---
title: Psalms 23:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-23-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-23-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 23:1
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 23:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Jehovah is my Shepherd. I will lack nothing."

## JW Usage

Psalm 23:1 is read devotionally in JW publications as David's expression of personal trust in Jehovah. The Watchtower acknowledges the personal language but interprets the shepherd-and-sheep relationship as fitting within the organisational framework: Jehovah shepherds his people through the appointed channel of the Governing Body and the elder body, with Christ as the chief shepherd presiding invisibly.

## Protestant Usage

David's confession is direct and personal: "Jehovah is MY Shepherd" — first-person possessive, no organisational intermediary. Pair Psalm 23:1 with John 10:14 (Jesus: "I am the fine shepherd, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me") and 1 Peter 5:4 (Christ as the "chief shepherd"). The Watchtower's mediating layer — Governing Body, branch committees, circuit overseers, elder bodies — has no parallel in either David's psalm or Jesus's self-description. The shepherd-sheep relationship is direct: the believer knows Christ, and Christ knows the believer. Pair also with Hebrews 4:16 (every believer can "approach the throne of grace with confidence") and Matthew 11:28 ("come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down"). The doorway to the shepherd is open; no organisation needs to mediate.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Come to ME — Direct Relationship with Christ](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/direct-relationship-with-god.md) — Matthew 11:28 / John 15:5 / 1 Timothy 2:5 — No organisation between you and the Saviour [Salvation]