Psalm 6 → 128

Reasoning: 10688 Output: 3690 Total: 14378

Argument

Thesis in one line: Read together, Psalm 128 looks like the realized answer to the crisis-prayer of Psalm 6: what the suppliant begs for in Psalm 6 is granted, generalized, and publicly blessed in Psalm 128.

Most probative links (weighted by rarity and exactness)

- Shared root יגע “toil/weary” (rare in the Psalter; high weight)
  - Ps 6:7 יָגַעְתִּי (“I am worn out”) from groaning, i.e., unproductive, sorrowful toil.
  - Ps 128:2 יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל (“when you eat the labor of your hands”), i.e., productive toil enjoyed.
  - Same root, different word class (verb vs. noun), but the reversal is pointed: from fruitless weariness to eating the fruit of one’s work.

- Time reversal: the “how long?” is answered with “all your days”
  - Ps 6:4 עַד־מָתָי (“How long?”) — open-ended distress.
  - Ps 128:5–6 כָּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ (“all the days of your life”) — a full, stable span.

- Sight/seeing motif
  - Ps 6:8 עֵינִי עָשְׁשָׁה (“my eye is dim”) — physical/emotional failing.
  - Ps 128:5–6 וּרְאֵה בְטוּב יְרוּשָׁלִַם … וּרְאֵה בָּנִים לְבָנֶיךָ (“may you see the good of Jerusalem … may you see children to your children”) — eyesight restored and filled with good; twofold ראה underlines the reversal.

- Domestic interior reversed: bed of tears becomes a table of blessing
  - Ps 6:7–8 “I drench my bed/couch with tears” (מִטָּתִי … עַרְשִׂי).
  - Ps 128:3 “your wife like a fruitful vine … your sons like olive shoots around your table” (בְּיִרְכְּתֵי בֵיתֶךָ … סָבִיב לְשֻׁלְחָנֶךָ).
  - Same sphere (home interior); the locus of misery (night-bed) becomes the locus of conviviality (table).

- Life vs. death
  - Ps 6:6 “In death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who gives thanks?” (בַּמָּוֶת … בִּשְׁאוֹל).
  - Ps 128:6 “see children to your children” (multi-generational continuity) — the exact opposite of the Sheol-silence; instead of being cut off, life continues across generations.

- Enemies/panic vs. blessing/peace
  - Ps 6:3–4, 8, 11 נִבְהֲלוּ (“terrified”), כָּל־אֹיְבַי (“all my enemies”), יֵבֹשׁוּ (“let them be ashamed”), סוּרוּ מִמֶּנִּי (“depart from me”) — social disintegration and fear.
  - Ps 128:1, 4, 6 אַשְׁרֵי (“blessed/happy”), יְבֹרַךְ (“will be blessed”), שָׁלוֹם עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל (“peace upon Israel”) — social and national wholeness.

- Group symmetry: “all the X”
  - Ps 6:9 סוּרוּ מִמֶּנִּי כָּל־פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן (“depart from me, all workers of iniquity”).
  - Ps 128:1 אַשְׁרֵי כָּל־יִרְאֵי יְהוָה (“blessed is everyone who fears YHWH”).
  - The rejected group in 6 is replaced by the felicitated group in 128; same syntactic “כָּל + group” frame.

Form and speech-act progression (how 128 “follows” 6)

- Imperatives of supplication to injunctive blessing
  - Ps 6 piles imperatives to YHWH: חָנֵּנִי, רְפָאֵנִי, שׁוּבָה, הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי.
  - Ps 128 answers with jussive/optative blessing: יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה … וּרְאֵה … וּרְאֵה … — the liturgical speech-act that follows heard prayer (Ps 6:10 שָׁמַע יְהוָה תְּחִנָּתִי).

- From first-person lament to second-person wisdom benediction
  - Ps 6 is “I/me/my” distress.
  - Ps 128 addresses “you” (2ms: כַּפֶּיךָ, בֵיתֶךָ, בָּנֶיךָ, שֻׁלְחָנֶךָ), i.e., either the same sufferer now blessed or any God-fearer in his situation; this is a standard Psalter move from personal experience to general teaching (cf. Pss 32; 34).

- Superscriptions as liturgical stages
  - Ps 6: performance note “למנצח … על השמינית” (low register/“eighth”).
  - Ps 128: “שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת” (song of ascents) — ascent to Zion.
  - From the “low” cry to the ascent/blessing in Zion fits a service flow: penitence → ascent → blessing.

