This verse is often used to comfort those who are dying, and it is not wrongly used in this way. God is certainly a source of comfort in a person’s dying moments. However, this verse primarily speaks of the shepherd’s ability to protect his sheep in moments of danger. The picture, as Keller points out, is of the seasonal passage from the lowlands, where sheep spend the winter, through the valleys to the high pastures, where they go in summer. The valleys are places of rich pasture and much water,