Why read Psalm 1?
Read Psalm 1 when you want to choose the right path and remain faithful to it. Its contrast between righteousness and wrongdoing encourages discernment, patience and steady commitment to God's word.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
“Blessed is the man who has not walked in...” — this is how Psalm 1 begins, a work of 6 verses from the 1st Kathisma. The Psalter is read in the Orthodox Church at every service, and this psalm has its place in the order of prayer.
The text of Psalm 1
1. Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of unbelievers, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of blasphemers;
2. Rather, his will is in the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on His law day and night.
3. And he will be like a tree planted beside springs of water, which yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf will not fall; everything he does will prosper.
4. The unbelievers are not so, they are not so! They are like the dust that the wind scatters from the face of the earth.
5. Therefore the unbelievers will not stand at the judgement, nor sinners in the council of the righteous.
6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of unbelievers will perish.
When Psalm 1 is read
- At the beginning of the daily prayer rule and for meditation.
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
