BOOK ONE

(Psalms 1–41)

True Happiness

1Happy are those

who reject the advice of evil people,

who do not follow the example of sinners

or join those who have no use for God.

2Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord,

and they study it day and night.

3 They are like trees that grow beside a stream,

that bear fruit at the right time,

and whose leaves do not dry up.

They succeed in everything they do.

4But evil people are not like this at all;

they are like straw that the wind blows away.

5Sinners will be condemned by God

and kept apart from God's own people.

6The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord,

but the evil are on the way to their doom.