Psalms 23:2

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
down	יַרְבִּיצֵ֑נִי yar.bi.Tze.ni	H7257	to crouch (on all four legs folded · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
green	דֶּ֭שֶׁא De.she'	H1877	a sprout · noun, common masculine singular absolute
pastures	בִּנְא֣וֹת bin.'ot	H4999	a home · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct
leadeth	יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי ye.na.ha.Le.ni	H5095	properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
still	מְנֻח֣וֹת me.nu.Chot	H4496	repose or (adverbially) peacefully · noun, common feminine plural absolute
waters	מֵ֖י mei	H4325	water · noun, common masculine plural construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe aw…
Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Ezekiel 34:13-14 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the…
Psalms 46:4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
Revelation 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of th…
Isaiah 49:9-10 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastu…
Isaiah 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat…
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him ta…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 23:1–end

From three very comfortable premises David, in this psalm, draws three very comfortable conclusions, and teaches us to do so too. We are saved by hope, and that hope will not make us ashamed, because it is well grounded. It is the duty of Christians to encourage themselves in the Lord their God; and we are here directed to take that encouragement both from the relation wherein he stands to us and from the experience we have had of his goodness according to that relation. I. From God's being his shepherd he infers that he shall not want anything that is good for him, Psa 23:1. See here, 1. The great care that God takes of believers. He is their shepherd, and they may call him so. Time was whe…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 23:2

green pastures--or, "pastures of tender grass," are mentioned, not in respect to food, but as places of cool and refreshing rest. the still waters--are, literally, "waters of "stillness," whose quiet flow invites to repose. They are contrasted with boisterous streams on the one hand, and stagnant, offensive pools on the other.

John Gill on Psalms 23:2

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,.... Or "pastures of tender grass" (t); this is one part of the shepherd's work, and which is performed by Christ, Ezekiel 34:14; by these "green pastures" may be meant the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises, where there is delicious feeding; likewise the fulness of grace in Christ, from whence grace for grace is received; also the flesh and blood, righteousness and sacrifice, of Christ, which faith is led unto and lives upon, and is refreshed and invigorated by; to which may be added the doctrines of the Gospel, with which Christ's under-shepherds feed his lambs and sheep, there being in them milk for babes and meat for strong men; and l…

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John Calvin on Psalms 23:1-4

Psalm 23:1-4 1. Jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want. [529] 2. He maketh me to lie down in pastures of grass; he leadeth me to gently flowing waters. [530] 3. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me by the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4. Though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy staff and thy crook comfort me. 1. Jehovah is my shepherd. Although God, by his benefits, gently allures us to himself, as it were by a taste of his fatherly sweetness, yet there is nothing into which we more easily fall than into a forgetfulness of him, when we are in the enjoyment of peace and comfort. Yea, prosperity not only so intox…

The Church Fathers

He 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.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23:2

"The water of refreshment" is the baptismal font through which the soul, barren because of the dryness of sin, is watered by divine gifts in order that it may produce good fruits.
— Cassiodorus, EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 23:2

"In a place of pasture there has He placed me" [Psalm 23:2]. In a place of fresh pasture, leading me to faith, there has He placed me to be nourished. "By the water of refreshing has He brought me up." By the water of baptism, whereby they are refreshed who have lost health and strength, has He brought me up.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 23

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Sheep — Are of different varieties. Probably the flocks of Abraham and Isaac were of the wild species found still in the mountain regions of Persia and Kurdistan. After the Exodus, and as a result of…
Shepherd — A word naturally of frequent occurence in Scripture. Sometimes the word “pastor” is used instead (Jer. 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 12:10; 17:16). This word is used figuratively to represent the relation of…
Blessing · SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD — SPIRITUAL, FROM GOD
Christ, The Shepherd · His sheep: He feeds — His sheep: He feeds
Sheep · Flocks of: Conducted to the richest pastures — Flocks of: Conducted to the richest pastures
Shepherd · General references — General references
Shepherds · Care of the sheep by, exhibited in: Seeking out good pasture for them — Care of the sheep by, exhibited in: Seeking out good pasture for them
Testimony · RELIGIOUS, EXEMPLIFIED — RELIGIOUS, EXEMPLIFIED
Water · Illustrative: (Still,) of the ordinances of the gospel — Illustrative: (Still,) of the ordinances of the gospel

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 23:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 23:1–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 23:2

John Gill on Psalms 23:2

John Calvin on Psalms 23:1-4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 23:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 23:1–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 23:2

John Gill on Psalms 23:2

John Calvin on Psalms 23:1-4

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 23:1-3

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 23:2

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 23:2