He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.During the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, the practice of exclusive psalmody made Psalm singing a central part of public worship.

[3] The English lawyer and politician Francis Rous authored a new metrical paraphrase of the Book of Psalms which he published in 1641.

Under Oliver Cromwell, Rous had been appointed a member of the Westminster Assembly and was a prominent figure among the English Puritans.

[4] Before his Psalms could be approved, they were subjected to scrutiny by the Long Parliament, and a committee of translators was formed to review submissions by Rous and by his rival, William Barton.

According to some accounts, she composed the tune in 1871 as an exercise for a composition class and it was first performed at evening worship at Auchterless Parish Church.

[8] At the time, Grant was collaborating with a group of associates compiling hymns and metrical psalms from across the North of Scotland with the intention of publishing them in a new hymnal.

In the 1940s, a rival claim emerged in form of a letter written in 1911 by Jessie's sister, Anna Irvine, to the Rev Robert Monteith, then the minister of Crimond Church.

Anna's account was contested by the editors of The Northern Psalter, who wrote to Monteith claiming that she had confused the tune with another entitled Ballantine that Jessie had composed and submitted to them for publication.

[8][17] A later publication of the hymn tune in the 1929 Scottish Psalter was re-harmonised by the editor, Thomas Cuthbertson Leithead Pritchard (1885–1960).

And when I feele my selfe neere lost, Then home He me doth take, Conducting me in His right paths, Even for His owne Names sake.

3.Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale, yet will I fear none ill, for thou art with me; and thy rod and staff me comfort still.

5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me; and in God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be.