Psalm 10 → 74
Reasoning: 10560 Output: 7110 Total: 17670
Argument
Short thesis: Psalm 74 can be read as a communal, national “next step” to the individual lament of Psalm 10. Psalm 10 diagnoses the moral world: the arrogant “wicked” preys on the helpless, boasts that God does not see or will not call to account, and the psalmist asks God to arise, remember, and break the oppressor. Psalm 74 then shows what this looks like when scaled up to Israel as a whole: the enemy has invaded and burned God’s sanctuary, they too say in their heart they will wipe out God’s people, and the congregation pleads that God arise, remember, and act as King, recalling his primordial power to “break” cosmic foes. The two psalms share an unusually dense set of verbal, formal, and thematic hooks, with rarer items among them, that can plausibly be read as deliberate continuities. A. Lexical “hooks” (rarer items and/or identical forms listed first) - דַּךְ “the crushed/lowly”: - Ps 10:18 לִשְׁפֹּט יָתוֹם וָדָךְ - Ps 74:21 אַל־יָשׁוֹב דַּךְ נִכְלָם This noun is relatively rare; the exact noun recurs in both psalms and in the same victim-protection frame. - נֵאָץ/נִאֵץ “to blaspheme, revile”: - Ps 10:3 נִאֵץ יְהוָה; 10:13 עַל־מֶה נִאֵץ רָשָׁע אֱלֹהִים - Ps 74:10 יְנָאֵץ אוֹיֵב שִׁמְךָ; 74:18 נִאֲצוּ שְׁמֶךָ The same, relatively strong verb anchors the charge in both poems: the wicked/oppressor is above all a blasphemer. - צֹרֵר “adversary”: - Ps 10:5 כָּל־צוֹרְרָיו - Ps 74:4, 23 צֹרְרֶיךָ … קוֹל צֹרְרֶיךָ This term is less common than אוֹיֵב and its repetition is notable. - The heart-speech formula “אמר בְּלִבּוֹ/בְּלִבָּם”: - Ps 10:6, 11, 13 אָמַר בְּלִבּוֹ … - Ps 74:8 אָמְרוּ בְּלִבָּם … Same idiom for the enemy’s hidden calculus, now scaled from an individual predator (10) to invading destroyers (74). - שָׁבַר “break” (as divine remedy): - Ps 10:15 שְׁבֹר זְרוֹעַ רָשָׁע - Ps 74:13–14 שִׁבַּרְתָּ רָאשֵׁי תַנִּינִים … רִצַּצְתָּ רָאשֵׁי לִוְיָתָן Psalm 74’s mythic “you broke” (past) is the macrocosmic answer to Psalm 10’s petition “break” (imperative). - “Arise” + “Do not forget” (identical imperatives): - Ps 10:12 קוּמָה יְהוָה … אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח עֲנָוִים - Ps 74:22 קוּמָה אֱלֹהִים … 74:19, 23 אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח The very same imperative pair frames both laments. - “Why?” + “Forever?” (לָמָה … לָנֶצַח): - Ps 10:1 לָמָה … תַעֲמֹד בְּרָחוֹק … תַּעְלִים - Ps 74:1 לָמָה אֱלֹהִים זָנַחְתָּ לָנֶצַח; 74:11 לָמָּה תָשִׁיב יָדֶךָ Shared opening rhetoric and time-scope. - Divine “hand” imagery (hidden vs raised): - Ps 10:12 נְשָׂא יָדֶךָ; 10:14 … לָתֵת בְּיָדֶךָ - Ps 74:11 לָמָּה תָשִׁיב יָדְךָ וִימִינֶךָ … חֵיקְךָ כַּלֵּה In 10 God’s hand must be lifted; in 74 