IBefore you read
Some texts are learned by heart before they are understood. In the Protestant churches of Vietnam, Psalm 23 is one of them. Children learn it in Sunday school, adults read it again in their early morning devotions, and beside the coffin of the departed it is often the first passage of Scripture read aloud. Six verses, under a minute when read slowly, opening with a line that many believers can recite without looking at the book: Đức Giê-hô-va là Đấng chăn giữ tôi: tôi sẽ chẳng thiếu thốn gì. In the King James Version: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Thi Thiên is the name the 1926 Vietnamese Bible gives to the longest book of poetry in the Old Testament, the Book of Psalms, with one hundred and fifty psalms. Vietnamese Catholics call the book Thánh Vịnh, and Jews call it Tehillim תְּהִלִּים, meaning praises. Psalm 23 sits in the first part of the book, the part commentators usually call Book One, from Psalm 1 to Psalm 41, which closes with a blessing at the end of Psalm 41.
The poem tells no story, lays down no law and asks for nothing. It simply speaks of a person being led: through pastures, beside water, along the right path, through a dark valley, and then to a seat at a banquet table and a home to stay in. That very simplicity has carried the poem a long way, from the shepherd's tent in the hills of ancient Judah to the morning devotions of Vietnamese believers today.
This page presents the full Hebrew text with vowel points, a Latin transliteration, the 1926 Vietnamese Bible that Vietnamese Protestants know by heart, and the King James Version of 1611 in English. After that come notes on each difficult word, the places where the 1926 version and the King James Version translate differently from the original, and the ways believers read this psalm in the life of faith. The library explains and reports, does not preach, and leaves you to read and weigh it for yourself.
The Hebrew heading has only two words, מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד, mizmor leDavid. The word mizmor denotes a poem sung to instrumental accompaniment. The prefix le before David's name can be read as of David, for David, or belonging to the collection named after David, and scholars have not agreed on which reading to adopt. The 1926 version translates it as Thơ Đa-vít làm, a poem David made, following the first reading, which is the reading of tradition.
Jewish and Christian tradition both attribute this psalm to King David, who according to 1 Samuel chapter 16 tended his father's sheep as a boy. Historians hold that the psalm headings were given when the book was edited, so the heading is not enough to date the psalm. Some place it in the First Temple period because the last verse mentions the house of the LORD, others place it later, and no evidence has yet settled the debate.
The image of the king as shepherd was not unique to Israel. In ancient Mesopotamia, kings commonly called themselves the shepherds of their people, and the prologue to the Code of Hammurabi uses exactly that title. In the Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel chapter 34 also uses the image of the shepherd to speak of those who hold power. Psalm 23 places this familiar image in a more personal setting: not a king shepherding a people, but the LORD shepherding one person, and that person speaks in the word I.
On the translations: the Greek Septuagint joins Psalms 9 and 10 of the Hebrew text into one, so from that point on the numbering drops by one. This is why this psalm is numbered 22 in the Greek, in the Latin Vulgate and in the Catholic Bibles that follow that numbering. In Judaism, many communities sing this psalm at the third meal of the Sabbath, and it is read at funerals, while Catholic Bibles in Vietnamese usually list it as Psalm 22. The Vietnamese version used on this page is the Traditional Version of 1926, which according to Thư viện Tin Lành (the Protestant Library) was completed in 1924, first printed in 1925 in Shanghai and printed in Hanoi in 1926.
