Psalm 10 → 58
Reasoning: 6528 Output: 5385 Total: 11913
Argument
Here are several ways to argue that Psalm 58 could be read as a logical follow‑on to Psalm 10. 1) Macro-logic (problem → petition → verdict) - Psalm 10 raises the theodicy problem: Why is God “far off,” while the רָשָׁע (rasha, wicked) prospers, murders the נָקִי (innocent), ambushes the weak, and claims “God will not see” (10:1–11)? - Psalm 10 petitions: “Arise, YHWH… break the arm of the wicked… seek out his wickedness till you find none” (10:12–15). - Psalm 10’s confidence conclusion: God hears, judges the orphan and the crushed, so that “man of the earth” no longer terrifies (10:16–18). - Psalm 58 functions like the answer-verdict: it denounces the unjust “judges/mighty ones,” calls for violent divine intervention, and ends with public recognition: “Surely there is a God who judges in the earth” (58:12). That final line explicitly answers the doubts voiced in Psalm 10 (10:11, 13) and the plea for judgment (10:15, 18). 2) Judicial frame shared (strongest conceptual bridge) - Psalm 10 is saturated with the justice lexicon: מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ (10:5), לִשְׁפֹּט (10:18). It laments the suspension of justice and asks God to judge. - Psalm 58 opens as a courtroom challenge to human adjudicators: “Do you indeed speak righteousness… do you judge (תִּשְׁפְּטוּ) uprightly, sons of man?” (58:2), and closes with “there is a God judging (שֹׁפְטִים) in the earth” (58:12). This is a direct thematic continuation and resolution of Psalm 10’s judicial crisis. 3) Earth/man cluster carried forward - Psalm 10 climactically relocates justice “on earth”: “YHWH is King forever… nations perish from his land” (10:16), and “so that man of the earth (אֱנוֹשׁ… מִן־הָאָרֶץ) no longer terrifies” (10:18). - Psalm 58 repeats the same domain and actors: addresses “בְּנֵי אָדָם” (58:2), and twice emphasizes justice “בָּאָרֶץ” (58:3, 12). The same anthropological and geographical frame (“man” + “earth/land”) reappears where the verdict is finally affirmed. 4) “Seeing/hearing” reversals (tight antithetical links) - Psalm 10’s skeptic: “He [the wicked] says… ‘He [God] will never see’” (10:11); God, however, “You have seen” (רָאִיתָ, 10:14). - Psalm 58: “The righteous will rejoice for he has seen (חָזָה) vengeance” (58:11). What the wicked denied in 10 is decisively “seen” in 58. - Ears: Psalm 10: “You will incline Your ear” (תַּקְשִׁיב אָזְנֶךָ, 10:17). Psalm 58: the wicked are likened to a deaf viper who “stops his ear” and “will not hear” (58:5–6). God hears; the wicked refuse to hear—precisely the asymmetry required for the judicial outcome in 58. 5) Mouth/teeth/tongue to “break their teeth” (imagery carried through) - Psalm 10: the wicked’s mouth is full of curses, deceit, oppression; “under his tongue” are mischief and iniquity (10:7). His words are his weapon. - Psalm 58 answers by targeting that weapon: “O God, tear down their teeth in their mouth; break out the fangs of young lions, YHWH” (58:7). Psalm 58 performs the counter‑violence Psalm 10 asked for (“break the arm of the wicked,” 10:15) but now focused on the very instrument highlighted in 10 (mouth/teeth/tongue). 6) Predator imagery echoed and reversed - Psalm 10: the wicked “lurks like a lion in his covert” to seize the poor (10:9). - Psalm 58: God shatters “the fangs of young lions” (מַלְתְּעוֹת כְּפִירִים, 58:7). The lion‑predator of 10 is de‑fang’d in 58—an explicit imagistic payoff. 