately after Malachi, and Psalm 1 picks up many of the themes from the end of Malachi (such as "blessedness," righteous vs wicked, chaff, Torah, coming judgment).

What is the effect of these allusions? The psalmist did not randomly choose these OT passages. The choice of OT passages is strategic. Psalm 1 alludes to the first and last books of the Torah (Genesis and Deuteronomy), the first and last books of the prophets (Joshua and Malachi), and the first book of the latter prophets (Jeremiah). Psalm 1 provides a guided tour through YHWH's instruction in the Law and the Prophets. The author gives the essence of their teaching about YHWH's instruction in a short but powerful poem.

It is also important to consider how the author chose to draw attention to certain parts of the psalm. Here are the parts of the psalm that we believe are most prominent, and thus should be most prominent in a performance of the psalm.

Prominence Feature: The Climax of Flourishing

The most prominent part of the psalm is the final Hebrew word of the psalm's first section: he will cause to flourish (יַצְלִיחַ).

This word can refer to success on a journey (Joshua 1:8) as well as to the flourishing of a plant (see Ezekiel 17:9), and both of these images are prominent in Psalm 1 (journey imagery in verses 1 and 6; tree imagery in verse 3). So, the word unites the two most important images in the psalm.

And, the subject of the verb is ambiguous. Is it the righteous person, the tree, or YHWH? See The Grammar of Ps 1:3d. In effect, the word ties together the flourishing of the tree, the flourishing of the righteous person, and YHWH as the cause of all flourishing.

Finally, the word helps connect Psalm 1 to both Joshua (Joshua 1:8) and the Joseph story in Genesis (Gen 39:3, 23). Both of these men were powerful examples of faithfulness and flourishing under YHWH's care.