Psalm 4 → 39

Reasoning: 8896 Output: 4941 Total: 13837

Argument

Here are the main ways one can argue that Psalm 39 “follows on” from Psalm 4. I’ve grouped them by strength, giving priority to rarer items, identical forms, and tighter semantic links.

Strong lexical/morphological links (rare or identical)
- Exact collocation “hear my prayer”: Ps 4:2 ושמע תפילתי; Ps 39:13 שמע־תפלתי יהוה. Same lexemes (Qal imperative שמע + noun תפילה with 1cs suffix). This is a very strong verbal thread: the plea of Ps 4 is explicitly picked up in Ps 39.
- The “silence” root דמ”ם:
  - Ps 4:5 וְדֹמּו (“be silent,” imperative plural, verb)
  - Ps 39:3 נֶאֱלַמְתִּי דֻמִיָּה (“I was mute—silence,” noun), 39:10 נֶאֱלַמְתִּי (“I was mute”)
  The rare silence-lexeme appears in both, moving from Ps 4’s exhortation (“be silent on your beds”) to Ps 39’s lived practice (“I was mute with silence”). The root-match plus the motif shift from command to experience is a major continuity marker.
- Shared root חט”א “to sin” in parallel functions:
  - Ps 4:5 רִגְזוּ וְאַל־תֶּחֶטָאוּ (“tremble/be agitated and do not sin”)
  - Ps 39:2 אֶשְׁמְרָה דְרָכַי מֵחֲטוֹא בִלְשׁוֹנִי (“I will guard my ways from sinning with my tongue”)
  Same root in the ethical imperative sphere; Ps 39 operationalizes Ps 4’s admonition by specifying the tongue as the danger-point.
- Identical verbal form נתַתָּה (2ms perfect of נתן):
  - Ps 4:8 נָתַתָּה שִׂמְחָה בְלִבִּי
  - Ps 39:6 הִנֵּה טְפָחוֹת נָתַתָּה יָמַי
  Same form and similar syntax (2ms verb + 1cs possession in the complement). Less rare than the items above, but the identical form is still a notable hook.
- Same root י־ש־ב “to dwell/sit” in related dwell/residency language:
  - Ps 4:9 לָבֶטַח תּוֹשִׁיבֵנִי (“you make me dwell securely”)
  - Ps 39:13 גֵּר אָנֹכִי עִמָּךְ תּוֹשָׁב כְּכָל־אֲבֹתָי (“I am a sojourner with you, a resident, like all my fathers”)
  Same root (verb in Ps 4, noun in Ps 39). The theology of “dwelling” with God moves from confident security (Ps 4) to humility/sojourning (Ps 39).

Motif-level continuities that read like narrative development
- From commanded silence to enacted silence:
  - Ps 4:5 says to speak inwardly and be silent on the bed.
  - Ps 39:2–3 reports the psalmist actually muzzling himself (אֶשְׁמְרָה לְפִי מַחְסוֹם) and becoming “mute with silence.”
  This is a clean narrative/ethical “follow-on”: the advice of Ps 4 is embodied in Ps 39.
- From assurance that God hears to renewed plea to be heard:
  - Ps 4:2, 4 God hears when I call (יְהוָה יִשְׁמַע בְּקָרְאִי).
  - Ps 39:13 the psalmist repeats the formula (שְׁמַע־תְּפִלָּתִי) and adds “do not be silent” (אַל־תֶּחֱרַשׁ).
  The hearing/silence axis flips: in Ps 4 humans must “be silent”; in Ps 39 the psalmist begs God not to be silent—an artful, dialogical progression.
- Managing anger/speech:
  - Ps 4:5 “tremble and do not sin” + “say in your heart … and be silent.”
  - Ps 39:2 focuses that on the tongue, a typical Israelite wisdom move (cf. Prov): “I will guard my ways from sinning with my tongue… set a muzzle to my mouth… while a wicked man is before me.”
  The presence of “the wicked before me” (Ps 39:2) plausibly answers Ps 4’s social conflict with “sons of man” who “love emptiness” and “seek lies” (Ps 4:3), explaining why silence was needed.
- Bed/night to end-of-life horizon:
  - Ps 4 ends with serene evening trust: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep… you alone make me dwell secure” (4:9).
  - Ps 39 develops the quiet into existential reflection on mortality: “Make me know my end… my days are a handbreadth… surely every man is a mere breath” (39:5–7, 12), culminating “before I go and am no more” (39:14).
  In Israelite piety, night-meditation on one’s bed naturally shades into wisdom reflection on the brevity of life (cf. Ps 63:6–7; Job). Ps 39 reads like the next stage of that interiority.
- Trust language progresses coherently:
  - Ps 4:6 “Trust in the LORD” (וּבִטְחוּ אֶל־יְהוָה).
  - Ps 39:8 “My hope is in you” (תּוֹחַלְתִּי לְךָ הִיא).
  Tuchēl/hope and bāṭaḥ/trust are close; Ps 39 turns the communal imperative of Ps 4 into a personal statement of hope under discipline.

