Psalm 5 → 120

Reasoning: 10112 Output: 4062 Total: 14174

Argument

Here are multiple, independent lines of argument that make it reasonable to read Psalm 120 as following Psalm 5. I’ve grouped them by type and highlighted the stronger links (rarer or more exact verbal ties) first.

Stronger lexical links (same root or same noun, in a distinctive semantic field)
- Shared root גור “sojourn” (rarely used in laments, and used with theological edge):
  - Ps 5:5 לֹא יְגֻרְךָ רָע “No evil will sojourn with you.”
  - Ps 120:5 גַרְתִּי מֶשֶׁךְ “I have sojourned in Meshech.”
  Logical progression: Psalm 5 states the principle that evil cannot dwell near YHWH; Psalm 120 voices the reality that the psalmist (the righteous) is the one forced to sojourn among the nations. That contrast creates a compelling narrative motive to leave “sojourning” among foreigners and move toward God’s house (anticipated in Ps 5:8).

- Shared root רמה “deceit”:
  - Ps 5:7 אִישׁ דָּמִים וּמִרְמָה “a man of blood and deceit.”
  - Ps 120:2–3 לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה “a deceitful tongue.”
  Same root, same semantic target; Psalm 120 intensifies what Psalm 5 condemns.

- Identical noun לָשׁוֹן “tongue” in the lying-speech motif:
  - Ps 5:10 לְשׁוֹנָם יַחֲלִיקוּן “their tongue they make smooth.”
  - Ps 120:2–3 לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה “a deceitful tongue.”
  Same word class and same concrete body-part imagery driving the complaint.

- Root דבר in the speech/strife contrast:
  - Ps 5:7 דֹּבְרֵי כָזָב “speakers of lies.”
  - Ps 120:7 וְכִי אֲדַבֵּר “when I speak, they are for war.”
  Psalm 5 targets those who speak lies; Psalm 120 contrasts the psalmist’s speaking with opponents’ belligerence.

Semantic and imagery continuities (ideas expressed with closely related vocabulary)
- Mouth-and-death vs. tongue-and-judgment imagery:
  - Ps 5:10 “open grave is their throat; their tongue is smooth” (קֶבֶר פָּתוּחַ גְּרוֹנָם … לְשׁוֹנָם יַחֲלִיקוּן).
  - Ps 120:3–4 the deceitful tongue is sentenced to “arrows of a warrior, with coals of broom” (חִצֵּי גִבּוֹר … עִם גַּחֲלֵי רְתָמִים).
  Psalm 120 answers Psalm 5’s deathly-mouth portrait with concrete judicial imagery for the lying tongue—precisely what Psalm 5 asks for (תְּאַבֵּד דֹּבְרֵי כָזָב; הַאֲשִׁימֵם).

- Violence domain alignment:
  - Ps 5:7 “a man of blood and deceit.”
  - Ps 120:7 “I am peace; but when I speak—they are for war” (לַמִּלְחָמָה).
  Both psalms set deceit together with bloodshed/war as a single complex of wickedness.

Spatial/dwelling contrast that creates narrative motion
- House/temple vs. tents of nomads:
  - Ps 5:8 “I will enter your house; I will bow toward your holy temple.”
  - Ps 120:5 “I dwell among the tents of Kedar.”
  The contrast of dwellings (בית/היכל vs. אוהלים) suggests a movement from life among alien tents to worship in God’s house—precisely the movement the Songs of Ascents enact.

- “Sojourn” principle applied to the psalmist’s plight:
  - Ps 5’s theological axiom “evil cannot sojourn with you” (לא יגורך רע) is met by Ps 120’s lament “I have sojourned in Meshech” (גרתי משך). The implication: the righteous must leave that sojourning to come near YHWH—again, the logic of ascent.

Form and structure (shared poetic/liturgical shape)
- Both are laments with the same bones: invocation → complaint about deceitful enemies → petition for deliverance/judgment → statement of confidence/self-definition.
  - Ps 5: imperatives to YHWH (האֲזִינָה, הַקְשִׁיבָה, נְחֵנִי, הַאֲשִׁימֵם), complaint about liars, confidence in worship and divine protection.
  - Ps 120: imperative הַצִּילָה, complaint about lying lips and hostile neighbors, self-definition “I am peace.”
  The parallel architecture makes Psalm 120 a natural next lament expanding the same grievance set.

- “But I” pivot in both:
  - Ps 5:8 וַאֲנִי בְּרֹב חַסְדֶּךָ …
  - Ps 120:7 אֲנִי שָׁלוֹם …
  In both psalms this first-person pivot marks the speaker’s alignment with God over against the deceitful.

