Psalm 7 → 120

Reasoning: 11840 Output: 4674 Total: 16514

Argument

Here are several mutually reinforcing ways to argue that Psalm 120 can be read as logically following Psalm 7. I group them by type of evidence and weight the tighter, rarer links more heavily.

1) Superscription and situational frame: words/slander in both headings and openings
- Psalm 7’s superscription centers on speech: “שגיון לדוד אשר־שר ליהוה על־דברי־כוש בן־ימיני” — the psalm is provoked by “דברי” (words) of an adversary. This places the problem squarely in verbal accusation/slander.
- Psalm 120 immediately reprises that same problem in the body of the poem: “הצילה נפשי משפת־שקר מלשון רמיה” (120:2), and continues with a direct address to the deceitful tongue (120:3–4). So the presenting cause of Psalm 7 (hostile words) is the explicit subject of Psalm 120 (lying lips, deceitful tongue).
- Both titles mark them as sung prayers to YHWH: 7: “אשר שר ליהוה”; 120: “שיר המעלות … אל־יהוה קראתי” — vow-of-song at the end of 7 (7:18 “ואזמרה שם־יהוה עליון”) is naturally “kept” by the next item being explicitly a “שיר.”

2) Direct lexical matches of high value (same lemma or identical form)
- נצל “deliver, rescue”: 7:2 “והצילני”; 7:3 “ואין מציל”; 120:2 “יהוה הצילה נפשי.” Same root, same prayer context to YHWH, and in 120 it is intensified by the identical collocation with נֶפֶשׁ (“הצילה נפשי”), the very thing threatened in 7:3 (“יטרף … נפשי … ואין מציל”).
- נֶפֶשׁ “soul, life”: identical form “נַפְשִׁי” in both (7:3; 120:2, 6). In 7 the soul is at risk of being torn; in 120 the soul seeks deliverance from lying speech and wearisome cohabitation with belligerents.
- שֶׁקֶר “falsehood”: 7:15 “וילד שקר”; 120:2 “משפת־שקר.” Same noun, same moral domain (verbal deceit).
- חֵץ “arrow”: 7:14 “חִצָּיו”; 120:4 “חִצֵּי.” Same noun and martial-judicial image.

3) Rare or strongly marked images that stitch the two psalms together
- The “divine-archer” judgment motif:
  - Psalm 7 depicts God as readying weapons against the wicked: “חרבו ילטוש; קשתו דרך … ולו הכין כלי־מות; חִצָּיו …” (7:13–14).
  - Psalm 120 answers the question “מה־יתן לך … לשון רמיה?” with “חִצֵּי גבור שנונים עם גחלי רתמים” (120:4). Read “גבור” as a divine epithet (cf. אל גבור, Isa 9:5), and Psalm 120’s penalty for the lying tongue becomes “the arrows of the Mighty One,” matching 7’s divine weaponry. Even without that reading, both psalms uniquely combine archery with punitive heat/fire imagery (7’s weaponry leads to death; 120 adds “גחלי רתמים,” the only occurrence of broom-coals in the Psalter).
- Measure-for-measure retribution:
  - 7:16–17 “בור כרה … ויפול בשחת … ישוב עמלו בראשו” — the wicked fall into their own pit and their violence returns upon their head.
  - 120:3–4 uses a juridical curse formula (“מה יתן … ומה יוסיף”) answered by punitive arrows and coals — another form of returned harm, now tailored to a deceitful tongue.

4) “Peace vs. hostility” nexus using the שלם root
- 7:5 “אם־גמלתי שׁוֹלְמִי רע” — “if I repaid evil to my shōlmi,” i.e., one “at peace with me” (from שלם). It is an oath of innocence specifically in terms of peaceable relations.
- 120:6–7 makes שלם explicit and climactic: “רבת שכנה־לה נפשי עם שׂונא שלום. אני־שלום וכי אדבר המה למלחמה.” Same semantic field (peace/shalom) frames the psalmist’s innocence claim in both psalms. This is a tighter link than general “enemy” language because it reuses the same root/domain.

5) “Dwelling” under duress: שכן root and exile setting
- 7:6 “וכבודי לעפר יַשְׁכֵּן” — the enemy’s triumph would make “my glory” dwell in the dust (שכן).
- 120 is saturated with שכן/גור: “גרתי משך; שׁכנתי עם־אהלי קדר … רבת שכנה־לה נפשי” (120:5–6). The shift is from threatened abjection (dwelling in the dust) in 7 to the lived reality of dwelling among hostile foreigners in 120. Same root-family, now concretized as prolonged sojourning.
- Life-setting logic: Psalm 7’s “Benjaminite” (כּוּשׁ בֶּן־ימיני) evokes David’s early conflicts and court slander; a natural next stage in a Davidic (or generic) storyline is exile/sojourning among foreign, warlike groups — precisely the picture of Meshech/Kedar in 120:5. Thus a plausible narrative sequence emerges: court slander → flight/exile → prayer from abroad.