Form-critical and stylistic links
- Superscriptions align: both are “לַמְנַצֵּחַ … מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד.” Ps 39 adds “לידיתון,” one of David’s Levitical choir leaders (cf. 1 Chr 16:41–42). Both are crafted for public performance; Ps 4’s “בִּנְגִינוֹת” (stringed instruments) and Ps 39’s “לידיתון” sit naturally together in a temple-musical sequence.
- Shared psalm type: both are first-person individual laments with wisdom coloring and a climactic trust appeal. Both use Selah to punctuate key turns (Ps 4:3, 5; Ps 39:6, 12).
- Second-person direct address to YHWH frames the prayer (“Answer me/Hear me” in Ps 4; “Make me know/Deliver me/Hear me” in Ps 39), with middle sections addressing human antagonists or humanity generally (Ps 4:3; Ps 39:6–7, 12).

Further lexical/thematic correspondences (moderate strength)
- “Heart” interiority:
  - Ps 4:5 “say in your heart” + 4:8 “joy in my heart”
  - Ps 39:4 “my heart grew hot within me”
  Same lexeme לֵב/לֵבָב, different emotional valence; the inner speech of 4 turns to inner pressure in 39 when silence is kept.
- Vanity/emptiness and social critique:
  - Ps 4:3 “you love emptiness” (רִיק) and “seek falsehood” (כָזָב)
  - Ps 39:6–7, 12 “surely every man is all vanity/breath” (הֶבֶל), “in a mere image he walks”
  Different nouns, same semantic field of insubstantiality; Ps 39 universalizes the diagnosis hinted at in Ps 4.
- Divine agency acknowledged in first person:
  - Ps 4:9 “You, YHWH, alone make me dwell in safety”
  - Ps 39:10 “for You have done it,” 39:11 “remove Your plague from me”
  Same theology of God as the immediate agent of one’s condition—first as security, then as disciplinary pressure.

A plausible life-setting sequence (Sitz im Leben)
- Evening counsel and composure (Ps 4): under social pressure (“many say…,” “sons of man love emptiness”), the worshiper is told to settle down on the bed, commune with the heart, be silent, trust YHWH, and sleep in safety.
- Next-day restraint and wisdom (Ps 39): facing a wicked opponent “before me,” the worshiper actually muzzles the tongue, keeps silent as instructed, finds the inner heat intensifying, and therefore speaks—not to men, but to God—asking for perspective on life’s brevity, for deliverance from sin, and for relief from divine discipline. The prayer closes with a sojourner’s humility (“ger … toshav”) that still aligns with Ps 4’s “You make me dwell,” but now with deeper sobriety.

