Letter 020 — The Whole Letter: Chesed Pursues You (Psalm 23)

One Hebrew verb at the end of Psalm 23 changes everything. Goodness and lovingkindness do not follow you. They pursue you. Today we hear the whole letter.In this letter- The opening claim — Psalm 23 is about life, not death- The three movements of the psalm — pastoral, valley, banquet- Nephesh (the deep word for soul) and what restoration means- Tsalmaveth and walking through the valley, not around it- The banquet imagery in verses 5 and 6 — a guest at the table while the enemies watch- The Hebrew word chesed — the covenant lovingkindness of God- The verb radaph — and why goodness and mercy follow you is mistranslated as too gentle- The shepherd who leads from the front and pursues from behind- A direct word for the pursued, the third-person prayer-er, and the one who does not yet know the voiceScripture- Psalm 23 (full)- John 10:11 (referenced)Hebrew word studies- chesed (חֶסֶד, Strong's H2617) — steadfast lovingkindness, covenant love, loyal kindness. The word that runs through the whole Old Testament for God's relationship to His people.- radaph (רָדַף, Strong's H7291) — to pursue, to chase, to hunt down. What an army does to a retreating enemy. What a hunter does to game. The verb mistranslated as follow.- nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ, Strong's H5315) — soul, life, self, the whole inner person. What the shepherd restores.- tsalmaveth (צַלְמָוֶת, H6757) — the valley of deep darkness (carried from Thursday).- ra'ah (רָעָה, H7462) — to shepherd (carried from Tuesday).Next week's letter | Luke 15 — The Long Way Home (the prodigal son).> That's this week's letter. We'll see you Monday with another.Support Letters From Home at https://buymeacoffee.com/lettersfromhome