User:The C of E/KoL

Henry Baker wrote "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" in 1868 based on Psalm 23. It was written while he was editor of the Church of England's "Hymns Ancient and Modern" hymnal. It was first published in "Hymns Ancient and Modern" in the same year's edition.

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The text of the hymn was written as a metrical psalter with Baker writing the lyrics to remain close to Biblical language rather than modern standards of English. In the 21st century, several words in the hymn were altered as they were viewed as too masculine due to ecumenism. The original image of God as the king of love was replaced with one of the shepherd displaying perfect love. This alteration was viewed by hymn book editors as being a good version of a compromise that retained the integrity of the original wording and the scriptural context of Psalm 23 as the original proposal to replace "king" with "sovereign" did not fit the music.