6) Judicial frame and rhetoric
- Psalm 7 is overtly forensic: “שָׁפְטֵנִי יהוה כצדקי וכְתֻמִּי עָלַי … אלוהים שׁופט צדיק” (7:9–12), including oath-formulas (“אם עשיתי זאת … אם יש־עול בכפי …” 7:4–5).
- Psalm 120 continues in the same forensic arena, targeting verbal perjury: “שפת־שקר … לשון רמיה” and posing a legal-cursory question: “מה־יתן לך … לשון רמיה?” (120:2–3), then pronouncing sentence (120:4). It reads like the verdict-phase that Psalm 7 had prayed for.

7) Movement upward: “למרום” → “מעלות”
- 7:7–8 prays for YHWH’s exaltation and heavenly return: “קומה … הנשא … ועלֶיהָ למָרוֹם שובה.”
- 120’s title introduces the pilgrim ascent: “שיר המעלות.” The lexical field of height/ascent ties the divine ascent (7) to the community’s liturgical ascent (120). Put narratively: God rises to judge (7), and now the worshiper rises toward Zion (120).

8) Opening/closing transitions that “hand off” to each other
- Psalm 7 closes with a vow of praise: “אודה יהוה כצדקו, ואזמרה שם־יהוה עליון” (7:18).
- Psalm 120 opens by reporting answered prayer in the perfect: “אל־יהוה בצרתה לי קראתי ויענני” (120:1), then immediately issues a new imperative plea “יהוה, הצילה נפשי” (120:2). That is a natural liturgical progression: vow → song → testimony of answer → renewed petition as the journey begins.

9) Additional shared roots/lexemes and motifs
- דבר “speak/words”: 7’s trigger is “על־דברי כוש” (7:1), 120 ends with “וכי אדבר” (120:7) — the psalmist’s own speech is peaceful, unlike the accusers’.
- Martial field: 7:2, 6 (“רדפי,” “אויב”) and God’s weapons (7:13–14); 120:7 (“למלחמה”), “חצי גבור” (120:4). The opposition’s stance escalates from pursuit (7) to an explicit war footing (120).
- Nations/outsiders frame: 7:8–9 “ועדת לאומים … יהוה ידין עמים”; 120:5 names far-flung peoples (“משך,” “קדר”). The international horizon of the plea in 7 is realized as the psalmist’s lived horizon in 120.

Putting it together: a plausible “logic of sequence”
- Thematically: Psalm 7 pleads for vindication against slander, calls God to rise and judge, and vows song; Psalm 120 is that next “song,” still focused on slander, reporting divine answer, and specifying the (divine) penalties for the deceitful tongue (arrows, coals) while the speaker sojourns among hostile nations.
- Lexically: high-value overlaps — נצל + נַפְשִׁי; שֶׁקֶר; חֵץ; שלם-domain (שׁוֹלְמִי ~ שָׁלוֹם); שכן; דבר — make the linkage concrete and specific.
- Imagistically: divine weaponry and retributive justice in 7 are echoed and sharpened in 120’s “חִצֵּי גבור … גחלי רתמים.”
- Liturgically: 7’s “אזמרה” hands directly to 120’s “שיר המעלות”; 7’s “למרום שובה” resonates with the pilgrim “ascents.”

On these grounds, one can defend an editorial or reading sequence in which Psalm 120 naturally follows Psalm 7: the second text resumes the first text’s precise grievance (hostile words), its key petitions (נצל; נֶפֶשׁ), its imagery of divine retribution (חֵץ), and its movement toward song and ascent, while advancing the narrative setting from court-slander to exile among warlike neighbors on the way up to meet God.

Evaluation

Score: 6.0

Evaluated at: 2025-11-27T03:30:27 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 3968 Output: 5499 Total: 9467

