Psalm 6 → 75

Reasoning: 12032 Output: 4006 Total: 16038

Argument

Here are several, mutually reinforcing ways to argue that Psalm 75 “follows” Psalm 6.

Form and performance-setting
- Both are clearly liturgical pieces for public performance: למנצח … מזמור (Ps 6:1; Ps 75:1). That makes it natural to read them as two movements in one liturgical arc.
- Genre flow: Psalm 6 is an individual lament ending with confidence; Psalm 75 is a communal thanksgiving that embeds a divine oracle of judgment. In Israelite worship that is a standard sequence: lament with vow → divine intervention → public thanksgiving led by Levitical singers (Asaph).
- Even the tune words reinforce the trajectory: Ps 6 opens with do-not pleas (אל־באַפּך … ואל־בחמתך), while Ps 75’s heading has the well-known refrain אל־תשחת (“Do not destroy”), which fits a setting where destructive anger has been turned away.

Time/presence: question and answer
- Ps 6:4 “עד מתי?” (How long?) + 6:5 “שובה יהוה” (Return, O YHWH) is squarely answered by Ps 75:3 “כי אקח מועד אני מישרים אשפט” (When I take the appointed time, I will judge uprightly) and 75:2 “וקרוב שמך” (your name is near). The delay/absence of 6 becomes the appointed-time/nearness of 75.

Petition vs fulfillment of praise (shared root ידה)
- Ps 6:6 “בשאול מי יודה־לך?” (In Sheol who will give thanks to you?) ← root י־ד־ה.
- Ps 75:2 “הודינו לך אלהים, הודינו” (We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks), and 75:10 “ואני אגיד לעולם, אזמרה” (I will declare forever; I will sing).
- That is a high‑value lexical bridge: the threatened cessation of thanksgiving in Ps 6 is explicitly fulfilled by communal and vowed praise in Ps 75, using the same praise-root and the same complement לך.

Address to the wicked shifts from human to divine speech
- Ps 6:9 “סורו ממני כל־פֹעלי און” (Depart from me, all workers of iniquity); 6:11 “יבֹשו … כל־אויבי” (let all my enemies be shamed).
- Ps 75:5–6 God/leader now addresses them: “אמרתי להוללים אל־תהֹלו; ולרשעים אל־תרימו קרן … אל־תרימו למרום קרנכם; תדברו בצואר עתק.” The addressee is the same group (evildoers), but the speaker is now the divine judge or his liturgical spokesman; what was the sufferer’s wish becomes God’s command.

Anger/judgment: from feared on the sufferer to poured on the wicked
- Ps 6:2 “אל־באַפּך תוכיחני ואל־בחמתך תיסרני” (Do not rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath).
- Ps 75:9 “כי כוס ביד־יהוה … אך־שמריה ימצו ישתו כל רשעי־ארץ” (A cup is in YHWH’s hand … its dregs all the wicked of the earth drink). The punitive cup is redirected from the suppliant (Ps 6) to the wicked (Ps 75).

Parallel imperative syntax with אל + yiqtol (tight stylistic echo)
- Ps 6:2 twice uses אל + imperfect addressed to God (אל־באַפּך … אל־בחמתך).
- Ps 75:5–6 thrice uses אל + imperfect addressed to the wicked (אל־תהֹלו; אל־תרימו; אל־תרימו למרום). Same construction, different addressee—precisely what you expect if the answer has arrived.

High‑value root-level links (rarer items)
- עתק: Ps 6:8 “עָתְקָה” (my eye “has grown old/worn,” Qal 3fs) and Ps 75:6 “בְצַוָּאר עָתָק” (with an insolent/stiff neck). Same uncommon root עתק in two different but cognate senses—an eye worn down in 6; an arrogant, “advanced” neck in 75.
- Liquefaction/draining imagery: Ps 6:7–8 “אַשְׂחֶה … אֶמְסֶה” (I make [my bed] swim; I melt my couch) and “נִבְהֲל֣וּ עֲצָמָי” (my bones are shaken). Ps 75:4 “נְמֹגִים אֶרֶץ” (the earth melts); 75:9 the cup is poured and drained to the dregs (“וַיַּגֵּר … יִמְצ֣וּ יִשְׁתּוּ”). Though not the same lemmas, this shared, unusual watery/melting field of imagery ties the poems.

Reversal promised in 6, enacted in 75
- Ps 6’s finale: “יֵבֹשׁוּ … יָשֻׁבוּ … יֵבֹשׁוּ רָגַע” (they will be shamed; they will turn back; they will be shamed in a moment).
- Ps 75 spells out how: “זֶה יַשְׁפִּיל וְזֶה יָרִים” (this one he brings down, that one he lifts up, 75:8); “וְכָל־קַרְנֵי רְשָׁעִים אֲגַדֵּעַ; תְּרוֹמַמְנָה קַרְנוֹת צַדִּיק” (I will cut off all the horns of the wicked; the horns of the righteous will be exalted, 75:11). The humiliation of enemies wished in Ps 6 becomes the judicial cutting of their “horns.”

