Commentary on Psalms Volume 1 John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS
1. Jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want. 529 2. He maketh me to lie down in pastures of grass; he leadeth me to gently flowing waters. 530 3. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me by the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4. Though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy staff and thy crook comfort me.
1. Jehovah is my shepherd. Although God, by his benefits, gently allures us to himself, as it were by a taste of his fatherly sweetness, yet there is nothing into which we more easily fall than into a forgetfulness of him, when we are in the enjoyment of peace and comfort. Yea, prosperity not only so intoxicates many, as to carry them beyond all bounds in their mirth, but it also engenders insolence, which makes them proudly rise up and break forth against God. Accordingly, there is scarcely a hundredth part of those who enjoy in abundance the good things of God, who keep themselves in his fear, and live in the exercise of humility and temperance, which would be so becoming. 531 For this reason, we ought the more carefully to mark the example which is here set before us by David, who, elevated to the dignity of sovereign power, surrounded with the splendor of riches and honors, possessed of the greatest abundance of temporal good things, and in the midst of princely pleasures, not only testifies that he is mindful of God, but calling to remembrance the benefits which God had conferred upon him, 532 makes them ladders by which he may ascend nearer to Him. By this means he not only bridles the wantonness of his flesh, but also excites himself with the greater earnestness to gratitude, and the other exercises of godliness, as appears from the concluding sentence of the psalm, where he says, "I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for a length of days." In like manner, in the 18th psalm, which was composed at a period of his life when he was applauded on every side, by calling himself the servant of God, he showed the humility and simplicity of heart to which he had attained, and, at the same time, openly testified his gratitude, by applying himself to the celebration of the praises of God.
"Le Seigneur est mon pasteur, porquoy je n'auray faute de rien." — Fr. "The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I shall not want any thing."
"Il me mene aux eaux quoyes." — Fr. "He leadeth me to the quiet [or peaceful] waters."
"Qui se contiene en la crainte de Dieu se selon la modestie et temperance qui seroit requise." — Fr.
"Mais rememorant les benefices qu'il repoit de luy." — Fr.