Psalm 23 ("The Lord is My Shepherd") Morality Quotes

The Lord protects the speaker from physical ills and harms, i.e., protects him from death. That's what a shepherd does – protect the flock from predators (like wolves) and lead the sheep to food and water. Metaphorically, the line also means, "my spirit will be provided for."

We're interested to know what he means by "restoreth my soul." And to dig even further, we really want to get all theological and ask him what he means by "soul" and whether he believes that his "restored" soul is eternal. But the psalm is only six lines long, alas, so we'll cut him some slack and settle for the poetry of it.

This is the line that you frequently hear at funerals. The speaker doesn't fear death or any other evil because he has the protection of the Lord. We wonder if this "valley" represents a specific point of his life – a battle, for example – or simply life as a whole.