Psalms
Chapter 1
Psalm 1 opens the book of Psalms by setting two ways of living side by side. One person turns away from bad advice and loves God's law, and grows like a tree by a stream. The other is like chaff blown away by the wind. The psalm ends by saying the LORD watches over one path, while the other comes to nothing.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
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.
1Happy is the person who does not follow the advice of bad people. He does not join sinners in the way they live. He does not sit with people who sneer at what is good.
"Blessed" here means happy and well off because God favors you. It is not a wish or a prayer, but a statement about how this person's life goes.
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
2Instead, he loves the law of the LORD. He thinks about that law carefully, day and night.
3And 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.
3He is like a tree planted beside streams of water. It gives its fruit at the right time of year, and its leaves stay green. Whatever he does goes well.
4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
4Bad people are not like that at all. They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Chaff is the light, dry husk left over after grain is beaten and separated. Farmers tossed the grain into the air so the wind would carry the useless chaff away.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
5So when the judging comes, bad people will not be able to stand. Sinners will have no place among God's people.
6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
6The LORD watches over the way that good people go. But the way of bad people leads nowhere at all.
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