The dark valley through which the believer walks under the LORD's shepherding. Psalm 23:4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. The Hebrew gei tsalmavet (valley of the shadow of death) names the deepest darkness the psalm-traveler can encounter — whether literal physical danger, terminal illness, the death of loved ones, or the spiritual darkness of despair. Two features mark the valley as biblical: the speaker walks through it (not into it permanently — it is traversed, not inhabited), and the LORD is with him (the pronouns shift in the psalm precisely here, from he leadeth me in v. 3 to thou art with me in v. 4 — the deepest moment becomes the closest moment). The shadow of death is real; the LORD's presence in it is more real. The valley is for passing, not staying.