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An Old Friend - Bob Schall
I have deliberately printed two translations of the 23rd Psalm. The King James Version is the one that many of us memorized years ago. Yes, it has the Old English "thee" and "thou" words, as well as "maketh," and "leadeth," and the ever popular "anointest." When you repeated the 23rd Psalm using those words, you knew you were either in church or at a funeral (the two most popular places the KJV translation was used), or in deep brown trouble.
On the other hand, The Message translation is one of the newer renditions of this old favorite. It gives the archaic KJV words new life and understanding. I always did have problems with the oil on the head allusion in the KJV, even though at the time I learned the 23rd Psalm I was slathering my head with dabs of Brylcreem oil. (Remember, "a little dab will do ya', the gals will all pursue ya'.) We just don't pour generous quantities of oil on people's heads anymore. But we dutifully learned the 23rd anyway.
I mentioned that we hear the King James Version or a modernized equivalent, most often at a funeral. As a young pastor in a two-point country charge in rural Ohio, I quickly learned that the 23rd Psalm was the most often requested scripture reading at a funeral, and was additionally requested to be the theme of the memorial message. As an aside, the last three years of that appointment I averaged a funeral every 10-12 days, and since I was the only pastor in that end of the county, Psalm 23 and I became intimate friends. That intimacy was a good thing. (You couldn't preach the same 23rd Psalm sermon at every funeral because inevitably somebody or several somebodies from the last funeral would be present  at the next one!)
So I learned to parse the 23rd Psalm. Each phrase seems to have a "sweetness" to it and a meaning all of its own. I took a cursory look at the Psalm today and still see at least 20 meditations within its lines. So rich is this Psalm with comfort and promise. And then when I reread the 23rd Psalm with a new translation, even more possibilities leapt off the page. The Message, for instance, gives every phrase a fresh and expanding look at this Psalm's depth of meaning.
Do yourself a favor today. Skip back to the top of this meditation and read the 23rd Psalm in the King James Version. Then read it once again in The Message translation. The second time, be more deliberate in your reading. Think of the quiet pool. Visualize the six course dinner and a cup brimming with blessing. (What does that look like to you?) And then, "beauty and love" chasing me. I suddenly found a blessing from this old friend, the 23rd Psalm. I hope and pray that you will find one today as well.
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It doesn't matter which translation speaks best to you. God's truth is in each one of them. Being a person who finds much meaning in song, I commend to your listening yet another rendition of the 23rd Psalm, this time in music. 
