Psalm 1

בס"ד
ה' מרחשון תשס"ו

This post is in preparation. It will be updated

In parallel to impressions from my Zohar course, I want to use this blog to study some Psalms, starting from the beginning.

Psalm 1

1. אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב
2. כִּי אִם בְּתוֹרַת יְהוָה חֶפְצוֹ וּבְתוֹרָתוֹ יֶהְגֶּה יוֹמָם וָלָיְלָה
3. וְהָיָה כְּעֵץ שָׁתוּל עַל־פַּלְגֵי־מָיִם אֲשֶׁר פִּרְיוֹ יִתֵּן בְּעִתּוֹ וְעָלֵהוּ לֹא־יִבּוֹל וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־יַעֲשֶׂה יַצְלִיחַ
4. לֹא־כֵן הָרְשָׁעִים כִּי אִם־כַּמֹּץ אֲשֶׁר־תִּדְּפֶנּוּ רוּחַ
5. עַל־כֵּן לֹא־יָקֻמוּ רְשָׁעִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט וְחַטָּאִים בַּעֲדַת צַדִּיקִים
6. כִּי־יוֹדֵעַ יְהוָה דֶּרֶךְ צַדִּיקִים וְדֶרֶךְ רְשָׁעִים תֹּאבֵד

I'm going to use Coverdale for my reference translation, because I think it's the best English translation there is from a literary point of view.

1. BLESSED is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners : and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord : and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.
3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side : that will bring forth his fruit in due season.
4. His leaf also shall not wither : and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.
5. As for the ungodly, it is not so with them : but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.
6. Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgement : neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
7. But the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous : and the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Words

אַשְׁרֵי

This is an interesting Hebrew idiom. The root אשר means "go straight" or "walk on", as in Proverbs 4, 14, or in Modern Hebrew, "authorise" or "confirm". The noun we have here, either *אֶשֶׁר or *אָשָׁר according to BDB, only occurs in the plural construct, as here, or with possessive suffixes, as in Deuteronomy 33, 29. Literally it means "the happinesses of&hellip", so אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ means "the happinesses of the man" i.e. "How happy is the man". (In Modern Hebrew, אַשְׁרֶיךָ is roughly equivalent to the British idiom "bully for you".)

עֲצַת

BDB surprised me here. This is the construct of עֵצָה, "counsel" or "advice", but "walking in advice" doesn't seem to make much sense. Now, in English we have two words, council and counsel, with rather overlapping meanings. The definitions of "counsel" in the OED include "an assembly or body of advisers" (although marked as obsolete), and those of "council" include "an advisory or deliberative assembly". After reading this verse, I was expecting to find both senses in BDB, but they only give "counsel", "advice" and "consultation" (under the root יעץ).