"Blessed" (Ashrei)
Quick answer
The Hebrew word that opens Psalm 1 — less "happy feeling" than a declaration that someone is on the right, flourishing path: "How fortunate is the one who…"
Overview
Psalm 1's opening word, ashrei, pronounces a blessing over the person whose delight is in God's instruction. It pictures flourishing — "like a tree planted by streams of water" — and frames the entire Psalter as the road of the two ways: the way of the righteous and the way that perishes. The same word opens Jesus' Beatitudes.
Where it appears
- Psalms 1:1
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;
Hebrew ashrei — flourishing on the right path.
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