Psalm 7 → 127
Reasoning: 9792 Output: 5151 Total: 14943
Argument
Here are several lines of argument—lexical, formal, thematic, and historical—by which one could plausibly claim that Psalm 127 “follows on” from Psalm 7. I note the relative weight of each link in light of your criteria (rarer items and closer matches count more). 1) Direct lexical/morphological echoes (same lemma or root) - Arrows: Ps 7:14 “חִצָּיו” (his arrows) vs Ps 127:4 “כְּחִצִּים” (as arrows). Same noun/lemma (חץ). Medium–high weight. - Enemies: Ps 7:6 “אוֹיֵב” vs Ps 127:5 “אוֹיְבִים”. Same lemma. Medium weight. - Toil/labor: Ps 7:15,17 “עָמָל” (trouble/toil; noun), Ps 127:1 “עָמְלוּ” (they labored; verb), same root עמל with different word class. Medium weight. - “If”-protases: Ps 7:4–6 is built on repeated “אִם־… אִם־… אִם־…”, and Ps 127:1 opens with paired conditionals “אִם־יְהוָה לֹא־יִבְנֶה… אִם־יְהוָה לֹא־יִשְׁמָר…”. Shared rhetorical skeleton. High formal weight. - Speech-word cluster: Ps 7 superscription “עַל־דִּבְרֵי־כ֗וּשׁ” (on account of the words of Cush), and Ps 127:5 “יְדַבְּרוּ… בַּשַּׁעַר” (they will speak at the gate). Same root דבר (common), used in adversarial contexts. Low–medium weight given the root’s frequency. - “Rise” lexeme: Ps 7:7 “ק֘וּמָ֤ה” (arise!) and Ps 127:2 “מַשְׁכִּימֵי קוּם” (early risers). Same root קום, different functions; common root. Low weight. - Peace/shalom root as onomastic pivot: Ps 7:5 “שׁוֹלְמִי” (one at peace with me; from שלם) and Ps 127 superscription “לִשְׁלֹמֹה” (Solomon; from שלם). Shared root שלם, but one is a common noun/adjective and the other a proper name. Medium conceptual weight (onomastic wordplay). - Ben/house wordplay: Ps 7 superscription “בֶּן־יְמִינִי” vs Ps 127:3–5 “בָּנִים… פְּרִי הַבָּטֶן” (sons), plus “יִבְנֶה בַיִת” (build a house). The famous Hebrew play on בֵּן/בָּנָה (son/build) underlies Ps 127 and resonates with the “son” in Ps 7’s heading. Medium conceptual weight. - Height/ascend motif: Ps 7:8 “לַמָּרוֹם שׁוּבָה” (return on high) and Ps 127’s collection label “שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת” (Song of Ascents). Different roots (רום vs עלה) but a shared vertical/enthronement/approach-to-God motif. Low–medium weight. 2) Warfare imagery transposed from divine combat to domestic-civic defense - Ps 7 pictures YHWH as warrior-judge: “חַרְבּוֹ יִלְטוֹשׁ… קַשְׁתּוֹ דָרַךְ… חִצָּיו…” (vv. 13–14). - Ps 127 reuses the arsenal but domesticates it: “כְּחִצִּים בְּיַד־גִּבּוֹר כֵּן בְּנֵי הַנְּעוּרִים… אַשְׁפָּתוֹ” (vv. 4–5). The “arrows” that YHWH wields in Ps 7 become “sons-as-arrows” in a father’s quiver, defending the family honor “at the gate.” Strong thematic continuity; medium lexical weight plus strong imagistic transformation. 3) From plea for rescue to doctrine of dependence - Ps 7:2–3 hinges on YHWH as the only effective rescuer: “הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי… וְהַצִּילֵנִי… וְאֵין מַצִּיל.” - Ps 127:1 makes the same point as wisdom maxim: “אִם־יְהוָה לֹא־יִבְנֶה… שָׁוְא עָמְלוּ… אִם־יְהוָה לֹא־יִשְׁמָר… שָׁוְא שָׁקַד שׁוֹמֵר.” Human effort without YHWH is futile. Strong thematic coherence; different vocabulary (ישע vs שמר/שוא) but same proposition. 