Vocabulary specificity: 4.0 / 10

Multiple accurate, text-anchored links (נצל+נפשי; שקר; חץ; שכן; שלם), but most are common across Psalms. No decisive editorial marker; ignores the strong counterpoint that Psalm 120 heads a separate Ascents collection far from 7.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 7 and Psalm 120 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 120 logically follows on from Psalm 7? 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 7:
Psalm 7
1. שִׁגָּי֗וֹן
        לְדָ֫וִ֥ד
        אֲשֶׁר־
        שָׁ֥ר
        לַיהוָ֑ה
        עַל־
        דִּבְרֵי־
        כ֝֗וּשׁ
        בֶּן־
        יְמִינִֽי׃
2. יְהוָ֣ה
        אֱ֭לֹהַי
        בְּךָ֣
        חָסִ֑יתִי
        הוֹשִׁיעֵ֥נִי
        מִכָּל־
        רֹ֝דְפַ֗י
        וְהַצִּילֵֽנִי׃
3. פֶּן־
        יִטְרֹ֣ף
        כְּאַרְיֵ֣ה
        נַפְשִׁ֑י
        פֹּ֝רֵ֗ק
        וְאֵ֣ין
        מַצִּֽיל׃
4. יְהוָ֣ה
        אֱ֭לֹהַי
        אִם־
        עָשִׂ֣יתִי
        זֹ֑את
        אִֽם־
        יֶשׁ־
        עָ֥וֶל
        בְּכַפָּֽי׃
5. אִם־
        גָּ֭מַלְתִּי
        שֽׁוֹלְמִ֥י
        רָ֑ע
        וָאֲחַלְּצָ֖ה
        צוֹרְרִ֣י
        רֵיקָֽם׃
6. יִֽרַדֹּ֥ף
        אוֹיֵ֨ב ׀
        נַפְשִׁ֡י
        וְיַשֵּׂ֗ג
        וְיִרְמֹ֣ס
        לָאָ֣רֶץ
        חַיָּ֑י
        וּכְבוֹדִ֓י ׀
        לֶעָפָ֖ר
        יַשְׁכֵּ֣ן
        סֶֽלָה׃
7. ק֘וּמָ֤ה
        יְהוָ֨ה ׀
        בְּאַפֶּ֗ךָ
        הִ֭נָּשֵׂא
        בְּעַבְר֣וֹת
        צוֹרְרָ֑י
        וְע֥וּרָה
        אֵ֝לַ֗י
        מִשְׁפָּ֥ט
        צִוִּֽיתָ׃
8. וַעֲדַ֣ת
        לְ֭אֻמִּים
        תְּסוֹבְבֶ֑ךָּ
        וְ֝עָלֶ֗יהָ
        לַמָּר֥וֹם
        שֽׁוּבָה׃
9. יְהוָה֮
        יָדִ֢ין
        עַ֫מִּ֥ים
        שָׁפְטֵ֥נִי
        יְהוָ֑ה
        כְּצִדְקִ֖י
        וּכְתֻמִּ֣י
        עָלָֽי׃
10. יִגְמָר־
        נָ֬א
        רַ֨ע ׀
        רְשָׁעִים֮
        וּתְכוֹנֵ֢ן
        צַ֫דִּ֥יק
        וּבֹחֵ֣ן
        לִ֭בּ֗וֹת
        וּכְלָי֗וֹת
        אֱלֹהִ֥ים
        צַדִּֽיק׃
11. מָֽגִנִּ֥י
        עַל־
        אֱלֹהִ֑ים
        מ֝וֹשִׁ֗יעַ
        יִשְׁרֵי־
        לֵֽב׃
12. אֱ֭לֹהִים
        שׁוֹפֵ֣ט
        צַדִּ֑יק
        וְ֝אֵ֗ל
        זֹעֵ֥ם
        בְּכָל־
        יֽוֹם׃
13. אִם־
        לֹ֣א
        יָ֭שׁוּב
        חַרְבּ֣וֹ
        יִלְט֑וֹשׁ
        קַשְׁתּ֥וֹ
        דָ֝רַ֗ךְ
        וַֽיְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ׃
14. וְ֭לוֹ
        הֵכִ֣ין
        כְּלֵי־
        מָ֑וֶת
        חִ֝צָּ֗יו
        לְֽדֹלְקִ֥ים
        יִפְעָֽל׃
15. הִנֵּ֥ה
        יְחַבֶּל־
        אָ֑וֶן
        וְהָרָ֥ה
        עָ֝מָ֗ל
        וְיָ֣לַד
        שָֽׁקֶר׃
16. בּ֣וֹר
        כָּ֭רָֽה
        וַֽיַּחְפְּרֵ֑הוּ
        וַ֝יִּפֹּ֗ל
        בְּשַׁ֣חַת
        יִפְעָֽל׃
17. יָשׁ֣וּב
        עֲמָל֣וֹ
        בְרֹאשׁ֑וֹ
        וְעַ֥ל
        קָ֝דְקֳד֗וֹ
        חֲמָס֥וֹ
        יֵרֵֽד׃
18. אוֹדֶ֣ה
        יְהוָ֣ה
        כְּצִדְק֑וֹ
        וַ֝אֲזַמְּרָ֗ה
        שֵֽׁם־
        יְהוָ֥ה
        עֶלְיֽוֹן׃

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׃