Psalms 1
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 1 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
29 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from 2 Fathers — Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Hilary of Poitiers. The translator's notes for this chapter (3) follow the text.
Psalms 1
1Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of * evil men.ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΣ ἀνὴρ, ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν, καὶ ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν· οὐκ ἔστη, καὶ ἐπὶ καθέδρᾳ λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισεν.
2But his † pleasure is in the law of the Lord; and in his law will he meditate day and night.ʼΑλλʼ ἢ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ Κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός.
3And he shall be as a tree planted by the brooks of waters, which shall yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall off; and whatever he shall do shall be prospered.Καὶ ἔσται ὡς τὸ ξύλον τὸ πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ· καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀποῤῥυήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν ποιῇ κατευοδωθήσεται.
4Not so the ungodly; —not so: but rather as the ‡ chaff which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth.Οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλʼ ἢ ὡς ὁ χνοῦς ὃν ἐκρίπτει ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just.Διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀναστήσονται οἱ ἀσεβεῖς ἐν κρίσει, οὐδὲ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἐν βουλῇ δικαίων.
6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.Ὅτι γινώσκει Κύριος ὁδὸν δικαίων, καὶ ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν ἀπολεῖται.
Translator's Notes
These notes come from the printed edition of Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), and record where the Greek differs from the English rendering or admits more than one reading.
- v. 1*Gr. pestilent.
- v. 2†Gr. will.
- v. 4‡Or. dust or down.
The Fathers on Psalms 1
Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Hilary of Poitiers comment on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 1:1Saint Augustine of Hippo1. “Blessed is the man that hath not gone away in the counsel of the ungodly” (ver. 1). This is to be understood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Man. “Blessed is the man that hath not gone away in the counsel of the ungodly,” as “the man of earth did,” who consented to his wife deceived by the serpent, to the transgressing the commandment of God. “Nor stood in the way of sinners.” For He came indeed in the way…
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersAnd as he says this we must enquire concerning what man we are to understand him to be speaking. He says: Happy is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly nor stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of pestilence. But his will hath been in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law will he...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersNow the words which stand at the beginning of the Psalm are quite unsuited to the Person and Dignity of the Son, while the whole contents are in themselves a condemnation of the careless haste that would use them to extol Him. For when it is said, and his will hath been in the Law of the Lord, how (seeing that the Law...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersAnd so, since these words are understood to be inapplicable to the divinity of the Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, we must suppose him, who is here extolled as happy by the Prophet, to be the man who strives to conform himself to that body which the Lord assumed and in which He was born as man, by...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersThe Holy Spirit made choice of this magnificent and noble introduction to the Psalter, in order to stir up weak man to a pure zeal for piety by the hope of happiness, to teach him the mystery of the Incarnate God, to promise him participation in heavenly glory, to declare the penalty of the Judgment, to proclaim the...
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On Psalms 1:1–2Saint Hilary of PoitiersHappy is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly nor stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of pestilence. But his will hath been in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law will he meditate day and night. The Prophet recites five kinds of caution as continually present in the mind of...
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On Psalms 1:1–2Saint Hilary of PoitiersThere is no doubt then that, as this instance proves, the undutiful (or ungodly) must be distinguished from the sinner. And, indeed, general opinion agrees to call those men ungodly who scorn to search for the knowledge of God, who in their irreverent mind take for granted that there is no Creator of the world, who...
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On Psalms 1:1–2Saint Hilary of PoitiersThere are, besides, other counsels of the ungodly, i.e., of those who have fallen into heresy, unrestrained by the laws of either the New Testament or the Old. Their reasoning ever takes the course of a vicious circle; without grasp or foothold to stay them they tread their interminable round of endless indecision....
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersThe next condition is, that the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly shall not stand in the way of sinners. For there are many whose confession concerning God, while it acquits them of ungodliness, yet does not set them free from sin; those, for example, who abide in the Church but do not observe her...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersNow the third condition for gaining happiness is not to sit in the seat of pestilence. The Pharisees sat as teachers in Moses’ seat, and Pilate sat in the seat of judgment: of what seat then are we to consider the occupation pestilential? Not surely of that of Moses, for it is the occupants of the seat and not the...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersBut the fact that he has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of pestilence, does not constitute the perfection of the man’s happiness. For the belief that one God is the Creator of the world, the avoidance of sin by the pursuit of unassuming goodness, the...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersBut then sometimes the will needs supplementing; and the mere desire for perfect happiness does not win it, unless performance wait upon intention. The Psalm, you remember, goes on: And in His Law will he meditate day and night. The man achieves the perfection of happiness by unbroken and unwearied meditation in the...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersBut now that the man has found perfect happiness by keeping aloof from the counsel of the ungodly and the way of sinners and the seat of pestilence, and by gladly meditating in the Law of God by day and by night, we are next to be shewn the rich fruit that this happiness he has won will yield him. Now the anticipation...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersIn the book of Genesis, where the lawgiver depicts the paradise planted by God, we are shewn that every tree is fair to look upon and good for food; it is also stated that there stands in the midst of the garden a tree of Life and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil; next that the garden is watered by a stream...
