Psalm 1 verse 5 - The wicked man as dust blown about in the wind

The Ozymandias Colossus, inspiration for Shelley's poem 

The second section of Psalm 1 contrasts the happy state of the blessed man with that of the wicked man who rejects God, and refuses to repent: first we are instructed on the rewards that come from following Christ, then warned of the perils of failing to do so.  We are invited, as St Jerome says, to to 'meditate on the future life and on eternity'.

5.	V/OR	Non sic impii, non sic; sed tamquam pulvis quem proiicit ventus a facie terrae.
	NV	Non sic impii, non sic, sed tamquam pulvis, quem proicit ventus.
	JH	Non sic impii; sed tamquam puluis quem proicit uentus.
		οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἀσεβεῖς οὐχ οὕτως ἀλλ' ἢ ὡς ὁ χνοῦς ὃν ἐκριπτεῖ ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς

Non (not) sic (like/so) impii (the wicked) non (not) sic (like); sed (but) tamquam (like) pulvis (the dust) quem (that) proiicit (it sweeps away) ventus (the wind) a facie (from the face) terrae (of the earth).

sic, adv., so, thus, in this manner, in such a manner

impius, ii, m. sinners, the wicked, the godless

tamquam adv. of comparison,  as, just as, like, as it were.

pulvis, eris, m., dust.

projicio, jeci, jectum, ere 3  to cast, cast away, off, down or forth, cast;  cast upon, i.e., commit to the care of;  drive away, scatter, or sweep away, as wind does dust, reject.

ventus, i, m., the wind

facies, ei,  face, countenance, appearance; presence; from, from before, from one's presence, sight, eyes, etc. (a) because of.

DR	Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind drives from the face of the earth.
Brenton	Not so the ungodly; not so: but rather as the chaff which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth.
NETS	Not so the impious not so!  Rather they are like the dust that the wind flings from off the land.
MD	Not so the wicked not so.  They are like the chaff that the wind sweepeth from the earth.
RSV	The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Cover	As for the ungodly, it is not so with them; but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.
Knox	Not such, not such the wicked; the wicked are like chaff the wind sweeps away.
Grail	Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind.

The wicked vs the sinner

St Jerome draws an important distinction in this section of the psalm, between the wicked and the sinner:

The psalmist did not say, not so the sinners, for if he had said sinners we would all then be excluded from reward…There is a difference between the wicked and sinners.  The wicked deny God altogether; the sinner acknowledges God and in spite of his acknowledgement commits sin…

The objective of this section of the psalm is to encourage us to turn away from sin, and avoid joining the company of the atheist.

Dust

The Septuagint and Vulgate use the word dust (pulvis), which Britt notes in his Dictionary of the Psalter has a number of figurative meanings in Scripture, including as a symbol of a low and wretched condition; to denote that which is unstable, a symbol of the wicked and of their works; the dead; and the dust, from which frail mortal man is made. Certainly, the Fathers made great use of the  
The promises offered to the just  are now contrasted with the fate of those who fail to heed the call to conversion, as St Robert Bellarmine explains:

…the wicked, wanting the divine grace, dry and barren, like the finest dust scattered by the wind, leave no trace of themselves, and not only lose glory, wealth, and pleasure – but even themselves, in the bargain, for all eternity.

St Thomas Aquinas explains the significance of the comparison to dust further: 

They are compared properly to dust, because dust has three things that are said of the just man; that dust does not stick to the earth, but it is on the surface, but a planted tree has roots. Again a tree is held together in itself, and it is moist; but dust is divided, dry and arid; through this we have a sign that good men are united like a tree by charity. Again, good men cling as with roots in spiritual things and divine goods, but evil men are sustained in exterior goods. Again, they are without the water of grace, "For dust thou art" etc And so all their malice flows away.

Cassiodorus offers a slightly different take on the image, seeing it as the wicked man storm tossed by his vices:

Dust is loosened earth, and the earthly man when puffed up with the seductive wind of pride is cast away like dust from the solid land of the living.  Because he could not maintain his stance on the firm ground of the commandments through lack of weight, the wicked man is rightly called dust, for like a thin substance he is tossed in the air by the blasts of vices…

Either way, the Hebrew Masoretic Text offers a different image, that of the chaff separated from the wheat by the action of the winds.

 

Vulgate	Douay Rheims translation
Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, et in via peccatórum non stetit, * et in cáthedra pestiléntiæ non sedit	Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence:
2  Sed in lege Dómini volúntas ejus, * et in lege ejus meditábitur die ac nocte.	But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
3  Et erit tamquam lignum, quod plantátum est secus decúrsus aquárum, * quod fructum suum dabit in témpore suo:	And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.
4  Et fólium ejus non défluet: * et ómnia quæcúmque fáciet, prosperabúntur.	And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
5 Non sic ímpii, non sic: * sed tamquam pulvis, quem prójicit ventus a fácie terræ.	Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind drives from the face of the earth.
6 Ideo non resúrgent ímpii in judício: * neque peccatóres in concílio justórum.	Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.
7  Quóniam novit Dóminus viam justórum: * et iter impiórum períbit.	For the Lord knows the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

 And for the next part of this series, continue on here.