IIThe full text in six verses
| Verse | Original Hebrew | Transliteration | King James Version | Vietnamese Bible, Traditional Version of 1926 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד | Mizmor leDavid. | A Psalm of David. | Thơ Đa-vít làm. |
| 2 | יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָר׃ | Adonai ro'i, lo echsar. | The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. | Đức Giê-hô-va là Đấng chăn giữ tôi: tôi sẽ chẳng thiếu thốn gì. |
| 3 | בִּנְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵנִי עַל־מֵי מְנֻחוֹת יְנַהֲלֵנִי׃ | Bin'ot deshe yarbitseni, al mei menuchot yenahaleni. | He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. | Ngài khiến tôi an nghỉ nơi đồng cỏ xanh tươi, Dẫn tôi đến mé nước bình tịnh. |
| 4 | נַפְשִׁי יְשׁוֹבֵב יַנְחֵנִי בְמַעְגְּלֵי־צֶדֶק לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ׃ | Nafshi yeshovev, yancheni vema'gelei tsedek lema'an shemo. | He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. | Ngài bổ lại linh hồn tôi, Dẫn tôi vào các lối công bình, vì cớ danh Ngài. |
| 5 | גַּם כִּי־אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת לֹא־אִירָא רָע | Gam ki elech begei tsalmavet, lo ira ra', | Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: | Dầu khi tôi đi trong trũng bóng chết, Tôi sẽ chẳng sợ tai họa nào, |
| 6 | כִּי־אַתָּה עִמָּדִי שִׁבְטְךָ וּמִשְׁעַנְתֶּךָ הֵמָּה יְנַחֲמֻנִי׃ | ki attah immadi, shivtecha umish'antecha hemmah yenachamuni. | for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. | vì Chúa ở cùng tôi: Cây trượng và cây gậy của Chúa an ủi tôi. |
| 7 | תַּעֲרֹךְ לְפָנַי שֻׁלְחָן נֶגֶד צֹרְרָי | Ta'aroch lefanai shulchan neged tsorerai, | Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: | Chúa dọn bàn cho tôi Trước mặt kẻ thù nghịch tôi, |
| 8 | דִּשַּׁנְתָּ בַשֶּׁמֶן רֹאשִׁי כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה׃ | dishanta vashemen roshi, kosi revayah. | thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. | Chúa xức dầu cho đầu tôi, Chén tôi đầy tràn. |
| 9 | אַךְ טוֹב וָחֶסֶד יִרְדְּפוּנִי כָּל־יְמֵי חַיָּי | Ach tov vachesed yirdefuni kol yemei chayyai, | Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: | Quả thật, trọn đời tôi Phước hạnh và sự thương xót sẽ theo tôi, |
| 10 | וְשַׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית־יְהוָה לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים׃ | veshavti beveit Adonai le'orech yamim. | and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. | Tôi sẽ ở trong nhà Đức Giê-hô-va Cho đến lâu dài. |
IIIVerse by verse commentary
The section below takes ten key Hebrew phrases and explains them closely, in the order they appear in the psalm. Each entry covers three things: what the original word means literally, how the 1926 version translates it, and where commentators understand it differently. Some of the wording of the 1926 version has become dated for readers today, and at those points the literal meaning is given within the entry.
The opening line has only four Hebrew words. The first is the personal Name of God in the Hebrew Bible, the four consonants YHWH. Jews do not pronounce this Name but read Adonai in its place, meaning my Lord. The 1926 version writes Đức Giê-hô-va, following the pronunciation Jehovah, which arose when Europeans combined those four consonants with the vowel points of the word Adonai. The King James Version prints the word LORD in capital letters to mark the place.
The word רֹעִי, ro'i, is the participle of the verb ra'ah, to shepherd, to graze, with the suffix my. Its literal meaning is the one who shepherds me. The 1926 version translates it as Đấng chăn giữ tôi, the One who tends and keeps me, adding the word Đấng as a mark of reverence, and choosing chăn giữ, to tend and guard, rather than simply chăn, to tend, so as to stress both the guarding and the feeding. This is a well chosen word, because a shepherd in the hills of ancient Judah did both: finding grass and protecting the flock from wild animals.
The second half, לֹא אֶחְסָר, lo echsar, means I shall not lack. The Hebrew verb is in the imperfect, which can be translated as I do not lack or I shall not lack. The 1926 version translates it as tôi sẽ chẳng thiếu thốn gì, I shall lack nothing, adding the word gì, anything, to round out the Vietnamese sentence. Commentators note that this line speaks of the sufficiency of the sheep in the shepherd's care, and does not list the things the sheep would like to have.
The word נְאוֹת, ne'ot, denotes grazing grounds, and דֶּשֶׁא, deshe, is young, freshly sprouted grass. In dry hill country, fresh grass is found only in certain seasons and certain places, so finding a pasture of fresh grass is already the shepherd's achievement. The 1926 version translates it as đồng cỏ xanh tươi, fresh green pastures, and the King James Version as green pastures, both close to the meaning.
The verb יַרְבִּיצֵנִי, yarbitseni, literally means makes me lie down, a word used of animals lying down to rest. The 1926 version translates it as khiến tôi an nghỉ, makes me rest. Shepherds of old and many later commentators noted that sheep lie down only when they are full and no longer afraid, so this word holds both ideas: enough to eat and peace of mind.
