Sir Henry Williams Baker (1821–1877; see SDAH 20) wrote the paraphrase of the Shepherd Psalm in 1868, and it appeared in Hymns Ancient and Modern of that year, in six stanzas. The four stanzas in SDAH draw from Psalm 23 as follows: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul” and “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” It is more than a paraphrase, for Baker has also drawn upon the New Testament in the third stanza (see Luke 15:5, 6). Baker composed a tune for his hymn, but it was not successful, so he asked his friend John Bacchus Dykes (1823–1876; see Biographies) to compose one.

The result was DOMINUS REGIT ME (The Lord Rules Me), so named from the first three words of the Latin Vulgate Version of Psalm 23. Notice that the descending melody in line 1 is very similar to that in line 3, and that the ascending melody in line 2 is quite similar to that in line 4. The harmony for each, however, is quite different, the mark of a master musician.

Baker also wrote SDAH 20, “O Praise Ye the Lord,” and SDAH 116, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten.”