Psalm 10 → 101
Reasoning: 11328 Output: 5614 Total: 16942
Argument
Short thesis: Psalm 101 can be read as the royal, programmatic answer to the lament and petition of Psalm 10. Psalm 10 describes what the רָשָׁע is doing to society and asks YHWH the King to intervene; Psalm 101 is the Davidic king’s pledge to implement YHWH’s מִשְׁפָּט in his house and city by removing precisely the vices and actors Psalm 10 complained about. Form/genre progression (macro-logic) - Psalm 10 = lament/complaint + petition + confession of YHWH’s kingship (10:12–18). - Psalm 101 = royal vow/“mirror for princes” outlining palace and city policy (101:2–8). - Logical sequence common in Israel’s cultic life: the community laments injustice and calls on YHWH the King (10:12, 16); the Davidic king then vows to enact YHWH’s חֶסֶד וּמִשְׁפָּט in daily governance (101:1, 8), especially at morning judicial sessions (cf. 101:8 לַבְּקָרִים), a known ANE/Israelite practice (judging “in the morning”). Key thematic links (problem in Ps 10 → policy in Ps 101) - YHWH’s distance vs. coming: 10:1 “לָמָה… תַּעֲמֹד בְּרָחוֹק… תַּעְלִים” → 101:2 “מָתַי תָּבוֹא אֵלַי.” 101 explicitly picks up the question of divine nearness raised in 10:1. - YHWH’s kingship asserted → royal implementation: 10:16 “יְהוָה מֶלֶךְ עוֹלָם וָעֶד” → 101:1 “חֶסֶד וּמִשְׁפָּט אָשִׁירָה” and 101:8 “לְהַכְרִית מֵעִיר־יְהוָה.” The divine kingship confessed in 10 becomes concrete royal policy in 101. - Protecting the vulnerable: 10:14–18 asks YHWH to judge for the יָתוֹם and דַּךְ and stop “אֱנוֹשׁ מִן־הָאָרֶץ” from terrifying → 101:8 the king “every morning” cuts off “כָּל־רִשְׁעֵי־אָרֶץ,” the very human agents who terrify. - From the wicked’s self-praise to true praise: 10:3 “הִלֵּל רָשָׁע עַל־תַּאֲוַת נַפְשׁוֹ” (perverse “praise”) → 101:1 “אָשִׁירָה… אֲזַמֵּרָה” (rightful praise of YHWH). Lexical/root correspondences (rarer items and identical/similar forms weighted more) - Hiddenness/secret (rare, same root): 10:8–9 “בַּמִּסְתָּרִים… יֶאֱרֹב בַּמִּסְתָּר” (root ס־ת־ר) describing the wicked’s covert violence → 101:5 “מְלָשְׁנִי בַסֵּתֶר” (same root סתר). Psalm 101 targets the “in secret” actor Psalm 10 lamented. - Haughtiness (same adjective): 10:4 “רָשָׁע כְּגֹבַהּ אַפּוֹ” → 101:5 “גְּבַהּ־עֵינַיִם.” The identical adjective גָּבֹהַּ marks the same vice, now purged by the king. - Iniquity און (same noun; weighty): 10:7 “תַּחַת לְשׁוֹנוֹ עָמָל וָאָוֶן” → 101:8 “כָּל־פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן.” The noun און is a marked link; 101 removes the very “workers of iniquity” whose און filled the wicked’s mouth in 10:7. - Speech-sin cluster (same roots/field): - 10:7 “פִּיהוּ מָלֵא אָלָה וּמִרְמוֹת… תַּחַת לְשׁוֹנוֹ עָמָל” → 101:5 “מְלָשְׁנִי בַסֵּתֶר,” 101:7 “דֹּבֵר שְׁקָרִים.” Root לש״ן surfaces explicitly in 101:5 and as לְשׁוֹנוֹ (10:7); deceit/lying are named in both. - “Sit/dwell” ישב (identical yiqtol form; strong): 10:8 “יֵשֵׁב בְּמַאְרַב” (the wicked “sits” in ambush) → 101:7 “לֹא־יֵשֵׁב בְּקֶרֶב בֵּיתִי” (the deceitful will not “sit/dwell” in the king’s house). Same form, now excluded from the royal sphere. - Eyes/“before my eyes” motif (shared lexeme and נגד field): 10:8 “עֵינָיו לְחֵלְכָה יִצְפֹּנוּ,” 10:5 “מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ מִנֶּגְדּוֹ” → 101:3 “לֹא־אָשִׁית לְנֶגֶד עֵינַי…,” 101:7 “לֹא־יִכּוֹן לְנֶגֶד עֵינָי,” 101:6 “עֵינַי בְּנֶאֶמְנֵי־אֶרֶץ.” The gaze is reoriented: in 10 the wicked’s eyes stalk the poor; in 101 the king’s