Tehilim 23: The LORD is my shepherd

תְּהִלִּים כ״ג · מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד

Six verses, the best known in the whole book, and the shortest route into biblical Hebrew: almost every word is a noun with a possessive suffix or a verb with an object suffix, which is the single grammatical pattern the psalms live on. Said at the third Shabbat meal, at funerals, and at the table before kiddush in many homes. The imagery turns halfway through, from a shepherd in the field to a host at a table, and the pronoun turns with it.

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מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד
יְהֹוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָר

מִזְמוֹר

miz-MOR

a psalm

לְדָוִד

le-da-VID

of David

A psalm of David.

יְהֹוָה

a-do-NAY

the LORD

רֹעִי

ro-I

my shepherd

לֹא

not

אֶחְסָר

ech-SAR

I shall lack

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

The claim is made before anything is asked for: because there is a shepherd, there is no lack. The rest of the psalm is that sentence unfolded.

בִּנְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵנִי
עַל מֵי מְנֻחוֹת יְנַהֲלֵנִי

בִּנְאוֹת

bin-OT

in pastures of

דֶּשֶׁא

de-SHE

fresh grass

יַרְבִּיצֵנִי

yar-bi-tze-NI

He makes me lie down

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

עַל

beside

מֵי

mei

waters of

מְנֻחוֹת

me-nu-CHOT

rest

יְנַהֲלֵנִי

ye-na-ha-le-NI

He leads me

He leads me beside still waters.

Two verbs of care, both with the object suffix -ni, me. The sheep is not driven; it is made to rest, and water it could not reach on its own is brought within reach.

נַפְשִׁי יְשׁוֹבֵב
יַנְחֵנִי בְמַעְגְּלֵי צֶדֶק לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ

נַפְשִׁי

naf-SHI

my soul

יְשׁוֹבֵב

ye-sho-VEV

He restores

He restores my soul;

יַנְחֵנִי

yan-che-NI

He guides me

בְמַעְגְּלֵי

ve-ma-GLEI

in the tracks of

צֶדֶק

TZE-dek

righteousness

לְמַעַן

le-ma-AN

for the sake of

שְׁמוֹ

shmo

His name

He guides me in straight paths for His name's sake.

The turn inward. What was pasture and water becomes soul and path, and the reason given is not the sheep's merit but the shepherd's own name.

גַּם כִּי אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת
לֹא אִירָא רָע
כִּי אַתָּה עִמָּדִי
שִׁבְטְךָ וּמִשְׁעַנְתֶּךָ הֵמָּה יְנַחֲמֻנִי

גַּם

gam

even

כִּי

when

אֵלֵךְ

e-LECH

I walk

בְּגֵיא

bgei

in a valley of

צַלְמָוֶת

tzal-MA-vet

deepest shadow

Even when I walk through a valley of deepest shadow,

לֹא

אִירָא

i-RA

I will fear

רָע

evil

I will fear no evil,

כִּי

for

אַתָּה

a-TA

You

עִמָּדִי

i-ma-DI

are with me

for You are with me;

שִׁבְטְךָ

shiv-te-CHA

Your rod

וּמִשְׁעַנְתֶּךָ

u-mish-an-te-CHA

and Your staff

הֵמָּה

he-MA

they

יְנַחֲמֻנִי

ye-na-cha-mu-NI

comfort me

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The centre of the psalm, and the exact point where the speaker stops saying He and starts saying You. Fear is answered by presence, not by the removal of the valley.

תַּעֲרֹךְ לְפָנַי שֻׁלְחָן נֶגֶד צֹרְרָי
דִּשַּׁנְתָּ בַשֶּׁמֶן רֹאשִׁי
כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה

תַּעֲרֹךְ

ta-a-ROCH

You set

לְפָנַי

le-fa-NAI

before me

שֻׁלְחָן

shul-CHAN

a table

נֶגֶד

NE-ged

in front of

צֹרְרָי

tzor-RAI

my foes

You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

דִּשַּׁנְתָּ

di-shan-TA

You have anointed

בַשֶּׁמֶן

va-SHE-men

with the oil

רֹאשִׁי

ro-SHI

my head

You have anointed my head with oil;

כּוֹסִי

ko-SI

my cup

רְוָיָה

re-va-YA

is full to overflowing

my cup overflows.

The shepherd becomes a host. The enemies are not defeated, only made to watch: safety here is hospitality held in plain view of the threat.

אַךְ טוֹב וָחֶסֶד יִרְדְּפוּנִי כׇּל יְמֵי חַיָּי
וְשַׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית יְהֹוָה לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים

אַךְ

ach

surely

טוֹב

tov

goodness

וָחֶסֶד

va-CHE-sed

and kindness

יִרְדְּפוּנִי

yir-de-fu-NI

shall pursue me

כׇּל

kol

all

יְמֵי

ye-MEI

the days of

חַיָּי

cha-YAI

my life

Surely goodness and kindness shall pursue me all the days of my life,

וְשַׁבְתִּי

ve-shav-TI

and I shall dwell

בְּבֵית

be-VEIT

in the house of

יְהֹוָה

a-do-NAY

the LORD

לְאֹרֶךְ

le-o-RECH

for length of

יָמִים

ya-MIM

days

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for length of days.

The verb usually belongs to enemies: it is the word for chasing someone down. Here what pursues is goodness, and the chase ends at a house rather than a grave.

♦ PARDES analysis: פרדס

The four levels of Jewish reading of the sacred text: פשט Peshat (literal meaning), רמז Remez (symbolic allusion), דרש Drash (midrashic interpretation), סוד Sod (mystical meaning). The word פרדס means "orchard", each level is a fruit.

פשט · Peshat: literal meaning

A shepherd's day, then a host's evening. Verses 1-4 are pasture, water, path and valley; verses 5-6 are a table, oil and a house. The hinge is אַתָּה (a-ta, v.4): up to that point God is spoken about, from there God is spoken to, and the change of person is the psalm's real argument. Note that the valley is walked through, not avoided, and that the enemies of verse 5 are still present at the meal. Nothing is removed; something is added.

רמז · Remez: allusion

The word rendered "deepest shadow", צַלְמָוֶת (tzal-ma-vet, v.4), is read by the Masoretes as a compound of shadow and death, and older translations give "the valley of the shadow of death". Modern philology usually reads it as a single noun meaning deep darkness. Both readings survive in synagogue use, which is why the verse is said at a funeral and also by a traveller at night. The rod and the staff of שִׁבְטְךָ (shiv-te-cha, v.4) are a shepherd's two tools: one to strike off predators, one to lean on and to steer with.

דרש · Drash: midrashic reading

The rabbis noticed that יִרְדְּפוּנִי (yir-de-fu-ni, v.6) uses the verb of pursuit, the same verb an enemy would take, and read it as a deliberate inversion: what chased David through the book of Samuel is replaced here by goodness and covenant kindness doing the chasing. Midrash Tehillim ties the table of verse 5 to the wilderness generation, fed in the open while surrounded, and reads the psalm as Israel's biography compressed into six verses rather than one man's.

סוד · Sod: mystical reading

In the kabbalistic reading the two halves map onto two modes of divine relation: the shepherd who leads from outside and above, and the host who is present at the same table. The move from third person to second is then not a literary effect but a description of drawing near, and the overflowing cup of verse 5 is the standard image for a measure that receives more than it can hold and passes the surplus on.