Why this amounts to “logical” succession
- Ps 39 reads like the practical outworking of Ps 4’s directives: silence (דום→דומיה), avoidance of sin (אל־תחטאו→מחטוא בלשוני), and reliance on God’s hearing (ושמע תפילתי→שמע־תפלתי).
- The repeated rare “silence” root and the exact “שמע תפילתי” collocation—together with identical verbal morphology (נתתָּה) and the shared dwelling root (ישב)—create a web of signals that an editor or singer could intentionally hear as a continuation.
- The thematic arc moves credibly from evening trust to next-day guarded speech and deeper wisdom about mortality—an Israelite devotional rhythm attested elsewhere (bedtime meditation, day-of-trouble restraint, prayer for perspective).

In sum, the combination of rare shared lexemes (דמם; the exact שמע תפלתי), same-root ethics (חטא), identical verbal forms (נתתָּה), shared “dwelling” theology (ישב: תושיבני → תושב), and a coherent experiential sequence (bedtime silence → daytime muzzled tongue → prayer for perspective) provides a robust case that Psalm 39 can be read as a deliberate or at least logical follow-on to Psalm 4.

Evaluation

No evaluation has been recorded for this pair yet.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 4 and Psalm 39 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 39 logically follows on from Psalm 4? 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 4:
Psalm 4
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
        בִּנְגִינ֗וֹת
        מִזְמ֥וֹר
        לְדָוִֽד׃
2. בְּקָרְאִ֡י
        עֲנֵ֤נִי ׀
        אֱלֹ֘הֵ֤י
        צִדְקִ֗י
        בַּ֭צָּר
        הִרְחַ֣בְתָּ
        לִּ֑י
        חָ֝נֵּ֗נִי
        וּשְׁמַ֥ע
        תְּפִלָּתִֽי׃
3. בְּנֵ֥י
        אִ֡ישׁ
        עַד־
        מֶ֬ה
        כְבוֹדִ֣י
        לִ֭כְלִמָּה
        תֶּאֱהָב֣וּן
        רִ֑יק
        תְּבַקְשׁ֖וּ
        כָזָ֣ב
        סֶֽלָה׃
4. וּדְע֗וּ
        כִּֽי־
        הִפְלָ֣ה
        יְ֭הוָה
        חָסִ֣יד
        ל֑וֹ
        יְהוָ֥ה
        יִ֝שְׁמַ֗ע
        בְּקָרְאִ֥י
        אֵלָֽיו׃
5. רִגְז֗וּ
        וְֽאַל־
        תֶּ֫חֱטָ֥אוּ
        אִמְר֣וּ
        בִ֭לְבַבְכֶם
        עַֽל־
        מִשְׁכַּבְכֶ֗ם
        וְדֹ֣מּוּ
        סֶֽלָה׃
6. זִבְח֥וּ
        זִבְחֵי־
        צֶ֑דֶק
        וּ֝בִטְח֗וּ
        אֶל־
        יְהוָֽה׃
7. רַבִּ֥ים
        אֹמְרִים֮
        מִֽי־
        יַרְאֵ֢נ֫וּ
        ט֥וֹב
        נְֽסָה־
        עָ֭לֵינוּ
        א֨וֹר
        פָּנֶ֬יךָ
        יְהוָֽה׃
8. נָתַ֣תָּה
        שִׂמְחָ֣ה
        בְלִבִּ֑י
        מֵעֵ֬ת
        דְּגָנָ֖ם
        וְתִֽירוֹשָׁ֣ם
        רָֽבּוּ׃
9. בְּשָׁל֣וֹם
        יַחְדָּו֮
        אֶשְׁכְּבָ֢ה
        וְאִ֫ישָׁ֥ן
        כִּֽי־
        אַתָּ֣ה
        יְהוָ֣ה
        לְבָדָ֑ד
        לָ֝בֶ֗טַח
        תּוֹשִׁיבֵֽנִי׃