eyes favor the faithful and exclude the deceitful from before his eyes. - Heart לבב (same noun; repeated in both): 10:6, 10:11 “אָמַר בְּלִבּוֹ” (wicked interior resolve) → 101:2 “אֶתְהַלֵּךְ בְּתָם־לְבָבִי,” 101:5 “רְחַב־לֵבָב.” The “heart” that harbored wicked resolve (10) is now the king’s “integrity of heart” and the proud “broad-heart” he rejects. - Way/Path דרך (same noun): 10:5 “דְּרָכָיו בְּכָל־עֵת” → 101:2, 6 “בְּדֶרֶךְ תָּמִים… הֹלֵךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ תָּמִים.” The king commits to the very “way” the wicked perverted. - Judgment משפט (same noun/root): 10:5 “מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ” and 10:18 “לִשְׁפֹּט” → 101:1 “חֶסֶד וּמִשְׁפָּט.” What the wicked despised/ignored (10) the king sings and enacts (101). - Land/city removal formulae (same semantic field, repeated ארץ): 10:16 “אָבְדוּ גוֹיִם מֵאַרְצוֹ,” 10:18 “…אֱנוֹשׁ מִן־הָאָרֶץ” → 101:8 “אַבְצִית… כָּל־רִשְׁעֵי־אָרֶץ… לְהַכְרִית מֵעִיר־יְהוָה.” The end of violent “man of the earth” in 10 finds its mechanism in 101’s purge of “the wicked of the land” from “the city of YHWH.” Scene-setting and social logic - Psalm 10’s violence happens “in hiding places” and “in ambush” (10:8–9), often in “חֲצֵרִים” (villages/settlements) against the helpless. Psalm 101 relocates justice to the royal house and the city: “בְּקֶרֶב בֵּיתִי” (101:2, 7) and “מֵעִיר־יְהוָה” (101:8), promising to expel precisely those hidden actors (e.g., the “slanderer in secret”). - The temporal answer: 10 complains about “times of trouble” (10:1; 10:5 “בְּכָל־עֵת” the wicked seems unopposed). 101 counters with a daily cadence of justice: “לַבְּקָרִים אַצְמִית” (101:8), echoing the morning court/“gate” sessions when kings judged cases. Why these links are probative - Several ties are not just thematic but lexical and even formal: identical forms (יֵשֵׁב), identical or very close lexical items (און; גָּבֹהַּ; דרך/משפט/לבב; סתר), and shared collocations (לְנֶגֶד + עֵינַי/מִנֶּגֶד). - Some of the shared items are relatively marked in Psalms: the “secret” root סתר as moral setting (10:8–9; 101:5), the explicit purge of “פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן” (101:8) against 10:7’s “און,” and the city-language “מֵעִיר־יְהוָה” answering 10:16’s territorial “מֵאַרְצוֹ.” - The vices singled out for removal in 101 (slander, deceit, lies, haughty look, perverse/“broad” heart, secret informers) match one-for-one the vices profiled in 10 (mouth full of curses/deceit, mischief under the tongue, hidden ambush, haughtiness, wicked resolves “in his heart”). Put together - Psalm 10 pleads: “Rise, YHWH… do not forget the afflicted… break the arm of the wicked… YHWH is King forever… so that man of the earth may no longer terrify” (10:12–18). - Psalm 101 answers: “I will sing of mercy and justice… when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity… I will not set a vile thing before my eyes… the slanderer in secret I will destroy… the deceitful shall not dwell in my house… every morning I will annihilate all the wicked of the land, to cut off from the city of YHWH all workers of iniquity” (101:1–8). Thus, on stylistic grounds (repeated negatives, first-person royal vow), lexical/root correspondences (סתר; און; גבה; ישב; דרך/משפט/לבב; עין/נגד), and socio-historical logic (morning royal justice as YHWH’s kingship in practice), Psalm 101 reads naturally as the programmatic, royal follow-up to the complaint and kingship-appeal of Psalm 10.
