Psalm 9 → 116
Reasoning: 9472 Output: 5954 Total: 15426
Argument
Here are several ways to argue that Psalm 116 “follows” Psalm 9, moving from general praise and petition to the concrete fulfillment of a vow after rescue from death. I group the links by (a) life-sequence/form, (b) themes and images, and (c) Hebrew vocabulary/roots (weighted by closeness). 1) Life-sequence and form: from petition/vow to thanksgiving/vow‑payment - Standard Israelite sequence: distress → cry for help → deliverance → going to the sanctuary to pay vows and offer a thanksgiving (zebach todah) in public (cf. Lev 7:11–18; Ps 66:13–15). Psalm 9 contains the cry and the vow; Psalm 116 is the thanksgiving and vow‑payment. - Vow in Ps 9 becomes fulfilled action in Ps 116: - Psalm 9:14–15 “Be gracious… see my affliction… you who lift me from the gates of death; so that I may recount all your praise in the gates of Daughter Zion.” - Psalm 116:14, 17–19 “My vows to YHWH I will pay… I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving… in the courts of the house of YHWH, in your midst, O Jerusalem.” - In other words, the purpose clause “so that I may recount your praise in Zion’s gates” (Ps 9) becomes the realized paying of vows and thanksgiving sacrifice in the Temple courts (Ps 116). 2) Thematic and imagistic continuities - Deliverance from death/Sheol - Psalm 9:14 “lift me up from the gates of death”; 9:18 “the wicked return to Sheol” - Psalm 116:3 “cords of death encompassed me, straits of Sheol found me”; 116:8 “you delivered my life from death” - Logical follow‑on: what was requested in 9 happens in 116. - From “not forgetting the cry” to “hearing my cry” - Psalm 9:13 “He who avenges blood remembered… he did not forget the cry of the afflicted” - Psalm 116:1–2 “I love, for YHWH hears my voice… he inclined his ear to me” - The general claim in 9 is concretized by the personal testimony of 116. - Name‑theology: knowing the Name → calling on the Name - Psalm 9:11 “Those who know your Name trust in you”; 9:3 “I will sing praise to your Name” - Psalm 116:4, 13, 17 “In the Name of YHWH I will call” (repeated three times) - The trust of those who “know” the Name (Ps 9) naturally issues in “calling on” the Name (Ps 116) in liturgical thanksgiving. - Public praise in Zion/Jerusalem - Psalm 9:12 “Sing to YHWH, enthroned in Zion… declare among the peoples his deeds”; 9:15 “in the gates of Daughter Zion” - Psalm 116:14, 18–19 “in the presence of all his people… in the courts of the house of YHWH… O Jerusalem” - The scene moves from intention (Zion’s gates) to execution (Temple courts). - Reversal of “stumbling/falling” imagery - Psalm 9:4 “my enemies turn back; they stumble and perish” - Psalm 116:8 “you kept my feet from stumbling” - What befalls the enemies in 9 is precisely what is averted for the petitioner in 116. - Valuing the lives of the faithful vs reckoning with bloodguilt - Psalm 9:13 “the avenger of blood (doresh damim)… remembered” - Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the eyes of YHWH is the death of his faithful” - Two sides of the same moral reality: God does not ignore blood (Ps 9) and counts the death of his hasidim as “precious/costly” (Ps 116). 