Interwoven Bible

Day 1 of your reading

Psalm 1 (WEB)

BOOK 1
Psalm 1
Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand on the path of sinners,
nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the LORD’s law.
On his law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,
that produces its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also does not wither.
Whatever he does shall prosper.

The wicked are not so,
but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

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

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall perish.

The first two paragraphs of the Psalms commentary, with the exception of Psalms 1 and 2, were drafted by AI.

Do you like to read the preface of a book? People who do often like this because it gives the author's own view of why the book was written. In today's reading, we get a type of preface to the whole Book of Psalms. The whole Book of Psalms is "written" by one author, God, even though God used many humans write the different parts. King David was the main person who God used to write psalms (songs) for the five "books" that comprise the "Book of Psalms." Each of the five books has at least one psalm that is specifically credited to King David. But the first two books (the psalms that are numbered 1 through 72 in most Bibles) are especially full of psalms credited to King David. That is why very devout Jews credit King David even when it comes to the "anonymous" psalms from these first two books. Today's reading comes from one of these anonymous psalms. We can picture King David writing it and giving his readers a "preface" to the rest of the psalms. We can also picture God writing it and giving us his own "preface."

Often in the Book of Psalms, it will help to consider Hebrew. For example, today, the first word is "Blessed," which in Hebrew sounds like the word for "walking a straight path." So, when King David wrote this preface, he used that first word combined the image of an evil person walking "in the counsel of the wicked" (which would not be a "straight path") to make great poetry. So, right from this "preface," God wants us to pay attention to every poetic detail and be the person who "meditates day and night" on these words. Ask God to help you meditate on the poetic details in today's reading. He is ready to help you!

Today's key verse portion is, "He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water" (from Psalm 1:3). And the New Testament echo is, "He showed me a river of water of life…On this side of the river…was the tree of life…yielding its fruit every month…The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants serve him…They will reign forever and ever" (from Revelation 22:1-5). Today's questions are, "How do walk, stand, sit, wicked, sinners and scoffers all differ? How do you meditate? What do fruit and leaf represent? Do you have these things? When is “the judgment”?" Finally, today's prayer starts like this: Yahweh, I choose to delight in your word and meditate on it always, please help me to…

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