2 But his delight H2656 is in the law H8451 of the LORD; H3068 and in his law H8451 doth he meditate H1897 day H3119 and night. H3915
This book H5612 of the law H8451 shall not depart H4185 out of thy mouth; H6310 but thou shalt meditate H1897 therein day H3119 and night, H3915 that thou mayest observe H8104 to do H6213 according to all that is written H3789 therein: for then thou shalt make H6743 thy way H1870 prosperous, H6743 and then thou shalt have good success. H7919
Make me to go H1869 in the path H5410 of thy commandments; H4687 for therein do I delight. H2654
Unless H3884 thy law H8451 had been my delights, H8191 I should then have perished H6 in mine affliction. H6040
I will meditate H7878 in thy precepts, H6490 and have respect H5027 unto thy ways. H734 I will delight H8173 myself in thy statutes: H2708 I will not forget H7911 thy word. H1697
MEM. O how love I H157 thy law! H8451 it is my meditation H7881 all the day. H3117 Thou through thy commandments H4687 hast made me wiser H2449 than mine enemies: H341 for they are ever H5769 with me. I have more understanding H7919 than all my teachers: H3925 for thy testimonies H5715 are my meditation. H7881
Neither have I gone back H4185 from the commandment H4687 of his lips; H8193 I have esteemed H6845 the words H561 of his mouth H6310 more than my necessary H2706 food.
ALEPH. Blessed H835 are the undefiled H8549 in the way, H1870 who walk H1980 in the law H8451 of the LORD. H3068
And I will delight H8173 myself in thy commandments, H4687 which I have loved. H157 My hands H3709 also will I lift up H5375 unto thy commandments, H4687 which I have loved; H157 and I will meditate H7878 in thy statutes. H2706
The law H8451 of thy mouth H6310 is better H2896 unto me than thousands H505 of gold H2091 and silver. H3701
[[A Song H7892 or Psalm H4210 for the sons H1121 of Korah, H7141 to the chief Musician H5329 upon Mahalath H4257 Leannoth, H6031 Maschil H4905 of Heman H1968 the Ezrahite.]] H250 O LORD H3068 God H430 of my salvation, H3444 I have cried H6817 day H3117 and night H3915 before thee:
And G1161 shall G1557 not G3364 God G2316 avenge G1557 his own G846 elect, G1588 G4160 which G3588 cry G994 day G2250 and G2532 night G3571 unto G4314 him, G846 though G2532 he bear long G3114 with G1909 them? G846
I thank G2192 G5485 God, G2316 whom G3739 I serve G3000 from G575 my forefathers G4269 with G1722 pure G2513 conscience, G4893 that G5613 without ceasing G88 I have G2192 remembrance G3417 of G4012 thee G4675 in G1722 my G3450 prayers G1162 night G3571 and G2532 day; G2250
For G1063 ye remember, G3421 brethren, G80 our G2257 labour G2873 and G2532 travail: G3449 for G1063 labouring G2038 night G3571 and G2532 day, G2250 because G4314 we would G1912 not G3361 be chargeable G1912 unto any G5100 of you, G5216 we preached G2784 unto G1519 you G5209 the gospel G2098 of God. G2316
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 1
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 .