Psalm 1 Discourse

Psalm Overview

• Grammar
• Semantics
• Story behind the Psalm
• Discourse
• Poetics

About the Discourse Layer

Our Discourse layer includes four analyses: macrosyntax, speech act analysis, emotional analysis, and participant analysis. (For more information, click 'Expand' to the right.)

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Macrosyntax

The macrosyntax layer rests on the belief that human communicators desire their addressees to receive a coherent picture of their message and will cooperatively provide clues to lead the addressee into a correct understanding. So, in the case of macrosyntax of the Psalms, the psalmist has explicitly left syntactic clues for the reader regarding the discourse structure of the entire psalm. Here we aim to account for the function of these elements, including the identification of conjunctions which either coordinate or subordinate entire clauses (as the analysis of coordinated individual phrases is carried out at the phrase-level semantics layer), vocatives, other discourse markers, direct speech, and clausal word order.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Macrosyntax Creator Guidelines.

Speech Act Analysis

The Speech Act layer presents the text in terms of what it does, following the findings of Speech Act Theory. It builds on the recognition that there is more to communication than the exchange of propositions. Speech act analysis is particularly important when communicating cross-culturally, and lack of understanding can lead to serious misunderstandings, since the ways languages and cultures perform speech acts varies widely.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Speech Act Analysis Creator Guidelines.

Emotional Analysis

This layer explores the emotional dimension of the biblical text and seeks to uncover the clues within the text itself that are part of the communicative intent of its author. The goal of this analysis is to chart the basic emotional tone and/or progression of the psalm.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Emotional Analysis Creator Guidelines.

Participant Analysis

Participant Analysis focuses on the characters in the psalm and asks, “Who are the main participants (or characters) in this psalm, and what are they saying or doing? It is often helpful for understanding literary structure, speaker identification, etc.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Participant Analysis Creator Guidelines.

Discourse Visuals for Psalm 1

Macrosyntax

Discourse Markers

• v. 2. The discourse marker "instead" (כִּי אִם) marks a contrast between what the person does not do (v. 1) and what he does do (v. 2)—"not... in (ב) the counsel of the wicked... Instead... in (ב) YHWH's instruction. Moreover, "with כִּי אִם the speaker makes it very clear that not only is an alternative involved, but that it is the only possible alternative" (BHRG §40.29.2). In other words, either one follows the counsel of wicked people (v. 1) or one follows the instruction of YHWH (v. 2); there is no middle ground.
• v. 3. The waw in v. 3 (וְהָיָה) binds v. 3 to vv. 1-2, as part of the celebration (אַשְׁרֵי, v. 1) of the person.
• v. 4. The discourse marker "not so" (לֹא־כֵן) draws a contrast between "the wicked" (v. 4) and "the one" (vv. 1-3). Because v. 4 goes on to say that the wicked are "instead... like chaff" (v. 4b), the contrast is, most immediately, between v. 4 ("like chaff") and v. 3 ("like a tree"). But given the fact that v. 3 is bound to vv. 1-2 and v. 4a echoes v. 1a (see poetic structure), we are probably to understand the contrast ("not so" לֹא־כֵן) as extending all the way back to v. 1. Unlike the righteous person, the wicked do not reject evil (v. 1), rehearse YHWH's instruction (v. 2) and flourish like trees (v. 3), and so that are not to be celebrated (v. 1a).
• v. 4b. The discourse marker "instead" (cf. v. 2) marks a contrast with the previous line: "The wicked are not like the person just described. Instead, they are like chaff..."
• v. 5. The discourse marker "Therefore" (עַל־כֵּן) introducing v. 5 marks a logical conclusion based on something in the previous discourse. It makes the most sense that the conclusion is based on v. 4: "Because the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away, they will not stand firm in the judgment." (Judgment is likened to a winnowing process, in which the 'chaff' (=the wicked) and the grain (=the righteous) are separated. See Story Behind).
• v. 6. The discourse marker "Because" (כִּי) in v. 6 grounds the entire discourse (so BHRG §40.29.2). It explains, in summary, why the righteous (and not the wicked) are to be considered "happy." It is a common pattern in the Psalter for the final verse to begin with כִּי and function as a summary of the whole (see e.g., Pss 5, 11, 134).

Paragraph Divisions

• vv. 1-3. The discourse topic of vv. 1-3 is "the one" (הָאִישׁ), introduced with the definite article. The opening line of this paragraph is a sentence fragment.
• vv. 4-5. The discourse topic of vv. 4-5 is "the wicked" (הָרְשָׁעִים), also introduced with the definite article. The opening line of this paragraph is also a sentence fragment.
• v. 6. This last verse, which grounds the entire discourse (see above), is about both the righteous (v. 6a, cf. vv. 1-3) and the wicked (v. 6b, cf. vv. 4-5).
• The discourse markers (discussed above) further support these paragraph divisions. (See further poetic structure).

