Psalm 7 → 124
Reasoning: 8768 Output: 4387 Total: 13155
Argument
Short answer: Psalm 124 reads like the communal “after” to the individual “before” of Psalm 7. The plea, oaths, and images of mortal peril in Psalm 7 are answered in Psalm 124 by public thanksgiving for the very deliverance that was requested, and the two psalms share a web of distinctive vocabulary, motifs, and rhetorical structures that can be read as deliberate links. Ways to argue that Psalm 124 follows Psalm 7 1) Macro‑flow and form - From lament to thanksgiving: - Psalm 7 is an individual lament with an oath of innocence and a vow to praise (7:4–6, 18). - Psalm 124 is a communal thanksgiving recounting rescue and blessing God. - The vow of 7:18 (“I will sing the name of YHWH Most High”) is plausibly fulfilled by 124’s public song (superscription שיר) and blessing (124:6). - From solo to assembly: - Psalm 7:8 envisions the “assembly of peoples” around God’s throne. - Psalm 124 opens with a liturgical call-and-response: “Let Israel now say” (124:1), i.e., the assembly speaks. - “Ascent”/height motif as a hinge: - Psalm 7:8 “return on high” (למרום) fits conceptually with Psalm 124’s “Song of Ascents” (שיר המעלות) and its closing appeal to the Maker of “heaven and earth” (124:8). Both mark upward movement to the divine court/Temple. 2) Rhetorical structure: parallel conditional logic - Psalm 7 uses a chain of conditional imprecations (אם … then let the enemy pursue me, 7:4–6). - Psalm 124 uses repeated counterfactual conditionals (לולא … אזי “If YHWH had not been for us, then …,” 124:1–5). - In both, the conditionals foreground the seriousness of the peril and the necessity of divine intervention; in 124, the counterfactual outcome is averted, implying Psalm 7’s prayer was answered. 3) High‑value lexical ties (same roots and tightly shared images) - Predator/“prey” root טרף: - 7:3 יִטְרֹף כְאַרְיֵה נַפְשִׁי “lest he tear my life like a lion …” - 124:6 שֶׁלֹּא נְתָנָנוּ טֶרֶף לְשִׁנֵּיהֶם “who did not give us as prey to their teeth.” - Same rare predation root (טרף), same scenario, but 124 is the positive reversal of 7’s feared outcome. - Anger “nose” אף: - 7:7 קוּמָה יְהוָה בְּאַפֶּךָ “Arise, YHWH, in your anger.” - 124:3 בַּחֲרוֹת אַפָּם בָּנוּ “when their anger burned against us.” - Both frame the crisis in terms of wrath; in 7 God’s anger is invoked to counter the enemies’ rage, which 124 explicitly recalls. - “Rise/Arise” קום as antithetical pivot: - 7:7 קוּמָה יְהוָה “Arise, YHWH …” - 124:2 בְּקוּם עָלֵינוּ אָדָם “when man rose up against us.” - Same root; 124 narrates that God’s side prevailed over the human “rising.” - “Name of YHWH” collocation: - 7:18 וַאֲזַמְּרָה שֵׁם־יְהוָה עֶלְיוֹן “I will sing the name of YHWH Most High.” - 124:8 עֶזְרֵנוּ בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה “Our help is in the name of YHWH.” - The vow to “sing the name” in 7 becomes the communal confession that deliverance came “in the name.” - “Life/soul” נֶפֶשׁ under threat and then rescued: - 7:3, 6 “my life/soul” (נפשי) pursued and in danger. - 124:4–5 “the waters passed over our life/soul” (על נפשנו, twice), then 124:7 “our life/soul escaped” (נפשנו … נמלטה). - Same key noun and threat-to-life focus; 124 resolves 7’s fear. 4) Shared image‑fields with mirrored outcomes - Hunting/trapping: - 7:16 “He dug a pit … and fell into the pit he made” (בור … שחת). - 124:7 “The snare is broken, and we escaped” (מפּח יוקשים … הפח נשבר). - Different trap terms (pit vs. snare), same semantic field of being hunted; both stress divine reversal—the hunter’s device fails and the righteous go free. - Beast vs. fowler: - 7:3 lion-rending image (כאריה … פרק). - 124:6–7 teeth of predators, then fowler’s net broken; complementary predator/hunter motifs. - Overwhelming forces: - 124:4–5 flood/river/“proud waters” (המים … נחל … הזידונים) as chaos-death imagery. - 7:6 “trample my life to the earth … my glory dwell in the dust,” plus “pit” imagery—different symbols, same threat of death/Sheol. Both psalms stage an existential brink. 