Abstract:
This article begins by making a number of general observations on the meaning of (biblical) figures of speech. The images found in Psalm 1 are subsequently investigated in more detail. This is done with the help of syntactic, semantic and tradition-historic and intertextual inquiries. The comparison of the righteous person with a
tree is examined in great detail, while the comparison with chaff and the metaphor of life as a journey on a road are treated more cursorily. From the discussion it transpires how carefully and purposefully the image of the tree is implemented in the opening chapter of the Psalter. With this image, flashbacks are made to (canonical) scriptural contexts; but previews are also created of contexts within the Psalter itself, thereby creating significant additional facets of meaning.
