Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 1 is the book of Psalms' programmatic introduction: a wisdom-contrast between the righteous and the wicked, framed around 'the instruction of the LORD' (torah). LXX Psalm 1 matches MT in numbering and structure (the LXX/MT numbering divergence begins at Hebrew Psalm 10). The 'tree planted by streams of water' imagery supplies Jeremiah 17:7–8, Ezekiel 47:12, and Revelation 22:2's 'tree of life' typology.
Notable Variants
The 'makarios (blessed/fortunate) is the man' opening that supplies the Beatitudes template (Matt 5:3–12); 'the law of the LORD' (nomos kyriou) as the LXX's standard rendering of torah; 'not stand in the judgment' eschatological-court vocabulary.
Structural Notes
LXX Psalm 1 has 6 verses matching MT. The LXX Psalter and MT Psalter have identical numbering through Psalm 8; the divergence begins at Hebrew Psalm 10 (merged into LXX Psalm 9). Throughout this per-chapter project, the LXX and MT Psalm numbers will be noted where they differ.
How fortunate is the person who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the path of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scoffers.
Masoretic (WLC)
אַשְׁרֵי־הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים
How fortunate is the person who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked
Septuagint (LXX)
μακάριος ἀνήρ ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν
Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly
MAKARIOS. The LXX's makarios ('blessed, fortunate') becomes the Beatitudes-vocabulary. Matthew 5:3–12 opens each Beatitude with makarioi. Every 'blessed' formulation in the NT (Luke 6:20–26, Rev 1:3, 14:13, 16:15, 19:9, 20:6, 22:7, 14) traces to this LXX-Psalms 'blessed is the man' tradition.
The 'three-fold descent' (walked-stood-sat) in wicked company is proverbial. The progression — from casual walking with sinners to settled seating among scoffers — supplies Christian catechesis with a tropology of spiritual decline.
The 'asebēs (ungodly) / hamartōlos (sinner) / loimos (pestilent/scoffer)' triad is LXX's consistent vocabulary cluster for the wicked. The same cluster reappears at Psalm 1 in NT citations (Rom 4:5's 'ungodly,' 1 Pet 4:18's 'sinner').
Rather, his delight is in the instruction of the LORD, and on His instruction he meditates day and night.
Masoretic (WLC)
כִּי אִם בְּתוֹרַת יְהוָה חֶפְצוֹ וּבְתוֹרָתוֹ יֶהְגֶּה יוֹמָם וָלָיְלָה
his delight is in the instruction of the LORD, and on His instruction he meditates day and night
Septuagint (LXX)
ἀλλ᾽ ἢ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός
but in the law of the Lord his will is, and on his law he will meditate day and night
TORAH / NOMOS. The Hebrew torah ('teaching, instruction, law') is consistently rendered nomos in the LXX. This single lexical-equivalence choice shapes all subsequent biblical discussions of 'law': Paul's entire nomos-theology (Romans 7, Galatians 3) depends on this LXX-Psalms-1 vocabulary.
'Meditate' (meletēsei) is the LXX's meditative-study vocabulary. Philippians 4:8 ('meditate on these things,' tauta logizesthe — slightly different vocabulary) and 1 Timothy 4:15 ('meditate on these things,' tauta meleta) carry the contemplative-practice tradition.
He will be like a tree transplanted beside channels of water, which yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Everything he does will thrive.
The 'tree planted by streams of water' image tracks MT. Jeremiah 17:7–8 ('like a tree planted by the water') and Ezekiel 47:12 ('trees … whose fruit does not fail') develop the same image. Revelation 22:2's 'tree of life bearing fruit in its season' is the ultimate eschatological fulfillment.
Not so the wicked — they are like chaff that the wind drives away.
'Chaff that the wind drives away' tracks MT. John the Baptist's Matthew 3:12 ('he will clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire') deploys this chaff-versus-grain image eschatologically.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
'Not stand in the judgment' (ouk anastēsontai asebeis en krisei) tracks MT. Final-judgment vocabulary. 'Assembly of the righteous' (boulē dikaiōn) becomes the NT's ekklēsia dikaiōn concept.
For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
'The LORD watches over the way of the righteous' tracks MT. 'The way' (hodos) becomes one of early Christianity's self-designations (Acts 9:2, 19:9, 22:4, 24:14). The two-ways-theology of this psalm supplies the Didache (early Christian catechesis) with its opening material: 'There are two ways, one of life and one of death.'