March 9, 2005

The Lord's My Shepherd

Scottish Psalter, 1650

    My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27.

   Often referred to as "The Scottish Psalter of 1650" because the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland approved the text of this Psalter for use by the church in 1650. Sometimes, the name is shortened to just "The Scottish Psalter." This Psalter has been in continuous use since its initial publication, and has remained unaltered, except for some modernized spelling, from its original wording during all that time.
    The text of the 1650 Psalter was originally the work of Francis Rous, who completed his text around 1644. But before the text was finally approved for use in the Scottish church it was subjected to six years of scrutiny and revision by two different groups of highly learned and devout leaders of the church. Literally every word and phrase was carefully weighed for faithfulness to the original Hebrew texts.
    The work that resulted from these revisions contained only a small part of Rouse's original text. Instead, what emerged was a composite of the work of the review committees, plus lines taken from several other Psalters that were in circulation at the time.
    Millar Patrick described the work of a Dr. W.P. Rorison, who "with incredible patience and particularity, carried out a detailed comparison of the 1650 version with ten others, in order to trace every line, so far as might be possible, to its source." Here is Rorison's table of the various sources that went into the 1650 Scottish Psalter:

	Lines
1564 Scottish version	338
Henry Dod (1620)	266
King James (1631- 6)	516
George Wither (1632)	52
Sir William Mure of Rowallan	49
The Bay Psalm Book (1640)	269
William Barton (1644)	136
Zachary Boyd (1644 – 48)	754
Westminster version (1647)	1,588
Francis Rous (1638 – 46)	878
Total (of 8,620 lines in entire Psalter)	4,846

    To its devotees, the Scottish Psalter is the only one that is acceptable. If one's goal is the closest possible representation of the original Hebrew, then this may well be the best Psalter, even though its language and poetry sometimes seems awkward and contrived.
    In spite of its age and sometimes quaint wording, the Scottish Psalter still retains great power even today. If one had to use only one metrical Psalter, this one would be a good choice. The charming and child-like tune has only recently begun to appear in American hymnals.
    There are probably very few Christians who don't know this Psalter's wording of Psalm 23 almost as well as they know the Psalm from their Bibles.

The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want.
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; He leadeth me
The quiet waters by.

My soul He doth restore again;
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
Even for His own Name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me; and Thy rod
And staff my comfort still.

My table Thou hast furnishèd
In presence of my foes;
My head Thou dost with oil anoint,
And my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me;
And in God’s house forevermore
My dwelling place shall be.