Psalm 12 → 83

Reasoning: 10496 Output: 5138 Total: 15634

Argument

Here is a set of mutually reinforcing arguments that make Psalm 83 read naturally as a follow‑on to Psalm 12. I’ve grouped them by type and weighted them (implicitly) by the criteria you gave: identical phrases and rarer items count most; then shared roots; then broader thematic and form parallels.

1) Tight “seams” formed by identical or rare expressions
- Quoted enemy speech with the identical introducer אשר אמרו
  - Ps 12:5: אשר אמרו ללשׁוננו נגביר … מי אדון לנו
  - Ps 83:13: אשר אמרו נירשה לנו את נאות אלהים
  - Both psalms dramatize the foes’ arrogance by quotative direct speech introduced by the same two‑word formula (rare and therefore strong).
- Shared root שׁית in closely parallel petitions/declared acts
  - Ps 12:6 (divine oracle): אָשִׁית בְּיֵשַׁע “I will set/establish in safety”
  - Ps 83:12,14 (petitions): שִׁיתֵמוֹ נְדִיבֵמוֹ … אֱלֹהַי שִׁיתֵמוֹ כַגַּלְגַּל “set them [so], O my God”
  - The same verb governs what God does to resolve the crisis in both psalms; in 12 God promises “I will set,” in 83 the petitioner answers with “set them [thus],” i.e., act on that promise.
- The verb כרת in closely juxtaposed yet antithetical uses
  - Ps 12:4: יַכְרֵת יְהוָה כָּל שִׂפְתֵי חֲלָקוֹת “May YHWH cut off all flattering lips”
  - Ps 83:6: עָלֶיךָ בְּרִית יִכְרֹתוּ “Against you they cut a covenant”
  - Same root, antithetical directions: God “cuts off” their lips (12), they “cut” a covenant against God (83). Psalm 83 thus looks like the historical outworking of the arrogance Psalm 12 asks God to “cut off.”
- Parallel “exaltation” of the wicked, with near‑synonymous “raising” language
  - Ps 12:9: כְּרֻם זֻלוּת לִבְנֵי אָדָם “when what is vile is exalted among men”
  - Ps 83:3: וּמְשַׂנְאֶיךָ נָשְׂאוּ רֹאשׁ “your haters have lifted up the head”
  - The rare noun זֻלוּת (“vileness/baseness”) being “raised” (כְרֻם) in 12 matches the enemies’ self‑exaltation in 83 (נָשְׂאוּ רֹאשׁ), tying the closing observation of 12 directly to the opening complaint of 83.
- Matching temporal absolutives for the hoped‑for outcome
  - Ps 12:8: תִּצְּרֶנּוּ … לְעוֹלָם “you will guard us … forever”
  - Ps 83:18: יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיִבָּהֲלוּ עֲדֵי־עַד “let them be ashamed and terrified forever”
  - Both aim at a permanent divine verdict; the “forever” that protects (12) is mirrored by the “forever” that shames (83).

2) The speech/silence motif resolves across the pair
- Psalm 12 is saturated with human speech gone wrong (שָׁוְא יְדַבְּרוּ; שְׂפַת חֲלָקוֹת; לָשׁוֹן מְדַבֶּרֶת גְּדֹלוֹת; אֲמָרוֹת vs אִמְרוֹת יְהוָה טְהֹרוֹת). God then speaks: עַתָּה אָקוּם יֹאמַר יְהוָה … אָשִׁית בְּיֵשַׁע.
- Psalm 83 opens by begging God to break silence: אֱלֹהִים אַל־דֳּמִי־לָךְ אַל־תֶּחֱרַשׁ וְאַל־תִּשְׁקֹט אֵל, precisely because the enemies are again “saying” (אָמְרוּ) and “counseling” (וַיִּתְיָעֲצוּ).
- Thus 83 functions as the petition that God do, now, what 12 reports He has promised to do: speak/act to undo arrogant speech.

3) Rhetorical question and its answer across the two psalms
- Ps 12:5 quotes the braggart’s creed: מִי אָדוֹן לָנוּ “Who is lord over us?”
- Ps 83:19 gives the programmatic answer: וְיֵדְעוּ כִּי־אַתָּה שִׁמְךָ יְהוָה לְבַדֶּךָ עֶלְיוֹן עַל־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ “that they may know that you—your name is YHWH alone—are Most High over all the earth.”
- The arrogant question of 12 is explicitly resolved in the climactic confession 83 seeks. This is a strong logical and teleological link.

4) “Heart” cohesion vs duplicity: a pointed contrast using the same noun
- Ps 12:3: בְּלֵב וָלֵב יְדַבֵּרוּ “they speak with a heart and a heart” (duplicity).
- Ps 83:6: כִּי נוֹעֲצוּ לֵב יַחְדָּו “they conspired with one heart” (dark unity).
- The same lexeme לֵב frames the moral collapse (double‑hearted speech within the community, 12) and its geopolitical consequence (single‑hearted coalition against God, 83).