Psalm 1 verse 4 - The healing of nations

Mausoleum M in the pre-fourth-century necropolis under St Peter's Basilica in Rome

4.	V/NV	Et folium eius non defluet et omnia quaecumque faciet, prosperabuntur.
	OR	et folium eius non decidet et omnia quaecumque fecerit prosperabuntur
	JH	et folium eius non defluet ; et omne quod fecerit prosperabitur.
		καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν ποιῇ κατευοδωθήσεται

Et (and) folium (foliage) eius (its) non (not) defluet (it falls off) et (and) omnia (all) quaecumque (whatsoever) faciet (he does/makes), prosperabuntur (it will prosper).

folium, ii, n. , a leaf, coll., foliage.

defluo, fluxi, ere 3, to flow down;  to fall, as a leaf

prospero, avi, stum, are,  to succeed, prosper , flourish, thrive

DR	And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
Brenton	and its leaf shall not fall off; and whatsoever he shall do shall be prospered.
MD	And whose leaves shall not wither: and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper
RSV	and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Cover	His leaf also shall not wither; and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.
Knox	not a leaf faded; all that he does will prosper.
Grail	and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.

The previous verse focused on the fruit of the tree, but as Jerome puts it, 'The leaves of this tree are by no means useless'.

The leaves as 'the healing of nations'

Many of the explanations of this verse refer back to the image of the tree in Revelation 22, whose leaves bring health to all the nations.

St Hilary, for example, sees the leaves as the teaching of Christ, the fruit the product of its application:

Now the spiritual significance of the leaves is made clear by a comparison based upon material objects. We see that leaves are made to sprout round the fruits about which they cluster, for the express purpose of protecting them, and of forming a kind of fence to the young and tender shoots. What the leaves signify, then, is the teaching of God's words in which the promised fruits are clothed. For it is these words that kindly shade our hopes, that shield and protect them from the rough winds of this world. These leaves, then, that is the words of God, shall not fall: for the Lord Himself has said: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away, for of the words that have been spoken by God not one shall fail or fall.

Jerome takes a similar line but suggests that the fruit is the spiritual meaning of Scripture, and the leaves are the literal meaning.  He then argues that even this alone is useful:

Even if one understands Holy Writ only as history, he has something useful for his soul.

Other of the Fathers though, offer I think, rather richer interpretations.

Words and actions

St Augustine interprets the leaves as words (since the words of the Lord last forever) and the fruit as deeds, an interpretation that Cassiodorus explains as follows:

In other words, under no circumstance does his word abandon the truth.  Just as the leaves of a palm-tree are evergreen, so these words implanted in the truth abide with unfailing promises, as the gospel says: Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words will not pass.

Evagrius, on the other hand, sees it going the other way around, with the leaves as the daily tasks and signs of the just person, including a smiling face:

The trees brings forth leaves, and the just one his daily tasks.  And the leaves are tokens of a good soul achieved by means of the body, like the appearance of clothes,  a foot’s stride,  a smiling face.

Similarly, Theodoret of Cyrus stresses cheerfulness as a virtue represented by the foliage of the tree:

You see, champions of virtue reap the fruit of their labours in the future life; but like a kind of foliage they bear sound hope constantly within them, flourishing and exulting, and by their cheerfulness they overcome the rigours of their labours.  They have the generous Lord constantly abetting their enthusiasm: To those who love God, says the divine Apostle, all things work together unto good.  

The promise of God's help

St Thomas Aquinas sees this verse as a promise of God's assistance:

Some trees are kept alive in their underlying substance, but not in the leaves, and others are also kept alive in their leaves: so also the just, whence he says: and his leaf shall not fall off that is, he will not be deserted by God even in the smallest exterior works. "But the just shall spring up as a green leaf." The blessed prosper in all things, and this is when they achieve the intended end with respect to all that they desire, because the just attain blessedness.   

Vulgate	Douay Rheims translation
Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, et in via peccatórum non stetit, * et in cáthedra pestiléntiæ non sedit	Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence:
2  Sed in lege Dómini volúntas ejus, * et in lege ejus meditábitur die ac nocte.	But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.
3  Et erit tamquam lignum, quod plantátum est secus decúrsus aquárum, * quod fructum suum dabit in témpore suo:	And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season.
4  Et fólium ejus non défluet: * et ómnia quæcúmque fáciet, prosperabúntur.	And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.
5  Non sic ímpii, non sic: * sed tamquam pulvis, quem prójicit ventus a fácie terræ.	Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind drives from the face of the earth.
6  Ideo non resúrgent ímpii in judício: * neque peccatóres in concílio justórum.	Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.
7  Quóniam novit Dóminus viam justórum: * et iter impiórum períbit.	For the Lord knows the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

 The next part of this series can be found here.