Why read Psalm 23?
Read Psalm 23 as you prepare your heart for prayer. Its question about approaching God's holy mountain emphasizes clean hands, a pure heart and readiness to welcome the King of glory.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 23 opens the heart with the call “The earth and all that fills it belong to the Lord...”. It is one of the 10-verse psalms in the 3rd Kathisma and is recited both at services and in prayer at home — the Psalter being a foundational book for the Orthodox Christian.
The text of Psalm 23
1. The earth and all that fills it belong to the Lord; the world and all who dwell in it.
2. He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
3. Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord, and who will stand in His holy place?
4. The one with innocent hands and a pure heart, who has not given his soul to vanity and has not sworn deceitfully to his neighbour.
5. He will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from God, his Saviour.
6. This is the generation of those who seek the Lord, of those who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
7. Lift up your gates, rulers, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory will enter.
8. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in war.
9. Lift up your gates, rulers, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory will enter.
10. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.
When Psalm 23 is read
- It belongs to the 3rd Kathisma and may be read daily alongside the prayer rule (see the morning and evening prayers).
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