The phrase מֵי מְנֻחוֹת, mei menuchot, literally means waters of resting places. The word menuchah denotes rest, a place to stop. There are two readings: still water, not rushing, so that the sheep can drink, or water at a resting place along the way. The 1926 version translates it as mé nước bình tịnh, the edge of calm water, leaning toward the first reading, as does the King James Version with still waters. The word mé in older Vietnamese means a bank or edge.
This is one of the hardest places in the psalm. The Hebrew word נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, does not coincide with the word soul in its later philosophical sense. Its root meaning is breath, throat, life, and more broadly the whole living person. The 1926 version translates it as linh hồn tôi, my soul, and the King James Version as my soul, both following the traditional rendering.
The verb יְשׁוֹבֵב, yeshovev, comes from the root shuv, to turn back, to return. Its literal meaning is makes to return. This allows two readings. The first reads the line as revives me, giving life back to an exhausted person, just as the grass and water of the previous verse restore the strength of the flock. The second hears in the word shuv the sense of bringing me back, like a shepherd going after a lost sheep, and some Christian commentators link that reading with repentance.
The 1926 version translates it as bổ lại, an older Vietnamese word meaning to nourish again, to make strong again, leaning toward the first reading. A reader today can understand the line roughly as He revives me.
The word מַעְגָּל, ma'gal, denotes a track, a wheel rut, a path already trodden. The word צֶדֶק, tsedek, is righteousness, rightness. The phrase can be understood on two levels. The level closest to the image is the right paths, the paths that lead where one needs to go, without straying over a cliff. The moral level is the paths of righteousness, an upright way of life. Many commentators hold that the poem deliberately lets both levels sound together.
The 1926 version translates it as các lối công bình, the paths of công bình. The word công bình here is an older form of công bằng, fairness, but in the language of the Vietnamese Protestant churches it carries a broader meaning, righteousness before God, not merely dividing shares equally.
The last part, לְמַעַן שְׁמוֹ, lema'an shemo, is vì cớ danh Ngài, for his name's sake. In Hebrew, a name is not just a label but the very person and reputation of the one who bears it. The shepherd leads the flock along the right path because that is the shepherd's work and for the shepherd's honour, not because the sheep have done anything to deserve being led.
This is the best known phrase in the psalm. The word גֵּיא, gei, is a valley, a ravine, and the 1926 version translates it with the word trũng, a Vietnamese word for low, sunken ground between two higher sides.
The word צַלְמָוֶת, tsalmavet, was pointed by the Masoretes as a compound of tsel, shadow, and mavet, death. Following that reading, the Greek Septuagint, the King James Version and the 1926 version all translate it as bóng chết, the shadow of death. Many modern philologists, however, hold that the word was originally tsalmut, from a root meaning dark, and that its meaning is deep darkness. The word appears many times in the Hebrew Bible, mostly in the Book of Job, and in many places it denotes darkness in general, not necessarily connected with death.
The two readings lead to two shades of meaning. Read as the valley of the shadow of death, the line speaks of mortal danger, and that is why the psalm is read so often at funerals. Read as a dark valley, the line speaks of every dark stretch of life, death among them but not death alone. Both readings have their followers, and the pointed Masoretic text supports the first.
The word רָע, ra', is evil, harm, what is bad. The King James Version translates it as evil, and the 1926 version as tai họa, calamity, leaning toward the sense of harm that befalls a person rather than moral evil.
These three words literally mean for thou art with me. The word אַתָּה, attah, is the second person pronoun, meaning the speaker is now addressing God directly. Up to this line, the poem speaks of the LORD in the third person: he makes me, he leads me. From here on, the speaker turns to speak to him.
The 1926 version keeps this shift by changing from Ngài, He, to Chúa, Lord. In Vietnamese, the word Chúa here is a direct form of address, as when speaking to the person in front of you, so readers of the 1926 version also sense the change of voice, even though Vietnamese has no second person pronoun reserved for God.
A shepherd of old carried two implements. The שֵׁבֶט, shevet, was a short, heavy club, sometimes with a thick head, used to drive off wild animals and also to count the sheep as they passed beneath it. The מִשְׁעֶנֶת, mish'enet, from a root meaning to lean on, was a long staff for support on mountain paths and for guiding and steadying the sheep. The 1926 version translates them as cây trượng và cây gậy, the rod and the staff, and the King James Version as thy rod and thy staff.