- Shared abundance root רב as a hinge:
  - Ps 5:8 בְּרֹב חַסְדֶּךָ “in the abundance of your loyal-love.”
  - Ps 120:6 רַבַּת שָׁכְנָה־לָּהּ נַפְשִׁי “long has my soul dwelt [there].”
  The rhetoric moves from God’s abundant hesed (access to the house) to the too-long abundance of exile—an editorially savvy handoff.

Prayer-heard logic (from expectation to outcome)
- Ps 5:4 “Morning you will hear my voice … I will arrange [my prayer] and watch” (בֹּקֶר תִּשְׁמַע קוֹלִי … וַאֲצַפֶּה).
- Ps 120:1 “I called to YHWH in my distress and He answered me” (קָרָאתִי וַיַּעֲנֵנִי).
Psalm 120 narrates the response that Psalm 5 anticipates: what was “you will hear … I will watch” becomes “I called … He answered.”

Liturgical-life sequencing in ancient Israel
- Daily/pilgrimage rhythm: Psalm 5 is explicitly a morning prayer oriented toward temple approach (“I will enter your house”). Psalm 120 is the first of the Songs of Ascents, sung on the way up to Jerusalem. In lived practice, Psalm 120 can follow Psalm 5: after the morning plea for a straight path (נְחֵנִי … הַיְשַׁר לְפָנַי דַּרְכֶּךָ), the pilgrim sets out from hostile surroundings (“Meshech … tents of Kedar”) and begins the ascent toward the house named in Psalm 5.
- Communal-historical arc: Psalm 5 gives the individual righteous worshiper’s frame; Psalm 120 applies the same ethical conflict (lying tongues, men of blood/war) to the exilic/pilgrim community at the world’s edges (Meshech/Kedar), initiating the communal return to Zion.

Interlocking protection/attack imagery
- Ps 5 ends with defense: “like a shield you encircle him with favor” (כַּצִּנָּה רָצוֹן תַּעְטְרֶנּוּ).
- Ps 120 names the attack: “arrows of a mighty man” (חִצֵּי גִּבּוֹר).
Shield vs. arrows creates a tight motif pair; Psalm 5 supplies precisely the protection Psalm 120 needs.

Summary
Across rare and distinctive lexemes (גור, רמה, לשון), closely matched themes (lying tongues; bloodshed/war), and complementary spatial/liturgical frames (from alien tents to God’s house; morning prayer to ascent), Psalm 120 reads naturally as the next scene after Psalm 5. Psalm 5 sets the theological and liturgical orientation (God hears morning prayer; evil may not sojourn with Him; the righteous will enter His house); Psalm 120 begins to act on it from within exile, asking for deliverance from the very deceit Psalm 5 denounces and taking the first step of the “ascent” toward the house anticipated in Psalm 5.

Evaluation

Score: 6.0

Evaluated at: 2025-11-17T03:44:18 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 2880 Output: 4874 Total: 7754

