The Lord my pasture shall prepare

from Psalm 23, versified by Joseph Addison

This work was highly commended in the Royal School of Church Music's Harold Smart composition competition 2002

sheet music (PDF master score with permission to print or download an authorised number of copies) available via this website: GBP 1.75 per print-out

• The Spacious Firmament
• The Lord my Shepherd is

The Lord my pasture shall prepare,
and feed me with a shepherd's care;
his presence shall my wants supply,
and guard me with a watchful eye;
my noonday walks he shall attend,
and all my midnight hours defend.

When in the sultry glebe I faint,
or on the thirsty mountain pant,
to fertile vales and dewy meads
my weary wandering steps he leads,
where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
amid the verdant landscape flow.

Though in a bare and rugged way
through devious lonely wilds I stray,
thy bounty shall my pains beguile;
the barren wilderness shall smile
with sudden greens and herbage crowned,
and streams shall murmur all around.

Though in the paths of death I tread,
with gloomy horrors overspread,
my steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
for thou, O Lord, art with me still:
thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
and guide me through the dreadful shade.

Psalm 23, versified by Joseph Addison (1672-1719)

• choral - mixed voices accompanied