The Lord is my Shepherd (Rutter) The Lord is my Shepherd (Rutter) The Lord is my Shepherd is a sacred choral composition by John Rutter, a setting of Psalm 23. The work was published by Oxford University Press in 1978. Marked "Slow but flowing", the music is in C major and 2/4 time. Rutter composed it for Mel Olson and the Chancel Choir of the First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska. He later included the work as a movement in his Requiem of 1985, then with orchestra or chamber ensemble.. In 1993, Rutter also made it part of his "Psalmfest", a collection of nine psalms
Psalm 107 Despite the transgressions of the Israelites, the Lord forgives them. The psalm elaborates on this theme, going on to say that the Lord “turns a desert into pools of water ... and there he lets the hungry dwell” (v. 35, 36). This description of miracles as performed by the Lord reinforces the imagery of “wonderful works” mentioned earlier in the psalm (v. 8). The works of the Lord, however, are mentioned in many psalms; what makes Psalm 107 somewhat unusual is its depiction of the works of the Lord as explication for the people. The psalm is a hymn of