Psalm 1
The Psalter opens by contrasting the righteous tree with wind-blown chaff.
As the opening psalm, Psalm 1 sets the tone for the whole book: the blessed man avoids the counsel of the ungodly and instead delights in God's law, becoming 'like a tree planted by the rivers of water.' See how the theme develops in Psalms 2.
Happy is the man who does not go in the company of sinners, or take his place in the way of evil-doers, or in the seat of those who do not give honour to the Lord.
But whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and whose mind is on his law day and night.
He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which gives its fruit at the right time, whose leaves will ever be green; and he will do well in all his undertakings.
The evil-doers are not so; but are like the dust from the grain, which the wind takes away.
For this cause there will be no mercy for sinners when they are judged, and the evil-doers will have no place among the upright,
Because the Lord sees the way of the upright, but the end of the sinner is destruction.