Psalm 2 → 137
Reasoning: 6848 Output: 4090 Total: 10938
Argument
Short answer: Psalm 137 reads like a real-time, exilic “answer” to the program of Psalm 2. Psalm 2 lays out Zion’s royal theology—the nations rage, but YHWH enthrones his son on Zion and promises to shatter the rebels. Psalm 137 is the lament when that theology is under trial in Babylon, and it petitions God to enact precisely the retributive shattering Psalm 2 promised. Several rare and pointed lexical links, plus shared Zion motifs and matching forms, make the case that 137 can be read as logically following Psalm 2. Most significant textual hooks (rarer/stronger first) - Shared rare root נ-פ-ץ “to dash to pieces,” both in Piel and both in climactic lines: - Ps 2:9 תְנַפְּצֵם “you shall dash them to pieces” (Piel, 2ms, with 3mp suffix). - Ps 137:9 וְנִפֵּץ “and [who] dashes [them]” (Piel). This verb is not common; its repetition in both psalms for violent judgment is a marked, deliberate echo. Psalm 137’s wish (“blessed is he who … dashes your little ones against the rock”) concretizes Psalm 2’s general threat (“you will shatter them like a potter’s vessel”). - Ashrei beatitude framing at each psalm’s end: - Ps 2:12 אַשְׁרֵי כָל־חֹוסֵי בוֹ “Happy are all who take refuge in him.” - Ps 137:8–9 אַשְׁרֵי … אַשְׁרֵי “Happy the one who repays you … Happy the one who seizes and dashes…” The “ashrei” closure functions as a rhetorical seal; Psalm 137 doubles it, applying “happiness/blessedness” to the agent of retributive justice—in effect, the human instrument of the shattering announced in Psalm 2. - Zion as the focal locus in both: - Ps 2:6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” - Ps 137:1, 3, 5–6 “we remembered Zion … a song of Zion … if I forget you, O Jerusalem … I elevate Jerusalem above my chief joy.” Psalm 137’s “שיר ציון” explicitly invokes the Zion-enthronement song genre—exactly the type of piece Psalm 2 represents. The captors’ taunt “Sing us one of Zion’s songs!” reads like an ironic demand to perform a Psalm 2–style royal hymn in exile. - The nations motif: from generic “nations” to named enemies. - Ps 2:1, 8 גּוֹיִם, לְאֻמִּים; universal “kings of the earth” and “judges of the earth.” - Ps 137: Babylon and Edom are the concrete instantiation of those raging nations; Babylon is the archetypal “rebellious nation” and Edom the collaborator. This moves Psalm 2’s geopolitical canvas from theory to specific historical actors. - “Shattering” imagery alignment: - Ps 2:9 “rod of iron … shatter like a potter’s vessel” (כִּכְלִי יוֹצֵר תְּנַפְּצֵם). - Ps 137:9 “dash [infants] against the rock” (וְנִפֵּץ … אֶל־הַסָּלַע). Both envision brittle impact-destruction. Psalm 137’s rock functions like Psalm 2’s potter’s vessel end-state: what is struck is utterly broken. - YHWH-focused legal/forensic verbs in parallel positions: - Ps 2:7–9 “I will recount (אֲסַפְּרָה) the decree … Ask of me … I will give … you shall rule/shatter.” - Ps 137:7 “Remember (זְכֹר), O LORD …” and 137:8 “who will repay (שֶׁיְשַׁלֶּם) you your recompense.” The royal decree of Psalm 2 becomes, in exile, a covenant lawsuit: a petition for divine remembrance and measured repayment. Both are juridical frames, one promissory, one imprecatory. Solid, but second-order, stylistic/thematic ties - Antithetical “sitting”: Ps 2:4 יוֹשֵׁב בַּשָּׁמַיִם “He who sits enthroned in the heavens” vs. Ps 137:1 שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ “there we sat” by Babylon’s rivers. The enthroned sitting of God contrasts the abject sitting of the exiles; the two scenes belong to one drama. - Worship in a hostile world: - Ps 2:10–12 calls the nations’ leaders to “serve YHWH with fear … kiss the son … lest you perish.” - Ps 137:3–4 narrates the impossibility of singing “YHWH’s song on foreign soil.” Both deal with right response to YHWH among the nations: Psalm 2 demands it; Psalm 137 laments its mockery. - “Today/Day” as crisis points: - Ps 2:7 הַיּוֹם “Today I have begotten you.” - Ps 137:7 יוֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָם “the day of Jerusalem [its fall].” The enthronement “today” vs. the catastrophic “day” of Jerusalem dramatizes the arc from royal installation to national humiliation. - Foundation imagery: - Ps 137:7 “tear it down to its foundation (עַד הַיְסוֹד).” - Ps 2:6 “on Zion, my holy mountain.” While lexically different, the ideas mirror: Psalm 2 establishes Zion as the bedrock of kingship; Psalm 137 recalls enemies calling to strip Zion down to its very foundations. How Psalm 137 “follows” Psalm 2 in a narrative-theological arc - Sequence of events: 1) Psalm 2: The nations rage; God installs his king on Zion and promises iron-rod rule and shattering judgment. 2) History: The nations (now Babylon and Edom) sack Jerusalem; Zion’s songs are silenced; Israel is exiled. 3) Psalm 137: From exile, Israel appeals for the very judgment Psalm 2 foretold—remembrance, repayment, and “dashing” of the rebellious oppressor. In other words, Psalm 137 is the lived, exilic moment that begs for Psalm 2’s royal verdict to be executed against Babylon. - Genre continuity: - Psalm 2 is a royal/Zion psalm; Psalm 137 explicitly names “a song of Zion” and refuses to perform it in exile. Its final imprecation functions as the counterpoint to the royal oracle of Psalm 2, pressing for its realization. - A pointed lexical hinge: - The recurrence of Piel נ-פ-ץ near each psalm’s conclusion (Ps 2:9; Ps 137:9) is a strong, specific hook. Psalm 137’s closing “אַשְׁרֵי … וְנִפֵּץ” can be heard as invoking the promised “תְנַפְּצֵם” of Psalm 2:9 and asking God to make it happen now—to Babylon. Possible additional (more debated) linkage - The unusual “נַשְּׁקוּ־בַר” in Psalm 2:12 has often been read as containing an Aramaic “bar” (“son” or “purity”), an exilic or international coloring that resonates with Psalm 137’s Babylonian setting. Even if one prefers “purity” in Hebrew, the cosmopolitan tone