3) Hebrew lexical/root connections (weighted by closeness) Identical lexemes and high‑value parallels - מָוֶת (death) - Ps 9:14; Ps 116:3, 8, 15 - שְׁאוֹל (Sheol) - Ps 9:18 לִשְׁאוֹלָה; Ps 116:3 מְצָרֵי שְׁאוֹל - שֵׁם (Name) in cultic usage - Ps 9:3, 11 “שִׁמְךָ… יוֹדְעֵי שְׁמֶךָ” - Ps 116:4, 13, 17 “וּבְשֵׁם יְהוָה אֶקְרָא” (identical formula, thrice) - ישׁע (save, salvation) - Ps 9:15 “בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ” - Ps 116:6 “יְהוֹשִׁיעַ”; 116:13 “כּוֹס יְשׁוּעוֹת” - Note: ψ116 intensifies with the plural “salvations.” - חנן (be gracious) - Ps 9:14 “חָנֵּנִי יְהוָה” - Ps 116:5 “חַנּוּן יְהוָה” - The plea (9) becomes the confession of God’s character (116). - צדק/צדיק (righteous/justice) - Ps 9:5, 8–9 “שׁוֹפֵט צֶדֶק… לַמִּשְׁפָּט כִּסְאוֹ” - Ps 116:5 “וְצַדִּיק” (YHWH himself called righteous) Moderate-strength links (same semantic field; often same root with different forms) - ענה/עני (afflict/afflicted) - Ps 9:13 “צַעֲקַת עֲנָוִים”; 9:19 “תִּקְוַת עֲנִיִּים” - Ps 116:10 “עָנִיתִי מְאֹד” (I am greatly afflicted) - דך/דל (lowly, brought low) - Ps 9:10 “מִשְׂגָּב לַדָּךְ” - Ps 116:6 “דַּלּוֹתִי וְלִי יְהוֹשִׁיעַ” - כשל/דחה (stumble/fall) - Ps 9:4 “יִכָּשְׁלוּ” - Ps 116:8 “מִדֶּחִי” (from falling; save my feet from being pushed down) Lower-strength but suggestive - Gates/Temple space - Ps 9:14–15 “שַׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת… שַׁעֲרֵי בַת־צִיּוֹן” - Ps 116:19 “בְּחַצְרוֹת בֵּית יְהוָה… יְרוּשָׁלִָם” - Different nouns (gates vs courts), same cultic locale and public praise function. - Superscription/“son” vs “son of your maidservant” - Ps 9 title “על־מות לבן” (obscure; often taken as “to the tune ‘Death of the Son’”) - Ps 116:16 “אֲנִי עַבְדֶּךָ… בֶּן־אֲמָתֶךָ” - If “לבן” is read straightforwardly as “the son,” the later “son of your maidservant” offers an ironic, personal counterpoint: not “death of the son” but the son’s release (“you have loosed my bonds”). 4) Narrative logic from one psalm to the next - Psalm 9 proclaims God’s just kingship, asserts that he remembers blood and doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted, pleads for grace and rescue from “the gates of death,” and vows public praise at Zion. - Psalm 116 testifies that God has in fact heard, bent his ear, rescued from the cords of death and the straits of Sheol, preserved the feet from stumbling, and now the worshiper will pay vows and offer a thanksgiving sacrifice in the Temple courts, calling on the Name of YHWH before “all his people.” - Thus Psalm 116 reads naturally as the lived fulfillment of the theology, plea, and vow articulated in Psalm 9. 5) Mytho-poetic stock imagery shared - Netherworld as a gated realm vs life in God’s presence: - “Gates of death” (Ps 9) and “Sheol’s straits/cords of death” (Ps 116) reflect common ancient Near Eastern netherworld imagery (gates, bonds, cords). - The counter‑image is movement into sacred space/life: “gates of Daughter Zion” (Ps 9) → “courts of YHWH’s house… Jerusalem… I will walk before YHWH in the land of the living” (Ps 116:9, 19). In short: Psalm 9 sets the theological frame (YHWH’s righteous rule, his attention to the cry of the afflicted), articulates the petition (“lift me from the gates of death”) and the vow (“so that I may praise you in Zion”). Psalm 116 is exactly what comes next in Israelite worship: the thankful return to the Temple to pay vows, call on the Name, offer the thank‑offering, and publicly narrate the rescue from death and Sheol. The many shared roots (מות, שְׁאוֹל, ישׁע, חנן, צדק, ענה/עני), the Name‑motif, the sanctuary setting, and the reversal of “stumbling” all support reading 116 as a logical sequel to 9.
