Psalm 3 → 57
Reasoning: 6592 Output: 4461 Total: 11053
Argument
Here are lines of argument—moving from the most objective/formal to the thematic—that can justify reading Psalm 57 as a logical sequel to Psalm 3.
1) Superscription and setting: two “fugitive psalms” with an identical phrase
- Identical collocation בברחו מפני “when he fled from/before …” appears in both headings:
- Ps 3:1: בבָרְחו מִפְּנֵי אַבְשָׁלוֹם בנו
- Ps 57:1: בְּבָרְחֹו מִפְּנֵי־שָׁאוּל בַּמְּעָרָה
- That exact phrase is comparatively rare and strongly marks both as prayers composed in the same life-situation type: David as a fugitive under mortal threat. This formal match alone gives a strong basis for sequencing them as a pair.
2) Shared lexemes and roots (rarer or more marked items first)
- כבודי “my glory” (same form): Ps 3:4 כבודי; Ps 57:9 עורה כבודי; plus the refrain in Ps 57 shifts from David’s “my glory” to God’s “your glory” (כבודך) over all the earth (vv. 6, 12). This creates a meaningful progression: from the restoration of David’s personal honor (Ps 3) to the exalting of God’s glory universally (Ps 57).
- שן “tooth/teeth” (rare as enemy imagery, and concrete): Ps 3:8 שִנֵּי רְשָׁעִים שִׁבַּרְתָּ vs. Ps 57:5 שִׁנֵּיהֶם חֲנִית וְחִצִּים. Psalm 3 ends with God breaking the enemies’ teeth; Psalm 57 depicts those teeth as weaponized—then shows the enemies falling into their own trap (57:7). The imagery “talks to” each other.
- Root ישע “save” in the same semantic field, with varied forms:
- Ps 3:8 הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי; Ps 3:9 לַיהוָה הַיְשׁוּעָה
- Ps 57:4 וְיוֹשִׁיעֵנִי
This is a clear, central through-line: crisis → plea for salvation → God saves.
- Verb קרא “to call” in near-identical syntagms:
- Ps 3:5 קוֹלִי אֶל־יְהוָה אֶקְרָא וַיַּעֲנֵנִי
- Ps 57:3 אֶקְרָא לֵאלֹהִים עֶלְיוֹן
Both psalms pivot on a first-person “I call” to God, and God’s answer/help.
- Root שכב “to lie down” across the pair (not frequent in the Psalter, and striking in danger-scenes):
- Ps 3:6 שָכַבְתִּי וָאִישָׁנָה “I lay down and slept”
- Ps 57:5 אֶשְׁכְּבָה לֹהֲטִים “I lie down among the fiery/devouring ones”
This creates a vivid narrative bridge: the fugitive actually lies down to rest amid danger (Ps 3), and is still lying down surrounded by peril (Ps 57), now explicitly in a cave.
- “Awake/Arise” motif with imperative -ה paragogic endings (stylistic signature):
- Ps 3:8 קוּמָה יְהוָה הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי “Arise, O YHWH; save me”
- Ps 57:6, 12 רוּמָה עַל־שָׁמַיִם אֱלֹהִים “Be exalted above the heavens, O God”
and Ps 57:9 עוּרָה כְבוֹדִי … אָעִירָה שָׁחַר “Awake, my glory … I will awaken the dawn”
The shared “-ה” imperative form (קומה/רומה/עורה) audibly ties the poems. The sequence also moves from calling God to arise (Ps 3) to calling one’s own “glory” and instruments to awake and to exalting God cosmically (Ps 57).
3) Night-to-morning movement (a strong narrative logic)
- Psalm 3 is the archetypal “night psalm”: “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for YHWH sustains me” (3:6). The danger is real, but sleep and awakening signal preserved life.
- Psalm 57 explicitly picks up the morning: “Awake, my glory … I will awaken the dawn” (57:9). It is the natural next step: having safely slept and awoken (Ps 3), the psalmist now rises to praise and even “wake the dawn” with music (Ps 57:8–10). This is one of the cleanest ways to argue 57 “follows” 3.
4) Parallel structure and movement from lament to confident praise
- Both psalms turn from complaint to trust to victory language.
- Ps 3: Many foes (vv. 2–3) → God as shield and answerer (vv. 4–6) → fearless confidence (v. 7) → victory/blessing formula (vv. 8–9).
- Ps 57: Plea for mercy and trust under God’s wings (v. 2) → calling to God Most High (v. 3) who sends salvation (v. 4) → enemies’ lethal imagery (v. 5) → exaltation refrain (v. 6) → enemies fall into their own pit (v. 7) → firm heart and musical praise (vv. 8–10) → exaltation refrain repeated (v. 12).
- The move from “YHWH, arise!” (Ps 3) to “Be exalted above the heavens” (Ps 57) maps a development: from urgent battlefield appeal to a resolved, public hymn of exaltation.
5) Protective imagery in complementary metaphors
- Ps 3:4 calls God “a shield around me” and “the lifter of my head.” It is martial and personal.
- Ps 57:2 uses sanctuary/wings imagery: “in the shadow of Your wings I take refuge until calamities pass” (עד יעבר הוות). Both are vivid “covering” images; reading 57 after 3 keeps the same conceptual field while shifting the metaphor from shield to sheltering wings, appropriate for a cave refuge.
6) The source of help “from above”
- Ps 3:5 “He answered me from His holy mountain” (מהר קדשו).
- Ps 57:4 “He will send from heaven and save me” (ישלח משמים ויושיעני), and the refrain centers on the heavens (על־השמים).
- Mountain and heaven function as the divine sphere from which help comes—an elegant thematic link that 57 intensifies and universalizes.
7) Enemies surrounding vs. traps turned back
- Ps 3:7 “I will not fear myriads of people who have set themselves against me round about.”
- Ps 57:7 “A net they prepared for my steps … they dug a pit before me; they have fallen into it.”
- Both present a besieged David; 57 narrates the reversal that Ps 3 invokes (“You struck all my enemies on the cheek; you broke the teeth of the wicked,” 3:8), making 57 a fitting dramatic “result” scene.
8) From Israel to the nations: scope widens in the conclusion
- Ps 3 closes: “Salvation belongs to YHWH; Your blessing upon Your people” (עַמְּךָ).
- Ps 57 climaxes: “I will thank You among the peoples … sing to You among the nations” (בְּעַמִּים … בַּל־אֻמִּים, 57:10), with God’s glory “over all the earth” (על כל הארץ, 57:6, 12).
- This is a natural rhetorical progression: personal/night deliverance → public/day praise → worldwide witness.
9) Stylistic and performance points
- Both use Selah at key pivots (Ps 3:3, 5, 9; Ps 57:4, 7), marking strophic turns in a performance setting—another sign they can be paired liturgically.
- Both are “of David” and performative: Ps 3 announces the crisis; Ps 57 adds musical performance (“harp and lyre,” 57:9), appropriate as the next liturgical act after God has sustained the psalmist through the night.
10) Historical-life sequencing that still “works” as a reading order
- Historically, fleeing Saul precedes fleeing Absalom. But the headings do not force chronological ordering within the Psalter; they frame situations. In a liturgical or devotional sequence, however, it is entirely logical to read:
- Ps 3 as the night prayer of a fugitive king under siege, trusting enough to sleep and awaken;
- followed by Ps 57 as the morning praise of that same fugitive, now safe in his hideout, ready to wake the dawn and exalt God’s glory before wider audiences.
In short, several high-value links support placing Psalm 57 after Psalm 3: the unique superscription formula בברחו מפני; identical and rare concrete imagery (כבודי; שִנַּיִם; שכב); the same salvation root ישע; the “call → answer from above” pattern (mountain/heaven); the shared imperative style (קומה/רומה/עורה); and a compelling night-to-morning, private-to-public, Israel-to-nations progression. Together these make Psalm 57 a very natural sequel to Psalm 3.
Evaluation
No evaluation has been recorded for this pair yet.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 3 and Psalm 57 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 57 logically follows on from Psalm 3? 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 3:
Psalm 3
1. מִזְמ֥וֹר
לְדָוִ֑ד
בְּ֝בָרְח֗וֹ
מִפְּנֵ֤י ׀
אַבְשָׁל֬וֹם
בְּנֽוֹ׃
2. יְ֭הוָה
מָֽה־
רַבּ֣וּ
צָרָ֑י
רַ֝בִּ֗ים
קָמִ֥ים
עָלָֽי׃
3. רַבִּים֮
אֹמְרִ֢ים
לְנַ֫פְשִׁ֥י
אֵ֤ין
יְֽשׁוּעָ֓תָה
לּ֬וֹ
בֵֽאלֹהִ֬ים
סֶֽלָה׃
4. וְאַתָּ֣ה
יְ֭הוָה
מָגֵ֣ן
בַּעֲדִ֑י
כְּ֝בוֹדִ֗י
וּמֵרִ֥ים
רֹאשִֽׁtי׃
5. ק֖dוֹלִי
אֶל־
יְהוָ֣ה
אֶקְרָ֑א
וַיַּֽעֲנֵ֨נִי
מֵהַ֖ר
קָדְשׁ֣וֹ
סֶֽלָה׃
6. אֲנִ֥י
שָׁכַ֗בְתִּי
וָֽאִ֫ישָׁ֥נָה
הֱקִיצ֑וֹתִי
כִּ֖י
יְהוָ֣ה
יִסְמְכֵֽנִי׃
7. לֹֽא־
אִ֭ירָא
מֵרִבְב֥וֹת
עָ֑ם
אֲשֶׁ֥ר
סָ֝בִ֗יב
שָׁ֣תוּ
עָלָֽtי׃
8. ק֘וּמָ֤ה
יְהוָ֨ה ׀
הוֹשִׁ֘יעֵ֤נִי
אֱלֹהַ֗י
כִּֽי־
הִכִּ֣יתָ
אֶת־
כָּל־
אֹיְבַ֣י
לֶ֑חִי
שִׁנֵּ֖י
רְשָׁעִ֣ים
שִׁבַּֽרְתָּ׃
9. לַיהוָ֥ה
הַיְשׁוּעָ֑ה
עַֽל־
עַמְּךָ֖
בִרְכָתֶ֣ךָ
סֶּֽלָה׃
Psalm 57:
Psalm 57
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֣חַ
אַל־
תַּ֭שְׁחֵת
לְדָוִ֣ד
מִכְתָּ֑ם
בְּבָרְח֥וֹ
מִפְּנֵי־
שָׁ֝א֗וּל
בַּמְּעָרָֽה׃
2. חָנֵּ֤נִי
אֱלֹהִ֨ים ׀
חָנֵּ֗נִי
כִּ֥י
בְךָ֮
חָסָ֢יָה
נַ֫פְשִׁ֥י
וּבְצֵֽל־
כְּנָפֶ֥יךָ
אֶחְסֶ֑ה
עַ֝֗ד
יַעֲבֹ֥ר
הַוּֽוֹת׃
3. אֶ֭קְרָא
לֵֽאלֹהִ֣ים
עֶלְי֑וֹן
לָ֝אֵ֗ל
גֹּמֵ֥ר
עָלָֽי׃
4. יִשְׁלַ֤ח
מִשָּׁמַ֨יִם ׀
וְֽיוֹשִׁיעֵ֗נִי
חֵרֵ֣ף
שֹׁאֲפִ֣י
סֶ֑לָה
יִשְׁלַ֥ח
אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים
חַסְדּ֥וֹ
וַאֲמִתּֽוֹ׃
5. נַפְשִׁ֤י ׀
בְּת֥וֹךְ
לְבָאִם֮
אֶשְׁכְּבָ֢ה
לֹ֫הֲטִ֥ים
בְּֽנֵי־
אָדָ֗ם
שִׁ֭נֵּיהֶם
חֲנִ֣ית
וְחִצִּ֑ים
וּ֝לְשׁוֹנָ֗ם
חֶ֣רֶב
חַדָּֽה׃
6. ר֣וּמָה
עַל־
הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם
אֱלֹהִ֑ים
עַ֖ל
כָּל־
הָאָ֣רֶץ
כְּבוֹדֶֽךָ׃
7. רֶ֤שֶׁת ׀
הֵכִ֣ינוּ
לִפְעָמַי֮
כָּפַ֢ף
נַ֫פְשִׁ֥י
כָּר֣וּ
לְפָנַ֣י
שִׁיחָ֑ה
נָפְל֖וּ
בְתוֹכָ֣הּ
סֶֽלָה׃
8. נָ֘כ֤וֹן
לִבִּ֣י
אֱ֭לֹהִים
נָכ֣וֹן
לִבִּ֑י
אָ֝שִׁ֗ירָה
וַאֲזַמֵּֽרָה׃
9. ע֤וּרָה
כְבוֹדִ֗י
ע֭וּרָ֥ה
הַנֵּ֥בֶל
וְכִנּ֗וֹר
אָעִ֥ירָה
שָּֽׁחַר׃
10. אוֹדְךָ֖
בָעַמִּ֥ים ׀
אֲדֹנָ֑י
אֲ֝זַמֶּרְךָ֗
בַּל־
אֻמִּֽים׃
11. כִּֽי־
גָדֹ֣ל
עַד־
שָׁמַ֣יִם
חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ
וְֽעַד־
שְׁחָקִ֥ים
אֲמִתֶּֽךָ׃
12. ר֣וּמָה
עַל־
שָׁמַ֣יִם
אֱלֹהִ֑ים
עַ֖ל
כָּל־
הָאָ֣רֶץ
כְּבוֹדֶֽךָ׃