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Dhammapada · narration sample

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The Bible · 479 of 1189

Psalms 1

1.Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2.But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4.The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5.Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6.For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Asked of Guide

Why does Psalm 1 contrast the righteous with chaff and a flourishing tree?

Psalm 1 uses two concrete images to show life shaped by devotion. The righteous “delight…in the law of the LORD” and “meditate day and night,” so they are “like a tree planted by the rivers of water” that bears fruit and whose “leaf also shall not wither,” an image of steady nourishment and fruitful seasonality. The ungodly receive no root or steady source; they are “like the chaff which the wind driveth away,” a picture of instability and eventual loss. Psalm 1 places moral orientation — sustained delight in God’s instruction — at the center: it yields flourishing; absence of it yields dispersal and failure to “stand in the judgment.”

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