PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS I — BEATVS VIR

Blessed Is the Man

Beatus vir ('Blessed is the man') opens the Psalter with a wisdom meditation contrasting the just man rooted in God's law with the wicked who perish like chaff. In the 1962 Breviary, it begins Sunday Matins at the First Nocturn and sets the tone for the entire Divine Office. The Fathers, particularly St. Augustine, read this psalm as a portrait of Christ, the truly Blessed Man who perfectly fulfills the Law, and by extension, of every Christian grafted into Him.

LATINE
Beatus vir, qui non abiit in consilio impiorum, et in via peccatorum non stetit, et in cathedra pestilentiae non sedit.
Sed in lege Domini voluntas eius, et in lege eius meditabitur die ac nocte.
Et erit tamquam lignum, quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum, quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo.
Et folium eius non defluet: et omnia quaecumque faciet, prosperabuntur.
Non sic impii, non sic: sed tamquam pulvis, quem proiicit ventus a facie terrae.
Ideo non resurgent impii in iudicio: neque peccatores in concilio iustorum.
Quoniam novit Dominus viam iustorum: et iter impiorum peribit.
ENGLISH
Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.
But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.
And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.
Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Matins, Meditation on the Law
CONTEXT
The first psalm introduces the 'Two Ways' theme central to Jewish and Christian ethics. 'Chair of pestilence' (cathedra pestilentiae) refers to mockers.