Hear Hymn – The Lord’s My Shepherd

As I write, my heart is with my own family. My sister-in-law and my brother are grieving the loss of her sister, who passed away just yesterday. Their sorrow is fresh, and I find myself turning again to words that have comforted countless mourners across the centuries.

If there is a single scripture that seems to appear in nearly every film or television scene of a funeral, it is Psalm 23. The moment is almost familiar: mourners gathered, heads bowed, and the words spoken in the timeless cadence of the King James Bible.

It has become almost a cultural shorthand for grief, but rightly so. Psalm 23 may be one of the most read and recited passages in all of scripture. It speaks to the living as well as the dying, offering assurance of God’s presence in every valley.

Here it is in full, from the King James Version:

Psalm 23 (KJV)

These verses hold together both sides of human experience: the still waters of peace and the shadow of death, the paths of righteousness and the presence of enemies. In every setting, the Good Shepherd remains close.

Few passages of scripture are as beloved or as widely recognized as Psalm 23. Its opening words—“The Lord is my shepherd”—have carried peace to worshipers for centuries. Set to song in countless traditions, this psalm has been both a private prayer and a public hymn of faith.

In The Lord’s My Shepherd, the words of Psalm 23 are joined to a tune of quiet assurance, creating a hymn that links seventeenth-century Scotland with modern worshipers across the world.

The text of this hymn comes from the Scottish Psalter of 1650, a landmark collection that sought to translate the psalms faithfully from Hebrew while making them singable in English. Accuracy mattered more than poetic flourish, yet the translators still needed to shape the language into rhyming, metrical lines.

Sometimes that required unusual word order. For instance, verse 3 of this hymn reads “me comfort still” instead of the more familiar “still comfort me,” chosen to rhyme with the previous phrase “fear no ill.” These adjustments kept the psalms close to their original meaning without layering on extra commentary.

The result was a text that is direct, spare, and faithful—a psalm in song form, ready for congregational voices.

What Is the Scottish Psalter?

The Scottish Psalter of 1650 is a collection of the 150 Biblical Psalms translated into metrical, rhyming English verse for congregational singing. It was the result of a prolonged process of revision initiated by the Westminster Assembly and refined by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, with the goal of aligning the text as closely as possible to the original Hebrew. Shaftesbury Sq RPC+14The 1650 Psalter+14gracechapeltn.com+14

In essence: the Scottish Psalter is a historically rooted, singable version of the Psalms designed for fidelity to the Bible and ease of corporate worship—and it continues to be valued across centuries for both its accuracy and accessibility.

Two and a half centuries later, as World War I spread across Europe, Scottish minister and composer James Leith Macbeth Bain turned again to Psalm 23. Having grown up singing from the Scottish Psalter, he found its message of calm and safety especially poignant in a time of conflict and suffering.

In 1915, Bain composed a new melody for the familiar words. The tune, soon known as Brother James’s Air, matched the psalm’s gentle assurance with flowing, peaceful lines. It offered comfort in an age shadowed by loss and uncertainty.

This tune has since carried the words of Psalm 23 into new generations, reminding listeners of divine guidance even in the darkest valleys.

The Lord’s My Shepherd now appears for the first time in a Church-published hymnal, Hymns—For Home and Church. Its inclusion signals both the enduring strength of Psalm 23 and the lasting value of Bain’s musical setting.

The hymn teaches eternal truths with clarity:

“If we follow our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, He will lead us back to the Father.”

Brother James’s Air is gentle and lyrical, its rising and falling lines suggesting both movement and rest. The melody never overwhelms; instead, it underscores the psalm’s assurance of safety. In congregational singing, it carries the text in a way that feels both intimate and communal—an invitation to trust.

The words of Psalm 23 extend far beyond one hymn tune. They have become woven into the fabric of Western culture:

This wide embrace shows how Psalm 23 transcends time, genre, and even faith tradition, offering language of comfort that resonates far beyond its original setting.

Today, singing The Lord’s My Shepherd can bring the same peace it offered to worshipers in 1650 and to those enduring the trenches of 1915. In our own valleys—whether of grief, anxiety, or uncertainty—the Good Shepherd’s presence is steady.

As you listen or sing this hymn, consider:

Scripture references provided.

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