What is worth noticing is that both implements, including the one used for striking, are said to comfort me. The verb יְנַחֲמֻנִי, yenachamuni, means to put me at ease. The sheep is at ease when it sees the rod, because the rod shows that the shepherd is there. Some commentators take the short club as protection and the long staff as guidance, while others take the short club also as discipline, and both readings are found in the commentaries.
At verse 5, the imagery changes completely. The word שֻׁלְחָן, shulchan, is a table, and the verb arach means to set out, to arrange in order. The 1926 version translates it literally as Chúa dọn bàn cho tôi, the Lord sets a table for me, which in Vietnamese means to prepare a meal for me. Readers today should understand the word bàn, table, here as a banquet table, not a piece of furniture.
There are two readings of this verse. Most commentators hold that the image of the shepherd has given way to the image of a host receiving a guest. By the customs of hospitality in the ancient Near East, a person invited to sit at the host's table was under the host's protection, so the enemies could only look on and do nothing. A minority of commentators try to keep the shepherd image to the end, and take the table as a pasture the shepherd prepares for the sheep in a place where wild animals lurk. The first reading is the more common.
The word צֹרְרָי, tsorerai, means those who trouble me, those who press on me. The 1926 version translates it as kẻ thù nghịch tôi, those hostile to me. The poem does not say that the enemies disappear. It says the banquet is set right before their eyes.
The verb דִּשַּׁנְתָּ, dishanta, has a root meaning to make fat, to make rich. Used with oil, it denotes rubbing fragrant oil on a guest's head, a familiar gesture of hospitality in a hot, dry land. This is not the word mashach used for the rite of anointing a king or a priest. The 1926 version translates it as Chúa xức dầu cho đầu tôi, the Lord anoints my head with oil, and Vietnamese readers readily think of the rite of anointing. The original leans toward the sense of a host pouring fragrant oil on an honoured guest.
The phrase כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה, kosi revayah, consists of kos, cup, and revayah, fullness, saturation, from a root meaning to drink until one's thirst is quenched. The literal meaning is my cup is abundance. The 1926 version translates it as Chén tôi đầy tràn, my cup is full to overflowing, and the King James Version as my cup runneth over, both adding the image of liquid spilling over the rim of the cup to express abundance. This is a translation by sense, and it is one of the renderings that has become an idiom both in English and in the speech of Vietnamese believers.
The word טוֹב, tov, is good, blessing. The word חֶסֶד, chesed, is one of the hardest words in the Hebrew Bible to translate. It denotes covenant love kept in full, a faithful kindness that does not let go, and translations have to choose one side of it. The King James Version chooses mercy, and the 1926 version chooses sự thương xót, compassion.
The verb יִרְדְּפוּנִי, yirdefuni, from the root radaf, means to pursue, a word often used of enemies in pursuit. Here the 1926 version translates more gently than the original. The 1926 version has sẽ theo tôi, shall follow me, and the King James Version has shall follow me. The original says that goodness and faithful love pursue the speaker, using the very word the Book of Psalms often uses for enemies hunting down the one who prays. Many commentators see in this a deliberate reversal: the speaker is pursued not by enemies but by goodness.
The first word of the verse, אַךְ, ach, can be understood as surely or only. The 1926 version translates it as Quả thật, truly. Taken in the second sense, the verse says that the only things pursuing me are goodness and faithful love.
The last verse has two points where the versions differ. The first is the verb וְשַׁבְתִּי, veshavti. By the vowel points of the Masoretic text, this word belongs to the root shuv, meaning I shall return to the house of the LORD. The Greek Septuagint and many ancient versions read it as I shall dwell, as though the root were yashav, to sit, to dwell. Many philologists hold that the present form is a contracted spelling of the word for dwell, since with in the house the sense of dwelling fits better. The King James Version and the 1926 version both translate it in the sense of dwell.
The second is the phrase לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים, le'orech yamim, literally for the length of days. The King James Version translates it as for ever. The 1926 version translates it as Cho đến lâu dài, for a long time to come, and so here it is closer to the original than the King James Version.
The two renderings open two readings. In the reading closer to the original, followed by many Jewish commentators and many modern scholars, the verse speaks of all the long days of a person's life, a whole life bound to the house of the LORD, which may be the Temple. In the traditional reading of many Christian churches, the verse also points to eternal life after death, and that is why the King James Version translates it as for ever. The library records both and does not choose for you. Readers of the 1926 version may notice that the very version they read has left the question open with the words lâu dài, a long time.
