Psalm 6 → 25

Reasoning: 8320 Output: 5106 Total: 13426

Argument

Here are ways to argue that Psalm 25 “logically follows” Psalm 6, with the evidence grouped by type and weighted (rarer/stronger matches first).

1) Identical Hebrew forms that recur in both (strongest)
- חָנֵּנִי “be gracious to me” (2ms imperative + 1cs suffix): Ps 6:3; Ps 25:16. In both, the speaker opens/renews the plea for divine grace.
- נַפְשִׁי “my life/soul”: Ps 6:4–5; Ps 25:1, 20. In Ps 6 the nefesh is terrified and near death; in Ps 25 it is lifted to YHWH (v.1) and guarded (v.20).
- אֹיְבַי “my enemies”: Ps 6:11; Ps 25:2, 19. Same plural with 1cs suffix; both psalms are individual laments with hostile opponents in view.
- יֵבֹשׁוּ “they will be ashamed”: Ps 6:11; Ps 25:3. Psalm 6 declares enemies will be shamed; Psalm 25 petitions that the treacherous be shamed and that the supplicant not be (vv.2–3).
- לְמַעַן “for the sake of”: Ps 6:5; Ps 25:7, 11. In both, the petitioner grounds requests in God’s character/name.
- חַסְדֶּךָ “your steadfast love” (2ms): Ps 6:5; Ps 25:7. Psalm 6: “save me for the sake of your ḥesed”; Psalm 25: “remember me according to your ḥesed.” Same covenantal attribute, same suffix.

2) Same roots or tightly paired lexemes (significant)
- ישׁע “save/deliver”: Ps 6:5 הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי; Ps 25:5 אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעִי. The plea for salvation in 6 becomes a stabilized confession (“God of my salvation”) in 25.
- זכר “remember”: Ps 6:6 “in death there is no remembrance of you”; Ps 25:6–7 “remember your compassions… do not remember the sins of my youth… remember me.” Psalm 25 flips 6’s “no remembrance” in death into a cluster of “remember” petitions in life.
- עין “eye”: Ps 6:8 “my eye wastes away from grief”; Ps 25:15 “my eyes are always toward YHWH.” A clear narrative turn: the weeping eye of 6 becomes the fixed, trusting gaze of 25.
- צר / צרר word-field (distress/enemies): Ps 6:8 “all my adversaries (צוֹרְרַי)”; Ps 25:17, 22 “troubles (צָרוֹת)… distresses (מְצוּקוֹת).” Same semantic field, but broadened in 25 from adversaries to the totality of “troubles.”
- שׁוּב/שׁוּבָה “turn/return” vs. “he will bring out”: Ps 6:5 “Return, YHWH!”; Ps 25:15 “he will bring out (יוֹצִיא) my feet from the net.” Functionally similar turning-point verbs: the reversal he begged for in 6 is enacted as rescue in 25.

3) Thematic/stylistic progression that feels like “after”
- From discipline/illness to forgiveness/instruction:
  - Ps 6: “Do not rebuke me in your anger… heal me… I am languishing… Sheol.” This is a crisis-lament under perceived divine displeasure.
  - Ps 25: “Remember your mercies… do not remember my youthful sins… teach me your paths… for your name’s sake forgive my iniquity.” This reads like the matured, post-crisis stance: confession, catechesis, and covenantal grounding replace sheer desperation.
- From “How long?” to “I wait all day”:
  - Ps 6:4 “YHWH—how long?”
  - Ps 25:5 “for you I have hoped all day.” The impatient cry becomes sustained, disciplined waiting (same temporal axis, different posture).
- “Shame” theme carried forward and reframed:
  - Ps 6 ends: enemies will be “ashamed and terrified… turn back… ashamed in a moment.”
  - Ps 25 opens: “Let me not be ashamed… let not my enemies exult… all who hope in you shall not be ashamed; let the treacherous be ashamed.” Same theme, now rebalanced as a theology of hope for the faithful vs. shame for betrayers.
- From night-long tears to steady gaze:
  - Ps 6:7–8 nightly weeping, failing eyes.
  - Ps 25:15 “My eyes are always toward YHWH.” Emotional resolution articulated as visual posture.

4) Shared form and rhetoric
- Both are Davidic individual laments with:
  - Direct address to YHWH and dense imperatives/jussives (אַל + jussive in both: “אַל־בְאַפְּךָ…” Ps 6:2; “אַל־אֵבוֹשָׁה… אַל־יַעַלְצוּ” Ps 25:2; “אַל־תִּזְכֹּר” Ps 25:7).
  - Motive clauses introduced by כִּי and לְמַעַן to argue the case (Ps 6:3, 5–6; Ps 25:5–6, 11, 15, 20).
  - The classic lament arc: complaint → petition → confidence/assurance. Psalm 6 completes the arc within itself (vv. 9–11). Psalm 25 starts from that regained confidence (“in you I trust,” v.2) and expands it into a program of moral formation.