4) Legal/judicial continuity - Ps 7 is saturated with adjudication: “מִשְׁפָּט צִוִּיתָ… יְהוָה יָדִין עַמִּים… שָׁפְטֵנִי… אֱלֹהִים שׁוֹפֵט צַדִּיק.” - Ps 127 culminates in the forensic/public sphere: “לֹא־יֵבֹשׁוּ כִּי־יְדַבְּרוּ… בַּשַּׁעַר.” The city gate is the locale of litigation. So Ps 127’s closing scene is the social outworking of Ps 7’s judicial appeal. High conceptual weight. 5) Honor/shame reversal - Ps 7:6 contemplates humiliation if enemies win: “וְיִרְמֹס לָאָרֶץ חַיָּי וּכְבוֹדִי לֶעָפָר יַשְׁכֵּן.” - Ps 127:5 promises the opposite: “לֹא־יֵבֹשׁוּ… בַּשַּׁעַר.” The threatened “glory to the dust” (shame) in Ps 7 is replaced by public vindication in Ps 127. Medium–high thematic weight. 6) Historical-Davidic logic (macro-canonical storyline) - Superscriptions align a father–son sequence: Ps 7 “לְדָוִד” and Ps 127 “לִשְׁלֹמֹה.” - Ps 7’s heading evokes conflict with the Benjamite house (Saul): “כּוּשׁ בֶּן־יְמִינִי.” The Davidic plea for vindication against a Benjamite adversary fits the narrative world of 1 Sam–2 Sam. - Ps 127 turns to “house-building,” “city-guarding,” and “sons,” precisely the Solomon-era agenda (1 Kgs 5–8). The verse “אִם־יְהוָה לֹא־יִבְנֶה בַּיִת” resonates with 2 Sam 7 (YHWH “builds” David a house/dynasty; Solomon then builds the House/Temple for the Name). Very strong historical and thematic weight. 7) Name/house nexus - Ps 7 closes: “אָזַמְּרָה שֵׁם יְהוָה עֶלְיוֹן.” - In the Deuteronomistic history, the Temple is explicitly the “house for the Name of YHWH.” Ps 127’s “house” is the natural next step after praising the Name: the Name is housed and protected. Medium–high thematic weight. 8) Rest vs anxiety; “beloved” - Ps 7 seeks existential rescue from pursuit; Ps 127 declares the fruit of reliance: “שָׁוְא לָכֶם מַשְׁכִּימֵי קוּם… כֵּן יִתֵּן לִידִידוֹ שֵׁנָא.” The gift of sleep is the antithesis of hunted wakefulness. - “לִידִידוֹ” likely alludes to Solomon’s theophoric name יְדִידְיָהּ (2 Sam 12:25), strengthening the David→Solomon movement. Medium–high weight (especially in a Solomonic psalm). 9) From “assembly of peoples” to “gate of the city” - Ps 7:8 “וַעֲדַת לְאֻמִּים תְּסוֹבְבֶךָּ… לַמָּרוֹם שׁוּבָה” imagines a cosmic court with YHWH enthroned on high among the nations. - Ps 127’s “gate” is the local instantiation of that courtly/public space, where verdicts are contested and honor secured. Low–medium weight but helps the scene-flow. 10) Life-cycle logic in Israelite experience - Sequence: crisis/accusation and plea (Ps 7) → divine adjudication and protection (Ps 7) → house-building, city security, restful sleep, fertility/sons (Ps 127) → ability to contend successfully in the gate (Ps 127:5). This mirrors Deut 20’s life-order (house, family, warfare) and the David–Solomon arc (rest from enemies → building and flourishing). High thematic