God’s hand is being withheld—in both, the same anthropomorphism directs the plea. - Kingship confessions at the turning point: - Ps 10:16 יְהוָה מֶלֶךְ עוֹלָם וָעֶד - Ps 74:12 וֵאלֹהִים מַלְכִּי מִקֶּדֶם Both pivot from complaint to confidence with a kingship formula; 74 recasts 10’s “YHWH is king” as “God my King from of old.” - “Prepare/establish” (כון) with 2ms forms: - Ps 10:17 תָּכִין לִבָּם - Ps 74:16 אַתָּה הֲכִינוֹתָ מָאוֹר וָשֶׁמֶשׁ The same root is used for God establishing inner order (the humble heart) and cosmic order (luminaries)—a deliberate micro/macro echo. - “See/Not see” motif: - Ps 10:11, 14 בַּל־רָאָה לָנֶצַח … רָאִיתָ - Ps 74:9 אֹתֹתֵינוּ לֹא רָאִינוּ 10 insists God does see; 74 laments the community cannot see God’s signs—two sides of the same visibility problem. - The poor/oppressed lexicon: - 10:2, 9, 12 עָנִי/עֲנָוִים; 10:8, 14 חֵלְכָה (rare); 10:18 דַּךְ; 10:14 יָתוֹם - 74:19, 21 עֲנִיֶיךָ … עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן; 74:21 דַּךְ Overlaps in the poorer, rarer nouns (esp. דך) and the same semantic field. - Predator imagery: - 10:9 כְּאַרְיֵה בְּסֻכָּה - 74:19 אַל־תִּתֵּן לְחַיַּת נֶפֶשׁ תֹּרֶךָ The individual “lion” becomes the collective “wild beast,” matching the scale shift. - “Adversaries in God’s space” - 10:1, 11 divine hiddenness creates space for predation - 74:4–8 the enemies now roar in the very sanctuary, “set up their signs,” and burn the meeting places—an escalated, concrete enactment of what 10 feared. B. Formal and structural parallels - Genre: Both are laments with the classic triad: complaint → petition → confidence/remembrance → renewed petition. - Rhetorical openers: both begin with pointed “למה/עד־מתי” questions and accuse divine distance/hiddenness (10:1 “stand far off/hide,” 74:1 “reject forever,” 74:11 “hand in your bosom”). - Legal language and forensics: 10:15–18 “תִּדְרוֹשׁ … לִשְׁפֹּט” (bring to account, judge) aligns with 74:22 “רִיבָה רִיבֶךָ” (litigate your lawsuit). Both frame the crisis as a case God must take up. - Mid-poem pivot anchored in kingship: 10:16 and 74:12 stand at the same functional place and serve the same purpose—ground the plea in who God is. - Closing imperatives: both end not with full resolution but with urgent imperatives to remember, not forget, and to silence the oppressor (10:18; 74:18–23). C. Idea-level continuities that make 74 a logical “next step” - From micro to macro: Psalm 10 focuses on a predatory “wicked” man stalking the poor; Psalm 74 shows predatory nations desecrating the temple and targeting all “meeting places of God.” The same pathology, scaled up to national catastrophe. - From hidden “face” to withheld “hand”: 10:11 “He has hidden his face” becomes 74:11 “Why do you hold back your hand?”