5) Life-cycle and cultic plausibility in ancient Israel
- A two-stage liturgical sequence:
  - Stage 1 (Ps 6): a sick/afflicted worshiper pleads at or toward the sanctuary, under the shadow of death (“no remembrance in death; who will praise you in Sheol?”).
  - Stage 2 (Ps 25): having been spared, the same worshiper returns to temple instruction, seeking Torah-guidance from YHWH (and his ministers) so as not to fall under discipline again: “make me know your ways… teach me your paths… all YHWH’s paths are ḥesed and ’emet to those who keep his covenant and testimonies” (v.10). The movement from crisis to catechesis is liturgically natural.
- Covenant creed resonance:
  - Ps 6’s “for the sake of your ḥesed” aligns with the covenant attributes from Exod 34.
  - Ps 25 explicitly appeals to those attributes (רחמים, חסדים, חסד ואמת), to God’s Name (“for your name’s sake”), and to “covenant” and “testimonies” (v.10). The worshiper who just experienced mercy in 6 generalizes it into covenantal theology in 25.
- Personal to communal widening:
  - Ps 6 is purely individual.
  - Ps 25 ends by interceding for the nation: “Redeem Israel, O God, from all his troubles” (v.22). That is a common “follow-on” move after personal deliverance: extend the mercy I received to all Israel.

6) Smaller stitch-lines (lexical echoes and semantic inversions)
- “No remembrance in death” (Ps 6:6) ↔ “Remember… do not remember… remember me” (Ps 25:6–7).
- “Deliver my nefesh” (Ps 6:5 חַלְּצָה נַפְשִׁי) ↔ “Guard my nefesh and deliver me” (Ps 25:20).
- “Depart from me, all workers of iniquity” (Ps 6:9) ↔ “Let the treacherous (הַבּוֹגְדִים) be ashamed” (Ps 25:3) and “see my enemies… they are many… hatred of violence” (25:19). The threat group is named and morally characterized in 25.

Why this is more than coincidence
- We are not just matching common words like YHWH. The overlap centers on hallmark lament vocabulary used in the same way and often with identical forms: חנני, נפשי, אויבי, יבשו, חסדך, למען. Add to that a set of semantically pointed inversions (eye, remember, shame, time perspective), and you get a coherent narrative development from 6 to 25.
- Thematically, Psalm 25 reads like the ethical and theological sequel to Psalm 6: rescued from the brink (6), the psalmist now asks to be taught, forgiven, and stabilized in covenant faithfulness (25), while keeping the same enemy/shame horizon and widening the scope to Israel.

Concise synthesis
- Psalm 6: crisis under divine anger, nearness to Sheol, weeping, plea for mercy, assurance that enemies will be shamed.
- Psalm 25: the same voice, now trusting and teachable, asks for guidance and forgiveness “for your name’s sake,” asks that he not be shamed while the treacherous are, fixes his eyes on YHWH, and finally prays for Israel’s redemption.

On these stylistic, lexical, and liturgical grounds, Psalm 25 can be read as a logical follow-on to Psalm 6.

Evaluation

Score: 6.5

Evaluated at: 2025-11-18T04:21:13 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 4160 Output: 5933 Total: 10093