IVThe shepherd and the host
Read quickly, Psalm 23 looks like a pastoral scene. Read slowly, the poem moves through two linked pictures, with a turning point between them. This section lays out that structure, because understanding the structure sheds further light on the individual verses above.
The first picture: the shepherd and the flock
From verse 1 to verse 4, every image belongs to the shepherd's trade: pasture, water, track, valley, rod. A shepherd in the hills of ancient Judah did not drive the flock from behind but walked in front so the sheep would follow, leading them from one pasture to another with the seasons, sometimes through narrow, dark ravines. The whole picture turns on one point: the sheep cannot find grass, water or path on its own, and everything it has comes from the one who goes ahead.
It is within this picture that the dark valley appears. It does not lie off the shepherd's route but on that very route. The right path of verse 3 leads straight into the valley of verse 4, and the poem does not promise that the valley can be avoided, only that it is not crossed alone.
The second picture: the host and the guest
From verse 5, table, oil, cup and house take the place of grass and rod. The one being shepherded is now a guest, and the Shepherd is now the host. In the ancient Near East, the custom of hospitality weighed heavily: as commentators often recall, whoever was invited into the tent and ate at the host's table was under the host's protection, and pursuers could not touch them. Read against that custom, the line about a table set before one's enemies is not a boast but a statement about safety. Some commentators divide the psalm into three pictures, taking verse 6 as a scene of a pilgrim returning to the house of the LORD, but the division into two pictures is more common.
The turning point in the middle of the psalm
Between the two pictures stands the line כִּי־אַתָּה עִמָּדִי, for thou art with me. Here the poem changes person. Before this line, the speaker tells others about the LORD: he makes me, he leads me. From this line on, the speaker turns to address him directly: thou art with me, thou preparest a table, thou anointest. In verse 6, the Name of the LORD returns in the third person, and the poem closes with the same Name that opened it.
The scholar Kathryn Schifferdecker points out that in the Hebrew original there are 26 words before this line and 26 words after it. The library recounted on the Masoretic text, leaving out the two words of the heading and counting separately the words joined by a hyphen, and found exactly that, 55 words in all. In other words, the point where the speaker stops speaking about God and starts speaking to God lies exactly at the center of the psalm. Scholars do not know for certain whether the author counted the words on purpose, but the symmetry is really there in the text.
It is also worth noticing where that line is placed within the picture: right in the middle of the dark valley. The poem shifts to its most intimate form of speech at the darkest stretch of the road.
In short: the poem moves from pasture through the dark valley to the banquet table and then home to the house, and the speaker shifts from speaking about God to speaking to God exactly at the center of the psalm.
VThe 1926 version, the King James Version and the original
Vietnamese Protestants know Psalm 23 through the 1926 version, while English speaking believers have known it for generations through the King James Version. The two versions are more than three centuries apart, but both translate fairly literally, and most of their wording runs in parallel. The table below gathers the places where one or both versions depart from the Hebrew original, so that you can read the version you know and also know what the original words say.
| Original and literal meaning | 1926 Vietnamese version | King James 1611 |
|---|---|---|
| יַרְבִּיצֵנִי, makes me lie down | khiến tôi an nghỉ, makes me rest | maketh me to lie down |
| נַפְשִׁי יְשׁוֹבֵב, makes my life return | bổ lại linh hồn tôi, restores my soul | restoreth my soul |
| צַלְמָוֶת, shadow of death or deep darkness | bóng chết, shadow of death | the shadow of death |
| רָע, evil, harm | tai họa, calamity | evil |
| דִּשַּׁנְתָּ, made rich, oiled in welcome of a guest | xức dầu, anoint | anointest |
| רְוָיָה, fullness, saturation | đầy tràn, full to overflowing | runneth over |
| יִרְדְּפוּנִי, pursue me | sẽ theo tôi, shall follow me | shall follow me |
| וְשַׁבְתִּי, I shall return, or read as I shall dwell | Tôi sẽ ở, I shall dwell | I will dwell |
| לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים, for the length of days | Cho đến lâu dài, for a long time to come | for ever |
Where the 1926 version is closer to the original
Readers who know the King James Version usually remember the last line as for ever, and sometimes assume the Vietnamese says the same. In fact the 1926 version has Cho đến lâu dài, for a long time to come, which is closer to the Hebrew phrase לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים. In verse 5, the 1926 version translates dọn bàn, sets a table, exactly following the word shulchan, without changing it to a word for banquet. And in verse 4, the 1926 version keeps the change of person by switching to the word Chúa, Lord, while the King James Version keeps it with the pronoun thou.
