Psalm 6 → 14

Reasoning: 7168 Output: 3839 Total: 11007

Argument

Here are lines of argument—moving from strongest textual hooks to broader thematic and form-critical links—that can justify reading Psalm 14 as a logical follow-on to Psalm 6.

1) Exact lexical hook (highest weight)
- Identical phrase: כל־פֹעֲלֵי אָוֶן “all workers of iniquity”
  - Ps 6:9 ס֣וּרוּ מִמֶּנִּי כָּל־פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן
  - Ps 14:4 הֲלֹא יָדְעוּ כָּל־פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן
  - This rare collocation (especially with כָּל) appears in only a small set of Davidic laments and in Ps 14/53. Psalm 14 can be heard as the answer to Ps 6:9: after the speaker dismisses “all workers of iniquity,” Psalm 14 defines who they are (fools who deny God, devour God’s people, and do not call on YHWH).

2) Shared climactic vocabulary about the fate of the wicked
- Root בושׁ “be put to shame” occurs in near-climactic positions:
  - Ps 6:11 יֵבֹשׁו … יֵבֹשׁו רָגַע
  - Ps 14:6 עֲצַת־עָנִי תָבִישׁוּ “you put to shame the counsel of the poor”
  - Same root ties the end of Ps 6 (enemies shamed) to the indictment in Ps 14 (the wicked shaming the poor), preparing for the reversal in 14:7.
- Fear/panic theme:
  - Ps 6:3–4 נִבְהֲלוּ עֲצָמוֹתַי … וְנַפְשִׁי נִבְהֲלָה מְאֹד; Ps 6:11 וְיִבָּהֲלוּ מְאֹד
  - Ps 14:5 שָׁם פָּחֲדוּ פָחַד
  - Though different roots (בהל vs פחד), both psalms climax with the sudden dread of the wicked.

3) Salvation/return doublet (same roots, different forms)
- ישׁע “save”: Ps 6:5 הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי; Ps 14:7 יְשׁוּעַת יִשְׂרָאֵל
  - The personal plea “save me” (Ps 6) expands to national “salvation of Israel” (Ps 14), a natural narrative widening.
- שוב “turn/restore”:
  - Ps 6:11 יָשׁוּבוּ … יֵבֹשׁוּ רָגַע (enemies “turn back” in shame)
  - Ps 14:7 בְּשׁוּב יְהוָה שְׁבוּת עַמּוֹ (“when YHWH restores the fortunes of his people”)
  - The “turning back” of the enemies in Ps 6 is answered by YHWH’s restorative “turning” in Ps 14. This is a tight, root-level progression from individual vindication to communal restoration.

4) Worship/calling language as antithetic continuation
- Ps 6:6 argues for life so the psalmist can worship: אֵין בַּמָּוֶת זִכְרֶךָ; בִּשְׁאוֹל מִי יוֹדֶה־לָּךְ
- Ps 14:4 condemns the wicked precisely for the lack of calling: יְהוָה לֹא קָרָאוּ
- After Ps 6 affirms that the living must remember/thank YHWH, Ps 14 indicts “workers of iniquity” for not calling on YHWH at all. Thematically, 14 reads like a prosecutorial expansion of the moral failure implied in 6:6.

5) “Hearing/seeing” divine response as sequential scenes
- Ps 6:9–10 threefold assurance that God “has heard” the prayer: שָׁמַע יְהוָה קוֹל בִּכְיִי … תְּחִנָּתִי … תְּפִלָּתִי
- Ps 14:2 God “looks down” from heaven: יְהוָה מִשָּׁמַיִם הִשְׁקִיף … לִרְאוֹת
- Dramatic sequence: first God hears the individual prayer (Ps 6), then God surveys humanity to judge who seeks him (Ps 14). Hearing leads to looking, individual to universal.