Word Order

• See Lunn 2006, 195-200 for a detailed discussion of the word order in this psalm.
• v. 1bc. The prepositional phrase "in the way of sinful people" is fronted to create a symmetric poetic structure with 1aβ. This same pattern (fronted prepositional phrase) is then repeated in v. 1c.
• v. 2a. The prepositional phrase "in YHWH's instruction" is "an instance of replacing focus... Fronting invariably takes place in the clause containing the information replacing that of the negated first clause": not this, but that.
• v. 2b. The prepositional phrase "in his instruction" is fronted to create a poetic repetition of v. 2a.
• v. 3bc. The initial description of the tree is followed by two relative clauses (v. 3bc) further describing the parts of the tree: "its fruit...its leaves." Each of these relative clauses introduces the parts of the tree with a topic-fronted noun phrase.
• 'v. 3d. "The joining of the quantifier to the... object... serves to highlight the degree of extent of the entity in question. Here the stress is on the 'everything', Everything he does prospers', not just some things." The predication "cause to flourish" is accessible in the context, since "flourishing" is associated with both pathways (v. 1, cf. Josh 1:8) and plants (v. 3, cf. Ezek 17:9).
• v. 6b. The subject "way of wicked people" is fronted for contrastive topic. "What we have in this verse... is that which has been traditionally designated antithetical parallelism, but which in the context of this study has been redefined in terms of a marked contrastive construction."

Speech Act Analysis

Summary Visual

Speech Act Chart

Emotional Analysis

Summary visual

Emotional Analysis Chart

Participant analysis

There are 3 participants/characters in Psalm 1:

• The one is the hero of this psalm, the person being celebrated. He is celebrated for his rejection of wickedness (v. 1), his commitment to YHWH's instruction (v. 2), and for the fact that he will become like a tree in YHWH's life-giving garden (v. 3). "The one" is a literary representative for the group of righteous people mentioned in the end of the psalm (vv. 5-6). When Ps 1 is read as a unit together with Ps 2, the identity of "the one" converges with the identity of the anointed king in Ps 2. See The Identity of the Person in Ps 1:1 for details.
• YHWH, the God of Israel, is the ultimate source of the success of the righteous. He is the one who guides them (v. 2) and cares for them (v. 6a) throughout life's journey. The ambiguity in v. 3d also allows us to see YHWH as the one who "causes all that he does to flourish." See The Grammar of Ps 1:3d for details.
• The wicked (together with sinful people and insolent people) are the most mentioned participant in this psalm. (On the differences between these different terms for wicked people, see lexical semantics.) The wicked, unlike the righteous, have nothing to do with YHWH's instruction, and so they are like chaff and perish in the judgment.

Participant Relations Diagram

The relationships among the participants may be abstracted and summarized as follows:

Participant Analysis Table

Notes

• vv. 1-3. On the identify of the one and his relation to the righteous, see The Identity of the Person in Ps 1:1.
• v. 2b. His instruction or his instruction? Some commentators think that the antecedent of the pronoun in the phrase "his instruction" (v. 2b) is the one rather than YHWH. Rashi, for example, writes, "At first it is called ' YHWH's instruction,' but after he has labored over it it is called his instruction" (מתחלה היא נקראת תורת י״י, ומשעמל בה היא נקראת תורתו). But the parallel between בְּתוֹרַת יְהוָה in v. 2a and בְתוֹרָתוֹ in v. 2b suggests that YHWH is the antecedent of the pronoun in the b-line.
• v. 3b. Its season or its season? The antecedent of the pronoun in the phrase "its season" (עִתּוֹ) is probably the fruit rather than the tree. Cf. Lev 26:4—וְנָתַתִּ֥י גִשְׁמֵיכֶ֖ם בְּעִתָּ֑ם.
• v. 3d. The one, the tree or YHWH? On the subject of the verbs in v. 3d, see The Grammar of Ps 1:3d.

Participant Distribution Table

The table below demonstrates the participant distribution throughout Psalm 1. The number "1" indicates that the participant speaks in first person. The number "2" indicates that the participant is addressed directly. The number "3" indicates that the participant is spoken of in third person.

Bibliography

Lunn, Nicholas P. 2006. Word-Order Variation in Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Differentiating Pragmatics and Poetics. Paternoster Biblical Monographs. Milton Keynes: Paternoster.