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
Psalm 102 where it is split as an antiphon into a "call" ("Lord, listen to my prayer", or "Hear my prayer, O Lord") and the response ("and let my cry come unto Thee"). This psalm occurs in the Monastic office of St Benedict (480-547) in the Saturday vigils or Matins. It occurs in the same place in the Roman Breviary of St Pius V (1568) and occurs at Saturday Terce in the Roman Breviary of St Pius X (1911). In the revised office of Pope Paul VI (1971) the Psalm occurs on Tuesday Week 4 Vigils The second verse is set in