One Hebrew verb at the end of Psalm 23 changes everything. Goodness and lovingkindness do not follow you. They pursue you. Today we hear the whole letter.

In this letter

- The opening claim — Psalm 23 is about life, not death

- The three movements of the psalm — pastoral, valley, banquet

- Nephesh (the deep word for soul) and what restoration means

- Tsalmaveth and walking through the valley, not around it

- The banquet imagery in verses 5 and 6 — a guest at the table while the enemies watch

- The Hebrew word chesed — the covenant lovingkindness of God

- The verb radaph — and why goodness and mercy follow you is mistranslated as too gentle

- The shepherd who leads from the front and pursues from behind

- A direct word for the pursued, the third-person prayer-er, and the one who does not yet know the voice

Scripture

- Psalm 23 (full)

- John 10:11 (referenced)

Hebrew word studies

- chesed (חֶסֶד, Strong's H2617) — steadfast lovingkindness, covenant love, loyal kindness. The word that runs through the whole Old Testament for God's relationship to His people.

- radaph (רָדַף, Strong's H7291) — to pursue, to chase, to hunt down. What an army does to a retreating enemy. What a hunter does to game. The verb mistranslated as follow.

- nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ, Strong's H5315) — soul, life, self, the whole inner person. What the shepherd restores.

- tsalmaveth (צַלְמָוֶת, H6757) — the valley of deep darkness (carried from Thursday).

- ra'ah (רָעָה, H7462) — to shepherd (carried from Tuesday).

Next week's letter | Luke 15 — The Long Way Home (the prodigal son).

> That's this week's letter. We'll see you Monday with another.

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