Psalm 1:1

אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר׀ לֹ֥א הָלַךְ֮ בַּעֲצַ֪ת רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֭טָּאִים לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד וּבְמוֹשַׁ֥ב לֵ֜צִ֗ים לֹ֣א יָשָֽׁב׃

Translation: O the blessedness of the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and in the way of sinners he does not stand, and in the seat of scoffers he does not sit.

There are three things particular to note here. First is the use of the perfect form of the verb in the three verbal clauses. This is a difficulty for many beginning students, because they ordinarily translate the perfect as a past tense. However, there are a number of different uses of the perfect, and not all of them are appropriately translated by the English past tense. The use here is described by Gesenius (GKC ¶106k) as using the perfect “to express facts which have formerly taken place, and are still of constant recurrence, and hence are matters of common experience." Williams (¶168) classifies it as an experience perfect. Van der Merwe, et al. (¶19.2.4) describes such a perfect as indicating “actions, events and/or facts that are not time-bound.” Hence, the Septuagint translates these verbs with the gnomic aorist, and the English versions regularly translate them with an English present tense.

The second item of note here is the use of (הָאִ֗ישׁ), “the man” in the older English versions, (ἀνήρ) in the Septuagint. Both the Hebrew and the Greek word can be used in the sense of “person,” (reflected, for example in the NLT and other modern versions by pronouns in order to avoid gender-specific references). However, the use of the word here seems to me to indicate that we ought to take it in the sense of male person as opposed to female person, since there is an overtone of messianic allusion here. Christ is the perfectly blessed man, in whom and with whom we participate in the blessedness of a life not characterized by wickedness.

The third item of note is that the blessedness is not a blessing earned by behavior, but rather the blessedness results in the godly behavior.