BOOK I
The Way to Happiness
1 God blesses those people
who refuse evil advice
and won't follow sinners
or join in sneering at God.
2 Instead, they find happiness
in the Teaching of the Lord,
and they think about it
day and night.
3 They are like trees
growing beside a stream,
trees that produce
fruit in season
and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
in everything they do.
4 That isn't true of those
who are evil—
they are like straw
blown by the wind.
5 Sinners won't have an excuse
on the day of judgment,
and they won't have a place
with the people of God.
6 The Lord protects everyone
who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road
that leads to ruin.
© Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®) © 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.