Where the 1926 version translates by sense
On the other hand, the 1926 version has a few places where it chooses a word gentler or broader than the original, mostly the very places where the King James Version does the same. Sẽ theo tôi, shall follow me, is gentler than the word radaf, to pursue. Linh hồn, soul, is narrower than the word nefesh, the life of the whole person. Xức dầu, anoint, suggests a rite more than the word dishen, which is a gesture of hospitality. Đầy tràn, full to overflowing, adds the image of liquid spilling over the rim of the cup, which the original does not state explicitly. These are familiar choices of Bible translations of the same period, not errors.
The 1926 version also keeps the practice of capitalizing the first word of each line of verse, so some words within a sentence are capitalized midway, such as Dẫn tôi, Trước mặt, Cho đến. These mark the line breaks of the poetry and are not printing errors. The first printing also joined the syllables of a word with hyphens, as in chăn-giữ and thiếu-thốn, and current printings have dropped those hyphens. In the Vietnamese column of this page, the three places where the printed text uses a semicolon have been replaced by the library with commas, following the library's general presentation conventions, with the wording unchanged.
In the reading of the Protestant churches, Psalm 23 is often read together with the New Testament. The Gospel of John chapter 10 records Jesus calling himself the good shepherd. According to that teaching, Protestant believers understand the Shepherd of Psalm 23 to be Jesus Christ himself, the valley of the shadow of death to be the death that the believer does not pass through alone, and dwelling in the house of the LORD for a long time to come to be eternal life. This is the understanding of Christian doctrine. In Judaism, the poem is read as the words of David about the God of Israel, with no connection to the New Testament.
Another English version: the Book of Common Prayer
In Anglicanism, the Psalms are recited in the translation of Miles Coverdale printed in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, not in the King James Version. The first line in that version is The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing. In Scotland, this psalm is sung in the metrical Psalter of the Church of Scotland of 1650, which opens with The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want. For one and the same Hebrew poem, each tradition has a version its believers know by heart, just as Vietnamese Protestants know the 1926 version.
VIWhen and how believers read it
Protestantism has no set of prayers that must be recited by heart at fixed hours, as some other traditions do, and no common liturgy shared by all churches. Psalm 23 is not an obligatory prayer. It is present in the lives of believers because it is chosen again and again on different occasions, and over the years it is learned by heart. Below are the occasions the library has been able to record.
Many Protestant believers keep the habit of setting aside a quiet time early each morning or before sleep to read the Bible and pray, called devotions. People often follow a daily Bible reading plan or read gradually through each book, and the Psalms is a book opened often at such times. Psalm 23 is frequently read again on days when the reader is anxious or ill, and many people recite it from memory without opening the book.
In Sunday school, young children memorize Bible verses one by one, called memory verses, and Psalm 23 is often one of the first complete passages they are given to learn by heart. Because the psalm is short, rhythmic and full of images that are easy to draw, it is often recited together by the whole class, sometimes before the congregation on a feast day. Older people often still remember the full text of the 1926 version from their days in that class.
This is the occasion on which the psalm is heard most outside the church. At the funerals of Protestant believers, at home, in church or at the graveside, the pastor or the officiant often reads Psalm 23 together with New Testament passages such as John chapter 14. The line about the valley of the shadow of death and the line about dwelling in the house of the LORD for a long time to come are the two lines that tie this psalm to funerals. In some places the whole congregation recites it together from memory.
When a pastor or church members visit someone who is ill, or an elderly person close to death, this psalm is often read at the bedside. A sick person who learned it as a child can sometimes recite along even when already weak. This is a use of the poem as familiar words for comfort, not as a prescribed rite.
Many songs in the churches are adapted from Psalm 23, in both English and Vietnamese. In the English speaking Reformed tradition, the metrical Psalter of the Church of Scotland of 1650 made this psalm one that whole congregations sing in worship services and at funerals. In Vietnamese churches, there are hymns and worship songs that set the words of Psalm 23 to music, sung in worship services and at funerals.
