Psalm 4 → 43

Reasoning: 13312 Output: 4156 Total: 17468

Argument

Short answer: you can make a very strong case that Psalm 43 is the next “movement” after Psalm 4. The two psalms share distinctive vocabulary and imagery, the same form (individual lament moving to trust/praise), and fit a natural liturgical storyline: an evening prayer of trust (Ps 4) followed by a morning/pilgrimage appeal and vow to praise at the altar (Ps 43).

Details, ordered from strongest lexical ties to broader thematic/formal links:

High‑weight lexical/motif correspondences (same words/roots, rarer items)
- Light/face constellation:
  - Ps 4:7 “נְּשָׂא עָלֵינוּ אוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהוָה” (lift upon us the light of your face)
  - Ps 43:3 “שְׁלַח אוֹרְךָ” (send your light) and 43:5 “יְשׁוּעוֹת פָּנַי” (the salvations of my face/countenance).
  - “אוֹר” is not a throwaway word in Psalms, and the tight clustering with “פנים/face” across the two poems (your face in 4; my face in 43) reads like deliberate echo and development: the light of God’s face in 4 is what lifts the psalmist’s downcast face in 43.

- Sacrifice/altar, same root זבח:
  - Ps 4:6 “זִבְחוּ זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק” (offer sacrifices of righteousness)
  - Ps 43:4 “וְאָבוֹאָה אֶל־מִזְבַּח אֱלֹהִים” (I will go to the altar of God)
  - The move from exhortation to offer “זבח” to arrival at the “מִזְבַּח” is a direct lexical and narrative bridge.

- “חסיד” vs “לא חסיד”:
  - Ps 4:4 “הִפְלָה יְהוָה חָסִיד לוֹ” (YHWH has set apart the ḥasid—his faithful one)
  - Ps 43:1 “מִגּוֹי לֹא־חָסִיד” (from a nation not ḥasid)
  - Same noun, used antithetically. “Goy lo‑ḥasid” is an unusual collocation and pointedly contrasts with the “ḥasid” God favors in Ps 4.

- Joy, same root שׂמח:
  - Ps 4:8 “נָתַתָּה שִׂמְחָה בְּלִבִּי” (you have put joy in my heart)
  - Ps 43:4 “אֵל שִׂמְחַת גִּילִי” (God, the joy of my gladness)
  - The inner joy given in 4 matures into liturgical joy at the altar in 43.

- Strings/lyre frame:
  - Ps 4 superscription: “למנצח בנגינות” (for the choirmaster; with stringed instruments)
  - Ps 43:4 “וְאוֹדְךָ בְכִנּוֹר” (I will praise you with the lyre)
  - The musical setting matches: both are crafted for string accompaniment, suggesting a designed pairing.

Legal/ethical vocabulary carried across (same semantic field; often paired in Psalms)
- Ps 4:2 “אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי” (God of my righteousness), 4:6 “זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק”
- Ps 43:1 “שָׁפְטֵנִי ... וְרִיבָה רִיבִי” (judge me; plead my cause), “מֵאִישׁ מִרְמָה וְעַוְלָה” (from a deceitful and unjust man), 43:3 “אֲמִתֶּךָ” (your truth/faithfulness)
- Ps 4 names God as guarantor of “צדק”; Ps 43 asks that that righteousness be enacted in court (שפט, ריב) against deceit and injustice, with “אמת” as the complementary covenant attribute to 4’s “חסיד/חסד” word‑family.

Opponents described in the same moral register
- Ps 4:3 “תֶּאֱהָבוּן רִיק ... תְּבַקְשׁוּ כָזָב” (you love emptiness and seek lies) addressed to “בְּנֵי אִישׁ”
- Ps 43:1 “מֵאִישׁ מִרְמָה וְעַוְלָה” (from a deceitful and unjust man)
- The deceit/falsehood motif runs straight through, with “אישׁ” as the adversary label in both.

Form and structure (same genre; same rhetorical moves)
- Both are individual laments that pivot to trust/praise:
  - Address to God with a distinctive epithet: Ps 4:2 “אֱלֹהֵי צִדְקִי”; Ps 43:2 “אֱלֹהֵי מָעוּזִּי”
  - Complaint about hostile humans: Ps 4:3; Ps 43:1–2
  - Petitions in imperatives: Ps 4:2 “עֲנֵנִי ... חָנֵּנִי ... שְׁמַע”; Ps 43:1–3 “שָׁפְטֵנִי ... רִיבָה ... תְּפַלְּטֵנִי ... שְׁלַח”
  - Trust/resolve to praise: Ps 4:4, 8–9; Ps 43:4–5

A coherent daily/liturgical storyline that makes 43 the “next step” after 4
- Evening to morning:
  - Ps 4 is explicitly an evening psalm: 4:9 “בְּשָׁלוֹם יַחְדָּו אֶשְׁכְּבָה וְאִישָׁן” (I lie down and sleep in peace).
  - Ps 43 presupposes the next day’s action: procession to the sanctuary—“שְׁלַח אוֹרְךָ וַאֲמִתֶּךָ ... יְבִיאוּנִי ... אֶל־מִזְבַּח אֱלֹהִים ... בְּכִנּוֹר” (send your light and truth; let them bring me … to the altar … with the lyre).
  - Movement from nocturnal silence and introspection (4:5 “עַל־מִשְׁכַּבְכֶם וְדֹמּוּ” on your beds, be still) to daytime praise with instruments (43:4).

