en_tn/psa/023/001.md

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General Information:

In much of this psalm, David writes as if he were a sheep and the Lord were his shepherd. Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/writing-poetry and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-exmetaphor)

A psalm of David

This is a superscription that tells about the psalm. Some scholars say that this is part of the scripture and some say that it is not. (See "What are Superscriptions in Psalms" in Introduction to Psalms.)

Yahweh is my shepherd

The writer speaks about Yahweh as if he were a shepherd. This emphasizes how God cares for people as a shepherd cares for his sheep. Alternate translation: "Yahweh is like a shepherd to me" or "Yahweh cares for me as a shepherd cares for his sheep" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)

I will lack nothing

This can be stated in positive form. Alternate translation: "I have everything that I need" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-litotes)