Micro–macro correspondence (body ↔ cosmos)
- Ps 6: the individual’s “bones” (עֲצָמַי) are terrified and need healing (רְפָאֵנִי).
- Ps 75: the entire “earth” melts, and God “sets up its pillars” (תִכַּנְתִּי עַמּוּדֶיהָ). Individual disintegration/re-stabilization is mirrored by cosmic disintegration/re-stabilization—classic Israelite poetics.

Life-setting plausibility
- A realistic cultic sequence: serious illness and threat → lament with the argument “who will thank you if I die?” (Ps 6:6) → recovery/judgment at the appointed “מועד” → thanksgiving in the sanctuary led by Asaphite singers, including a divine oracle of judgment on the wicked and exaltation of the righteous (Ps 75). Superscriptions and the switch from singular (David) to guild-leader (Asaph) fit that movement from private crisis to public praise.

Smaller, but still supportive, correspondences
- Both conclude with the fate of the wicked stated tersely and judicially (6:11; 75:11).
- Both favor dense use of the divine name and praise vocabulary. Ps 6 worries about “זִכְרֶךָ” (your remembrance) and “מי יודה־לך?”; Ps 75 announces “קרוב שמך,” “הודינו,” “אגיד,” “אזמרה”—the praise that Ps 6 said would be impossible in death is now happening.

In short: Psalm 6 poses the crisis—divine anger, delay, threatened silence of praise—and prays for reversal; Psalm 75 supplies the answer at God’s appointed time—his nearness, his just judgment, the cup poured on the wicked, and the vowed thanksgiving fulfilled in the assembly. The formal progression, the time/presence answer, the shared praise-root ידה with the same complement לך, the rare root עתק, the parallel imperative syntax with אל, and the reversal/judgment motifs together make a strong case that Psalm 75 can be read as logically following Psalm 6.

Evaluation

Score: 2.0

Evaluated at: 2025-11-20T04:15:41 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 3392 Output: 4834 Total: 8226

Vocabulary specificity: 6.0 / 10

Flags: structural_claim_error

Incorrect: Ps 75 uses אל + yiqtol only twice (75:5–6); 75:6 lacks אל. Cap 2. Many motifs (judgment cup, enemies shamed, praise) are common; headings don’t prove sequence; links remain suggestive.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 6 and Psalm 75 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 75 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 75:
Psalm 75
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
        אַל־
        תַּשְׁחֵ֑ת
        מִזְמ֖וֹר
        לְאָסָ֣ף
        שִֽׁיר׃
2. ה֘וֹדִ֤ינּוּ
        לְּךָ֨ ׀
        אֱ‍ֽלֹהִ֗ים
        ה֭וֹדִינוּ
        וְקָר֣וֹב
        שְׁמֶ֑ךָ
        סִ֝פְּר֗וּ
        נִפְלְאוֹתֶֽיךָ׃
3. כִּ֭י
        אֶקַּ֣ח
        מוֹעֵ֑ד
        אֲ֝נִ֗י
        מֵישָׁרִ֥ים
        אֶשְׁפֹּֽט׃
4. נְֽמֹגִ֗ים
        אֶ֥רֶץ
        וְכָל־
        יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ
        אָנֹכִ֨י
        תִכַּ֖נְתִּי
        עַמּוּדֶ֣יהָ
        סֶּֽלָה׃
5. אָמַ֣רְתִּי
        לַֽ֭הוֹלְלִים
        אַל־
        תָּהֹ֑לּוּ
        וְ֝לָרְשָׁעִ֗ים
        אַל־
        תָּרִ֥ימוּ
        קָֽרֶן׃
6. אַל־
        תָּרִ֣ימוּ
        לַמָּר֣וֹם
        קַרְנְכֶ֑ם
        תְּדַבְּר֖וּ
        בְצַוָּ֣אר
        עָתָֽק׃
7. כִּ֤י
        לֹ֣א
        מִ֭מּוֹצָא
        וּמִֽמַּעֲרָ֑ב
        וְ֝לֹ֗א
        מִמִּדְבַּ֥ר
        הָרִֽים׃
8. כִּֽי־
        אֱלֹהִ֥ים
        שֹׁפֵ֑ט
        זֶ֥ה
        יַ֝שְׁפִּ֗יל
        וְזֶ֣ה
        יָרִֽים׃
9. כִּ֤י
        כ֪וֹס
        בְּֽיַד־
        יְהוָ֡ה
        וְיַ֤יִן
        חָמַ֨ר ׀
        מָ֥לֵא
        מֶסֶךְ֮
        וַיַּגֵּ֢ר
        מִ֫זֶּ֥ה
        אַךְ־
        שְׁ֭מָרֶיהָ
        יִמְצ֣וּ
        יִשְׁתּ֑וּ
        כֹּ֝֗ל
        רִשְׁעֵי־
        אָֽרֶץ׃
10. וַ֭אֲנִי
        אַגִּ֣יד
        לְעֹלָ֑ם
        אֲ֝זַמְּרָ֗ה
        לֵאלֹהֵ֥י
        יַעֲקֹֽב׃
11. וְכָל־
        קַרְנֵ֣י
        רְשָׁעִ֣ים
        אֲגַדֵּ֑עַ
        תְּ֝רוֹמַ֗מְנָה
        קַֽרְנ֥וֹת
        צַדִּֽ֥cיק׃