A Psalm by David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.
1 A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
2 He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:
3 He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake.
4 For 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.
5 Thou 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!
6 And 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.
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.”