Psalm 6 → 80

Reasoning: 9920 Output: 5353 Total: 15273

Argument

Here are several ways to argue that Psalm 80 “follows on” from Psalm 6—stylistically, lexically, and thematically—so that the second can be heard as the communal, historical, and liturgical expansion of the first.

1) High‑value lexical anchors (identical forms or same roots)
- עד־מָתַי “How long?”:
  - Ps 6:4 ואתה יהוה עד־מתי
  - Ps 80:5 יהוה אלהים צבאות עד־מתי
  This is a stock lament cry, but the identical collocation gives a clear echo.

- שוב “return/restore”:
  - Ps 6:5 שובה יהוה (imperative to God: return!)
  - Ps 80:4, 8, 20 הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ … וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה (refrain); 80:15 שׁוּב־נָא
  The root שוב dominates both psalms; Psalm 80 lifts Psalm 6’s “Return, YHWH” into a communal refrain “Restore us.”

- ישׁע “save”:
  - Ps 6:5 הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי
  - Ps 80:3 לִישֻׁעָתָה; 4, 8, 20 וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה
  The same salvation root, moving from the individual “save me” (Ps 6) to the corporate “that we may be saved” (Ps 80).

- דִּמְעָה “tear(s)” (rarer than most lament words; the plural דמעות is especially marked):
  - Ps 6:7 בְּדִמְעָתִי
  - Ps 80:6 לֶחֶם דִּמְעָה … בִּדְמָעוֹת שָׁלִישׁ
  The weeping of one sufferer becomes the nation’s “bread of tears.”

- תְּפִלָּה / שׁמע / האזין “prayer/hear”:
  - Ps 6:9–10 שָׁמַע יהוה קוֹל בִּכְיִי … שָׁמַע יהוה תְּחִנָּתִי … יְהוה תְּפִלָּתִי יִקָּח
  - Ps 80:2 הַאֲזִינָה; 80:5 עָשַׁנְתָּ בִּתְפִלַּת עַמֶּךָ
  Psalm 6 ends with assurance “YHWH has heard my prayer,” while Psalm 80 complains that God “fumes at the prayer of your people”—a striking, deliberate tension that invites Psalm 80 as the next act: if the individual was heard, now let the people be heard.

- אוֹיֵב “enemy”:
  - Ps 6:11 כָּל־אֹיְבַי
  - Ps 80:7 וְאֹיְבֵינוּ
  Enemies mocked and opposed in both; in Ps 6 they end shamed, in Ps 80 they currently deride the people.

- Additional anger/discipline lexemes (conceptual cluster):
  - Ps 6:2 אַל־בְּאַפְּךָ … אַל־בַּחֲמָתְךָ; 6:8 מִכַּעַס
  - Ps 80:5 עָשַׁנְתָּ “you have fumed/smoked”; 80:17 מִגַּעֲרַת פָּנֶיךָ “from the rebuke of your face”
  Not identical roots, but a conspicuous shared motif: divine anger/rebuke as the crisis context.

- Name/remember vocabulary:
  - Ps 6:6 כִּי אֵין בַּמָּוֶת זִכְרֶךָ … מִי יוֹדֶה־לָּךְ
  - Ps 80:19 וּבְשִׁמְךָ נִקְרָא
  Both argue for deliverance so that God will be publicly acknowledged—“remembrance/thanks” in Ps 6 and “calling on your name” in Ps 80.

2) Form‑critical and structural fit (individual lament followed by communal lament)
- Both psalms are classic complaints with the same macro‑moves:
  - Invocation: Ps 6:2–3; Ps 80:2, 4
  - Complaint: Ps 6:3–7; Ps 80:5–7, 9–17
  - Petition: Ps 6:4–5; Ps 80:3–4, 8, 15, 18, 20
  - Motivation/rationale: Ps 6:6; Ps 80:9–16, 19
  - Resolution/assurance: Ps 6:9–11; Ps 80:19–20 (vow/confidence + refrain)
- The “I → we” progression is a common liturgical logic: the language of the solitary suppliant (Ps 6) is taken up by the assembly (Ps 80), with the same core plea—Return and Save—now nationalized and ritualized in a refrain.

3) Editorial and stylistic seams that make them a natural pair
- Superscriptions with performance directions:
  - Both: לַמְנַצֵּחַ … מִזְמוֹר
  - Specific instruments/tones: Ps 6 עַל־הַשְּׁמִינִית; Ps 80 אֶל־שֹׁשַׁנִּים עֵדוּת
  This shared liturgical framing signals pieces intended for the same cultic world; it is easy to imagine Ps 6 as a solo lament within a service that culminates in the congregational refrain of Ps 80.

