The sameness of word order, semantic similarities and line length of the two clauses make the parallelism in this verse quite obvious. In line a “he causes me to lie down” is paralleled in line b by “he leads me,” and the same is true of the paired expressions at the end of the two lines. The movement between the two lines is nearly static. They simply say that a is so, and b is so.

He makes me lie down: the causative form of the verb “to lie down” does not have the sense of “he forces me to lie down,” as Revised Standard Version he makes me lie down seems to say (also New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version). The idea is that the shepherd finds a place (green pastures) where the sheep can lie down and rest. So New Jerusalem Bible “he lets me lie.”

Green pastures: places in fields or meadows where the grass is abundant, a good place for the sheep to graze and rest. This may need to be rendered “fields where there is much grass to eat” or “good fields to graze in.”

Still waters translates “waters of quietness.” New Jerusalem Bible has “water in places of repose”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “brooks of quiet waters.” Also possible is “refreshing streams.” This is not a stagnant pool, but a place where the fresh water flows gently, making it easy for the sheep to drink it. In some languages this is “streams of fresh water” or “rivers with good water.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .