Sunday, June 11, 2023

Psalm 23:4

For Good Shepherd Sunday (the Fourth Sunday of Easter) at the end of April, the Psalm on Worship Anew was Psalm 23 (although the text below the video lists Psalm 43).  I was following along in the Latin Vulgate and noticed a feature specific to this translation.  Verse 4 is:  "sed et si ambulavero in valle mortis non timebo malum quoniam tu mecum es virga tua et baculus tuus ipsa consolabunter me."  In the ESV, this is:  "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."  Often in Latin, the words in the prepositional phrase "with me" are combined (and inverted), so instead of "cum me," there's the single word "mecum."  Because of this idiosyncracy, there's a closer sense of God's accompaniment in this verse; "tu" and "me" are side-by-side.