- Repetition and refrain:
  - Ps 6 intensifies “יהוה” address and ends with a dramatic reversal (9–11).
  - Ps 80 builds a thrice‑repeated refrain (4, 8, 20): הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ … הָאֵר פָּנֶיךָ וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה
  The repeated שוב/ישע formula that appears once in Ps 6 becomes the formal chorus in Ps 80—a natural “developed” sequel.

4) Imagery that escalates from private to public
- Tears:
  - Ps 6: a bed soaked with tears (night‑long, private).
  - Ps 80: the nation’s diet is “bread of tears” (public, communal).
  The private affliction becomes the people’s fast‑day.

- Threat of death vs. national devastation:
  - Ps 6: danger of Sheol for the individual.
  - Ps 80: the vine (Israel) burned and cut down; neighbors’ mockery; foreign beasts ravage.
  The personal near‑death becomes the people’s near‑annihilation.

5) Cultic–mythic matrix that ties the two
- “Return” in the Ark/Presence tradition:
  - Ps 6:5 שׁוּבָה יְהוָה directly echoes the wilderness formula (Num 10:36 “שׁוּבָה יְהוָה”).
  - Ps 80:2–3 “Shepherd of Israel … enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth” explicitly invokes the Ark presence and the priestly cult; 80:15 “שׁוּב־נָא” again.
  Read together: the cry “Return, YHWH” of Ps 6 grows into a full enthronement‑theophany plea in Ps 80.

- Priestly benediction allusion:
  - Ps 80’s refrain “הָאֵר פָּנֶיךָ” clearly recalls Num 6:25 “יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ.”
  - Ps 6 grounds its appeal in covenantal חֶסֶד (6:5), the theological soil of the priestly blessing.
  Sequence: appeal to God’s hesed (Ps 6) followed by explicit request for the priestly “shining face” (Ps 80).

6) Davidic–royal thread, personal to corporate
- Ps 6 is “לדוד,” a Davidic lament; Ps 80 (Asaphic) prays for “אִישׁ יְמִינֶךָ … בֶּן־אָדָם אִמַּצְתָּ לָּךְ” (80:18), commonly read as the Davidic king or the people personified.
- The “save me” of the Davidic voice becomes “set your hand on the man of your right hand … then we will not turn back; give us life” (80:18–19), i.e., the king’s restoration as the people’s restoration—an organic extension of the Davidic plea in Ps 6.

7) A plausible life‑setting or liturgical sequence
- Night and day: Ps 6 is saturated with night imagery (“all night I flood my bed”), fitting a nocturnal vigil of affliction; Ps 80 asks for the “shining” of God’s face and for God to “appear,” language suited to a morning assembly with the Ark’s presence and the priestly blessing.
- Fast day: Ps 6’s tears, weakness, and plea not to die move into the community’s fast of “bread of tears” in Ps 80; the refrain functions as the congregational response led by priests/Levites (“Asaph”).

8) Objections and how the sequence still works
- Ps 6 is individual; Ps 80 is communal. That is precisely the logical escalation: the individual’s language and roots (שוב/ישע/עד־מתי/תפלה/דמעה) are taken up and reframed for the nation, with the same goal—restoration to life so God is publicly praised (Ps 6:6; Ps 80:19).
- Different divine titles: Ps 6 addresses יהוה; Ps 80 often uses יהוה אלהים צבאות. This, too, is fitting: the communal crisis invokes the full, martial title “YHWH God of hosts,” while preserving the same lament core.

In sum: the rare and salient overlaps (especially שוב + ישע as imperatives and refrains; identical עד־מתי; the “tears” word‑group; the prayer/hearing cluster), the shared lament form, the movement from the individual’s night of weeping to the nation’s “bread of tears,” and the cultic matrix of Ark‑return and priestly face‑shining together make Psalm 80 read naturally as the communal, liturgical, and historical continuation of Psalm 6.

Evaluation

Score: 6.0

Evaluated at: 2025-11-20T04:21:44 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 2880 Output: 6184 Total: 9064

