Psalm 1 → 15
Token usage not recorded.
Argument
Thesis: Psalm 15 reads like an applied, temple-facing expansion of Psalm 1’s “two ways” wisdom prologue. The same core lexemes, motifs, and rhetorical moves recur, but Psalm 15 concretizes Psalm 1’s ideal into entrance-criteria for YHWH’s presence. Here are convergences that justify Psalm 15 as a logical sequel to Psalm 1. Shared vocabulary, roots, and forms (moving from stronger to weaker matches) - Shared motion root הלך (walk): - Ps 1:1 לא הלך בעצת רשעים (he did not walk in the counsel of the wicked). - Ps 15:2 הולך תמים (he who walks blamelessly). - Same root and word class; Psalm 15 flips Psalm 1’s negative abstention into a positive norm. - Root צדק (righteousness): - Ps 1:5–6 צַדִּיקִים (the righteous), דֶרֶךְ צַדִּיקִים (the way of the righteous). - Ps 15:2 פֹּעֵל צֶדֶק (doing righteousness). - Same root; Psalm 15 defines what “righteous” entails in concrete deeds. - Root עשה (do): - Ps 1:3 וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־יַעֲשֶׂה יַצְלִיחַ (whatever he does prospers). - Ps 15:5 עֹשֵׂה־אֵלֶּה לֹא יִמּוֹט לְעוֹלָם (the one who does these shall never be moved). - Same root and same “whoever does X → outcome Y” gnomic format; Psalm 15 supplies the list of “these things” that Psalm 1 leaves general. - “Sit/dwell” semantic field: - Ps 1:1 מוֹשַׁב לֵצִים … לֹא יָשָׁב (he did not sit in the seat of scoffers). - Ps 15:1 מִי־יָגוּר בְּאָהֳלֶךָ … מִי־יִשְׁכֹּן בְּהַר קָדְשֶׁךָ (who may sojourn/dwell in your tent/on your holy hill?). - Psalm 1 forbids sitting with mockers; Psalm 15 poses the alternative: the right “dwelling” is with YHWH. The contrast between human “seating” and divine “dwelling” is a pointed redirection of social location. - “Way/path” field: - Ps 1:1–2 דֶּרֶךְ חַטָּאִים … דֶּרֶךְ צַדִּיקִים. - Ps 15:2 הולך תמים (walking blamelessly). - Not the same lexeme in Psalm 15, but the same conceptual field of conduct-as-path. - Forensic/legal field: - Ps 1:5 בַּמִּשְׁפָּט (in the judgment); moral polarities of righteous/wicked. - Ps 15:3–5 legal-ethical specifics: לֹא רָגַל עַל־לְשׁוֹנוֹ (no slander), שֹׁחַד … לֹא לָקָח (no bribe), עַל־נָקִי (against the innocent), נִשְׁבַּע … וְלֹא יָמִיר (keeps oaths). - Psalm 15 supplies the forensic integrity that enables the Psalm 1-righteous to stand when judgment comes (cf. Ps 1:5). - Stability vs. collapse, expressed with motion verbs: - Ps 1:4–6 Wicked are כַמֹּץ … תִּדְּפֶנּוּ רוּחַ (driven like chaff); דֶּרֶךְ רְשָׁעִים תֹּאבֵד (the way of the wicked perishes). - Ps 1:5 לֹא־יָקֻמוּ רְשָׁעִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט (the wicked will not stand). - Ps 15:5 לֹא יִמּוֹט לְעוֹלָם (he will never be moved). - The same outcome-frame is inverted: Psalm 1 predicts the wicked’s failure to “stand” and final perishing; Psalm 15 promises the righteous’ immovability forever. Structural and stylistic parallels - Tricolon/triad of conduct: - Ps 1:1 three negated postures: לא הלך … לא עמד … לא ישב. - Ps 15:2 a positive triad: הולך תמים / פועל צדק / דובר אמת בלבבו, immediately followed by a string of negations (15:3–5: לא רגל … לא עשה … לא נשא … לא נתן … לא לקח). - Both psalms use tightly patterned lists, with multiple לא-clauses, to define the righteous by what they avoid and what they practice. - Proverbial frame with consequence: - Ps 1: results section (vv. 3–6): flourishing like a planted tree; success; wickedness perishes. - Ps 15: closing aphorism (v. 5): עושה אלה לא ימוט לעולם. - Both end with a gnomic promise that universalizes the described way of life. - Inclusio of “way” imagery and fixity: - Psalm 1 moves from “not walking/standing/sitting” to a planted tree by waters. - Psalm 15 moves from “who may dwell” to “not be moved forever.” - The rhetorical arc in both: rightly ordered movement yields stable rootedness. Conceptual and liturgical coherence (life-setting) - From Torah-internalization to Temple-entrance: - Ps 1 centers on internal devotion to תּוֹרַת יְהוָה, meditated יומם ולילה. - Ps 15 asks who may enter YHWH’s tent/hill and answers with a Decalogue-like ethical list (many count ten stipulations). This is Torah ethic enacted at the sanctuary gate. - Logical life-sequence for