Psalm 23:1-2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 23:1-6

From three very comfortable premises David, in this psalm, draws three very comfortable conclusions, and teaches us to do so too. We are saved by hope, and that hope will not make us ashamed, because it is well grounded. It is the duty of Christians to encourage themselves in the Lord their God; and we are here directed to take that encouragement both from the relation wherein he stands to us and from the experience we have had of his goodness according to that relation. I. From God's being... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 23:1

The Lord is my shepherd ,.... This is to be understood not of Jehovah the Father, and of his feeding the people of Israel in the wilderness, as the Targum paraphrases it, though the character of a shepherd is sometimes given to him, Psalm 77:20 ; but of Jehovah the Son, to whom it is most frequently ascribed, Genesis 49:24 . This office he was called and appointed to by his Father, and which through his condescending grace he undertook to execute, and for which he is abundantly... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 23:2

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ,.... Or "pastures of tender grass" F20 דשא "tenerae herbae", Piscator, Amama, Gejerus, Michaelis; "in folds of budding grass", Ainsworth. ; this is one part of the shepherd's work, and which is performed by Christ, Ezekiel 34:14 ; by these "green pastures" may be meant the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises, where there is delicious feeding; likewise the fulness of grace in Christ, from whence grace for grace is received; also... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 23:1

The Lord is my shepherd - There are two allegories in this Psalm which are admirably well adapted to the purpose for which they are produced, and supported both with art and elegance. The first is that of a shepherd; the second, that of a great feast, set out by a host the most kind and the most liberal. As a flock, they have the most excellent pasture; as guests, they have the most nutritive and abundant fare. God condescends to call himself the Shepherd of his people, and his followers are... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 23:2

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures - דשא בנאות binoth deshe , not green pastures, but cottages of turf or sods, such as the shepherds had in open champaign countries; places in which themselves could repose safely; and pens thus constructed where the flock might be safe all the night. They were enclosures, and enclosures where they had grass or provender to eat. Beside the still waters - Deep waters, that the strongest heat could not exhale; not by a rippling current, which... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 23:1

Verse 1 1.Jehovah is my shepherd. Although God, by his benefits, gently allures us to himself, as it were by a taste of his fatherly sweetness, yet there is nothing into which we more easily fall than into a forgetfulness of him, when we are in the enjoyment of peace and comfort. Yea, prosperity not only so intoxicates many, as to carry them beyond all bounds in their mirth, but it also engenders insolence, which makes them proudly rise up and break forth against God. Accordingly, there is... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 23:2

Verse 2 2.He maketh me to lie down in pastures of grass. With respect to the words, it is in the Hebrew, pastures, orfields of grass, for grassy and rich grounds. Some, instead of translating the word נאות,neoth, which we have rendered pastures, render it shepherds’ cots or lodges. If this translation is considered preferable, the meaning of the Psalmist will be, that sheep-cots were prepared in rich pasture grounds, under which he might be protected from the heat of the sun. If even in cold... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 23:1

The Lord is my Shepherd . This metaphor, so frequent in the later Scriptures ( Isaiah 40:11 ; Isaiah 49:9 , Isaiah 49:10 ; Jeremiah 31:10 ; Ezekiel 34:6-19 ; John 10:11-19 , John 10:26-28 ; Hebrews 13:20 ; 1 Peter 2:25 ; 1 Peter 5:4 ; Revelation 7:17 ), is perhaps implied in Genesis 48:15 , but first appears, plainly and openly, in the Davidical psalms (see, besides the present passage, Psalms 74:1 ; Psalms 77:20 ; Psalms 78:53 ; Psalms 79:1-13 :14; Psalms... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 23:1

Human experience and Divine inspiration. "The Lord is my Shepherd." The few verses which compose this psalm would leave but a small blank on the page, if blotted out; but suppose all translations which have been made of them into all languages, all references to them in literature, all remembrance of them in human hearts, could be effaced, who can measure the blank, the void, the loss? To have written this short psalm is one of the highest honours ever put upon man. What libraries have... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 23:1-4

The Shepherd of Israel. To a countryman of David, an ancient Israelite, the shepherd with his flock was no poetical figure, but a most familiar object. From Carmel to Gilead, from Hermon to the pastures of the wilderness of Paran, the green hills of Canaan were covered with flocks. On these same hills and plains the forefathers of the nation—Abraham, Isaac, Israel—had pitched their camps and fed their flocks, when as yet they could not call a rood of land their own. With us the shepherd's... read more

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