The Psalm — King James Version
1. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Who wrote it
The superscription in the KJV attributes the Psalm to David — "A Psalm of David." David was himself a shepherd before he was a king (1 Samuel 16:11, 17:34-35), and the imagery of the Psalm is the imagery of a Judean shepherd who has walked with his flock through green pastures, still waters, and dark valleys. Christian and Jewish tradition alike hold David as the author; the Psalm is written from the perspective of one who has personally known both the vulnerability of the sheep and the responsibility of the shepherd. Traditional dating places its composition during David's reign, roughly 1010–970 BC; earlier compositions from his shepherd years are possible but not attested.
Historical and geographical context
The pastures of David's boyhood lay around Bethlehem in the Judean hill country. Green pastures were seasonal; still waters (as opposed to rushing torrents that spook sheep) required careful searching in the dry Judean landscape. The valley of the shadow of death is likely a real ravine of the Judean wilderness — steep, dark, and full of hazards to a passing flock. The rod (a short club, for defence against predators) and the staff (a longer crook, for guiding sheep) are the two tools every shepherd carried. The Psalm is written from within this geography, not as an abstract image.
The two halves
Verses 1–4 speak of the LORD as shepherd, in the third person. Verses 4–6 shift into the second person — "thou art with me," "thou preparest a table." The turning point is the valley. Before the valley, the psalmist speaks about God. In the valley, he speaks to God. The Psalm teaches that suffering does not diminish trust — it deepens it into address.
Christ as the Good Shepherd
In John 10:11 (KJV), Christ says, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." The Church has read Psalm 23 as a Psalm about Christ from its earliest centuries. Where the psalmist walks through the valley of the shadow of death, Christ Himself walks through the valley — and out the other side. Where the psalmist is anointed with oil, Christ is the Anointed One (that is what "Messiah" and "Christ" mean). Where the psalmist dwells in the house of the LORD for ever, Christ prepares that house Himself (John 14:2).
In Christian tradition
Psalm 23 is one of the most-used psalms in Christian liturgy. In the Latin West it appears in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary and in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer's Order for the Burial of the Dead (1549 and every subsequent revision). In the Eastern churches it is prayed at vespers and at the burial service. Its position at funerals in almost every Christian tradition is not sentimental; the Church has always read verse 4 — "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil" — as the psalm's answer to death, and stood beside its own dead with these words on its lips.
The Church Fathers read the psalm Christologically from the earliest centuries. Augustine's Enarrationes in Psalmos (on Psalm 22 in the Septuagint numbering) treats it as the Psalm of the Church walking after Christ the Shepherd. Ambrose, Chrysostom, and Cassiodorus all read verse 5 ("Thou preparest a table before me") as a Eucharistic image. The medieval Latin commentators expanded this to a fourfold reading — literal (David's own life), allegorical (the Church), tropological (the individual soul), anagogical (heaven).
The psalm's musical life in Christian tradition is exceptional. The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650 — "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want" — has been sung by Presbyterian and Reformed households for nearly four centuries. Isaac Watts paraphrased it in 1719 ("My Shepherd will supply my need"). Bach set it in cantata BWV 112 ("Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt"). Schubert set it as D. 706 for female voices in 1820. In the twentieth century Howard Goodall's setting was heard weekly on British television as the theme of The Vicar of Dibley, carrying the psalm into millions of homes that no longer sang it in church.
Iconography and setting
The Good Shepherd is the oldest identifiable image of Christ in Christian art. The earliest known depictions — young beardless Christ carrying a lamb on his shoulders — appear in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome, dated c. AD 200-250, and in the Catacomb of Callixtus. The image draws on both Psalm 23 and John 10:11 ("I am the good shepherd") and reads the two passages as one testimony. In the fourth century the image continues on early Christian sarcophagi, particularly the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (AD 359). Later Christian art returned to the shepherd image in every century — Rembrandt, William Holman Hunt, and countless illuminated psalters.
How the household prays it
Psalm 23 is the household's psalm of small darknesses. When a child is afraid at bedtime, when a family is walking through a hospital corridor, when a household member has lost work — the six verses are read slowly, one at a time, out loud. There is no ceremony. The Psalm knows its own way through fear. The Chapel keeps a small card with the KJV text above the bench.
Household application
In your own life, name three green pastures the LORD has led you to — three places of rest that were not your own doing.
Then name one valley you are walking through now. Read verse 4 out loud beside the person nearest to you.
Related Scripture
- Isaiah 40:11 (KJV) "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd..."
- Ezekiel 34:11-16 (KJV) "I will seek that which was lost..." — the LORD promises to shepherd His people Himself.
- John 10:11 (KJV) "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
- Hebrews 13:20 (KJV) "...that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant."
- 1 Peter 2:25 (KJV) "...but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."
- Revelation 7:17 (KJV) "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them..." — the Shepherd who is also the Lamb.
Related rooms
- PRAY · The Chapel — where the household prays Psalm 23 out loud.
- A Library of Prayers — the household prayer book.
- In Memoriam — those we have said Psalm 23 for.
- The Hymnal — for the metrical setting.
Elsewhere in the Atlas
- Psalm 46 — the companion refuge psalm, "Be still, and know that I am God."
- Psalm 119 — the longest chapter, on the word that shepherds every step.
- Bethlehem — the town of David the shepherd.
- Jerusalem — the city where the shepherd king reigned.
- Return to the atrium — the Atlas's main room.