---
title: "Paraphrase of the First Psalm"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Poem"
year: "1781"
location: "Lochlea"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/paraphrase-of-the-first-psalm/"
---

# Paraphrase of the First Psalm

## Poem
The man, in life wherever plac’d,  
Hath happiness in store,  
Who walks not in the wicked’s way,  
Nor learns their guilty lore!

Nor from the seat of scornful pride  
Casts forth his eyes abroad,  
But with humility and awe  
Still walks before his God.

That man shall flourish like the trees,  
Which by the streamlets grow;  
The fruitful top is spread on high,  
And firm the root below.

But he whose blossom buds in guilt  
Shall to the ground be cast,  
And, like the rootless stubble, tost  
Before the sweeping blast.

For why? that God the good adore,  
Hath giv’n them peace and rest,  
But hath decreed that wicked men  
Shall ne’er be truly blest.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/paraphrase-of-the-first-psalm/