Psalm 23: Through, Not Around

The best known psalm in the world, and the most often misread as a promise of an easy road.

Read the preposition. The valley is walked through. It is not removed, and it is not gone around. What changes is that the shepherd is in it, and the language shifts at exactly that point from talking about him to talking to him.

Up to the valley it is he. From the valley on it is you. The trouble is where the relationship becomes second person.