Vocabulary specificity: 3.5 / 10

Multiple correct, verse-anchored echoes (חנני, נפשי, איבי, יבשו; “How long”→“all day”), but these are common lament lexemes; no structural marker; Psalm 25’s acrostic/wisdom profile links elsewhere too.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 6 and Psalm 25 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 25 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 25:
Psalm 25
1. לְדָוִ֡ד
        אֵלֶ֥יךָ
        יְ֝הוָ֗ה
        נַפְשִׁ֥י
        אֶשָּֽׂא׃
2. אֱ‍ֽלֹהַ֗י
        בְּךָ֣
        בָ֭טַחְתִּי
        אַל־
        אֵב֑וֹשָׁה
        אַל־
        יַֽעַלְצ֖וּ
        אֹיְבַ֣י
        לִֽי׃
3. גַּ֣ם
        כָּל־
        ק֭וֹיֶtךָ
        לֹ֣א
        יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ
        יֵ֝בֹ֗שׁוּ
        הַבּוֹגְדִ֥ים
        רֵיקָֽם׃
4. דְּרָכֶ֣יךָ
        יְ֭הוָה
        הוֹדִיעֵ֑נִי
        אֹ֖רְחוֹתֶ֣יךָ
        לַמְּדֵֽנִי׃
5. הַדְרִ֘יכֵ֤נִי
        בַאֲמִתֶּ֨ךָ ׀
        וְֽלַמְּדֵ֗נִי
        כִּֽי־
        אַ֭תָּה
        אֱלֹהֵ֣י
        יִשְׁעִ֑י
        אוֹתְךָ֥
        קִ֝וִּ֗יתִי
        כָּל־
        הַיּֽוֹם׃
6. זְכֹר־
        רַחֲמֶ֣יךָ
        יְ֭הוָה
        וַחֲסָדֶ֑יךָ
        כִּ֖י
        מֵעוֹלָ֣ם
        הֵֽמָּה׃
7. חַטֹּ֤אות
        נְעוּרַ֨י ׀
        וּפְשָׁעַ֗י
        אַל־
        תִּ֫זְכֹּ֥ר
        כְּחַסְדְּךָ֥
        זְכָר־
        לִי־
        אַ֑תָּה
        לְמַ֖עַן
        טוּבְךָ֣
        יְהוָֽה׃
8. טוֹב־
        וְיָשָׁ֥ר
        יְהוָ֑ה
        עַל־
        כֵּ֤ן
        יוֹרֶ֖ה
        חַטָּאִ֣ים
        בַּדָּֽרֶךְ׃
9. יַדְרֵ֣ךְ
        עֲ֭נָוִים
        בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט
        וִֽילַמֵּ֖ד
        עֲנָוִ֣ים
        דַּרְכּֽוֹ׃
10. כָּל־
        אָרְח֣וֹת
        יְ֭הוָה
        חֶ֣סֶד
        וֶאֱמֶ֑ת
        לְנֹצְרֵ֥י
        בְ֝רִית֗וֹ
        וְעֵדֹתָֽיו׃
11. לְמַֽעַן־
        שִׁמְךָ֥
        יְהוָ֑ה
        וְֽסָלַחְתָּ֥
        לַ֝עֲוֺנִ֗י
        כִּ֣י
        רַב־
        הֽוּא׃
12. מִי־
        זֶ֣ה
        הָ֭אִישׁ
        יְרֵ֣א
        יְהוָ֑ה
        י֝וֹרֶ֗נּוּ
        בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ
        יִבְחָֽר׃
13. נַ֭פְשׁוֹ
        בְּט֣וֹב
        תָּלִ֑ין
        וְ֝זַרְע֗וֹ
        יִ֣ירַשׁ
        אָֽרֶץ׃
14. ס֣וֹד
        יְ֭הוָה
        לִירֵאָ֑יו
        וּ֝בְרִית֗וֹ
        לְהוֹדִיעָֽם׃
15. עֵינַ֣י
        תָּ֭מִיד
        אֶל־
        יְהוָ֑ה
        כִּ֤י
        הֽוּא־
        יוֹצִ֖יא
        מֵרֶ֣שֶׁת
        רַגְלָֽי׃
16. פְּנֵה־
        אֵלַ֥י
        וְחָנֵּ֑נִי
        כִּֽי־
        יָחִ֖יד
        וְעָנִ֣י
        אָֽנִי׃
17. צָר֣וֹת
        לְבָבִ֣י
        הִרְחִ֑יבוּ
        מִ֝מְּצֽוּקוֹתַ֗י
        הוֹצִיאֵֽנִי׃
18. רְאֵ֣ה
        עָ֭נְיִי
        וַעֲמָלִ֑י
        וְ֝שָׂ֗א
        לְכָל־
        חַטֹּאותָֽי׃
19. רְאֵֽה־
        אוֹיְבַ֥י
        כִּי־
        רָ֑בּוּ
        וְשִׂנְאַ֖ת
        חָמָ֣ס
        שְׂנֵאֽוּנִי׃
20. שָׁמְרָ֣ה
        נַ֭פְשִׁי
        וְהַצִּילֵ֑נִי
        אַל־
        אֵ֝ב֗וֹשׁ
        כִּֽי־
        חָסִ֥יתִי
        בָֽךְ׃
21. תֹּם־
        וָיֹ֥שֶׁר
        יִצְּר֑וּנִי
        כִּ֝֗י
        קִוִּיתִֽיךָ׃
22. פְּדֵ֣ה
        אֱ֭לֹהִים
        אֶת־
        יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל
        מִ֝כֹּ֗ל
        צָֽרוֹתָיו׃