Psalms 23:2
in Psalms 23He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters.
KJV
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
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This verse in Psalms 23
Commentary
4 notes on this verseHe hints at the water of rebirth, in which the baptized person longs for grace and sheds the old age of sin and is made young instead of being old.
This site's exposition
The LORD is my shepherd
on Psalms 23:1-2
Israel called God the Shepherd of Israel at Psalm 80:1; here one man says the LORD is my shepherd. Green pastures and quiet waters are a working shepherd's daily provision, food and water calm enough for a sheep to drink. The line closes on a settled thing, I shall not want.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Psalms 23:2-4
God's ordinances are the green pastures in which food is provided for all believers; the word of life is the nourishment of the new man. It is milk for babes, pasture for sheep, never barren, never eaten bare, never parched, but always a green pasture for faith to feed in.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." The Christian life has two elements in it, the contemplative and the active, and both of these are richly provided for. First, the contemplative. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." What are these "green pastures" but the Scriptures of truth—always fresh, always rich, and never exhausted? There is no fear of biting the bare ground where the grass is long enough for the flock to lie down in it.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
in green pasture In grassy pastures. Since he commences to compare his sustenance to the pasture of an animal by saying, “The Lord is my shepherd,” “green pastures” is appropriate for the expression, “the Lord is my shepherd.” David recited this psalm in the forest of Hereth (I Sam.:5).
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
A song of David The Rabbis said: Wherever it says: “A song of David,” he would play [his musical instrument] and afterwards the Shechinah would rest on him. It is a song to bring the holy spirit upon David.
He restores my soul My spirit, which has been weakened by troubles and haste, He will restore to its previous status.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בִּנְא֣וֹת | binot | in pastures of | H4999 → | 12 times |
| דֶּ֭שֶׁא | deshe' | grass | H1877 → | |
| יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי | yarbitzeni | he makes lie down me | H7257 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מֵ֖י | mei | waters of | H4325 → | 581 times |
| מְנֻח֣וֹת | menuchot | rest<s> | H4496 → | 22 times |
| יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי׃ | yenahaleni | he leads me | H5095 → |
בִּנְא֣וֹתin pastures of
binotH4999 →12 times
דֶּ֭שֶׁאgrass
deshe'H1877 →
יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִיhe makes lie down me
yarbitzeniH7257 →
עַל־at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מֵ֖יwaters of
meiH4325 →581 times
מְנֻח֣וֹתrest<s>
menuchotH4496 →22 times
יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי׃he leads me
yenahaleniH5095 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 22:1Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 36:8–9
They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 7:38–39
Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
- John 4:10–11
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- John 4:14
Through
Revelation 7:17For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
it leads to
- John 7:37–38
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 23:1–2
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- John 7:37–38
Through
Revelation 21:6And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
it leads to
- John 4:10
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- John 4:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23:2.