What does “I shall not want” mean?

“I shall not want” is the older English wording of Psalm 23:1, in which “want” has its old meaning of “lack.” The World English Bible translates it “I shall lack nothing.” The Hebrew verb is the same one Deuteronomy uses for Israel’s forty years in the wilderness, when God provided manna each day. It is a promise that the shepherd will give the sheep what they need for life.

What do the rod and staff mean in Psalm 23?

A shepherd carried a rod, a club for use against wild animals, and a staff, a long stick for guiding and steadying the flock. The Hebrew word for the staff means “something to lean on.” To the psalmist they are signs that the shepherd is close by, ready to protect and to guide, and so they bring comfort.

What does “my cup runs over” mean?

In Psalm 23:5 God is pictured as a generous host who fills a guest’s cup past the brim. The image means that God gives more than enough. The early church also heard in it the cup of Holy Communion.

The psalm’s heading reads “A Psalm by David,” and Jewish and Christian tradition have long linked it to David, who kept sheep before he became king. The Hebrew heading can also mean “for David” or “belonging to David,” and most scholars think the psalms were written and collected over several centuries, so the author cannot be known for certain.

What Does Psalm 23 Mean? The Lord Is My Shepherd

Q: Why is Psalm 23 read at funerals?

Psalm 23 speaks of walking through “the valley of the shadow of death” without fear, because God is near, and it ends with a home in the LORD’s house forever. Mourners hear in it a promise that the person who died was not alone, and that they are not alone in their grief. It became one of the best-known funeral readings in the English-speaking world during the twentieth century.

Psalm 23 is a prayer of trust that pictures God first as a shepherd who feeds, guides, and protects, and then as a host who prepares a table and welcomes a guest home. At its center, in “the valley of the shadow of death,” the psalmist turns to God and says, “you are with me.” Christians also hear in it Christ the Good Shepherd, and it is read at funerals as a promise of God’s presence through death.

Psalm 23 is a prayer of trust in God, and for many people it is the one passage of Scripture they know by heart. Perhaps you heard it read beside a grave this week, or you are choosing readings for the funeral of someone you love, or you have carried its first line through a long night of your own. The psalm was made for moments like these. It promises that God is a shepherd who stays close to you all the way through the darkest valley, and a host who welcomes you home.

What does Psalm 23 say?

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalm 23:1–3

The psalm’s heading, “A Psalm by David,” links the prayer to Israel’s shepherd king, who was out “keeping the sheep” when Samuel came to anoint him (1 Samuel 16:11). Whoever first prayed it, Psalm 23 comes from a land of hill pastures and dry summers, where a flock lived or died by its shepherd’s care.

What does “The LORD is my shepherd” mean?

Israel’s prophets used the shepherd as a picture of a ruler. Through Ezekiel, God condemns the leaders of Israel as “shepherds of Israel who feed themselves” (Ezekiel 34:2) and then makes a promise: “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep” (Ezekiel 34:15). To say “The LORD is my shepherd” is to trust God as the true king, who rules by feeding, guiding, and protecting the weakest of the flock.

“I shall lack nothing” uses the same Hebrew verb, chaser, that Deuteronomy uses when Israel looks back on its forty years in the wilderness: “the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7). In the desert Israel received manna each morning and the presence of God, and Deuteronomy calls that having lacked nothing. The promise is daily bread from a shepherd who knows what the sheep need.

The “still waters” of verse 2 are, in Hebrew, mei menuchot, “waters of rest.” “He restores my soul” translates nafshi yeshovev, which can also mean “he brings me back,” from the verb the prophets use for returning to God. The shepherd refreshes a tired life and also goes after a sheep that has wandered, like the shepherd in Jesus’ parable who carries the lost sheep home “on his shoulders, rejoicing” (Luke 15:5).

What does “the valley of the shadow of death” mean?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4

The Hebrew word behind “shadow of death,” tsalmavet, has been read in two ways. The ancient Greek and Latin translations heard in it two words, tsel, “shadow,” and mavet, “death.” Many modern scholars take it as a single word meaning “deep darkness,” and several modern translations speak of a valley of darkness. Both readings belong to the psalm. The valley is any place of fear and grief in a human life, and Christians have long heard in it death itself, the darkest valley of all.

