Variety: Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
—Psalm 23:1–3 (NRSV)

While Psalm 23 is beloved for its message of consolation, Diana Butler Bass recounts how she was challenged to read it through the eyes of those who face poverty, food insecurity, injustice, and marginalization.  

Psalm 23 a political tract?

I confess: I’ve never considered that possibility. But I took up … [the] challenge to read the psalm politically, with empathy toward a non-Western view. [1] The psalm’s central pivot is the line about paths and “for God’s sake.” The lines before lead up to that couplet—and the lines after flow from it….

In The Book of Common Prayer (the version I’ve read in worship and private prayer for forty years), the pivot reads: He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his name’s sake. In the King James version … that phrase reads: He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

I’ve heard scores of sermons about the “right pathways,” meaning that God guides us when lost and leads us on life’s journey. We can’t ultimately go astray. That’s pretty comforting….

And, of course, that is true. But it isn’t all.

Read Robert Alter’s version—a modern translation noted by scholars for its precision—and the pivot sentence contrasts sharply: My life He brings back. He leads me on pathways of justice for His name’s sake.”

In the scriptures, right and righteousness are interchangeable with justice. But in North America? Well, not so much…. Very few middle-class church people would ever think of substituting justice for either word. Alter’s version, however, thunders justice as the pivotal word in the psalm.

Alter’s translation of Psalm 23:1–3 reads:

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
In grass meadows
He makes me lie down,
by quiet waters guides me.
My life He brings back.
He leads me on pathways of justice
for His name’s sake. [2]

Butler Bass emphasizes the call to share our restored lives with others for the sake of justice:

The psalmist proclaims, This is the reality of the Lord’s government, the beloved community, over and against all oppression and exploitation. Through it, we humans are restored to what was always intended: My life He brings back; Our lives He brings back.

The renewed life, however, does not remain content in grass meadows or by quiet waters…. Instead, those who are citizens of this sacred realm are called forth on pathways of justice to make God’s name—God’s sabbath reign—known throughout the world.