Differences between branches
How this psalm is read differs with the way each branch organizes its worship. In churches with free worship, which includes most Protestant churches in Vietnam, there is no rule on which passage is read on which day, and the choice of Psalm 23 depends on the officiant and the occasion. The reader usually stands and reads slowly, and the congregation sometimes reads along. In Anglicanism and other branches with prayer books, the psalm has a set place in the burial service and in the cycle of psalm recitation, and is recited or chanted in the Coverdale version. In Lutheran churches, the psalm also often appears in the burial service.
The library records these practices as an observer. Each church has its own way, and if you want to know when a particular church reads this psalm, the surest way is to ask at that church.
VIICommon misunderstandings
Because the psalm is short and widely known by heart, many of its lines are quoted apart from the whole, and this has given rise to some readings that depart from the original. The five points below are the ones met most often.
This line speaks of the sufficiency of the sheep in the shepherd's care: grass, water, a path, protection. The original לֹא אֶחְסָר means I do not lack, and the rest of the psalm lists the things that are not lacking. The poem does not promise wealth, and it speaks itself of a dark valley and of enemies, so it does not promise a life free of hardship.
Because the psalm is read so often at funerals, people tend to think this line speaks only of the moment of dying. The word צַלְמָוֶת as pointed in the Masoretic text reads as shadow of death, but many philologists read it as deep darkness, and in the Hebrew Bible the word is used for many different dark situations. Both readings have their followers. In both, the line speaks of a stretch of road that the speaker passes through and then continues on, not a stopping point.
The King James Version translates for ever, and many readers of the Vietnamese version understand it the same way. The original לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים means for the length of days, and the 1926 version translates Cho đến lâu dài, for a long time to come. Taken literally, the line speaks of a whole lifetime. The reading as eternity is the reading of Christian doctrine. The two readings exist side by side, and the library records both.
The word bàn, table, in the 1926 version translates the Hebrew word שֻׁלְחָן literally. In Vietnamese today, to set a table for someone means to prepare a meal in their honour. The verse speaks of a banquet laid out by a host for a guest, and by the custom of hospitality in the ancient Near East, a guest seated at the host's table was under the host's protection.
This psalm was in the Hebrew Bible before Christianity existed, and it is read in Judaism, Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Protestantism. Vietnamese Catholics meet it under the name Thánh Vịnh 22, Psalm 22, because of the numbering that follows the Greek. What is distinctive for Vietnamese Protestants is the translation they know by heart, the 1926 version, and the place this psalm holds in their devotions and funerals.
?Quick Questions
What is Psalm 23
It is the twenty-third poem in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament, six verses long, opening with the line The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want, in Vietnamese Đức Giê-hô-va là Đấng chăn giữ tôi: tôi sẽ chẳng thiếu thốn gì. The Hebrew heading names it a psalm of David. The poem uses the image of a shepherd leading a flock, and then the image of a host receiving a guest, to speak of God's protection. It is one of the Bible passages most often known by heart among Vietnamese Protestants.
Why do Catholics call it Psalm 22
Because the Greek Septuagint joins Psalms 9 and 10 of the Hebrew text into one, so from that point on the numbering drops by one. The Latin Vulgate follows that numbering, and so do many Catholic Bibles, so this psalm is numbered 22. Protestant Bibles, including the 1926 version, follow the Hebrew numbering, so it is Psalm 23. It is the same psalm.
What does the valley of the shadow of death mean
The Vietnamese word trũng means a valley, low ground between two higher sides. The shadow of death translates the Hebrew word צַלְמָוֶת, which the Masoretic text points as a compound of shadow and death. Many modern philologists read the word as deep darkness. So some understand the line as speaking of mortal danger, and others as speaking of every dark stretch of life. Both readings are found in the commentaries.
What does my cup runneth over mean
The Hebrew original כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה literally means my cup is fullness, saturation. The 1926 version and the King James Version both add the image of liquid spilling over the rim of the cup to express abundance. The line belongs to the picture of a host receiving a guest in verse 5, together with setting the table and pouring fragrant oil on the guest's head.
Does the last line mean for ever or for a lifetime
The original לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים literally means for the length of days. The King James Version translates for ever, while the 1926 version translates Cho đến lâu dài, for a long time to come, which is closer to the original. Many Jewish commentators and modern scholars understand it as a whole lifetime, bound to the house of the LORD. Many Christian churches also understand it as eternal life. The library records both readings.