Psalm 39:
Psalm 39
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
        לידיתון
        לִֽידוּת֗וּן
        מִזְמ֥וֹר
        לְדָוִֽד׃
2. אָמַ֗רְתִּי
        אֶֽשְׁמְרָ֣ה
        דְרָכַי֮
        מֵחֲט֢וֹא
        בִלְשׁ֫וֹנִ֥י
        אֶשְׁמְרָ֥ה
        לְפִ֥י
        מַחְס֑וֹם
        בְּעֹ֖ד
        רָשָׁ֣ע
        לְנֶגְדִּֽי׃
3. נֶאֱלַ֣מְתִּי
        ד֭וּמִיָּה
        הֶחֱשֵׁ֣יתִי
        מִטּ֑וֹב
        וּכְאֵבִ֥י
        נֶעְכָּֽר׃
4. חַם־
        לִבִּ֨י ׀
        בְּקִרְבִּ֗י
        בַּהֲגִיגִ֥י
        תִבְעַר־
        אֵ֑שׁ
        דִּ֝בַּ֗רְתִּי
        בִּלְשֽׁוֹנִי׃
5. הוֹדִ֘יעֵ֤נִי
        יְהוָ֨ה ׀
        קִצִּ֗י
        וּמִדַּ֣ת
        יָמַ֣י
        מַה־
        הִ֑יא
        אֵ֝דְעָ֗ה
        מֶה־
        חָדֵ֥ל
        אָֽנִי׃
6. הִנֵּ֤ה
        טְפָח֨וֹת ׀
        נָ֘תַ֤תָּה
        יָמַ֗י
        וְחֶלְדִּ֣י
        כְאַ֣יִן
        נֶגְדֶּ֑ךָ
        אַ֥ךְ
        כָּֽל־
        הֶ֥בֶל
        כָּל־
        אָ֝דָ֗ם
        נִצָּ֥ב
        סֶֽלָה׃
7. אַךְ־
        בְּצֶ֤לֶם ׀
        יִֽתְהַלֶּךְ־
        אִ֗ישׁ
        אַךְ־
        הֶ֥בֶל
        יֶהֱמָ֑יוּן
        יִ֝צְבֹּ֗ר
        וְֽלֹא־
        יֵדַ֥ע
        מִי־
        אֹסְפָֽם׃
8. וְעַתָּ֣ה
        מַה־
        קִוִּ֣יתִי
        אֲדֹנָ֑י
        תּ֝וֹחַלְתִּ֗י
        לְךָ֣
        הִֽיא׃
9. מִכָּל־
        פְּשָׁעַ֥י
        הַצִּילֵ֑נִי
        חֶרְפַּ֥ת
        נָ֝בָ֗ל
        אַל־
        תְּשִׂימֵֽנִי׃
10. נֶ֭אֱלַמְתִּי
        לֹ֣א
        אֶפְתַּח־
        פִּ֑י
        כִּ֖י
        אַתָּ֣ה
        עָשִֽׂיתָ׃
11. הָסֵ֣ר
        מֵעָלַ֣י
        נִגְעֶ֑ךָ
        מִתִּגְרַ֥ת
        יָ֝דְךָ֗
        אֲנִ֣י
        כָלִֽיתִי׃
12. בְּֽתוֹכָ֘ח֤וֹת
        עַל־
        עָוֺ֨ן ׀
        יִסַּ֬רְתָּ
        אִ֗ישׁ
        וַתֶּ֣מֶס
        כָּעָ֣שׁ
        חֲמוּד֑וֹ
        אַ֤ךְ
        הֶ֖בֶל
        כָּל־
        אָדָ֣ם
        סֶֽלָה׃
13. שִֽׁמְעָ֥ה־
        תְפִלָּתִ֨י ׀
        יְהוָ֡ה
        וְשַׁוְעָתִ֨י ׀
        הַאֲזִינָה֮
        אֶֽל־
        דִּמְעָתִ֗י
        אַֽל־
        תֶּחֱ֫רַ֥שׁ
        כִּ֤י
        גֵ֣ר
        אָנֹכִ֣י
        עִמָּ֑ךְ
        תּ֝וֹשָׁ֗ב
        כְּכָל־
        אֲבוֹתָֽי׃
14. הָשַׁ֣ע
        מִמֶּ֣נִּי
        וְאַבְלִ֑יגָה
        בְּטֶ֖רֶם
        אֵלֵ֣ךְ
        וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