Psalm 23 · a question people ask

Does 23:6 say "dwell" or "return"?

In the text

The WEB reads, "and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever" (23:6). The Hebrew word is veshavti. The Westminster Leningrad Codex, as tagged by the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, takes it as a form of yashav, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "sit, remain, dwell" (tap dwell). Letter for letter and vowel for vowel, the same word is tagged as a form of shuv, the verb of 23:3's restores, in nine other verses of that text, among them "so that I come again to my father’s house in peace" (Genesis 28:21). Elsewhere the text writes this form of yashav with its first letter, yashavti, as in "I have not sat with deceitful men" (Psalm 26:4). So the word can be read either way: I will dwell, as the tag and the WEB read it, or I will return. Another psalm has yashav with the same house and the same days: "that I may dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life" (Psalm 27:4). And forever in 23:6 is le'orekh yamim, literally "for length of days"; Brown-Driver-Briggs gives orekh as "length" and "length of time". These notes don't choose between the readings.

The verses

“Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.”
Psalm 23:6 · World English Bible
“He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Psalm 23:3 · World English Bible
“so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, and the LORD will be my God,”
Genesis 28:21 · World English Bible
“I have not sat with deceitful men, neither will I go in with hypocrites.”
Psalm 26:4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 23

Psalm 23: The LORD is my shepherd

Psalm 23 speaks about the LORD until the valley, then speaks to him: "for you are with me" (23:4). Its "still waters" are, in Hebrew, waters of rest. And the goodness and loving kindness that "follow" the psalmist (23:6) pursue him, with the verb other psalms use for enemies.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions