The Lord's My Shepherd (Psalm 23)

The story of this hymn

This is Psalm 23 as the Church of Scotland fixed it in the Scottish Psalter of 1650 — common metre, made for unaccompanied congregational singing, and essentially unchanged for nearly four centuries. Its worldwide fame came with the gentle tune 'Crimond', associated with Jessie Seymour Irvine: it was sung at the royal wedding of 1947 and at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in 2022. It is the one funeral hymn most mourners, churchgoing or not, can sing without the words in front of them.

Where it sits in the service

Among the most requested funeral hymns in English, and the safest choice when many mourners are not churchgoers. It serves anywhere in the order of service — gathering hymn, after the tributes, or at the graveside — and the five short verses are almost always sung complete. Print 'Tune: Crimond' on the order of service: these words are also sung to 'Brother James' Air', and the organist needs to know which is wanted.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Hymn — The Lord's My Shepherd (Psalm 23)” with the leader or choir named beside it.

How it is actually sung

The metrical Psalm 23 from the Scottish Psalter, and the single most-sung item at funerals across the English-speaking world. Sung to Crimond by almost everyone. Five verses, all of them used. If the congregation knows one hymn, it is this — and it is the safest choice when nothing about the family’s churchgoing is known.

Printing the words

Public domain. Print all five verses and name the tune as Crimond in the programme, because there are other settings and an organist who assumes the wrong one causes real confusion.

This is practical guidance rather than legal advice. Reproduction rights vary by territory, by hymnal edition and by the licence your church holds — the church office is the right place to ask, and they answer this question often.