of addressing foreign kings in Ps 2 matches the diaspora context of Ps 137. Bottom line - Strongest connective tissue: the rare, matching Piel of נ-פ-ץ and the “ashrei” closures—both clustered at the psalms’ ends—and the shared Zion focus. - Thematically, Psalm 137 is the exilic lament that calls for Psalm 2’s enthronement oracle to be enforced against the actual nation that destroyed Zion. Read this way, Psalm 137 logically follows Psalm 2 as the historical and liturgical sequel: the nations’ rage (Ps 2) culminates in Babylon’s conquest (Ps 137), and the community prays that the kingly, iron-rod judgment promised in Psalm 2 will now fall on Babylon.
Evaluation
No evaluation has been recorded for this pair yet.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 2 and Psalm 137 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 137 logically follows on from Psalm 2? 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 2:
Psalm 2
1. לָ֭מָּה
רָגְשׁ֣וּ
גוֹיִ֑ם
וּ֝לְאֻמִּ֗ים
יֶהְגּוּ־
רִֽtיק׃
2. יִ֥תְיַצְּב֨וּ ׀
מַלְכֵי־
אֶ֗רֶץ
וְרוֹזְנִ֥ים
נֽוֹסְדוּ־
יָ֑חַד
עַל־
יְ֝הוָה
וְעַל־
מְשִׁיחֽtוֹ׃
3. נְֽ֭נַתְּקָה
אֶת־
מֽוֹסְרוֹתֵ֑ימוֹ
וְנַשְׁלִ֖יכָה
מִמֶּ֣נּוּ
עֲבֹתֵֽימוֹ׃
4. יוֹשֵׁ֣ב
בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִם
יִשְׂחָ֑ק
אֲ֝דֹנָ֗י
יִלְעַג־
לָֽמוֹ׃
5. אָ֤ז
יְדַבֵּ֣ר
אֵלֵ֣ימוֹ
בְאַפּ֑וֹ
וּֽבַחֲרוֹנ֥וֹ
יְבַהֲלֵֽמוֹ׃
6. וַ֭אֲנִי
נָסַ֣כְתִּי
מַלְכִּ֑י
עַל־
צִ֝יּ֗וֹן
הַר־
קָדְשִֽׁי׃
7. אֲסַפְּרָ֗ה
אֶֽ֫ל
חֹ֥ק
יְֽהוָ֗ה
אָמַ֘ר
אֵלַ֥י
בְּנִ֥י
אַ֑תָּה
אֲ֝נִ֗י
הַיּ֥וֹם
יְלִדְתִּֽיךָ׃
8. שְׁאַ֤ל
מִמֶּ֗נִּי
וְאֶתְּנָ֣ה
ג֭וֹיִם
נַחֲלָתֶ֑ךָ
וַ֝אֲחֻזָּתְךָ֗
אַפְסֵי־
אָֽרֶץ׃
9. תְּ֭רֹעֵם
בְּשֵׁ֣בֶט
בַּרְזֶ֑ל
כִּכְלִ֖י
יוֹצֵ֣ר
תְּנַפְּצֵֽם׃
10. וְ֭עַתָּה
מְלָכִ֣ים
הַשְׂכִּ֑ילוּ
הִ֝וָּסְר֗וּ
שֹׁ֣פְטֵי
אָֽרֶץ׃
11. עִבְד֣וּ
אֶת־
יְהוָ֣ה
בְּיִרְאָ֑ה
וְ֝גִ֗ילוּ
בִּרְעָדָֽה׃
12. נַשְּׁקוּ־
בַ֡ר
פֶּן־
יֶאֱנַ֤ף ׀
וְתֹ֬אבְדוּ
דֶ֗רֶךְ
כִּֽי־
יִבְעַ֣ר
כִּמְעַ֣ט
אַפּ֑וֹ
אַ֝שְׁרֵ֗י
כָּל־
ח֥וֹסֵי
בֽוֹ׃
Psalm 137:
Psalm 137
1. עַ֥ל
נַהֲר֨וֹת ׀
בָּבֶ֗ל
שָׁ֣ם
יָ֭שַׁבְנוּ
גַּם־
בָּכִ֑ינוּ
בְּ֝זָכְרֵ֗נוּ
אֶת־
צִיּֽוֹן׃
2. עַֽל־
עֲרָבִ֥ים
בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ
תָּ֝לִ֗ינוּ
כִּנֹּרוֹתֵֽינוּ׃
3. כִּ֤י
שָׁ֨ם
שְֽׁאֵל֪וּנוּ
שׁוֹבֵ֡ינוּ
דִּבְרֵי־
שִׁ֭יר
וְתוֹלָלֵ֣ינוּ
שִׂמְחָ֑ה
שִׁ֥ירוּ
לָ֝֗נוּ
מִשִּׁ֥יר
צִיּֽוֹן׃
4. אֵ֗יךְ
נָשִׁ֥יר
אֶת־
שִׁיר־
יְהוָ֑ה
עַ֝֗ל
אַדְמַ֥ת
נֵכָֽר׃
5. אִֽם־
אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ
יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם
תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח
יְמִינִֽי׃
6. תִּדְבַּֽק־
לְשׁוֹנִ֨י ׀
לְחִכִּי֮
אִם־
לֹ֢א
אֶזְכְּ֫רֵ֥כִי
אִם־
לֹ֣א
אַ֭עֲלֶה
אֶת־
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֑ם
עַ֝֗ל
רֹ֣אשׁ
שִׂמְחָתִֽי׃
7. זְכֹ֤ר
יְהוָ֨ה ׀
לִבְנֵ֬י
אֱד֗וֹם
אֵת֮
י֤וֹם
יְֽרוּשָׁ֫לִָ֥ם
הָ֭אֹ֣מְרִים
עָ֤רוּ ׀
עָ֑רוּ
עָ֝֗ד
הַיְס֥וֹד
בָּֽהּ׃
8. בַּת־
בָּבֶ֗ל
הַשְּׁד֫וּדָ֥ה
אַשְׁרֵ֥י
שֶׁיְשַׁלֶּם־
לָ֑ךְ
אֶת־
גְּ֝מוּלֵ֗ךְ
שֶׁגָּמַ֥לְתְּ
לָֽנוּ׃
9. אַשְׁרֵ֤י ׀
שֶׁיֹּאחֵ֓ז
וְנִפֵּ֬ץ
אֶֽת־
עֹלָלַ֗יִךְ
אֶל־
הַסָּֽלַע׃