an ancient Israelite: instruction in Torah (Ps 1) → ascent/pilgrimage to YHWH’s dwelling with entrance examination (Ps 15). - Social alignment: - Ps 1: avoids the council/path/seat of the wicked, sinners, scoffers. - Ps 15: counts the vile as despised (נבזה בעיניו נמאס) and honors יראי יהוה. - The person who refuses solidarity with scoffers (Ps 1) also refuses to dignify the vile (Ps 15) and instead honors the God-fearers—two sides of the same social sorting. - Eden/Zion imagery of nearness to God: - Ps 1: a tree “planted by streams of water” evokes Edenic blessing and the river motifs associated with God’s dwelling. - Ps 15: “your tent … your holy hill” evokes Zion, the earthly locus of divine presence. - Together they sketch one trajectory: Torah-rooted flourishing by the waters → qualified access to the hill where God dwells. Notable pairings with added weight - Exact root and same word class: - הלך (Ps 1:1; 15:2), צדק/צדיק (Ps 1; 15:2), עשה (Ps 1:3; 15:5). These are the strongest lexical anchors tying the psalms’ ethics and outcomes together. - Antithetical outcome formulae with rare-ish motion verbs: - Ps 1:5–6 uses יקום/תאבד and the chaff image; Ps 15:5 uses ימוט. “ימוט” is a marked Psalms-word for unshakable stability, the positive counter to Psalm 1’s failure-to-stand and being-driven-away. - Dwelling lexemes in deliberate counterpoint: - Psalm 1’s “seat” (מושב) of mockers versus Psalm 15’s “sojourn/dwell” (גור/שכן) with YHWH. The choice of where and with whom to sit in Psalm 1 determines where and with whom one may dwell in Psalm 15. How Psalm 15 develops Psalm 1’s claims - Psalm 1 defines the righteous in principle: they refuse wicked counsel, embrace Torah, and thus prosper and stand under divine scrutiny. - Psalm 15 specifies the righteous in practice: speech ethics (לא רגל … דובר אמת בלבבו), neighbor-love (לא עשה לרעהו רעה), evaluative loyalties (נבזה … יראי יהוה), promise-keeping (נשבע … ולא ימיר), financial rectitude (לא נתן בנשך … לא לקח שוחד). - This concretization answers Psalm 1’s implicit question, “What does the righteous way look like?” with a temple-gate catechism. Canonical placement note - Within the Psalter’s broader design, Psalm 1 opens with Torah and two ways; Psalm 15 (paired with Psalm 24) functions as an entrance liturgy. That macro-pattern supports reading Psalm 15 as the liturgical sequel to Psalm 1’s sapiential prologue: Torah-shaped character produces temple access and immovable stability. Conclusion - On lexical grounds (הלך; צדק; עשה; dwelling field), on structural-stylistic grounds (triads of behavior; strings of לא; proverbial closure), on conceptual grounds (Torah-internalization → sanctuary qualification; social sorting; stability vs. perishing), and with Israel’s life-setting in view (instruction preceding pilgrimage), Psalm 15 is a logical, even programmatic, follow-on to Psalm 1. The blessed “walker” of Psalm 1 is precisely the “blameless walker” who may dwell with YHWH in Psalm 15 and who, therefore, “will never be moved.”
Evaluation
Score: 9.0
Evaluated at: 2025-09-29T01:54:36 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v1
Reasoning: 1984 Output: 2541 Total: 4525
A strong, nuanced case: it marshals precise Hebrew lexical correspondences (הלך, צדק/צדיק, עשה), structural parallels (triads, strings of לא, gnomic closure), and a persuasive conceptual arc (Torah-internalization → temple entrance; stability vs. collapse). It distinguishes stronger from weaker matches and situates Ps 15 within entrance-liturgy traditions (with Ps 24). Minor caveats: several lexemes are common across the Psalter, "rare-ish" for ימוט overstates distinctiveness, and the canonical flow (Ps 2; Ps 14→15; Ps 24) could be engaged more explicitly. Overall, highly compelling and well-supported.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 1 and Psalm 15 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 15 logically follows on from Psalm 1? Consider stylistic similarities, similarities of form, similarities of vocab or ideas, shared roots (if you're doing the search in Hebrew), connections to sequences of events common in ancient Israelite life, mythology or history shared by the two psalms.