- Exhortation fulfilled:
  - Ps 4:6’s call “זִבְחוּ זִבְחֵי־צֶדֶק וּבִטְחוּ אֶל־יְהוָה” is realized in Ps 43:4 as actual approach to the altar and musical thanksgiving.

- Space and safety resolved in sacred space:
  - Ps 4:2 “בַצַּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִי” (in distress you made space for me), 4:9 “לָבֶטַח תּוֹשִׁיבֵנִי” (you make me dwell secure)
  - Ps 43:2 “אֱלֹהֵי מָעוּזִּי” (God of my stronghold), 43:3 “אֶל־הַר־קָדְשְׁךָ ... מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֶיךָ” (to your holy hill and your dwellings)
  - The generic security of Ps 4 is concretized as God’s own dwelling in Ps 43.

Smaller but telling stylistic echoes
- Parallel complaint formulas shift in addressee:
  - Ps 4:3 “עַד־מֶה” to “בְּנֵי אִישׁ” (how long, O men…)
  - Ps 43:2 “לָמָּה” to God (why have you rejected me…)
  - A natural progression: first confront faithless humans, then litigate the case before God.

- Light vs gloom:
  - Ps 4 asks for the light of God’s face; Ps 43 laments “קֹדֵר אֶתְהַלֵּךְ” (I walk in gloom) and therefore asks again for light—now personified as guides to the sanctuary. This reads like the answer to Ps 4’s “lift up the light of your face.”

- Divine‑name style:
  - Ps 4 uses both YHWH and Elohim; Ps 43 is Elohistic (“אֱלֹהִים … אֱלֹהָי”), consistent with Book II editing. Despite that, both favor the “אֱלֹהֵי + suffix + epithet” address (4:2; 43:2, 43:4), a shared stylistic tic.

Putting it together as a logical sequence
- Night: Ps 4—The psalmist prays for relief, asks for the light of God’s face, exhorts right sacrifice, receives inner joy, and lies down in peace.
- Morning/procession: Ps 43—He asks God to vindicate him against deceit, to send “light and truth” (thematically echoing the light of God’s face) to lead him up to God’s holy hill, where he will fulfill the sacrificial/praise intention at the altar with the lyre, calling his soul to hope.

Because the two psalms share distinctive vocabulary (אור, פנים, חסיד, זבח/מזבח, שמחה), musical frame (נְגִינוֹת/כִּנּוֹר), a common legal/ethical register (צדק/שפט/ריב/אמת vs מרמה/עַוְלָה), and map cleanly onto an evening‑to‑morning, exhortation‑to‑fulfillment liturgical arc, it is very defensible to read Psalm 43 as logically following on from Psalm 4.

Evaluation

No evaluation has been recorded for this pair yet.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 4 and Psalm 43 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 43 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 43:
Psalm 43
1. שָׁפְטֵ֤נִי
        אֱלֹהִ֨ים ׀
        וְרִ֘יבָ֤ה
        רִיבִ֗י
        מִגּ֥וֹי
        לֹא־
        חָסִ֑יד
        מֵ֤אִישׁ־
        מִרְמָ֖ה
        וְעַוְלָ֣ה
        תְפַלְּטֵֽנִי׃
2. כִּֽי־
        אַתָּ֤ה ׀
        אֱלֹהֵ֣י
        מָֽעוּזִּי֮
        לָמָ֢ה
        זְנַ֫חְתָּ֥נִי
        לָֽמָּה־
        קֹדֵ֥ר
        אֶתְהַלֵּ֗ךְ
        בְּלַ֣חַץ
        אוֹיֵֽב׃
3. שְׁלַח־
        אוֹרְךָ֣
        וַ֭אֲמִתְּךָ
        הֵ֣מָּה
        יַנְח֑וּנִי
        יְבִיא֥וּנִי
        אֶל־
        הַֽר־
        קָ֝דְשְׁךָ֗
        וְאֶל־
        מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֶֽיךָ׃
4. וְאָב֤וֹאָה ׀
        אֶל־
        מִזְבַּ֬ח
        אֱלֹהִ֗ים
        אֶל־
        אֵל֮
        שִׂמְחַ֢ת
        גִּ֫ילִ֥י
        וְאוֹדְךָ֥
        בְכִנּ֗וֹר
        אֱלֹהִ֥ים
        אֱלֹהָֽי׃
5. מַה־
        תִּשְׁתּ֬וֹחֲחִ֨י ׀
        נַפְשִׁי֮
        וּֽמַה־
        תֶּהֱמִ֢י
        עָ֫לָ֥י
        הוֹחִ֣ילִי
        לֵֽ֭אלֹהִים
        כִּי־
        ע֣וֹד
        אוֹדֶ֑נּוּ
        יְשׁוּעֹ֥ת
        פָּ֝נַ֗י
        וֵֽאלֹהָֽי׃