23:3 my soul. There are seventeen occurrences of the first person pronoun (I, me, etc.) in these six verses, all bespeaking the absolute confidence of the “sheep” in his “good shepherd.” Similarly, the word “sheep” is used seventeen times in the great New Testament parable of the sheep and the shepherd (John 10:1-30), again speaking of the sheep’s perfect security in the shepherd’s care. On the significance of the number seventeen as associated with our security in Christ, see note on John 21:11.

23:3 leadeth me. The Hebrew words for “leadeth” in Psalm 23:2-3 are different. The connotation of the first is “guideth me,” of the second “constraineth me.”