Psalm 23 Psalm 23 was not used for funerals until the 1928 revision of the prayer book. The theme of God as a shepherd was common in ancient Israel and Mesopotamia. For example, King Hammurabi, in the conclusion to his famous legal code, wrote: "I am the shepherd who brings well-being and abundant prosperity; my rule is just... so that the strong might not oppress the weak, and that even the orphan and the widow might be treated with justice." This imagery and language was well known to the community that created the Psalm, and was easily imported into its worship. Psalm
Hear my prayer, O Lord (Purcell) voices combine in a towering dissonant tone cluster which desperately demands the final cadential resolution." The anthem has been recorded many times, including a 1995 release by the Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, and one from 2006 by the Choir of Clare College Cambridge, conducted by Timothy Brown. Hear my prayer, O Lord (Purcell) Hear my prayer, O Lord, Z. 15, is an eight-part choral anthem by the English composer Henry Purcell (1659–1695). The anthem is a setting of the first verse of Psalm 102 in the version of the Book of Common Prayer. Purcell composed it c.