7) Shared lexemes and roots (weighted by your criteria) Higher-significance ties (repeated, core to argument): - Root שפט (judge): 10:5, 10:18; 58:2, 58:12. - רשע (wicked): 10:2,3,4,13,15; 58:4, 58:11 (הָרָשָׁע). - ארץ (earth/land): 10:16 (מֵאַרְצוֹ), 10:18 (מִן־הָאָרֶץ); 58:3, 58:12 (בָּאָרֶץ). - אדם/אנוש (man): 10:18 (אֱנוֹשׁ); 58:2 (בְּנֵי אָדָם), 58:12 (וְיֹאמַר אָדָם). - אמר (say): 10:6, 10:11, 10:13; 58:12 (וְיֹאמַר). - ראה/חזה (see): 10:11, 10:14 (רָאִיתָ); 58:11 (חָזָה). Different roots but deliberately paired by theme. - אזן/שמע (ear/hear): 10:17 (אָזְנֶךָ); 58:5–6 (יַאְטֵם אָזְנוֹ… לֹא יִשְׁמַע). - פה/לשון/שן (mouth/tongue/tooth): 10:7; 58:7 (שִׁנֵּימוֹ… בְּפִימוֹ). - אריה/כפיר (lion imagery): 10:9; 58:7. Stylistic/morphological echoes - The archaic negative particle בַּל occurs in both: 10:4, 6, 11, 15, 18; 58:9 (בַּל־חָזוּ). This is a stylistic fingerprint, rarer than the more common לֹא. - Imperative imprecation aimed at disabling the wicked: 10:15 “שְׁבֹר זְרוֹעַ רָשָׁע” vs. 58:7 “הֲרָס… נְתֹץ” their teeth/fangs. Different verbs, same speech‑act and target. - Forensic diction: מִשְׁפָּט, שָׁפַט; and evaluative claims about justice being enacted “in the earth.” 8) Event-sequence plausibility in ancient life - Psalm 10 narrates the experience of violent predation in “villages” and “hideouts” (10:8–10): a local tyrant abusing the powerless. - A natural next step in Israelite social-religious life is to appeal to adjudicators—and to God as ultimate Judge—against corrupt local power. Psalm 58 is precisely a prophetic-lament against corrupt “judges/mighty ones” who “weigh out violence with [their] hands” (58:3). So 58 reads like the public, liturgical prosecution that follows the private complaint of 10. - The sequence culminates in a liturgical vindication scene: swift, exemplary judgment (58:8–10), communal rejoicing at just retribution (58:11), and the public confession of the moral order: “Surely there is a God who judges in the earth” (58:12), answering the cynicism in Psalm 10:11, 13. 9) Rarer, image-specific payoffs that feel “answering” - “Lion” in 10 → “young lions’ fangs broken” in 58 (rare, pointed imagistic continuity). - Mouth/tongue as the wicked’s weapon in 10 → God breaks teeth in 58 (concrete reversal). - “God hides/doesn’t see” in 10 → the righteous “see vengeance” and man declares God judges in 58 (public, visible reversal). - God’s “ear” hears the humble in 10 → the wicked “stops his ear” in 58 (moral asymmetry underscored). 10) Form-critical and editorial logic - Psalm 10 is an individual lament with imprecation and a confidence close. - Psalm 58 is an imprecatory “Do not destroy” miktam against corrupt authorities, ending with a wisdom-like maxim (58:12). - Read consecutively, 58 functions as the enacted judicial answer to 10’s petition. The shift from complaint (10) to curse/pronouncement and doxological recognition (58:12) is a common lament-to-imprecation-to-praise arc. Bottom line - The shared judicial vocabulary (שׁפט/מִשְׁפָּט), the earth/man frame (בָאָרֶץ ~ אָדָם/אֱנוֹשׁ), repeated “wicked” (רָשָׁע), the mouth/teeth/lion imagery, the ear/seeing antitheses, the archaic negative בַּל, and the movement from hidden justice (10) to publicly acknowledged justice (58) together make a strong case that Psalm 58 can be read as a deliberate logical follow-on to Psalm 10: it is the courtroom verdict and public recognition that resolve the crisis and prayer of Psalm 10.
Evaluation
Score: 6.5
Evaluated at: 2025-12-09T04:08:31 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v2
Reasoning: 3264 Output: 6210 Total: 9474
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
Rich verse-level links (judge lexeme; see/hear; mouth–teeth; lion), but largely common motifs; no editorial markers. Ignores strong counter-evidence (Ps 9–10 acrostic pairing; 57–59 ‘Do not destroy’ cluster).
