Psalms 1:5

5. Not stand in the judgment “Judgment” is strictly a forensic term: “God will bring every work into judgment.” Ecclesiastes 12:14. The declaration that “the ungodly shall not stand,” is equal to they shall be overthrown; as in Nahum 1:6, “Who can abide [Hebrew, stand up ] in the fierceness of his anger?” and Exodus 15:7, “Thou hast overthrown them that rose up [or, stood up ] against thee.” See also Deuteronomy 28:7, and 2 Samuel 20:40, 49. The wicked have “risen up,” or “stood up,” against God and his Church. They shall be judged, and shall not stand, and their overthrow shall be as opposite to the blessings of the godly man as their character is opposite.

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous This forms a parallelism with the previous hemistich, and so means essentially the same. “Congregation of the righteous” must be understood in the true Hebraistic sense, as including not simply the upright, but those only whose names were on the genealogical records of the covenant people. See Ezekiel 13:10; Nehemiah 7:5; Nehemiah 7:61; Ezra 2:62. From this figure arose the New Testament description, “general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.” Hebrews 12:23. See also Luke 10:20; Revelation 21:27. The words in the text refer us to the final trial, by which sinners, who now mix with the righteous like tares among the wheat, shall be sifted out and separated from the assembly whose names are written in the book of life.