Psalm 6 → 120

Reasoning: 12288 Output: 3717 Total: 16005

Argument

Here are ways to argue that Ps 120 “follows on” from Ps 6—stylistically, formally, lexically (with Hebrew), and in terms of life-setting—so that Ps 120 reads like the next movement after Ps 6.

1) A tight grammatical seam: identical petition frame to rescue “my soul”
- Ps 6:5: חַלְּצָה נַפְשִׁי (“deliver my soul”) – Piel imperative + paragogic -ה + direct object נַפְשִׁי.
- Ps 120:2: הַצִּילָה נַפְשִׁי (“rescue my soul”) – Hifil imperative + paragogic -ה + direct object נַפְשִׁי.
Significance: the identical imperative morphology (2ms imperative with paragogic -ה) + the identical object “נַפְשִׁי” is a strong formal echo. The deliverance verbs are near-synonyms (חלץ // נצל). Because this exact frame is not ubiquitous, it can serve as a “stitch” between the poems.

2) “He heard” → “He answered”: a call-and-response hand-off
- Ps 6 climaxes with assurance that God has heard: שָׁמַע יְהוָה קוֹל בִּכְיִי … שָׁמַע יְהוָה תְּחִנָּתִי (vv. 9–10).
- Ps 120 opens with the matching result: אֶל־יְהוָה בַּצָּרָתָה לִּי קָרָאתִי וַיַּעֲנֵנִי (v. 1) “I called … and he answered me.”
Significance: “hearing” in Ps 6 naturally precedes “answering” in Ps 120. The perfects frame it as a completed divine response; Ps 120 can be read as the testimonial sequel to the assurance of Ps 6.

3) Shared root צ־ר־ר (distress/oppression)
- Ps 6:8: עָֽתְקָה … בְּכָל־צוֹרְרָי (“because of all my oppressors”).
- Ps 120:1: בַּצָּרָתָה לִּי (“in my distress”).
Significance: same root (צרר), even if different word classes (participle/noun). The sufferer’s “oppressors” (6) and “distress” (120) are two faces of the same trouble.

4) The “too long” complaint answered by journey language
- Ps 6:4: עַד־מָתָי? (“How long?”)—classic lament impatience with duration.
- Ps 120:6: רַבַּת שָׁכְנָה־לָּהּ נַפְשִׁי (“Too long has my soul dwelt”).
Significance: both mark protracted suffering with parallel idioms (הֲלֹם־עַד מָתַי // רַבַּת). This reads as the same voice continuing its duration-complaint.

5) From inward affliction to outward social threat: a natural narrative progression
- Ps 6 centers on bodily/psychic collapse and fear of death under divine anger (נִבְהֲלוּ עֲצָמַי; מִטָּתִי … בְּדִמְעָתִי; “in Sheol who will praise you?”). The conflict with “enemies” (אֹיְבַי; צוֹרְרַי) is present but secondary.
- Ps 120 shifts to a social-exilic threat: slander and bellicose neighbors (שְׂפַת־שֶׁקֶר; לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה; שׂוֹנֵא שָׁלוֹם; הֵמָּה לַמִּלְחָמָה).
Significance: after personal healing/deliverance (Ps 6’s assurance), the next real-life challenge is the hostile environment—precisely what Ps 120 laments. That is a credible “next chapter” in the same life-story.

6) Speech/voice is the battlefield in both psalms
- Ps 6: “YHWH has heard the voice of my weeping” (קוֹל בִּכְיִי), “my supplication,” “my prayer.”
- Ps 120: The enemy is defined by speech: “lying lips … deceitful tongue” (שְׂפַת־שֶׁקֶר // לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה), and the psalmist’s speech marks him as for peace (וְכִי אֲדַבֵּר).
Significance: Ps 6 ends with God hearing the psalmist’s voice; Ps 120 begins by opposing that true voice to false tongues—an organic rhetorical follow-on.

7) Matching lament-imprecation architecture
- Ps 6 moves: complaint → petition → assurance → imprecation (יֵבֹשׁוּ … וְיִבָּהֲלוּ …).
- Ps 120: assurance/testimony (וַיַּעֲנֵנִי) → petition (הַצִּילָה נַפְשִׁי) → imprecation on the tongue (מַה־יִתֵּן לְךָ … חִצֵּי גִּבּוֹר … גַּחֲלֵי רְתָמִים) → complaint about warlike neighbors.
Significance: both are individual laments climaxing in a malediction on foes; the matching shape supports reading Ps 120 as the next stanza of the same liturgical experience.

8) Separation motif continues and escalates
- Ps 6:9: ס֣וּרוּ מִמֶּנִּי כָל־פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן (“Depart from me, all workers of iniquity”).
- Ps 120:5–7 laments enforced proximity to violent outsiders (גַרְתִּי מֶשֶׁךְ … עִם־אָהֳלֵי קֵדָר), and the irreconcilable stance of neighbors (“I am peace … they are for war”).
Significance: the desire to separate from the wicked (Ps 6) becomes the felt burden of dwelling among them (Ps 120)—a realistic next step if separation proved impossible, prompting pilgrimage.

9) Pilgrimage logic: from healing/vow to ascent
- In Israelite practice, deliverance from life-threatening crisis (Ps 6) often leads to vowed thanksgiving at the sanctuary. Ps 120 is the gateway “Song of Ascents,” the collection used for going up to Zion.
- Ps 120’s geography (Meshech, Kedar) and its programmatic “shalom” theme (vv. 6–7) set up the Songs of Ascents’ trajectory toward Jerusalem’s peace (cf. Ps 122:6 שַׁאֲלוּ שְׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם).
Significance: liturgically, Ps 120 makes sense as what comes after Ps 6: the sufferer, now heard/answered, begins the journey out of a hostile milieu toward God’s house.

10) Smaller but telling correspondences (lower weight)
- Repeated “נַפְשִׁי” as the seat of distress in both (Ps 6:3–4,5; Ps 120:2,6).
- Vocative יהוה + imperative style in both (Ps 6:2–5; Ps 120:2).
- Duration intensifiers (מְאֹד in Ps 6; רַבַּת “too long” in Ps 120).

Summary
If you read the two consecutively, Ps 6 ends with divine “hearing” and a plea to “deliver my soul”; Ps 120 opens by affirming “He answered me” and repeats the identical imperative frame “[imperative + paragogic -ה] נַפְשִׁי,” then specifies the next threat (deceitful, warlike neighbors) and inaugurates the ascent toward God’s peace. The shared roots (esp. צרר), the identical petition syntax with נַפְשִׁי, the lament-imprecation structure, and the plausible life-setting (healing → vowed pilgrimage) together make a solid case that Ps 120 can be read as logically following Ps 6.

Evaluation

Score: 6.5

Evaluated at: 2025-11-22T03:41:27 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 3392 Output: 4548 Total: 7940

Vocabulary specificity: 4.0 / 10

Several specific links (paragogic imperative + נפשי; 6:9–10 “heard” to 120:1 “answered”; צרר; עד־מתי // רבת). Rationale plausible, but motifs are common and psalms are far apart; no counterpoints addressed. No caps.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 6 and Psalm 120 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 120 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 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׃