Rarer words are more significant than commoner words. Identical forms are more significant than similar forms. The same word class is more significant than different word classes formed from the same root. Identical roots are more significant than suppletive roots.
Psalm 1:
Psalm 1
1. אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־
הָאִ֗ישׁ
אֲשֶׁ֤ר ׀
לֹ֥א
הָלַךְ֮
בַּעֲצַ֢ת
רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים
וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ
חַ֭טָּאִים
לֹ֥א
עָמָ֑ד
וּבְמוֹשַׁ֥ב
לֵ֝צִ֗ים
לֹ֣א
יָשָֽׁב׃
2. כִּ֤י
אִ֥ם
בְּתוֹרַ֥ת
יְהוָ֗ה
חֶ֫פְצ֥וֹ
וּֽבְתוֹרָת֥וֹ
יֶהְגֶּ֗ה
יוֹמָ֥ם
וָלָֽיְלָה׃
3. וְֽהָיָ֗ה
כְּעֵץ֮
שָׁת֢וּל
עַֽל־
פַּלְגֵ֫י
מָ֥יִם
אֲשֶׁ֤ר
פִּרְי֨וֹ ׀
יִתֵּ֬ן
בְּעִתּ֗וֹ
וְעָלֵ֥הוּ
לֹֽא־
יִבּ֑וֹל
וְכֹ֖ל
אֲשֶׁר־
יַעֲשֶׂ֣ה
יַצְלִֽיחַ׃
4. לֹא־
כֵ֥ן
הָרְשָׁעִ֑ים
כִּ֥י
אִם־
כַּ֝מֹּ֗ץ
אֲֽשֶׁר־
תִּדְּפֶ֥נּוּ
רֽוּחַ׃
5. עַל־
כֵּ֤ן ׀
לֹא־
יָקֻ֣מוּ
רְ֭שָׁעִים
בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט
וְ֝חַטָּאִ֗ים
בַּעֲדַ֥ת
צַדִּיקִֽים׃
6. כִּֽי־
יוֹדֵ֣עַ
יְ֭הוָה
דֶּ֣רֶךְ
צַדִּיקִ֑ים
וְדֶ֖רֶךְ
רְשָׁעִ֣ים
תֹּאבֵֽד׃
Psalm 15:
Psalm 15
1. מִזְמ֗וֹר
לְדָ֫וִ֥ד
י֭הֹוָה
מִי־
יָג֣וּר
בְּאָהֳלֶ֑ךָ
מִֽי־
יִ֝שְׁכֹּ֗ן
בְּהַ֣ר
קָדְשֶֽׁךָ׃
2. הוֹלֵ֣ךְ
תָּ֭מִים
וּפֹעֵ֥ל
צֶ֑דֶק
וְדֹבֵ֥ר
אֱ֝מֶ֗ת
בִּלְבָֽבוֹ׃
3. לֹֽא־
רָגַ֨ל ׀
עַל־
לְשֹׁנ֗וֹ
לֹא־
עָשָׂ֣ה
לְרֵעֵ֣הוּ
רָעָ֑ה
וְ֝חֶרְפָּ֗ה
לֹא־
נָשָׂ֥א
עַל־
קְרֹֽבוֹ׃
4. נִבְזֶ֤ה ׀
בְּֽעֵ֘ינָ֤יו
נִמְאָ֗ס
וְאֶת־
יִרְאֵ֣י
יְהוָ֣ה
יְכַבֵּ֑ד
נִשְׁבַּ֥ע
לְ֝הָרַ֗ע
וְלֹ֣א
יָמִֽר׃
5. כַּסְפּ֤וֹ ׀
לֹא־
נָתַ֣ן
בְּנֶשֶׁךְ֮
וְשֹׁ֥חַד
עַל־
נָקִ֗י
לֹ֥א
לָ֫קָ֥ח
עֹֽשֵׂה־
אֵ֑לֶּה
לֹ֖א
יִמּ֣וֹט
לְעוֹלָֽם׃