Event-sequence plausibility in ancient Israelite life

- A typical arc: sickness and divine anger (Ps 6:2–4), appeal to God’s hesed (6:5), deliverance (6:9–10) → pilgrimage to Jerusalem with family to fulfill vows and receive a blessing (implicit in 6:6’s desire to praise; explicit in 128’s Zion/Jerusalem focus) → domestic fertility and prosperity (128:2–3) → long life and national shalom (128:5–6).
- Psalm 128’s imagery (vine, olive shoots, table, Zion, Jerusalem, shalom) matches covenant-blessing topoi (Deut 28; 1 Kgs 4:25; Mic 4:4), precisely the reversal of the “curses” felt in Ps 6 (disease, sleeplessness, enemies, threat of death).

Specific petition–fulfillment correspondences

- “How long, YHWH?” (6:4) → “all the days of your life” (128:5).
- “My eye is dim with grief” (6:8) → “see the good of Jerusalem … see children to your children” (128:5–6).
- “In death there is no remembrance” (6:6) → multi-generational life (128:6).
- “I am weary with my groaning” (6:7) → “you shall eat the labor of your hands; happy are you, and it is good for you” (128:2).
- “Depart from me, all workers of iniquity” (6:9) and “let my enemies be ashamed” (6:11) → “Blessed is everyone who fears YHWH … peace upon Israel” (128:1, 6).

Mythic/theological polarity

- From Sheol (6:6) to Zion/Jerusalem (128:5): from the realm of silence to the mountain of life and praise.
- From panic/בהלה (6:3–4, 11) to shalom (128:6): classic Hebrew Bible antithesis; Psalm 128’s vine-and-olive domestic peace evokes the “no one to make them afraid” peace motif (cf. Mic 4:4), the exact opposite of the terror in Ps 6.

In sum: The two psalms can be read as contiguous steps in one story. Psalm 6 is the personal, penitential cry out of sickness and threat; its turning point (“YHWH has heard”) naturally invites a priestly-wisdom benediction. Psalm 128 supplies that benediction in the most concrete covenant terms: fruitful work, a flourishing household, long life to grandchildren, blessing from Zion, and peace for the nation. The rare shared root יגע, the time and sight reversals, the domestic interior shift from bed to table, and the movement from enemies/panic to shalom together make a strong case that Psalm 128 logically follows Psalm 6.

Evaluation

Score: 6.7

Evaluated at: 2025-11-22T03:52:08 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 3392 Output: 4520 Total: 7912

Vocabulary specificity: 6.0 / 10

Multiple precise, text-anchored reversals (יגע, עד־מתי → כל ימי, עיני/וּרְאֵה, bed → table) with coherent progression. However, motifs are common in Psalms and the psalms are far apart canonically; alternatives fit.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 6 and Psalm 128 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 128 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 128:
Psalm 128
1. שִׁ֗יר
        הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת
        אַ֭שְׁרֵי
        כָּל־
        יְרֵ֣א
        יְהוָ֑ה
        הַ֝הֹלֵ֗ךְ
        בִּדְרָכָֽיו׃
2. יְגִ֣יעַ
        כַּ֭פֶּיךָ
        כִּ֣י
        תֹאכֵ֑ל
        אַ֝שְׁרֶ֗יךָ
        וְט֣וֹב
        לָֽךְ׃
3. אֶשְׁתְּךָ֤ ׀
        כְּגֶ֥פֶן
        פֹּרִיָּה֮
        בְּיַרְכְּתֵ֢י
        בֵ֫יתֶ֥ךָ
        בָּ֭נֶיךָ
        כִּשְׁתִלֵ֣י
        זֵיתִ֑ים
        סָ֝בִ֗יב
        לְשֻׁלְחָנֶֽךָ׃
4. הִנֵּ֣ה
        כִי־
        כֵ֭ן
        יְבֹ֥רַךְ
        גָּ֗בֶר
        יְרֵ֣א
        יְהוָֽה׃
5. יְבָרֶכְךָ֥
        יְהוָ֗ה
        מִצִ֫יּ֥וֹן
        וּ֖dרְאֵה
        בְּט֣וּב
        יְרוּשָׁלִָ֑ם
        כֹּ֝֗ל
        יְמֵ֣י
        חַיֶּֽיךָ׃
6. וּרְאֵֽה־
        בָנִ֥ים
        לְבָנֶ֑יךָ
        שָׁ֝ל֗וֹם
        עַל־
        יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