3 And 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.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
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Commentary on Psalms 1 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Radically Distinct Lot of the Pious and the Ungodly
The collection of the Psalms and that of the prophecies of Isaiah resemble one another in the fact, that the one begins with a discourse that bears no superscription, and the other with a Psalm of the same character; and these form the prologues to the two collections. From Acts 13:33, where the words: Thou art My Son ... are quoted as being found ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ , we see that in early times Psalms 1:1-6 was regarded as the prologue to the collection. The reading ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ τῷ δευτέρῳ , rejected by Griesbach, is an old correction. But this way of numbering the Psalms is based upon tradition. A scholium from Origen and Eusebius says of Psalms 1:1-6 and Psalms 2:1-12 : ἐν τῷ Ἑβραΐκῷ συνημμένοι , and just so Apollinaris:
Ἐπιγραφῆς ὁ ψαλμὸς εὑρέθη δίχα
Ἡνωμένος δὲ τοῖς παῤ Ἑβραίοις στίχοις .
For it is an old Jewish way of looking at it, as Albertus Magnus observes : Psalmus primus incipit a beatitudine et terminatur a beatitudine , i.e., it begins with אשׁרי Psalms 1:1 and ends with אשׁרי Psalms 2:12, so that consequently Psalms 1:1-6 and Psalms 2:1-12, as is said in B. Berachoth 9b (cf. Jer. Taanith ii. 2), form one Psalm ( חדא פרשׁה ). As regards the subject-matter this is certainly not so. It is true Psalms 1:1-6 and Psalms 2:1-12 coincide in some respects (in the former יהגה , in the latter יהגו ; in the former תאבד ... ודרך , in the latter ותאכדו דוך ; in the former אשׁרי at the beginning, in the latter, at the end), but these coincidences of phraseology are not sufficient to justify the conclusion of unity of authorship (Hitz.), much less that the two Psalms are so intimately connected as to form one whole. These two anonymous hymns are only so far related, as that the one is adapted to form the proaemium of the Psalter from its ethical, the other from its prophetic character. The question, however, arises whether this was in the mind of the collector. Perhaps Psalms 2:1-12 is only attached to Psalms 1:1-6 on account of those coincidences; Psalms 1:1-6 being the proper prologue of the Psalter in its pentateuchal arrangement after the pattern of the Tôra. For the Psalter is the Yea and Amen in the form of hymns to the word of God given in the Tôra. Therefore it begins with a Psalm which contrasts the lot of him who loves the Tôra with the lot of the ungodly, - an echo of that exhortation, Joshua 1:8, in which, after the death of Moses, Jahve charges his successor Joshua to do all that is written in the book of the Tôra. As the New Testament sermon on the Mount, as a sermon on the spiritualized Law, begins with maka'rioi, so the Old Testament Psalter, directed entirely to the application of the Law to the inner life, begins with אשׁרי . The First book of the Psalms begins with two אשׁרי Psalms 1:1; Psalms 2:12, and closes with two אשׁרי Psalms 40:5; Psalms 41:2. A number of Psalms begin with אשׁרי , Psalms 32:1-11; Psalms 41:1-13; Psalms 112:1-10; Ps 119; Psalms 128:1-6; but we must not therefore suppose the existence of a special kind of ashrê -psalms; for, e.g., Psalms 32:1-11 is a משׂיל , Psalms 112:1-10 a Hallelujah , Psalms 128:1-6 a שׁיר המעלות .
As regards the time of the composition of the Psalm, we do not wish to lay any stress on the fact that 2 Chronicles 22:5 sounds like an allusion to it. But 1st, it is earlier than the time of Jeremiah; for Jeremiah was acquainted with it. The words of curse and blessing, Jeremiah 17:5-8, are like an expository and embellished paraphrase of it. It is customary with Jeremiah to reproduce the prophecies of his predecessors, and more especially the words of the Psalms, in the flow of his discourse and to transform their style to his own. In the present instance the following circumstance also favours the priority of the Psalm: Jeremiah refers the curse corresponding to the blessing to Jehoiakim and thus applies the Psalm to the history of his own times. It is 2ndly, not earlier than the time of Solomon. For לצים occurring only here in the whole Psalter, a word which came into use, for the unbelievers, in the time of the Chokma (vid., the definition of the word, Proverbs 21:24), points us to the time of Solomon and onwards. But since it contains no indications of contemporary history whatever, we give up the attempt to define more minutely the date of its composition, and say with St. Columba (against the reference of the Psalm to Joash the protegé of Jehoiada, which some incline to): Non audiendi sunt hi, qui ad excludendam Psalmorum veram expositionem falsas similitudines ab historia petitas conantur inducere .