Psalm 23: third-to-second person shift as structural pivot
Students are analysing Psalm 23:1–4 as poetry. The teacher gives these lines without translation: יְהוָה רֹעִי לֹא אֶחְסָר; בִּנְאוֹת דֶּשֶׁא יַרְבִּיצֵנִי; גַּם כִּי־אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת לֹא־אִירָא רָע כִּי־אַתָּה עִמָּדִי. One student says the poem has no structure because it mixes shepherd, path, and valley images. Another says the key is the switch from talking about YHWH to talking to YHWH. The class must decide whether the switch is a structural pivot or an accidental change, and how it affects the translation of the refrain-like line 'you are with me.'
1. Identify the shift in grammatical person and explain its structural effect in these lines.
Read the worked answer
In the opening lines YHWH is described in the third person: 'YHWH is my shepherd'; 'he makes me lie down'. The speaker talks about God. At גַּם כִּי־אֵלֵךְ the poem turns to direct address: כִּי־אַתָּה עִמָּדִי, 'for you are with me'. The independent pronoun אַתָּה is emphatic. This is not accidental mixing: the shift moves the poem from confession about God’s care to intimate address in the dangerous valley. Structurally it functions as a pivot, intensifying trust at the point of threat. A translation should preserve the pronoun's emphasis: 'for you, you are with me' is too clumsy, but 'for you are with me' or 'because you are with me' can signal the change.
2. How should a translator render גֵּיא צַלְמָוֶת so as not to flatten the poem’s imagery? Consider 'valley of the shadow of death' vs 'darkest valley.'
Read the worked answer
גֵּיא צַלְמָוֶת is a rare, evocative phrase. Traditional 'valley of the shadow of death' reflects an ancient etymology linking צַלְמָוֶת with 'shadow' and 'death', but it can over-specify death and obscure the metaphor of deep darkness. 'Darkest valley' is readable and preserves the landscape image, though it loses the traditional resonance. Neither rendering should be chosen merely because it is familiar. The structural point is that the speaker walks through a threat, not that the psalm is primarily about physical death. A defensible translation uses 'deepest darkness' or 'darkest valley' in the text and notes the traditional 'shadow of death' in a footnote.