6) Macro-plot and form shift that makes narrative sense
- Formally, Ps 6 is an individual lament (illness/near-death, plea, confidence, enemies shamed). Ps 14 is a sapiential-communal lament/indictment culminating in eschatological hope.
- Logical sequence:
  1) Ps 6: the sufferer petitions (“How long?” עַד־מָתָי), is heard, and announces the enemies’ shame and panic.
  2) Ps 14: the psalmist/choir now names those enemies (“all workers of iniquity”), exposes their theological folly (“There is no God”), and widens the horizon from the sufferer’s deliverance to Zion’s restoration (“O that salvation would come from Zion … when YHWH restores the fortunes of his people”).
- This is a typical liturgical move in ancient Israel: a personal lament leading into a communal/wisdom declaration and a Zion-centered hope.

7) Superscriptional alignment
- Both are “לַמְנַצֵּחַ … לְדָוִד,” linking them in the same performance stream and Davidic frame. While common, it supports reading them as coordinated pieces within a Davidic lament cluster.

8) Repeated “absence” rhetoric (secondary, yet reinforcing)
- Ps 6:6 uses אֵין to stress the absence of praise from the dead; Ps 14 piles up אֵין to stress the absence of goodness and piety (אֵין אֱלֹהִים; אֵין עֹשֵׂה־טוֹב … אֵין גַּם־אֶחָד). The same rhetorical device of “there is no …” serves different but contiguous functions: motivation for mercy (Ps 6) versus proof of corruption (Ps 14).

9) Social-ethical continuity centered on “my people”
- Ps 6 speaks from the threatened “I” menaced by foes; Ps 14 identifies those foes as predatory against עַמִּי “my people” and ends with the people’s joy (יָגֵל יַעֲקֹב … יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל). The move from I to Israel is a standard rhetorical broadening.

Putting it together
- The strongest stitch is the exact phrase כל־פֹעֲלֵי אָוֶן: Ps 6 dismisses them; Ps 14 describes and indicts them.
- The next strongest is the pair of shared roots that align outcomes: ישׁע (save) and שוב (turn/restore), with Ps 6’s individual salvation and enemy reversal telescoped into Ps 14’s national salvation and restoration.
- The fear/shame cluster (בהל/פחד; בושׁ) provides affective continuity for the enemies’ fate.
- The worship/calling contrast (remember/thank vs do not call) and the hearing/seeing sequence create a coherent dramatic flow: prayer heard → divine survey/judgment → Zion’s restoration.

On a plausible ancient setting, Psalm 6 could be an evening or illness-related penitential lament in which the suppliant, oppressed by “workers of iniquity,” is answered; Psalm 14 could then function in assembly as the communal, didactic follow-up that names those oppressors, frames their evil as theological folly, and directs hope to Zion’s deliverance. In short, Psalm 14 reads like the public, wisdom-inflected exposition and nationalization of the crisis and outcome announced at the end of Psalm 6.

Evaluation

Score: 6.5

Evaluated at: 2025-11-18T04:06:38 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 3392 Output: 4682 Total: 8074

Vocabulary specificity: 5.0 / 10

Strongest hook: exact כל־פֹעֲלֵי אָוֶן (Ps 6:9; 14:4) plus שוב/ישע and בוש links with verse refs; coherent widening. Weakness: many motifs common (בושׁ, ישע, אין), phrase also appears elsewhere (e.g., Ps 5).