Evaluation
Score: 6.5
Evaluated at: 2025-12-06T04:13:32 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v2
Reasoning: 3072 Output: 6772 Total: 9844
Checklist
- Has verse refs: Yes
- Factual error detected: No
- Only generic motifs: No
- Counterargument considered: No
- LXX/MT numbering acknowledged: No
Vocabulary specificity: 4.0 / 10
Strong, text-anchored links (death/Sheol, Name-calling, vows realized) and progression; yet motifs are common, Ps 9 is traditionally paired with 10, and no editorial markers link 9→116. Moderate support.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 9 and Psalm 116 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 116 logically follows on from Psalm 9? 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 9:
Psalm 9
1. לַ֭מְנַצֵּחַ
עַלְמ֥וּת
לַבֵּ֗ן
מִזְמ֥וֹר
לְדָוִֽד׃
2. אוֹדֶ֣ה
יְ֭הוָה
בְּכָל־
לִבִּ֑י
אֲ֝סַפְּרָ֗ה
כָּל־
נִפְלְאוֹתֶֽיךָ׃
3. אֶשְׂמְחָ֣ה
וְאֶעֶלְצָ֣ה
בָ֑ךְ
אֲזַמְּרָ֖ה
שִׁמְךָ֣
עֶלְיֽוֹן׃
4. בְּשׁוּב־
אוֹיְבַ֥י
אָח֑וֹר
יִכָּשְׁל֥וּ
וְ֝יֹאבְד֗וּ
מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃
5. כִּֽי־
עָ֭שִׂיתָ
מִשְׁפָּטִ֣י
וְדִינִ֑י
יָשַׁ֥בְתָּ
לְ֝כִסֵּ֗א
שׁוֹפֵ֥ט
צֶֽדֶק׃
6. גָּעַ֣רְתָּ
ג֭וֹיִם
אִבַּ֣דְתָּ
רָשָׁ֑ע
שְׁמָ֥ם
מָ֝חִ֗יתָ
לְעוֹלָ֥ם
וָעֶֽד׃
7. הָֽאוֹיֵ֨ב ׀
תַּ֥מּוּ
חֳרָב֗וֹת
לָ֫נֶ֥צַח
וְעָרִ֥ים
נָתַ֑שְׁתָּ
אָבַ֖ד
זִכְרָ֣ם
הֵֽמָּה׃
8. וַֽ֭יהוָה
לְעוֹלָ֣ם
יֵשֵׁ֑ב
כּוֹנֵ֖ן
לַמִּשְׁפָּ֣ט
כִּסְאֽוֹ׃
9. וְה֗וּא
יִשְׁפֹּֽט־
תֵּבֵ֥ל
בְּצֶ֑דֶק
יָדִ֥ין
לְ֝אֻמִּ֗ים
בְּמֵישָֽׁtרִים׃
10. וִ֘יהִ֤י
יְהוָ֣ה
מִשְׂגָּ֣ב
לַדָּ֑ךְ
מִ֝שְׂגָּ֗ב
לְעִתּ֥וֹת
בַּצָּרָֽה׃
11. וְיִבְטְח֣וּ
בְ֭ךָ
יוֹדְעֵ֣י
שְׁמֶ֑ךָ
כִּ֤י
לֹֽא־
עָזַ֖בְתָּ
דֹרְשֶׁ֣יךָ
יְהוָֽה׃
12. זַמְּר֗וּ
לַ֭יהוָה
יֹשֵׁ֣ב
צִיּ֑וֹן
הַגִּ֥ידוּ
בָ֝עַמִּ֗ים
עֲלִֽילוֹתָֽיו׃
13. כִּֽי־
דֹרֵ֣שׁ
דָּ֭מִים
אוֹתָ֣ם
זָכָ֑ר
לֹֽא־
שָׁ֝כַ֗ח
צַעֲקַ֥ת
עניים
עֲנָוִֽים׃
14. חָֽנְנֵ֬נִי
יְהוָ֗ה
רְאֵ֣ה
עָ֭נְיִי
מִשֹּׂנְאָ֑י
מְ֝רוֹמְמִ֗י
מִשַּׁ֥עֲרֵי
מָֽוֶת׃
15. לְמַ֥עַן
אֲסַפְּרָ֗ה
כָּֽל־
תְּהִלָּ֫תֶ֥יךָ