Evaluation
Score: 7.4
Evaluated at: 2025-12-11T03:34:34 (UTC)
Evaluator model: gpt-5
Evaluator version: v2
Reasoning: 3648 Output: 6452 Total: 10100
Checklist
- Has verse refs: Yes
- Factual error detected: No
- Only generic motifs: No
- Counterargument considered: No
- LXX/MT numbering acknowledged: No
Vocabulary specificity: 6.0 / 10
Many accurate, verse-based lexical ties (סתר, און, גבה, ישב, עין/לנגד, לבב, דרך, משפט; לַבְּקָרִים) and lament→royal-vow logic. Yet many are common motifs; no editorial marker; non-adjacent psalms.
Prompt
Consider Psalm 10 and Psalm 101 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 101 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 101:
Psalm 101
1. לְדָוִ֗ד
מִ֫זְמ֥וֹר
חֶֽסֶד־
וּמִשְׁפָּ֥ט
אָשִׁ֑ירָה
לְךָ֖
יְהוָ֣ה
אֲזַמֵּֽרָה׃
2. אַשְׂכִּ֤ילָה ׀
בְּדֶ֬רֶךְ
תָּמִ֗ים
מָ֭תַי
תָּב֣וֹא
אֵלָ֑י
אֶתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ
בְּתָם־
לְ֝בָבִ֗י
בְּקֶ֣רֶב
בֵּיתִֽי׃
3. לֹֽא־
אָשִׁ֨ית ׀
לְנֶ֥גֶד
עֵינַ֗י
דְּֽבַר־
בְּלִ֫יָּ֥עַל
עֲשֹֽׂה־
סֵטִ֥ים
שָׂנֵ֑אתִי
לֹ֖א
יִדְבַּ֣ק
בִּֽי׃
4. לֵבָ֣ב
עִ֭קֵּשׁ
יָס֣וּר
מִמֶּ֑נִּי
רָ֝֗ע
לֹ֣א
אֵדָֽע׃
5. מלושני
מְלָשְׁנִ֬י
בַסֵּ֨תֶר ׀
רֵעֵהוּ֮
אוֹת֢וֹ
אַ֫צְמִ֥ית
גְּֽבַהּ־
עֵ֭ינַיִם
וּרְחַ֣ב
לֵבָ֑ב
אֹ֝ת֗וֹ
לֹ֣א
אוּכָֽל׃
6. עֵינַ֤י ׀
בְּנֶֽאֶמְנֵי־
אֶרֶץ֮
לָשֶׁ֢בֶת
עִמָּ֫דִ֥י
הֹ֭לֵךְ
בְּדֶ֣רֶךְ
תָּמִ֑ים
ה֝֗וּא
יְשָׁרְתֵֽנִי׃
7. לֹֽא־
יֵשֵׁ֨ב ׀
בְּקֶ֥רֶב
בֵּיתִי֮
עֹשֵׂ֢ה
רְמִ֫יָּ֥ה
דֹּבֵ֥ר
שְׁקָרִ֑ים
לֹֽא־
יִ֝כּ֗וֹן
לְנֶ֣גֶד
עֵינָֽי׃
8. לַבְּקָרִ֗ים
אַצְמִ֥ית
כָּל־
רִשְׁעֵי־
אָ֑רֶץ
לְהַכְרִ֥ית
מֵֽעִיר־
יְ֝הוָ֗ה
כָּל־
פֹּ֥עֲלֵי
אָֽוֶן׃