Prompt
Consider Psalm 10 and Psalm 58 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 58 logically follows on from Psalm 10? 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 10:
Psalm 10
1. לָמָ֣ה
יְ֭הוָה
תַּעֲמֹ֣ד
בְּרָח֑וֹק
תַּ֝עְלִ֗ים
לְעִתּ֥וֹת
בַּצָּרָֽה׃
2. בְּגַאֲוַ֣ת
רָ֭שָׁע
יִדְלַ֣ק
עָנִ֑י
יִתָּפְשׂ֓וּ ׀
בִּמְזִמּ֖וֹת
ז֣וּ
חָשָֽׁבוּ׃
3. כִּֽי־
הִלֵּ֣ל
רָ֭שָׁע
עַל־
תַּאֲוַ֣ת
נַפְשׁ֑וֹ
וּבֹצֵ֥עַ
בֵּ֝רֵ֗ךְ
נִ֘אֵ֥ץ ׀
יְהוָֽה׃
4. רָשָׁ֗ע
כְּגֹ֣בַהּ
אַ֭פּוֹ
בַּל־
יִדְרֹ֑שׁ
אֵ֥ין
אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים
כָּל־
מְזִמּוֹתָֽיו׃
5. יָ֘חִ֤ילוּ
דרכו
דְרָכָ֨יו ׀
בְּכָל־
עֵ֗ת
מָר֣וֹם
מִ֭שְׁפָּטֶיךָ
מִנֶּגְדּ֑וֹ
כָּל־
צ֝וֹרְרָ֗יו
יָפִ֥יחַ
בָּהֶֽם׃
6. אָמַ֣ר
בְּ֭לִבּוֹ
בַּל־
אֶמּ֑וֹט
לְדֹ֥ר
וָ֝דֹ֗ר
אֲשֶׁ֣ר
לֹֽא־
בְרָֽע׃
7. אָלָ֤ה ׀
פִּ֣יהוּ
מָ֭לֵא
וּמִרְמ֣וֹת
וָתֹ֑ךְ
תַּ֥חַת
לְ֝שׁוֹנ֗וֹ
עָמָ֥ל
וָאָֽוֶן׃
8. יֵשֵׁ֤ב ׀
בְּמַאְרַ֬ב
חֲצֵרִ֗ים
בַּֽ֭מִּסְתָּרִים
יַהֲרֹ֣ג
נָקִ֑י
עֵ֝ינָ֗יו
לְֽחֵלְכָ֥ה
יִצְפֹּֽנוּ׃
9. יֶאֱרֹ֬ב
בַּמִּסְתָּ֨ר ׀
כְּאַרְיֵ֬ה
בְסֻכֹּ֗ה
יֶ֭אֱרֹב
לַחֲט֣וֹף
עָנִ֑י
יַחְטֹ֥ף
עָ֝נִ֗י
בְּמָשְׁכ֥וֹ
בְרִשְׁתּֽוֹ׃
10. ודכה
יִדְכֶּ֥ה
יָשֹׁ֑חַ
וְנָפַ֥ל
בַּ֝עֲצוּמָּ֗יו
חלכאים
חֵ֣יל
כָּאִֽים׃
11. אָמַ֣ר
בְּ֭לִבּוֹ
שָׁ֣כַֽח
אֵ֑ל
הִסְתִּ֥יר
פָּ֝נָ֗יו
בַּל־
רָאָ֥ה
לָנֶֽצַח׃
12. קוּמָ֤ה
יְהוָ֗ה
אֵ֭ל
נְשָׂ֣א
יָדֶ֑ךָ
אַל־
תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח
עניים
עֲנָוִֽים׃
13. עַל־
מֶ֤ה ׀
נִאֵ֖ץ
רָשָׁ֥ע ׀
אֱלֹהִ֑ים
אָמַ֥ר
בְּ֝לִבּ֗וֹ
לֹ֣א
תִדְרֹֽשׁ׃
14. רָאִ֡תָה
כִּֽי־
אַתָּ֤ה ׀
עָ֘מָ֤ל
וָכַ֨עַס ׀
תַּבִּיט֮
לָתֵ֢ת
בְּיָ֫דֶ֥ךָ