Prompt

Consider Psalm 6 and Psalm 14 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 14 logically follows on from Psalm 6? 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 6:
Psalm 6
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֣חַ
        בִּ֭נְגִינוֹת
        עַֽל־
        הַשְּׁמִינִ֗ית
        מִזְמ֥וֹר
        לְדָוִֽד׃
2. יְֽהוָ֗ה
        אַל־
        בְּאַפְּךָ֥
        תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִי
        וְֽאַל־
        בַּחֲמָתְךָ֥
        תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃
3. חָנֵּ֥נִי
        יְהוָה֮
        כִּ֤י
        אֻמְלַ֫ל
        אָ֥נִי
        רְפָאֵ֥נִי
        יְהוָ֑ה
        כִּ֖י
        נִבְהֲל֣וּ
        עֲצָֽtמָי׃
4. וְ֭נַפְשִׁי
        נִבְהֲלָ֣ה
        מְאֹ֑ד
        ואת
        וְאַתָּ֥ה
        יְ֝הוָ֗ה
        עַד־
        מָתָֽי׃
5. שׁוּבָ֣ה
        יְ֭הוָה
        חַלְּצָ֣ה
        נַפְשִׁ֑י
        ה֝וֹשִׁיעֵ֗נִי
        לְמַ֣עַן
        חַסְדֶּֽךָ׃
6. כִּ֤י
        אֵ֣ין
        בַּמָּ֣וֶת
        זִכְרֶ֑ךָ
        בִּ֝שְׁא֗וֹל
        מִ֣י
        יֽוֹדֶה־
        לָּֽךְ׃
7. יָגַ֤עְתִּי ׀
        בְּֽאַנְחָתִ֗י
        אַשְׂחֶ֣ה
        בְכָל־
        לַ֭יְלָה
        מִטָּתִ֑י
        בְּ֝דִמְעָתִ֗י
        עַרְשִׂ֥י
        אַמְסֶֽה׃
8. עָֽשְׁשָׁ֣ה
        מִכַּ֣עַס
        עֵינִ֑י
        עָֽ֝תְקָ֗ה
        בְּכָל־
        צוֹרְרָֽי׃
9. ס֣וּרוּ
        מִ֭מֶּנִּי
        כָּל־
        פֹּ֣עֲלֵי
        אָ֑וֶן
        כִּֽי־
        שָׁמַ֥ע
        יְ֝הוָ֗ה
        ק֣וֹל
        בִּכְיִֽי׃
10. שָׁמַ֣ע
        יְ֭הוָה
        תְּחִנָּתִ֑י
        יְ֝הוָ֗ה
        תְּֽפִלָּתִ֥י
        יִקָּֽח׃
11. יֵבֹ֤שׁוּ ׀
        וְיִבָּהֲל֣וּ
        מְ֭אֹד
        כָּל־
        אֹיְבָ֑י
        יָ֝שֻׁ֗בוּ
        יֵבֹ֥שׁוּ
        רָֽגַע׃

Psalm 14:
Psalm 14
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֗חַ
        לְדָ֫וִ֥ד
        אָ֘מַ֤ר
        נָבָ֣ל
        בְּ֭לִבּוֹ
        אֵ֣ין
        אֱלֹהִ֑ים
        הִֽשְׁחִ֗יתוּ
        הִֽתְעִ֥יבוּ
        עֲלִילָ֗ה
        אֵ֣ין
        עֹֽשֵׂה־
        טֽוֹב׃
2. יְֽהוָ֗ה
        מִשָּׁמַיִם֮
        הִשְׁקִ֢יף
        עַֽל־
        בְּנֵי־
        אָcדָ֥ם
        לִ֭רְאוֹת
        הֲיֵ֣שׁ
        מַשְׂכִּ֑יל
        דֹּ֝רֵשׁ
        אֶת־
        אֱלֹהִֽים׃
3. הַכֹּ֥ל
        סָר֮
        יַחְדָּ֢ו
        נֶ֫אֱלָ֥חוּ
        אֵ֤ין
        עֹֽשֵׂה־
        ט֑וֹב
        אֵ֝֗ין
        גַּם־
        אֶחָֽד׃
4. הֲלֹ֥א
        יָדְעוּ֮
        כָּל־
        פֹּ֢עֲלֵ֫י
        אָ֥וֶן
        אֹכְלֵ֣י
        עַ֭מִּי
        אָ֣כְלוּ
        לֶ֑חֶם
        יְ֝הוָ֗ה
        לֹ֣א
        קָרָֽאוּ׃
5. שָׁ֤ם ׀
        פָּ֣חֲדוּ
        פָ֑חַד
        כִּֽי־
        אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים
        בְּד֣וֹר
        צַדִּֽיק׃
6. עֲצַת־
        עָנִ֥י
        תָבִ֑ישׁוּ
        כִּ֖י
        יְהוָ֣ה
        מַחְסֵֽהוּ׃
7. מִ֥י
        יִתֵּ֣ן
        מִצִיּוֹן֮
        יְשׁוּעַ֢ת
        יִשְׂרָ֫אֵ֥ל
        בְּשׁ֣וּב
        יְ֭הוָה
        שְׁב֣וּת
        עַמּ֑וֹ
        יָגֵ֥ל
        יַ֝עֲקֹ֗ב
        יִשְׂמַ֥ח
        יִשְׂרָֽאֵל׃