Notice what happens to the grammar in this verse. In verses 1–3 the psalmist speaks about God: “He makes me,” “He leads me,” “He restores.” In verse 4, in the darkest place, the psalmist begins to speak to God: “for you are with me.” The prayer that began as a description becomes a conversation at the moment it is most needed. The psalm promises company in the valley and a way through it.

The rod was a club for driving off wild animals, and the staff, mish’enet, is literally “something to lean on.” To a frightened sheep, both meant that the shepherd was close by. For more on how Christians face death, see Life after death.

What do the table, the oil, and the cup mean?

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.

Psalm 23:5–6

In the last two verses the shepherd becomes a host. The psalmist is now an honored guest, fed in safety while enemies look on, with a head anointed with oil as a gracious host would do for a guest (Luke 7:46), and a cup filled past the brim.

The word “follow” in verse 6 is stronger in Hebrew. The verb radaph means “pursue” or “chase,” and it is used elsewhere for armies in pursuit. Goodness and hesed, God’s faithful covenant love, run after the one who prays, all the days of life. “Forever” is literally “for length of days,” which for the first singers of the psalm probably meant a whole life spent near God in the temple. Christians, praying it in the light of Easter, also hear Jesus’ promise: “In my Father’s house are many homes” (John 14:2).

The early church heard the sacraments in these verses. In fourth-century Jerusalem, newly baptized Christians were taught that the table is “that mystical and spiritual Table, which God has prepared for us,” that the oil is the anointing of their foreheads after baptism, and that the cup is the cup of Holy Communion (Mystagogical Catecheses 4.7, traditionally ascribed to Cyril of Jerusalem). Orthodox Christians still pray Psalm 23 as part of their preparation to receive Communion. For more on that table, see Holy Communion.

Is Psalm 23 about Jesus?

Psalm 23 was Israel’s prayer long before Jesus was born, and it remains a beloved prayer in Judaism. Jews sing it at the third meal of the Sabbath and recite it at funerals and memorial services. Christians pray it alongside them, and they also hear in it the voice of Jesus, who said:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:11

The last book of the Bible carries the image beyond death: “the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). Early Christians in Rome carved the Good Shepherd, a young man with a sheep across his shoulders, on the stone coffins of their dead; one such figure, from the late third or early fourth century, was found in the Catacomb of Callixtus.

Why is Psalm 23 read at funerals?

Psalm 23 has not always been the funeral psalm. The Book of Common Prayer of 1662 appointed Psalms 39 and 90 for burials. During the twentieth century Psalm 23 became one of the readings most closely tied to funerals in the English-speaking world, often read at the graveside. The Scottish metrical version of 1650, “The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want,” usually sung to the tune Crimond, was sung at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and again at her state funeral as Queen in 2022.

Mourners turn to the psalm because it speaks of death without explaining it away. It names the valley, and it says that the valley has a far side, with a table and a home. Above all it says “you are with me,” which means that the one you love did not walk into death alone, and that you do not walk through grief alone either. Paul told the Thessalonians that Christians grieve, though not “like the rest, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Psalm 23 puts that hope into words a child can learn and a family can say together at the grave. If you are planning a funeral, the whole psalm takes less than a minute to read, and everyone present can say it together. For more, see Grief and the Christian hope and Reunion with those we love.

How can you pray Psalm 23?

Psalm 23 belongs to ordinary days as well as funerals. You can pray it slowly at night, one line at a time, letting each image become a request: lead me beside still waters, restore my soul, be with me in this valley. For more help, see How to pray.

The church proclaims that the Good Shepherd has gone ahead of his sheep through death itself and has risen on the far side of it. Whatever valley you are walking through tonight, you can say the four words at the center of the psalm, “you are with me” (Psalm 23:4), and trust that goodness and loving kindness are following close behind you, all the way home.