weight. How the flow can be summarized - Ps 7: The Davidic petitioner denies wrongdoing, asks YHWH to arise, judge, and act as divine warrior; the wicked’s weapons backfire; the righteous will praise YHWH’s Name. - Ps 127: Precisely because human effort is vain without YHWH’s warrior-judge protection and blessing, true building, guarding, resting, and defending one’s honor occur only under His agency; in Solomon’s voice, the outcome of David’s plea is a secure house, city, sleep, and sons-as-arrows who win at the gate. Most significant links by your criteria - Shared rare-to-medium imagery with identical lemma: חֶץ (arrows) in both psalms, situated in martial contexts (Ps 7:13–14; Ps 127:4–5). - Repeated “אִם” conditional framing in both psalms’ argumentation (Ps 7:4–6; Ps 127:1), marking a similar rhetorical logic. - Enemies term אוֹיֵב/אוֹיְבִים in both, and resolution of enmity in a public legal setting (Ps 7: judgment; Ps 127: gate). - The עמל root in both (trouble/toil in Ps 7 and vain labor in Ps 127), thematically moving from destructive “toil” of the wicked to the futility of unaided “labor.” - David→Solomon superscriptions with “house/sons” language, echoing 2 Sam 7’s “house” promise and Solomon’s temple-building—an exceptionally strong macro-structural argument. Taken together, even though the psalms stand far apart in the canonical order, one can plausibly read Psalm 127 as a wisdom-hymnic answer to Psalm 7’s judicial lament: once YHWH has arisen, judged, and defended the righteous (Ps 7), the result is the possibility of non-anxious, YHWH-dependent building, guarding, resting, begetting, and public vindication (Ps 127).
Evaluation
Score: 6.0
Evaluated at: 2025-11-27T03:37:32 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v2
Reasoning: 3264 Output: 5985 Total: 9249
Checklist
- Has verse refs: Yes
- Factual error detected: No
- Only generic motifs: No
- Counterargument considered: No
- LXX/MT numbering acknowledged: No
Vocabulary specificity: 3.0 / 10
Multiple text-anchored links (חִצִּים; אוֹיֵב; עָמָל; paired אִם-clauses) and David→Solomon logic are shown, but vocabulary is common, the psalms are non-adjacent, and Songs of Ascents form a separate editorial block.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 7 and Psalm 127 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 127 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 127:
Psalm 127
1. שִׁ֥יר
הַֽמַּֽעֲל֗וֹת
לִשְׁלֹ֫מֹ֥ה
אִם־
יְהוָ֤ה ׀
לֹא־
יִבְנֶ֬ה
בַ֗יִת
שָׁ֤וְא ׀
עָמְל֣וּ
בוֹנָ֣יו
בּ֑וֹ
אִם־
יְהוָ֥ה
לֹֽא־
יִשְׁמָר־
עִ֝֗יר
שָׁ֤וְא ׀
שָׁקַ֬ד
שׁוֹמֵֽר׃
2. שָׁ֤וְא
לָכֶ֨ם ׀
מַשְׁכִּ֪ימֵי
ק֡וּם
מְאַֽחֲרֵי־
שֶׁ֗בֶת
אֹ֭כְלֵי
לֶ֣חֶם
הָעֲצָבִ֑ים
כֵּ֤ן
יִתֵּ֖ן
לִֽידִיד֣וֹ
שֵׁנָֽא׃
3. הִנֵּ֤ה
נַחֲלַ֣ת
יְהוָ֣ה
בָּנִ֑ים
שָׂ֝כָ֗ר
פְּרִ֣י
הַבָּֽטֶן׃
4. כְּחִצִּ֥ים
בְּיַד־
גִּבּ֑וֹר
כֵּ֝֗ן
בְּנֵ֣י
הַנְּעוּרִֽים׃
5. אַשְׁרֵ֤י
הַגֶּ֗בֶר
אֲשֶׁ֤ר
מִלֵּ֥א
אֶת־
אַשְׁפָּת֗וֹ
מֵ֫הֶ֥ם
לֹֽא־
יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ
כִּֽי־
יְדַבְּר֖וּ
אֶת־
אוֹיְבִ֣ים
בַּשָּֽׁעַר׃