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On Psalms 1:1Saint Hilary of PoitiersThat happy man, then, will become like unto this tree when he shall be transplanted, as the thief was, into the garden and set to grow beside the rills of water: and his planting will be that happy new planting which cannot be uprooted, to which the Lord refers in the Gospels when He curses the other kind of planting...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersBut the leaf of this tree shall not fall off. There is no ground for wonder that its leaves do not fall off, seeing that its fruits will not drop to the ground, either because they are forced off by ripeness, or shaken off by external violence, but it will yield them, distributing them by an act of reasoned service....
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersNow that the leaves of the tree we speak of are not valueless but are a source of health to the nations is testified by St. John in the Apocalypse, where he says: And He shewed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; in the midst of the street of it and on...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersAnd all things whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Never again shall His gift and His statutes be set at naught, as they were in the case of Adam, who by his sin in breaking the Law lost the happiness of an assured immortality; but now, thanks to the redemption wrought by the tree of Life, that is, by the Passion of...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersThe next point after the prophet had set forth the man’s perfect happiness was for him to declare what punishment remained for the ungodly. Thus there ensues: The ungodly are not so, but are like the dust which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth. The ungodly have no possible hope of having the image of...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersAnd the Prophet, seeing that the change of their solid substance into dust will deprive them of all share in the boon of fruit to be bestowed upon the happy man in season by the tree, has accordingly added: Therefore the ungodly shall not rise again in the Judgment. The fact that they shall not rise again does not...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersThe terms of this utterance of the Lord are disturbing to inattentive hearers and careless, hasty readers. For by saying: He that believeth on Me shall not be judged, He exempts believers, and by adding: But he that believeth not hath been judged already, He excludes unbelievers, from judgment. If, then, He has thus...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersHe that believes, says Christ, is not judged. And is there any need to judge a believer? Judgment arises out of ambiguity, and where ambiguity ceases, there is no call for trial and judgment. Hence not even unbelievers need be judged, because there is no doubt about their being unbelievers; but after exempting...
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On Psalms 1:1–3Saint Hilary of PoitiersIt is precisely the scheme and system thus laid down in the Gospel that the Prophet has followed, when he says: Therefore the ungodly shall not rise again in the Judgement, nor sinners in the counsel of the righteous. He leaves no judgment for the ungodly, because they have been judged already; on the other hand, he...
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On Psalms 1:2Saint Augustine of Hippo2. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate by day and by night (ver. 2). The law is not made for a righteous man,” says the Apostle. But it is one thing to be in the law, another under the law. Whoso is in the law, acteth according to the law; whoso is under the law, is acted upon according to the law: the one therefore is free, the other a slave. Again, the law, which is…
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On Psalms 1:3Saint Augustine of Hippo3. “And he shall be like a tree planted hard by the running streams of waters” (ver. 3); that is either Very “Wisdom,” which vouchsafed to assume man’s nature for our salvation; that as man He might be “the tree planted hard by the running streams of waters;” for in this sense can that too be taken which is said in another Psalm, “the river of God is full of water.” Or by the Holy Ghost, of whom it is said, “He…
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On Psalms 1:4Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “The ungodly are not so,” they are not so, “but are like the dust which the wind casteth forth from the face of the earth” (ver. 4). “The earth” is here to be taken as that stedfastness in God, with a view to which it is said, “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, yea, I have a goodly heritage.” With a view to this it is said, “Wait on the Lord and keep His ways, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the…
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On Psalms 1:4–6Saint Hilary of PoitiersThe source of this distinction lies in the following words: For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Sinners do not come near the counsel of the righteous for this reason, that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Now He knows, not by an advance from ignorance to...
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On Psalms 1:5Saint Augustine of Hippo5. “Therefore the ungodly rise not in the judgment” (ver. 5): “therefore,” namely, because “as dust they are cast forth from the face of the earth.” And well did he say that this should be taken away from them, which in their pride they court, namely, that they may judge; so that this same idea is more clearly expressed in the following sentence, “nor sinners in the counsel of the righteous.” For it is usual for…
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On Psalms 1:6Open Psalms 1 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo6. “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous” (ver. 6). As it is said, medicine knows health, but knows not disease, and yet disease is recognised by the art of medicine. In like manner can it be said that “the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous,” but the way of the ungodly He knoweth not. Not that the Lord is ignorant of anything, and yet He says to sinners, “I never knew you.” “But the way of the…
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