The Lord is my shepherd
Psalm 23:1
NLT“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Kings held the shepherd's title long before the psalm. Hammurabi's law stele, about 1750 BC, has the king call himself 'the salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight'.
Code of Hammurabi, epilogue, trans. L. W. King (Avalon Project, Yale Law School)
The opening verse of Psalm 23, 'A psalm of David', calling the Lord the speaker's shepherd.
More context
Psalm 23 is headed 'A psalm of David' in the Hebrew text. Its first verse names the Lord as the speaker's shepherd and ends, in Hebrew, 'I shall not lack' (lo ehsar). Shepherd was an old royal title: Hammurabi of Babylon calls himself a shepherd in his law code. Augustine read the psalm as the Church speaking to Christ, and Rashi as David speaking in the wilderness.
Light
Provides immense comfort, assurance, and a sense of being deeply loved and protected.
Shadow
Can sometimes be misunderstood as a promise of a problem-free life, leading to disappointment when hardships arise.