Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6

Psalm 23 is my psalm, no doubt about it. Over the past months I've read it to myself over and over again. I love it. I especially love this 'goodness and mercy' bit which has opened up to me in a completely new way.

The Hebrew word which is translated as 'follow' is radaph. I did a little bit of research and found out some interesting stuff. Apparently it's a word which is translated in different ways in the Old Testament. It can mean 'to follow' - obviously - but it is also translated as 'to pursue', 'to chase', 'to run after', even 'to harass'. Which means that it's a word with a very strong meaning. It's not some vague following, the Bible says that those two - twin angels as Charles Spurgeon calls them - pursue us relentlessly. That they won't let go. That they don't grow tired. That they won't give up. Basically, that goodness and mercy are so persistent they're HARASSING us. Wow. Like, wow.

I'm voting for the 'harassing' translation.

So to me Psalm 23 is all about following and being followed. It's starts with us following the Shepherd. And then the twin angels, goodness and mercy, follow us. It's quite beautiful, if you think of it, really.

So we're in the good company, guys. :)