The biblical book of Psalms is filled with 150 of the greatest spiritual poems (songs, really) in history. Though the Psalms were originally set to music, their english translations do not follow any particular meter or rhyme. It has long been a Christian tradition to write metrical settings of these poems to be sung with familiar hymn tunes. I am certainly no great poet. I’m really not even a good one. But as a meditative/spiritual exercise, I’ve become interested in this project.

Here, as an example, is the text of Psalm 23, as it appears in the King James Bible:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

And here is a famous metrical setting of the same Psalm (Psalm 23) by Isaac Watts:

My shepherd will supply my need,
Jehovah is his name;
In pastures fresh he makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wand’ring spirit back
When I forsake his ways;
And leads me, for his mercy’s sake,
In paths of truth and grace.
When I walk through the shades of death,
Thy presence is my stay;
A word of thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread,
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thine oil anoints my head.
The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days:
O may thy house be mine abode,
And all my work be praise!
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger or a guest,
But like a child at home.