Reading Psalm 23:1–3

A first line with no verb

This lesson gathers what the course has taught and reads the best-loved psalm with it. There are no new labels. The aim is to see how the text is built with tools you already have. The BSB renders the first verse like this.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1

The first line has no verb. יְהוָה (read aloud as Adonai, as the divine-name lesson explained) is "the LORD" and רֹעִי, "ro'i", is "my shepherd". Hebrew does not need a word for "is": placing two words side by side makes the sentence, and English adds "is" for us. The word רֹעִי is a participle, "one who tends", and the ending ־ִי is the suffix "my". A shepherd is both a job title and a person defined by what he does.

The second line has a true verb. אֶחְסָר, "echsar", is a Qal imperfect, first person singular; the א at the front is the prefix for "I". With the negative לֹא it means "I will not lack". The imperfect describes something not yet complete, so a promise stretching ahead ("I shall not want") suits it well.

Pastures and quiet waters

Verse 2 is a clear case of the parallelism you met in the poetry lesson: one picture painted twice, in different words.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.

Psalm 23:2

Pair the lines off. "Pastures" matches "waters", "makes me lie down" matches "leads me", and both lines speak of a place. Look at the places first. בִּנְאוֹת, "binot", is "in pastures of", and דֶּשֶׁא, "deshe", is "grass". The first word is construct and the second absolute, so we have "pastures of grass". The second line has the same structure: מֵי, "mei", "waters of", and מְנֻחוֹת, "menuchot", "rests", together "waters of rest". דֶּשֶׁא is fresh young grass, and the English "green" is the translators' way of bringing that out; the Hebrew has no separate adjective.

Both verbs end in the object suffix -נִי, "me". יַרְבִּיצֵנִי, "yarbitzeni", is a Hiphil imperfect, third person masculine singular, plus "me": "he makes me lie down". Hiphil often means "cause to", which fits: someone else gets the sheep to rest. יְנַהֲלֵנִי, "yenahaleni", is a Piel imperfect, third person masculine singular, plus "me": "he leads me". Its middle letter ה cannot take the doubling dot, so the Piel's doubling is invisible here. Many verbs simply use Piel as their ordinary stem, so do not hunt for a special nuance here; learn it as "lead".

Soul, paths and name

On to verse 3.

He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

Psalm 23:3

נַפְשִׁי, "nafshi", is "my soul". The word נֶפֶשׁ, "nefesh", appears 246 times under this one lexicon entry, and "soul" is only one way to render it. It often means the living, breathing person, "my life" or even simply "me". So "he restores my soul" can be heard as "he brings me back to life". The verb יְשׁוֹבֵב, "yeshovev", is a Piel imperfect, third person masculine singular, with a sense of bringing back or restoring. Its root is the hollow verb שׁוּב, "return"; the panel labels this shape Piel, and some grammars call it a Polel.

The next line uses יַנְחֵנִי, "yancheni", a Hiphil imperfect with "me": "he guides me". Where he guides is בְמַעְגְּלֵי, "vema'gelei", צֶדֶק, "tzedek": another construct chain, "in tracks of righteousness". The last phrase begins with לְמַעַן, "lema'an", "for the sake of". The panel tags it "particle, conditional", which is only the database's classification, so read it by its meaning. The lexicon entry מַעַן is "because" and occurs 272 times; with the לְ in front it becomes "for the sake of". Then comes שְׁמוֹ, "shemo", "his name", from שֵׁם, "shem", which occurs 864 times. In the Bible a name carries a person's character and reputation, so the shepherd leads for the sake of who he is, not because the sheep have earned it.

Summary

"I" is the subject of only one verb in these verses, the confession "I will not lack". Every other verb is "he", and I appear only as the endings ־ִי "my" and -נִי "me". The grammar itself shows who acts and who is cared for. You do not need to memorise every form here. Following the stem and suffix labels in the 원어 panel as you read is practice enough.

Words in this lesson

• שֵׁםshemname864 times in the OT
• מַ֫עַןmaanbecause272 times in the OT
• נֶ֫פֶשׁnepheshsoul246 times in the OT

Practice