The God of love my shepherd is

The God of love my shepherd is. George Herbert* (1593-1633). This metrical version of Psalm 23 was first published in The Temple (Cambridge, 1633) just after Herbert’s death. It is the only paraphrase of a psalm in the collection. Herbert clearly recalls the version of Psalm 23 by William Whittingham* in The Whole Booke of Psalmes (1562) which begins ‘The Lord is only my support,/And he that doth me feed,/How can I then lack any thing/Whereof I stand in need?’ It is notable that Herbert’s first line, in contrast to Whittingham’s more direct translation of the Vulgate ‘Dominus regit me’, uses The Book of Common Prayer version which, through the image of the shepherd, immediately emphasises...