Indian Version of The Twenty-Third Psalm

by Isabel Crawford

The Great father above a Shepherd Chief is. I am His and in Him I want not. He throws out to us 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 will 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 this 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 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 after wards I will go to live in the Big Teepee and sit down with the Shepherd Chief forever.