Indian Version of the 23rd Psalm

Psalm 23

The Great Father above a Shepherd Chief is. I am His and with Him I want not. He throws out to me a rope and the name of the rope is love and He draws me to where the grass is green and the water not dangerous. And I eat and lie down and am satisfied. Sometimes my heart is very weak and falls down but He lifts me up again and draws me into a good road. His Name is Wonderful.

Sometime, it may be very soon. it may be a long, long time, He will draw me into a valley. It is dark there, but i’ll be afraid not, for it is in between those mountains that the Shepherd Chief will meet me and the hunger that I have in my heart all through life will be satisfied.

Sometimes He makes the love rope into a whip., but afterwards He gives me a staff to lean upon. He spreads a table before me with all kinds of foods. He puts His hand upon my head and all the “tired” is gone. My cup He fills till it runs over. What I tell is true. I lie not. These roads that are “away ahead” will stay with me through this life and after: and afterwards I will go to live in the Big Teepee and sit down with the Shepherd Chief forever.

By George Hunt, Kiowa