—two complementary metaphors of divine non-intervention. - “God doesn’t see/remember” is answered by pleas to “remember”: the wicked in 10:11–13 act as if God forgets; 74 counters with זְכֹר/אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (vv. 2, 18, 22–23), explicitly reversing the wicked’s claim. - A deliberate appeal from petition to precedent: 10 asks “break the arm of the wicked”; 74 supplies the precedent—God has already “broken” sea-monsters and “split” the sea (74:13–15). If God does that at the cosmic level, he can do what 10 requested at the human level. - Testing and tension with 10:16, 18: - 10:16 “אָבְדוּ גוֹיִם מֵאַרְצוֹ”—nations are said to have perished from God’s land; 74 replies that enemies are in the very sanctuary (74:4–8) and deriding God “all day” (74:22–23). - 10:18 “בַּל־יוֹסִיף עוֹד לַעֲרֹץ אֱנוֹשׁ מִן־הָאָרֶץ”—that man “no longer” terrorize; 74:20 “מָלְאוּ מַחֲשַׁכֵּי־אֶרֶץ נְאוֹת חָמָס”—the “dark places of the earth” are still full of violence. Read sequentially, 74 presses the unresolved claims of 10 back upon God. D. Shared myth/history logic that strengthens the follow-on - Combat myth as warrant: 74’s Leviathan/sea-splitting (vv. 13–15) is not random; it is the theological grounding for exactly the kind of “breaking” 10 asked for. 10’s prayer is thus “answered” by 74 with “You have done this at the highest scale—do it again now.” - Kingship across time: 10’s “YHWH is king forever and ever” and 74’s “God my King from of old” bind present crisis to God’s eternal and primordial rule; 74 makes explicit the “from of old” (מִקֶּדֶם) that 10 implied with “forever and ever.” E. Summary of why the sequence makes sense - The two psalms share unusually specific lexemes (especially דך; נאץ; צֹרֵר; the heart-speech formula; identical imperatives קוּמָה / אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח; the verb שָׁבַר applied to the enemy), parallel structures, and matched images of divine hiddenness and kingship. Conceptually, 10’s world—where the wicked boast that God does not see and the poor are hunted—expands in 74 into historical catastrophe in Zion, where enemies burn the sanctuary and blaspheme God’s name. Psalm 74, therefore, “logically follows” Psalm 10 as a communal amplification and a theologically grounded escalation: the same plea to arise and not forget, the same victims now corporate, the same blasphemy now public, and the same divine answer sought—breaking the oppressor, as the King from of old has always done.
Evaluation
Score: 7.8
Evaluated at: 2025-12-10T03:59:23 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v2
Reasoning: 4928 Output: 7952 Total: 12880
Checklist
- Has verse refs: Yes
- Factual error detected: No