5) From plea to praise (liturgical logic) - Plea for deliverance in 7:2 (הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי … וְהַצִּילֵנִי) is matched by realized deliverance in 124:7 (נִמְלְטָה/נִמְלָטְנוּ) and blessing (124:6 בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה). - The formal vow of praise in 7:18 is answered by the formal public blessing and confession of 124:6–8. - “Song of Ascents” (124 superscription) fits naturally as the communal liturgical sequel to an individual courtroom-lament (Psalm 7), as worshippers “go up” to declare the rescue YHWH wrought. 6) Plausible historical/mythic setting shared by both - Common Israelite crisis pattern: enemies rise in wrath; the petitioner appeals to YHWH the Judge/Warrior; YHWH subdues beastly/chaotic threats; the community then publicly blesses YHWH at the sanctuary. Psalm 7 provides the legal appeal and imprecation; Psalm 124 recollects the peril in counterfactuals (לולא … אזי) and proclaims the rescue. - Cosmic/enthronement undertone: - Psalm 7 places YHWH over the “assembly of peoples” and “on high” (7:8); Psalm 124 culminates in “Maker of heaven and earth” (124:8). The same sovereign who judges in Psalm 7 is confessed as cosmic creator in Psalm 124. Why these links are strong (weighing rarity/significance) - Strongest lexical ties with higher probative value: - טרף (predation) in exactly matched predator scenario: 7:3 vs 124:6. - אף (anger) and קום (rise) with pointed antithesis: God’s rising/anger in 7 vs. man’s rising/anger in 124. - The repeated נֶפֶשׁ focus and the “שֵׁם יְהוָה” collocation that moves from vow to fulfilled confession. - Motif-level correspondences (trap/pit; beast/fowler; chaos-waters) reinforce a single narrative arc from danger to deliverance. Put together, Psalm 124 reads like the communal thanksgiving that naturally follows Psalm 7’s courtroom appeal: the feared tearing “like a lion” becomes “not given as prey to their teeth”; the threatened soul becomes the soul that “escaped”; the call “Arise, YHWH, in your anger” stands opposite “when man rose up against us”; and the vow to “sing the name of YHWH” becomes the congregation’s “Our help is in the name of YHWH.”
Evaluation
Score: 6.5
Evaluated at: 2025-11-27T03:34:19 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v2
Reasoning: 3328 Output: 5207 Total: 8535
Checklist
- Has verse refs: Yes
- Factual error detected: No
- Only generic motifs: No
- Counterargument considered: No
- LXX/MT numbering acknowledged: No
Vocabulary specificity: 4.5 / 10
Strongest tie: טרף predation 7:3 vs 124:6; plus אף/קום, name, nefesh, conditional chains; solid plea-to-praise arc. But motifs are common and cross-book editorial separation unaddressed.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 7 and Psalm 124 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 124 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 124:
Psalm 124
1. שִׁ֥יר
הַֽמַּעֲל֗וֹת
לְדָ֫וִ֥ד
לוּלֵ֣י
יְ֭הוָה
שֶׁהָ֣יָה
לָ֑נוּ
יֹֽאמַר־
נָ֝א
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
2. לוּלֵ֣י
יְ֭הוָה
שֶׁהָ֣יָה
לָ֑נוּ
בְּק֖וּם
עָלֵ֣ינוּ
אָדָֽם׃
3. אֲ֭זַי
חַיִּ֣ים
בְּלָע֑וּנוּ
בַּחֲר֖וֹת
אַפָּ֣ם
בָּֽנוּ׃
4. אֲ֭זַי
הַמַּ֣יִם
שְׁטָפ֑וּנוּ
נַ֗֜cחְלָה
עָבַ֥ר
עַל־
נַפְשֵֽׁנוּ׃
5. אֲ֭זַי
עָבַ֣ר
עַל־
נַפְשֵׁ֑נוּ
הַ֝מַּ֗יִם
הַזֵּֽידוֹנִֽים׃
6. בָּר֥וּךְ
יְהוָ֑ה
שֶׁלֹּ֥א
נְתָנָ֥נוּ
טֶ֝֗רֶף
לְשִׁנֵּיהֶֽם׃
7. נַפְשֵׁ֗נוּ
כְּצִפּ֥וֹר
נִמְלְטָה֮
מִפַּ֢ח
י֫וֹקְשִׁ֥ים
הַפַּ֥ח
נִשְׁבָּ֗ר
וַאֲנַ֥חְנוּ
נִמְלָֽטְנוּ׃
8. עֶ֭זְרֵנוּ
בְּשֵׁ֣ם
יְהוָ֑ה
עֹ֝שֵׂ֗ה
שָׁמַ֥יִם
וָאָֽרֶץ׃