Scripture Verse

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Psalm 23:1

Introduction

Words: Hen­ry W. Bak­er, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern (Lon­don: 1868). This hymn was sung at the fun­er­al of Di­a­na, Prin­cess of Wales, in West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don, Sep­tem­ber 6, 1997.

Music: St. Co­lum­ba, an­cient Ir­ish tune (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Henry W. Baker (1821–1877)

Lyrics

The King of love my Shep­herd is,
Whose good­ness fail­eth ne­ver,
I no­thing lack if I am His
And He is mine for­ev­er.

Where streams of liv­ing wa­ter flow
My ran­somed soul He lead­eth,
And where the ver­dant pas­tures grow,
With food ce­les­ti­al feedeth.

Perverse and fool­ish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoul­der gent­ly laid,
And home, re­joic­ing, brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, be­side me;
Thy rod and staff my com­fort still,
Thy cross be­fore to guide me.

Thou spread’st a ta­ble in my sight;
Thy unc­tion grace be­stow­eth;
And O what trans­port of de­light
From Thy pure cha­lice flow­eth!

And so through all the length of days
Thy good­ness fail­eth ne­ver;
Good Shep­herd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house for­ev­er.