Vocabulary specificity: 3.0 / 10

Accurate, verse‑anchored links (שוב/ישע; עד־מתי; דמעה) and an I→we rationale. But these are common lament formulas (cf. Ps 13; 42; 56; 90) with no editorial signal linking 6→80. Moderately persuasive.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 6 and Psalm 80 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 80 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 80:
Psalm 80
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
        אֶל־
        שֹׁשַׁנִּ֑ים
        עֵד֖וּת
        לְאָסָ֣ף
        מִזְמֽוֹר׃
2. רֹ֘עֵ֤ה
        יִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל ׀
        הַאֲזִ֗ינָה
        נֹהֵ֣ג
        כַּצֹּ֣אן
        יוֹסֵ֑ף
        יֹשֵׁ֖ב
        הַכְּרוּבִ֣ים
        הוֹפִֽיעָה׃
3. לִפְנֵ֤י
        אֶפְרַ֨יִם ׀
        וּבִנְיָ֘מִ֤ן
        וּמְנַשֶּׁ֗ה
        עוֹרְרָ֥ה
        אֶת־
        גְּבֽוּרָתֶ֑ךָ
        וּלְכָ֖ה
        לִישֻׁעָ֣תָה
        לָּֽנוּ׃
4. אֱלֹהִ֥ים
        הֲשִׁיבֵ֑נוּ
        וְהָאֵ֥ר
        פָּ֝נֶ֗יךָ
        וְנִוָּשֵֽׁעָה׃
5. יְהוָ֣ה
        אֱלֹהִ֣ים
        צְבָא֑וֹת
        עַד־
        מָתַ֥י
        עָ֝שַׁ֗נְתָּ
        בִּתְפִלַּ֥ת
        עַמֶּֽךָ׃
6. הֶ֭אֱכַלְתָּם
        לֶ֣חֶם
        דִּמְעָ֑ה
        וַ֝תַּשְׁקֵ֗מוֹ
        בִּדְמָע֥וֹת
        שָׁלִֽישׁ׃
7. תְּשִׂימֵ֣נוּ
        מָ֭דוֹן
        לִשְׁכֵנֵ֑ינוּ
        וְ֝אֹיְבֵ֗ינוּ
        יִלְעֲגוּ־
        לָֽמוֹ׃
8. אֱלֹהִ֣ים
        צְבָא֣וֹת
        הֲשִׁיבֵ֑נוּ
        וְהָאֵ֥ר
        פָּ֝נֶ֗יךָ
        וְנִוָּשֵֽׁעָה׃
9. גֶּ֭פֶן
        מִמִּצְרַ֣יִם
        תַּסִּ֑יעַ
        תְּגָרֵ֥שׁ
        גּ֝וֹיִ֗ם
        וַתִּטָּעֶֽהָ׃
10. פִּנִּ֥יתָ
        לְפָנֶ֑יהָ
        וַתַּשְׁרֵ֥שׁ
        שָׁ֝רָשֶׁ֗יהָ
        וַתְּמַלֵּא־
        אָֽרֶץ׃
11. כָּסּ֣וּ
        הָרִ֣ים
        צִלָּ֑הּ
        וַ֝עֲנָפֶ֗יהָ
        אַֽרְזֵי־
        אֵֽל׃
12. תְּשַׁלַּ֣ח
        קְצִירֶ֣הָ
        עַד־
        יָ֑ם
        וְאֶל־
        נָ֝הָ֗ר
        יֽוֹנְקוֹתֶֽיהָ׃
13. לָ֭מָּה
        פָּרַ֣צְתָּ
        גְדֵרֶ֑יהָ
        וְ֝אָר֗וּהָ
        כָּל־
        עֹ֥בְרֵי
        דָֽרֶךְ׃
14. יְכַרְסְמֶ֣נָּֽה
        חֲזִ֣יר
        מִיָּ֑עַ7ר
        וְזִ֖יז
        שָׂדַ֣י
        יִרְעֶֽנָּה׃
15. אֱלֹהִ֣ים
        צְבָאוֹת֮
        שֽׁ֫וּב־
        נָ֥א
        הַבֵּ֣ט
        מִשָּׁמַ֣יִם
        וּרְאֵ֑ה
        וּ֝פְקֹ֗ד
        גֶּ֣פֶן
        זֹֽאת׃
16. וְ֭כַנָּה
        אֲשֶׁר־
        נָטְעָ֣ה
        יְמִינֶ֑ךָ
        וְעַל־
        בֵּ֝֗ן
        אִמַּ֥צְתָּה
        לָּֽךְ׃
17. שְׂרֻפָ֣ה
        בָאֵ֣שׁ
        כְּסוּחָ֑ה
        מִגַּעֲרַ֖ת
        פָּנֶ֣יךָ
        יֹאבֵֽדוּ׃
18. תְּֽהִי־
        יָ֭דְךָ
        עַל־
        אִ֣ישׁ
        יְמִינֶ֑ךָ
        עַל־
        בֶּן־
        אָ֝דָ֗ם
        אִמַּ֥צְתָּ
        לָּֽךְ׃
19. וְלֹא־
        נָס֥וֹג
        מִמֶּ֑ךָּ
        תְּ֝חַיֵּ֗נוּ
        וּבְשִׁמְךָ֥
        נִקְרָֽא׃
20. יְה֘וָ֤ה
        אֱלֹהִ֣ים
        צְבָא֣וֹת
        הֲשִׁיבֵ֑נוּ
        הָאֵ֥ר
        פָּ֝נֶ֗יךָ
        וְנִוָּשֵֽׁעָה׃