Tehillim · Psalms explained

What does Psalm 23 say?

The song of "I shall not lack"

Psalm 23 opens with six words that our people have carried for three thousand years: ה' רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָר — Hashem roi lo echsar, "Hashem is my shepherd, I shall not lack." It is not a claim that nothing will ever go missing. It is trust that at the deepest level, the One who holds us will not let us fall through.

Then comes the hardest line and the tenderest one together: even when I walk through the valley of the shadow, I fear no evil, for You are with me. The comfort is not that the valley disappears. It is that we do not cross it alone.

Where the tradition places this psalm

The source is Tehilim (Psalms) 23, ascribed to King David. In Jewish practice it lives in two very different moments: it is sung at the Shabbat afternoon table, in the light of a day of rest, and it is said in the house of mourning, in the presence of grief. The same words hold both — the peace of Shabbat and the ache of loss — because both are places where a person needs to know the Shepherd is near.

What to do

Read Psalm 23 slowly, once, out loud if you can. Let the phrase "You are with me" land on whatever valley you are actually walking through this week. If you are sitting with someone in mourning, this is the psalm the tradition puts in your hands — you do not need your own words; David already wrote them.

Source: Tehilim (Psalms) 23.