- Only generic motifs: No
- Counterargument considered: Yes
- LXX/MT numbering acknowledged: No
Vocabulary specificity: 6.5 / 10
Multiple precise lexical overlaps (דך; נאץ; צרר), parallel imperatives (קוּמָה/אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח), kingship pivots (10:16; 74:12), and hand imagery cohere with a micro→macro rationale. Many motifs are common, tempering uniqueness.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 10 and Psalm 74 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 74 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 74:
Psalm 74
1. מַשְׂכִּ֗יל
לְאָ֫סָ֥ף
לָמָ֣ה
אֱ֭לֹהִים
זָנַ֣חְתָּ
לָנֶ֑צַח
יֶעְשַׁ֥ן
אַ֝פְּךָ֗
בְּצֹ֣אן
מַרְעִיתֶֽךָ׃
2. זְכֹ֤ר
עֲדָתְךָ֨ ׀
קָ֘נִ֤יתָ
קֶּ֗דֶם
גָּ֭אַלְתָּ
שֵׁ֣בֶט
נַחֲלָתֶ֑ךָ
הַר־
צִ֝יּ֗וֹן
זֶ֤ה ׀
שָׁכַ֬נְתָּ
בּֽוֹ׃
3. הָרִ֣ימָה
פְ֭עָמֶיךָ
לְמַשֻּׁא֣וֹת
נֶ֑צַח
כָּל־
הֵרַ֖ע
אוֹיֵ֣ב
בַּקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃
4. שָׁאֲג֣וּ
צֹ֭רְרֶיךָ
בְּקֶ֣רֶב
מוֹעֲדֶ֑ךָ
שָׂ֖מוּ
אוֹתֹתָ֣ם
אֹתֽוֹת׃
5. יִ֭וָּדַע
כְּמֵבִ֣יא
לְמָ֑עְלָה
בִּֽסֲבָךְ־
עֵ֝֗ץ
קַרְדֻּמּֽוֹת׃
6. ועת
וְ֭עַתָּה
פִּתּוּחֶ֣יהָ
יָּ֑חַד
בְּכַשִּׁ֥יל
וְ֝כֵֽילַפֹּ֗ת
יַהֲלֹמֽוּן׃
7. שִׁלְח֣וּ
בָ֭אֵשׁ
מִקְדָּשֶׁ֑ךָ
לָ֝אָ֗רֶץ
חִלְּל֥וּ
מִֽשְׁכַּן־
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃
8. אָמְר֣וּ
בְ֭לִבָּם
נִינָ֣ם
יָ֑חַד
שָׂרְפ֖וּ
כָל־
מוֹעֲדֵי־
אֵ֣ל
בָּאָֽרֶץ׃
9. אֽוֹתֹתֵ֗ינוּ
לֹ֥א
רָ֫אִ֥ינוּ
אֵֽין־
ע֥וֹד
נָבִ֑יא
וְלֹֽא־
אִ֝תָּ֗נוּ
יֹדֵ֥עַ
עַד־
מָֽה׃
10. עַד־
מָתַ֣י
אֱ֭לֹהִים
יְחָ֣רֶף
צָ֑ר
יְנָ֘אֵ֤ץ
אוֹיֵ֖ב
שִׁמְךָ֣
לָנֶֽצַח׃
11. לָ֤מָּה
תָשִׁ֣יב
יָ֭דְךָ
וִֽימִינֶ֑ךָ
מִקֶּ֖רֶב
חוקך
חֵֽיקְךָ֣
כַלֵּֽה׃
12. וֵ֭אלֹהִים
מַלְכִּ֣י
מִקֶּ֑דֶם
פֹּעֵ֥ל
יְ֝שׁוּע֗וֹת
בְּקֶ֣רֶב
הָאָֽרֶץ׃
13. אַתָּ֤ה
פוֹרַ֣רְתָּ
בְעָזְּךָ֣
יָ֑ם
שִׁבַּ֖רְתָּ
רָאשֵׁ֥י
תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים
עַל־
הַמָּֽיִם׃
14. אַתָּ֣ה
רִ֭צַּצְתָּ
רָאשֵׁ֣י
לִוְיָתָ֑ן
תִּתְּנֶ֥נּוּ
מַ֝אֲכָ֗ל
לְעָ֣ם
לְצִיִּֽים׃
15. אַתָּ֣ה
בָ֭קַעְתָּ
מַעְיָ֣ן
וָנָ֑חַל
אַתָּ֥ה
ה֝וֹבַ֗שְׁתָּ
נַהֲר֥וֹת
אֵיתָֽן׃
16. לְךָ֣
י֭וֹם
אַף־
לְךָ֥
לָ֑יְלָה
אַתָּ֥ה
הֲ֝כִינ֗וֹתָ
מָא֥וֹר
וָשָֽׁמֶשׁ׃
17. אַתָּ֣ה
הִ֭צַּבְתָּ
כָּל־
גְּבוּל֣וֹת
אָ֑רֶץ
קַ֥יִץ
וָ֝חֹ֗רֶף
אַתָּ֥ה
יְצַרְתָּם׃
18. זְכָר־
זֹ֗את
א֖dוֹיֵב
חֵרֵ֣ף ׀
יְהוָ֑ה
וְעַ֥ם
נָ֝בָ֗ל
נִֽאֲצ֥וּ
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃
19. אַל־
תִּתֵּ֣ן
לְ֭חַיַּת
נֶ֣פֶשׁ
תּוֹרֶ֑ךָ
חַיַּ֥ת
עֲ֝נִיֶּ֗יךָ
אַל־
תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח
לָנֶֽצַח׃
20. הַבֵּ֥ט
לַבְּרִ֑ית
כִּ֥י
מָלְא֥וּ
מַחֲשַׁכֵּי־
אֶ֝֗רֶץ
נְא֣וֹת
חָמָֽס׃
21. אַל־
יָשֹׁ֣ב
דַּ֣ךְ
נִכְלָ֑ם
עָנִ֥י
וְ֝אֶבְי֗וֹן
יְֽהַלְל֥וּ
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃
22. קוּמָ֣ה
אֱ֭לֹהִים
רִיבָ֣ה
רִיבֶ֑ךָ
זְכֹ֥ר
חֶרְפָּתְךָ֥
מִנִּי־
נָ֝בָ֗ל
כָּל־
הַיּֽוֹם׃
23. אַל־
תִּ֭שְׁכַּח
ק֣וֹל
צֹרְרֶ֑יךָ
שְׁא֥וֹן
קָ֝מֶ֗יךָ
עֹלֶ֥ה
תָמִֽיד׃