STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

Happy the man whose cautious feet The difference between the righteous and the wicked

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 1, printed in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated, where he set the psalms "in the language of the New Testament".

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1719 The Psalms of David Imitated · no. 3

METRE

Long Metre 8.8.8.8 · 6 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 1 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 6 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

Happy the man whose cautious feet

Shun the broad way that sinners go,

Who hates the place where atheists meet,

And fears to talk as scoffers do.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 1, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. 2But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does. 4Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. … 2 more verses PSALM 1 · ITS FIRST VERSES · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 1

Happy the man whose cautious feet Shun the broad way that sinners go, Who hates the place where atheists meet, And fears to talk as scoffers do. STANZA I

Its place in the book

Watts's psalms run from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150, several settings to many psalms: 367 hymns. This is number 3. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 3 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Happy the man whose cautious feet

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