עָ֭לֶיךָ
יַעֲזֹ֣ב
חֵלֶ֑כָה
יָ֝ת֗וֹם
אַתָּ֤ה ׀
הָיִ֬יתָ
עוֹזֵֽר׃
15. שְׁ֭בֹר
זְר֣וֹעַ
רָשָׁ֑ע
וָ֝רָ֗ע
תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ־
רִשְׁע֥וֹ
בַל־
תִּמְצָֽא׃
16. יְהוָ֣ה
מֶ֭לֶךְ
עוֹלָ֣ם
וָעֶ֑ד
אָבְד֥וּ
ג֝וֹיִ֗ם
מֵֽאַרְצֽוֹ׃
17. תַּאֲוַ֬ת
עֲנָוִ֣ים
שָׁמַ֣עְתָּ
יְהוָ֑ה
תָּכִ֥ין
לִ֝בָּ֗ם
תַּקְשִׁ֥יב
אָזְנֶֽךָ׃
18. לִשְׁפֹּ֥ט
יָת֗וֹם
וָ֫דָ֥ךְ
בַּל־
יוֹסִ֥יף
ע֑וֹד
לַעֲרֹ֥ץ
אֱ֝נ֗וֹשׁ
מִן־
הָאָֽרֶץ׃
Psalm 58:
Psalm 58
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
אַל־
תַּשְׁחֵ֗ת
לְדָוִ֥ד
מִכְתָּֽם׃
2. הַֽאֻמְנָ֗ם
אֵ֣לֶם
צֶ֭דֶק
תְּדַבֵּר֑וּן
מֵישָׁרִ֥ים
תִּ֝שְׁפְּט֗וּ
בְּנֵ֣י
אָדָֽם׃
3. אַף־
בְּלֵב֮
עוֹלֹ֢ת
תִּפְעָ֫ל֥וּן
בָּאָ֡רֶץ
חֲמַ֥ס
יְ֝דֵיכֶ֗ם
תְּפַלֵּֽסֽוּן׃
4. זֹ֣רוּ
רְשָׁעִ֣ים
מֵרָ֑חֶם
תָּע֥וּ
מִ֝בֶּ֗טֶן
דֹּבְרֵ֥י
כָזָֽב׃
5. חֲמַת־
לָ֗מוֹ
כִּדְמ֥וּת
חֲמַת־
נָחָ֑שׁ
כְּמוֹ־
פֶ֥תֶן
חֵ֝רֵ֗שׁ
יַאְטֵ֥ם
אָזְנֽוֹ׃
6. אֲשֶׁ֣ר
לֹא־
יִ֭שְׁמַע
לְק֣וֹל
מְלַחֲשִׁ֑ים
חוֹבֵ֖ר
חֲבָרִ֣ים
מְחֻכָּֽם׃
7. אֱֽלֹהִ֗ים
הֲרָס־
שִׁנֵּ֥ימוֹ
בְּפִ֑ימוֹ
מַלְתְּע֥וֹת
כְּ֝פִירִ֗ים
נְתֹ֣ץ ׀
יְהוָֽה׃
8. יִמָּאֲס֣וּ
כְמוֹ־
מַ֭יִם
יִתְהַלְּכוּ־
לָ֑מוֹ
יִדְרֹ֥ךְ
חצו
חִ֝צָּ֗יו
כְּמ֣וֹ
יִתְמֹלָֽלוּ׃
9. כְּמ֣וֹ
שַׁ֭בְּלוּל
תֶּ֣מֶס
יַהֲלֹ֑ךְ
נֵ֥פֶל
אֵ֝֗שֶׁת
בַּל־
חָ֥זוּ
שָֽׁמֶשׁ׃
10. בְּטֶ֤רֶם
יָבִ֣ינוּ
סִּֽירֹתֵיכֶ֣ם
אָטָ֑ד
כְּמוֹ־
חַ֥י
כְּמוֹ־
חָ֝ר֗וֹן
יִשְׂעָרֶֽנּוּ׃
11. יִשְׂמַ֣ח
צַ֭דִּיק
כִּי־
חָזָ֣ה
נָקָ֑ם
פְּעָמָ֥יו
יִ֝רְחַ֗ץ
בְּדַ֣ם
הָרָשָֽׁע׃
12. וְיֹאמַ֣ר
אָ֭דָם
אַךְ־
פְּרִ֣י
לַצַּדִּ֑יק
אַ֥ךְ
יֵשׁ־
אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים
שֹׁפְטִ֥ים
בָּאָֽרֶץ׃