Psalm 23/Participant Analysis/Notes

Notes

v. 6c: ** for revocalization see exegetical issue The Text of Psalm 23:6b (MT: וְשַׁבְתִּ֥י).

vv. 1-3, 6: YHWH as the addressee?

• YHWH is directly addressee in vv. 4-5.
• The addressee for vv. 1-3, 6 is unspecified. Since YHWH is clearly the addressee in vv. 4-5, he is probably the addressee of vv. 1-3, 6, even though spoken of in the third person. Psalm 23 makes no reference to a potential addressee outside of YHWH himself. The portions which do not directly address YHWH (vv. 1-3, 6) are devoid of any 3rd or 1st person plural suffixes, vocatives, or references to a congregation. For instance, Ps 100:3 also employs the shepherd metaphor, but the psalmist includes himself among the people whom he is addressing (אֲנַ֑חְנוּ עַ֝מֹּ֗ו וְצֹ֣אן מַרְעִיתֹֽו - "we are his people and the sheep of his pasture"). In Ps 23:1, on the other hand, the psalmist refers only to himself (יְהוָ֥ה רֹ֝עִ֗י - "YHWH is my shepherd"). Therefore, the psalmist does not appear to be directly addressing any other person or group.

Moreover, the fact that YHWH is talked about in the third person should not exclude the possibility that he is the addressee of Ps 23. Alternating speech to and about a person is not infrequent in the psalms, and they may serve to enhance dramatic effect. For instance, the superscription of Ps 18 explicitly names YHWH as the direct addressee, yet portions of the psalm refer to him in the third person (vv. 3-14, 16-24, 28b, 29b-34, 46-48a, 50). Similarly, Ps 67 opens with a series of third-person references to YHWH (e.g., vv. 1-2) before beginning to alternate between second- and third-person references to YHWH. Nevertheless, YHWH remains the addressee throughout.

In Ps. 23, the psalmist addresses YHWH in the second person when he mentions the valley of darkness and his adversaries. This shift in address may serve the purpose of intensifying the psalmist's intimacy with YHWH in spite of trouble and danger.