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Psalm 23 Essay

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Psalm 23 it is one of the most famous psalms in the bible. This psalm is so famous because of his meaning and use of literary figures such as metaphors. The meaning behind the psalm is often not quite understand. Most people can read and see the lines of Psalm 23, but few of them are capable to truly understand the meaning behind its powerful message. To have a full appreciation of the meaning of this psalm, it is important to understand the context, literary figures, poetic features, grammar and structure of this psalm. The first line is perhaps the most famous in all the psalms. Its power derives from the crisp use of metaphor the assumed, rather than directly stated, comparison between God and a shepherd. The comparison made in this psalm …show more content…

This psalm lacks some important poetic features that are normally used in a literary and poetic work. There is a lack of symmetry, of word pairing, of chiastic patterns, and of figure. Despite the absence of these common literary and poetic devices, there is still the presence of poetic imagery shown in some verses for example the image of a shepherd looking out for his flock in verse one. This psalm also contains semantic coherence, and terseness of style. Even though this psalm is different from other psalms, in overall in contains a good use of literary and poetic devices that are important in a poem.
This poem contains two important images that help to understand its meaning which are the Lord as Shepherd shown in verse one and the Lord as Host shown in verse five. These images help to understand how God works with His people and how important people is for Him. This psalm also contains sets in the context of three scenes: a calm pasture in verse one, a dark valley in verse four, and a royal feast in verses five and six. Through these scenes, this psalm can serves as an example of what is true of the entire flock which the Lord cares for each individual within the

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