בְּשַֽׁעֲרֵ֥י
בַת־
צִיּ֑וֹן
אָ֝גִ֗ילָה
בִּישׁוּעָתֶֽךָ׃
16. טָבְע֣וּ
ג֭וֹיִם
בְּשַׁ֣חַת
עָשׂ֑וּ
בְּרֶֽשֶׁת־
ז֥וּ
טָ֝מָ֗נוּ
נִלְכְּדָ֥ה
רַגְלָֽם׃
17. נ֤וֹדַ֨ע ׀
יְהוָה֮
מִשְׁפָּ֢ט
עָ֫שָׂ֥ה
בְּפֹ֣עַל
כַּ֭פָּיו
נוֹקֵ֣שׁ
רָשָׁ֑ע
הִגָּי֥וֹן
סֶֽלָה׃
18. יָשׁ֣וּבוּ
רְשָׁעִ֣ים
לִשְׁא֑וֹלָה
כָּל־
גּ֝וֹיִ֗ם
שְׁכֵחֵ֥י
אֱלֹהִֽים׃
19. כִּ֤י
לֹ֣א
לָ֭נֶצַח
יִשָּׁכַ֣ח
אֶבְי֑וֹן
תִּקְוַ֥ת
ענוים
עֲ֝נִיִּ֗ים
תֹּאבַ֥ד
לָעַֽד׃
20. קוּמָ֣ה
יְ֭הוָה
אַל־
יָעֹ֣ז
אֱנ֑וֹשׁ
יִשָּׁפְט֥וּ
ג֝וֹיִ֗ם
עַל־
פָּנֶֽיךָ׃
21. שִׁ֘יתָ֤ה
יְהוָ֨ה ׀
מוֹרָ֗ה
לָ֫הֶ֥ם
יֵדְע֥וּ
גוֹיִ֑ם
אֱנ֖וֹשׁ
הֵ֣מָּה
סֶּֽלָה׃
Psalm 116:
Psalm 116
1. אָ֭הַבְתִּי
כִּֽי־
יִשְׁמַ֥ע ׀
יְהוָ֑ה
אֶת־
ק֝וֹלִ֗י
תַּחֲנוּנָֽי׃
2. כִּֽי־
הִטָּ֣ה
אָזְנ֣וֹ
לִ֑י
וּבְיָמַ֥י
אֶקְרָֽא׃
3. אֲפָפ֤וּנִי ׀
חֶבְלֵי־
מָ֗וֶת
וּמְצָרֵ֣י
שְׁא֣וֹל
מְצָא֑וּנִי
צָרָ֖ה
וְיָג֣וֹן
אֶמְצָֽא׃
4. וּבְשֵֽׁם־
יְהוָ֥ה
אֶקְרָ֑א
אָנָּ֥ה
יְ֝הוָ֗ה
מַלְּטָ֥ה
נַפְשִֽׁי׃
5. חַנּ֣וּן
יְהֹוָ֣ה
וְצַדִּ֑יק
וֵ֖אלֹהֵ֣ינוּ
מְרַחֵֽם׃
6. שֹׁמֵ֣ר
פְּתָאיִ֣ם
יְהֹוָ֑ה
דַּ֝לּוֹתִ֗י
וְלִ֣י
יְהוֹשִֽׁיעַ׃
7. שׁוּבִ֣י
נַ֭פְשִׁי
לִמְנוּחָ֑יְכִי
כִּֽי־
יְ֝הוָ֗ה
גָּמַ֥ל
עָלָֽיְכִי׃
8. כִּ֤י
חִלַּ֥צְתָּ
נַפְשִׁ֗י
מִ֫מָּ֥וֶת
אֶת־
עֵינִ֥י
מִן־
דִּמְעָ֑ה
אֶת־
רַגְלִ֥י
מִדֶּֽחִי׃
9. אֶ֭תְהַלֵּךְ
לִפְנֵ֣י
יְהוָ֑ה
בְּ֝אַרְצ֗וֹת
הַֽחַיִּֽים׃
10. הֶ֭אֱמַנְתִּי
כִּ֣י
אֲדַבֵּ֑ר
אֲ֝נִ֗י
עָנִ֥יתִי
מְאֹֽד׃
11. אֲ֭נִי
אָמַ֣רְתִּי
בְחָפְזִ֑י
כָּֽל־
הָאָדָ֥ם
כֹּזֵֽב׃
12. מָֽה־
אָשִׁ֥יב
לַיהוָ֑ה
כָּֽל־
תַּגְמוּל֥וֹהִי
עָלָֽי׃
13. כּוֹס־
יְשׁוּע֥וֹת
אֶשָּׂ֑א
וּבְשֵׁ֖ם
יְהוָ֣ה
אֶקְרָֽא׃
14. נְ֭דָרַי
לַיהוָ֣ה
אֲשַׁלֵּ֑ם
נֶגְדָה־
נָּ֝֗א
לְכָל־
עַמּֽוֹ׃
15. יָ֭קָר
בְּעֵינֵ֣י
יְהוָ֑ה
הַ֝מָּ֗וְתָה
לַחֲסִידָֽיו׃
16. אָֽנָּ֣ה
יְהוָה֮
כִּֽי־
אֲנִ֢י
עַ֫בְדֶּ֥ךָ
אֲֽנִי־
עַ֭בְדְּךָ
בֶּן־
אֲמָתֶ֑ךָ
פִּ֝תַּ֗חְתָּ
לְמוֹסֵרָֽי׃
17. לְֽךָ־
אֶ֭זְבַּח
זֶ֣בַח
תּוֹדָ֑ה
וּבְשֵׁ֖ם
יְהוָ֣ה
אֶקְרָֽא׃
18. נְ֭דָרַי
לַיהוָ֣ה
אֲשַׁלֵּ֑ם
נֶגְדָה־
נָּ֝֗א
לְכָל־
עַמּֽוֹ׃
19. בְּחַצְר֤וֹת ׀
בֵּ֤ית
יְהוָ֗ה
בְּֽת֘וֹכֵ֤כִי
יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם
הַֽלְלוּ־
יָֽהּ׃