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Psalm 1 · a question people ask

Who wrote Psalm 1, and who is speaking?

In the text

Psalm 1 has no title, so it names no writer and no occasion. The New Testament names David for some psalms without a title (Acts 4:25 for Psalm 2, and Hebrews 4:7 for Psalm 95), but it doesn't name anyone for Psalm 1. The psalm speaks about "the man" (1:1) and about "the LORD’s law" (1:2) and "the LORD" (1:6), and it never speaks to God directly. So these notes call its voice simply "the psalm", and go no further than that.

The verses

“Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the LORD’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.”
Psalm 1:1-2 · World English Bible
“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.”
Psalm 1:6 · World English Bible
“who by the mouth of your servant David, said, ‘Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?”
Acts 4:25 · World English Bible
“he again defines a certain day, “today”, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.””
Hebrews 4:7 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 1

Psalm 1: Blessed is the man

The first verse and the last share one Hebrew word: "the path of sinners" (1:1) and "the way of the wicked" (1:6) are both derekh. And the stand the blessed man won't take (1:1) isn't the stand the wicked can't make in the judgment (1:5): the WEB has one word, the Hebrew two verbs.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions