Psalm 3 → 131

Reasoning: 8320 Output: 3521 Total: 11841

Argument

Here is a set of ways to argue that Psalm 131 “follows on” from Psalm 3, moving from concrete textual echoes to broader thematic and historical connections.

Stronger textual/formal links (words, roots, forms)
- Davidic superscriptions with musical labels: both have לְדָוִד plus a genre tag (Ps 3: מִזְמוֹר; Ps 131: שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת). This frames both as Davidic songs meant for worship, inviting a canonical pairing.
- Identical phrase אל־יְהוָה: Ps 3:5 “קוֹלִי אֶל־יְהוָה אֶקְרָא”; Ps 131:3 “יַחֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהוָה.” In Ps 3 the individual cries “to YHWH”; in Ps 131 the nation is urged to hope “in YHWH.” Same prepositional phrase, different but complementary verbs (call vs hope).
- Repeated 1cs body-soul vocabulary: נַפְשִׁי appears in both (Ps 3:3; Ps 131:2 twice). In Ps 3 others speak “to my soul” (לְנַפְשִׁי) that there is no help; in Ps 131 the speaker himself has “quieted and calmed my soul.” The shift is from external voices to an internally settled soul.
- Shared root רום “to lift, raise,” in antithetic ways:
  - Ps 3:4 “וּמֵרִים רֹאשִׁי” (You are the lifter of my head).
  - Ps 131:1 “וְלֹא־רָמוּ עֵינַי” (my eyes are not raised). The theology is consistent: God elevates; the psalmist refuses self-exaltation.
- Height/”greatness” lexemes set against humility:
  - Ps 3 speaks of “glory” (כְּבוֹדִי) and being encircled by those who “rise up” (קָמִים עָלַי).
  - Ps 131 negates pride with a triple “לא”: “לֹא־גָבַהּ לִבִּי … לֹא־רָמוּ עֵינַי … לֹא־הִלַּכְתִּי בִּגְדֹלוֹת.” The antithetical pairing (God raises vs I do not raise myself) is tight.
- Structural end-turn to the community:
  - Ps 3:9 ends with the people: “עַל־עַמְּךָ בִרְכָתֶךָ.”
  - Ps 131:3 ends with the people: “יַחֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהוָה.” Both move from “I” to “Israel,” closing with a communal horizon.

Moderate lexical/imagistic ties
- Cry vs. quiet: Ps 3:5 “קוֹלִי … אֶקְרָא” (I cry with my voice); Ps 131:2 “דּוֹמַמְתִּי נַפְשִׁי” (I have stilled/quieted my soul). Noise of crisis yields to silence of trust.
- Rest imagery: Ps 3:6 “שָׁכַבְתִּי וָאִישָׁנָה … הֱקִיצוֹתִי כִּי יְהוָה יִסְמְכֵנִי” (I lay down, slept, awoke—for YHWH sustains me). Ps 131:2 “כְגָמֻל עֲלֵי אִמּוֹ … עָלַי נַפְשִׁי” (like a weaned child with its mother). Both depict security and rest; Ps 3 is physical (sleep sustained by God), Ps 131 is affective (weaned calm).
- Holy mountain vs ascents: Ps 3:5 “וַיַּעֲנֵנִי מֵהַר קָדְשׁוֹ” (answer from his holy mountain). Ps 131 is a Song of Ascents (מַעֲלוֹת), tied to going up to Zion. The motif of elevation/approach to God’s hill links them conceptually.
- Salvation and hope as logical sequence: Ps 3 culminates in “לַיְהוָה הַיְשׁוּעָה” (salvation belongs to YHWH), which naturally grounds Ps 131’s “יַחֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהוָה” (let Israel hope in YHWH). Because salvation is YHWH’s (Ps 3), therefore Israel should hope in him (Ps 131).

Imagery and narrative-life-sequence connections
- Father–son crisis to child–mother calm: Ps 3’s superscription situates David “when he fled from Absalom his son” (בְּבָרְחוֹ … מִפְּנֵי אַבְשָׁלוֹם בְּנוֹ). Ps 131’s rare and vivid image is “a weaned child with its mother.” Moving from a shattered father–son relationship (rebellion) to the healing template of a contented child with its mother reads like a post-crisis re-centering of David’s identity as a child before God.
- Humiliation in the Absalom story vs humility in Ps 131: In 2 Sam 15–16 David ascends the Mount of Olives weeping (עלה במעלה הזיתים), accepts Shimei’s cursing, and adopts a posture of submission. Ps 131’s triple renunciation of pride (“לא גבה לבי … לא רמו עיני … לא הלכתי בגדלות”) matches that ethos exactly. Given Ps 3’s Absalom context, Ps 131 sounds like the spiritual lesson learned afterward.
- “Ascent” as lived experience: David’s literal “ascent” during the Absalom flight (2 Sam 15:30; מַעֲלֵה) resonates with “שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת” and with Ps 3’s “הַר קָדְשׁוֹ.” The physical geography of going up to God’s hill provides a narrative bridge.
- Divine exaltation vs human non-exaltation: In Ps 3, God is “the lifter of my head” (וּמֵרִים רֹאשִׁי). Ps 131 insists the speaker does not lift his own heart/eyes. The logic is crisp: after experiencing God’s rescue and honor (Ps 3), the proper response is quiet, non-striving humility (Ps 131).

Form and rhetoric
- Three-part movement ending in communal orientation:
  - Ps 3 divides (by Selah) into complaint (vv. 2–3), confidence (vv. 4–6), and petition/assurance for the people (vv. 7–9).
  - Ps 131 is likewise threefold: humility (v.1), quiet trust (v.2), communal exhortation (v.3).
  - Both end by turning from the “I” to the nation (עַמְּךָ/יִשְׂרָאֵל).
- Negation clusters vs assurance: Ps 131 opens with a triple “לא … לא … ולא” that functions as a wisdom-style self-vetting; Ps 3 counters external negation (“אין ישועתה לו באלהים,” v.3, what others say) with internal assurance and prayer. Read together, Ps 131 answers the slander of Ps 3:3 by demonstrating the mature, humble trust that rests in God’s help rather than self-assertion.

Weighing rarity and significance
- Highest-significance lexical tie by root and semantic field: רום across both psalms (מרים vs רמו), deployed antithetically.
- The rare image גָּמֻל (weaned child) in Ps 131, though not lexically repeated in Ps 3, dovetails pointedly with the Absalom superscription’s parent–child frame and with David’s humbling in that narrative.
- Identical phrase אל־יְהוָה and repeated 1cs forms with נֶפֶשׁ are exact-form bridges.
- Conceptual-height lexemes (גבה, גדלות, הר קדשו, המעלות) cluster to create an ascent/exaltation vs humility theology that is mutually reinforcing.

A plausible canonical/narrative reading
- Crisis (Ps 3): Many rise against me; I cry out; God sustains me; salvation is his; bless your people.
- Maturity (Ps 131): Therefore I do not lift myself; I have quieted my soul like a weaned child; let Israel hope in YHWH always.
- Historically, this fits David’s Absalom episode: ascent to the Mount of Olives in humiliation, God’s deliverance, return to Zion, and the learned stance of humble trust. Liturgically, it fits a worshiper’s journey: from urgent morning lament (Ps 3) to the pilgrim’s quiet confidence as he “ascends” (Ps 131).

In short: Psalm 131 reads like the distilled posture that logically follows Psalm 3’s experience—God lifts the head (Ps 3), so I will not lift my own eyes but rest like a weaned child and call all Israel to hope in him (Ps 131).

Evaluation

No evaluation has been recorded for this pair yet.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 3 and Psalm 131 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 131 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 131:
Psalm 131
1. שִׁ֥יר
        הַֽמַּֽעֲל֗וֹת
        לְדָ֫וִ֥ד
        יְהוָ֤ה ׀
        לֹא־
        גָבַ֣הּ
        לִ֭בִּי
        וְלֹא־
        רָמ֣וּ
        עֵינַ֑י
        וְלֹֽא־
        הִלַּ֓כְתִּי ׀
        בִּגְדֹל֖וֹת
        וּבְנִפְלָא֣וֹת
        מִמֶּֽנִּי׃
2. אִם־
        לֹ֤א
        שִׁוִּ֨יתִי ׀
        וְדוֹמַ֗מְתִּי
        נַ֫פְשִׁ֥י
        כְּ֭גָמֻל
        עֲלֵ֣י
        אִמּ֑וֹ
        כַּגָּמֻ֖ל
        עָלַ֣י
        נַפְשִֽׁי׃
3. יַחֵ֣ל
        יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל
        אֶל־
        יְהוָ֑ה
        מֵֽ֝עַתָּ֗ה
        וְעַד־
        עוֹלָֽם׃