Anonymous' "The Twenty-third Psalm"

The controlling metaphor in this psalm is God is our shepherd. Saying that, like a shepherd, god will lead us to food and water. Through God we will not want. We will not want because he will give us what we need. I will not have to fear evil because God will guide me through the darkness. Just like a shepherd will guide his flock. It restates the metaphor when it says "thy rod and thy staff they comfort me". The green pastures that a shepherds flock need is saying to us that the lord will lead us to a land that has what we will need. I think it's interesting toward the end it says "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life". It implies that we will have imperfections and we will screw up. But as long as we allow the lord to lead us we will make it through and be forgiven. Just like a sheep may go astray but with the help of a shepherd he will lead us back to the right path.