Vocabulary specificity: 3.0 / 10

Multiple accurate lexical correspondences with verse refs and a plausible sequencing, but most vocabulary is common across Psalms; no engagement with counter-evidence (Book divisions; wider parallels e.g., Ps 12, 57). No caps.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 5 and Psalm 120 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 120 logically follows on from Psalm 5? 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 5:
Psalm 5
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
        אֶֽל־
        הַנְּחִיל֗וֹת
        מִזְמ֥וֹר
        לְדָוִֽד׃
2. אֲמָרַ֖י
        הַאֲזִ֥ינָה ׀
        יְהוָ֗ה
        בִּ֣ינָה
        הֲגִֽיגִי׃
3. הַקְשִׁ֤יבָה ׀
        לְק֬וֹל
        שַׁוְעִ֗י
        מַלְכִּ֥י
        וֵאלֹהָ֑י
        כִּֽי־
        אֵ֝לֶ֗יךָ
        אֶתְפַּלָּֽל׃
4. יְֽהוָ֗ה
        בֹּ֭קֶר
        תִּשְׁמַ֣ע
        קוֹלִ֑י
        בֹּ֥קֶר
        אֶֽעֱרָךְ־
        לְ֝ךָ֗
        וַאֲצַפֶּֽה׃
5. כִּ֤י ׀
        לֹ֤א
        אֵֽל־
        חָפֵ֘ץ
        רֶ֥שַׁע ׀
        אָ֑תָּה
        לֹ֖א
        יְגֻרְךָ֣
        רָֽע׃
6. לֹֽא־
        יִתְיַצְּב֣וּ
        הֽ֭וֹלְלִים
        לְנֶ֣גֶד
        עֵינֶ֑יךָ
        שָׂ֝נֵ֗אתָ
        כָּל־
        פֹּ֥עֲלֵי
        אָֽוֶן׃
7. תְּאַבֵּד֮
        דֹּבְרֵ֢י
        כָ֫זָ֥ב
        אִישׁ־
        דָּמִ֥ים
        וּמִרְמָ֗ה
        יְתָ֘עֵ֥ב ׀
        יְהוָֽה׃
8. וַאֲנִ֗י
        בְּרֹ֣ב
        חַ֭סְדְּךָ
        אָב֣וֹא
        בֵיתֶ֑ךָ
        אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֥ה
        אֶל־
        הֵֽיכַל־
        קָ֝דְשְׁךָ֗
        בְּיִרְאָתֶֽךָ׃
9. יְהוָ֤ה ׀
        נְחֵ֬נִי
        בְצִדְקָתֶ֗ךָ
        לְמַ֥עַן
        שׁוֹרְרָ֑י
        הושר
        הַיְשַׁ֖ר
        לְפָנַ֣י
        דַּרְכֶּֽךָ׃
10. כִּ֤י
        אֵ֪ין
        בְּפִ֡יהוּ
        נְכוֹנָה֮
        קִרְבָּ֢ם
        הַ֫וּ֥וֹת
        קֶֽבֶר־
        פָּת֥וּחַ
        גְּרוֹנָ֑ם
        לְ֝שׁוֹנָ֗ם
        יַחֲלִֽיקוּן׃
11. הַֽאֲשִׁימֵ֨ם ׀
        אֱ‍ֽלֹהִ֗ים
        יִפְּלוּ֮
        מִֽמֹּעֲצ֢וֹתֵ֫יהֶ֥ם
        בְּרֹ֣ב
        פִּ֭שְׁעֵיהֶם
        הַדִּיחֵ֑מוֹ
        כִּי־
        מָ֥רוּ
        בָֽךְ׃
12. וְיִשְׂמְח֨וּ
        כָל־
        ח֪וֹסֵי
        בָ֡ךְ
        לְעוֹלָ֣ם
        יְ֭רַנֵּנוּ
        וְתָסֵ֣ךְ
        עָלֵ֑ימוֹ
        וְֽיַעְלְצ֥וּ
        בְ֝ךָ֗
        אֹהֲבֵ֥י
        שְׁמֶֽךָ׃
13. כִּֽי־
        אַתָּה֮
        תְּבָרֵ֢ךְ
        צַ֫דִּ֥יק
        יְהוָ֑ה
        כַּ֝צִּנָּ֗ה
        רָצ֥וֹן
        תַּעְטְרֶֽנּוּ׃

Psalm 120:
Psalm 120
1. שִׁ֗יר
        הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת
        אֶל־
        יְ֭הוָה
        בַּצָּרָ֣תָה
        לִּ֑י
        קָ֝רָ֗אתִי
        וַֽיַּעֲנֵֽנִי׃
2. יְֽהוָ֗ה
        הַצִּ֣ילָה
        נַ֭פְשִׁי
        מִשְּׂפַת־
        שֶׁ֑קֶר
        מִלָּשׁ֥וֹן
        רְמִיָּֽה׃
3. מַה־
        יִּתֵּ֣ן
        לְ֭ךָ
        וּמַה־
        יֹּסִ֥יף
        לָ֗ךְ
        לָשׁ֥וֹן
        רְמִיָּֽה׃
4. חִצֵּ֣י
        גִבּ֣וֹר
        שְׁנוּנִ֑ים
        עִ֝֗ם
        גַּחֲלֵ֥י
        רְתָמִֽים׃
5. אֽוֹיָה־
        לִ֭י
        כִּי־
        גַ֣רְתִּי
        מֶ֑שֶׁךְ
        שָׁ֝כַ֗נְתִּי
        עִֽם־
        אָהֳלֵ֥י
        קֵדָֽר׃
6. רַ֭בַּת
        שָֽׁכְנָה־
        לָּ֣הּ
        נַפְשִׁ֑י
        עִ֝֗ם
        שׂוֹנֵ֥א
        שָׁלֽוֹם׃
7. אֲ‍ֽנִי־
        שָׁ֭לוֹם
        וְכִ֣י
        אֲדַבֵּ֑ר
        הֵ֝֗מָּה
        לַמִּלְחָמָֽה׃