Psalm 23
Psalm 23: The Lord Is My Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd: the psalm most people half know, through the dark valley, to the table, and home at last.
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” is the best-known of the psalms, a song of total trust in God as shepherd and host. The Church prays it on Good Shepherd Sunday and at funerals, and the Fathers read its still waters, oil and table as figures of the sacraments.
Pray it now
Psalm 23 in full
A Psalm by David.
1The LORD is my shepherd;I shall lack nothing.2He makes me lie down in green pastures.He leads me beside still waters.3He restores my soul.He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.4Even 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.5You prepare a table before mein the presence of my enemies.You anoint my head with oil.My cup runs over.6Surely 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 · WEBC
Psalm 22 (23) · Douay-Rheims +
1A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.2He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:3He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake.4For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.5Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!6And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.
“For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me.”
Go deeper
What Psalm 23 Means
Psalm 23 — numbered Psalm 22 in the Vulgate and Douay-Rheims — is the best-loved of all the psalms, a song of complete trust in God as shepherd and host. Its six short verses move through two images. First God is the shepherd who leads his sheep to rest, water, and safe paths, and who walks with them even through the valley of the shadow of death. Then, from verse 5, God becomes the host who spreads a table, anoints the guest’s head with oil, and fills the cup to overflowing.
The Fathers of the Church heard the sacraments in these images. Saint Augustine and the early catechists read the “still waters” as the waters of Baptism, the oil poured on the head as the chrism of Confirmation, and the table set “in the presence of my enemies” as the Eucharist — the banquet Christ gives his people in the very midst of a hostile world. The Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10) is the one speaking through David’s words. Read this way, Psalm 23 is not merely a comforting poem but a map of the Christian life: led by Christ through baptismal water, sealed and strengthened, fed at his altar, and brought home at last to “dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” It is prayed at gravesides precisely because it looks the valley of death in the face and answers it with a table already prepared on the far side.
Liturgical Use in the Catholic Church
Psalm 23 is one of the most frequently prayed psalms in the Catholic liturgy. It is the appointed responsorial psalm on the Fourth Sunday of Easter — Good Shepherd Sunday — and recurs across the Sundays and weekdays of the year. Because it faces death with confidence in God’s presence, it is among the psalms most often chosen for the Funeral Mass and the Order of Christian Funerals, and for prayers at the bedside of the dying. Its shepherd-and-banquet imagery has also made it a natural companion to Eucharistic devotion, and it appears in the Liturgy of the Hours, where the Church prays the whole psalter in its rhythm of trust.
Praying Psalm 23 — A Simple Practice
Psalm 23 is short enough to memorise and carry with you, which is the best way to pray it. Say it slowly, letting each image settle: the green pasture where you are made to lie down and rest, the still water, the table prepared even while enemies look on. When fear or grief presses, pray verse 4 as a direct address to God — “for you are with me” — and let the psalm move you from talking about God to talking to him. It is a fitting prayer at a graveside, at a sickbed, or before the Blessed Sacrament, where the “table” of the psalm becomes the altar. End by resting on its last line, and ask for the grace one day to “dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
Questions people ask
Is Psalm 23 the same as Psalm 22?
Yes. Modern Bibles and the Hebrew number it Psalm 23, while the Vulgate and Douay-Rheims call it Psalm 22, following the Greek Septuagint’s numbering. It is the same psalm — “The Lord is my shepherd,” or in the Douay “The Lord ruleth me.” (This is different from the Psalm 22 that begins “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” which the Vulgate numbers 21.)
Why is Psalm 23 read at funerals?
Because it faces death without flinching and answers it with trust: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” It promises God’s abiding presence and ends with the hope of dwelling in his house forever, which is exactly the hope the Church proclaims over her dead.
What does “the valley of the shadow of death” mean?
It is a picture of the darkest, most dangerous stretch of the shepherd’s path — a deep ravine where predators lurk and the way is unclear. Spiritually it stands for any passage through fear, suffering, or death itself. The point of the verse is not the darkness but the companion: the sheep is not alone, for the shepherd walks through it too.
What is the “table in the presence of my enemies”?
It is the image of God as a generous host who seats and feeds his guest even while enemies watch, unable to interfere. The Fathers of the Church read this table as the Eucharist — the feast Christ spreads for his people in the midst of a hostile world — anointing the guest with oil and filling the cup to overflowing.
Who wrote Psalm 23?
The psalm is traditionally attributed to King David, whose superscription heads it (“A Psalm by David”; in the Douay, “A psalm for David”). David had been a shepherd himself before he was king, which is often heard in the tenderness and realism of its shepherd imagery.
