Psalm 1 - Blessed is the Man

The book of Psalms was originally titled Tehillim, which means “praise songs” in Hebrew. These chapters contain poems or lyrics to a song, meant to give praise to the One True God.

Today we will start with the first chapter. Here's the verse by verse.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

[A takeaway from this initial verse is that, whether you walk, or you stand or you merely sit down, you are either blessed or known to be doing something good. There is a saying which goes like, 'tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.' Of course, this saying is a generalization so it is not true all the time. But generally when you run with bad people, you are one of them.]


2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

[So instead of keeping company with people you shouldn't be, your love for God should show in you having a hunger and thirst for getting to know who God is and a need to read Scriptures (yes preferably verse by verse).]


3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

[When you do this (reading and meditating on God's Word) you get planted on good soil, with endless nutrients, so you look and feel healthy and you bear much fruit.]


4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

[In contrast, those who are against God and His Word are like things that aren't deeply rooted, hence can be blown away and be lost.]


5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

[Those who do not love God and His Word has no place in His heaven (in the afterlife).]

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.


[ God looks after His children not those who aren't His. This psalm like most psalms is like a poem meant to be sang as unto to the Lord to offer up praises to Him and declare His goodness and mercy.]