5) Form-critical fit: the second is a scaled-up continuation of the first
- Both are laments that (a) open with an urgent plea to God (12:2 הוֹשִׁיעָה; 83:2 אַל־דֳּמִי־לָךְ), (b) quote the oppressors’ hubris, (c) call for decisive divine intervention, and (d) aim at a generalized, enduring outcome (12:8–9; 83:17–19).
- Psalm 12 is an “internal-society” lament (deceitful speech, social predation, collapse of חֶסֶד/אֱמוּנָה); Psalm 83 is the national/communal escalation (external coalition, military threat). That escalation is exactly how Israel’s historical cycles often move (internal faithlessness ⇒ external threat ⇒ cry ⇒ divine deliverance; cf. the Judges allusions in 83:10–12).

6) Historical-tradition bridge (Judges motif answers 12’s “Now I arise”)
- Ps 12:6 contains a divine oracle: עַתָּה אָקוּם … אָשִׁית בְּיֵשַׁע “Now I will arise … I will set in safety.”
- Ps 83 asks God to enact that oracle by reprising the classic deliverances of Judges (Midian; Sisera and Jabin; Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, Zalmunna; 83:10–12). The divine‑warrior imagery (fire, storm, pursuit; 83:15–16) is the embodied “arising” that 12 announced.

7) Protection vocabulary and its “object”
- Ps 12:2,6,8 centers on the vulnerable: עֲנִיִּים/אֶבְיוֹנִים; and prays: אַתָּה יְהוָה תִּשְׁמְרֵם תִּצְּרֶנּוּ.
- Ps 83:4 calls Israel “צְפוּנֶיךָ” (“your hidden/treasured ones”; rare), which semantically matches being guarded/kept/hidden. It is natural to hear 83 identifying the very people 12 said God would “keep/guard.”

8) From metallurgy to chaff: calibrated metaphors of worth
- Ps 12:7: אִמְרוֹת יְהוָה … כֶּסֶף צָרוּף … מְזֻקָּק שִׁבְעָתָיִם—God’s speech is seven‑times refined silver.
- Ps 83:14: כַגַּלְגַּל … כְּקַשׁ לִפְנֵי־רוּחַ—the enemies are like chaff before the wind.
- The pairing is rhetorically sharp: pure, weighty divine words (12) vs. weightless, wind‑driven foes (83), and 83 explicitly calls on wind/storm (רוּחַ, סוּפָה) to enact that contrast.

9) Macro-syntactic and stylistic echoes
- Both psalms heavily use 2ms imperfects addressed to God (12:8 תִּשְׁמְרֵם, תִּצְּרֶנּוּ; 83:16 תִּרְדְּפֵם, תְבַהֲלֵם), keeping the same prayerful tone.
- Both embed rare/marked collocations: Ps 12’s בַּעֲלִיל לָאָרֶץ (metallurgical furnace on/for the earth) and Ps 83’s צְפוּנֶיךָ, נְאוֹת אֱלֹהִים, and the piled coalition list. This stylistic markedness makes them memorable “bookends” in a thought sequence: from moral smelting to martial winnowing.

10) The storyline, in one sentence
- Psalm 12 diagnoses and protests a society overrun by duplicitous, self‑exalting speech, hears God promise to arise for the poor, and asks for perpetual protection; Psalm 83 shows the next step—those same arrogant words have coalesced into an international pact to erase Israel, so the community now pleads for the promised divine arising to scatter them like chaff, so that the braggart’s taunt “Who is lord over us?” (12:5) is silenced by all nations knowing “You—your name is YHWH alone—Most High over all the earth” (83:19).

Taken together, the identical quotative formula (אשר אמרו), the shared and pointed roots (שׁית; כרת; לֵב), the matching “raised arrogance” imagery (כְרֻם … נָשְׂאוּ רֹאשׁ), the speech/silence motif, and the Judges‑deliverance horizon form a strong case that Psalm 83 can be read as the logical, historical‑liturgical outworking of Psalm 12.

Evaluation

Score: 6.5

Evaluated at: 2026-01-21T02:37:29 (UTC)

Evaluator model: gpt-5

Evaluator version: v2

Reasoning: 3264 Output: 5977 Total: 9241

Vocabulary specificity: 4.0 / 10

Numerous specific, verified links (אֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ; שִׁית; כָּרַת; זֻלוּת; speech/silence). No factual errors. Yet many items are common, no counterarguments addressed, and no structural/editorial marker. Strong but not decisive.

Prompt

Consider Psalm 12 and Psalm 83 (reproduced below). What arguments could you make to justify that Psalm 83 logically follows on from Psalm 12? 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 12:
Psalm 12
1. לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ
        עַֽל־
        הַשְּׁמִינִ֗ית
        מִזְמ֥וֹר
        לְדָוִֽד׃
2. הוֹשִׁ֣יעָה
        יְ֭הוָה
        כִּי־
        גָמַ֣ר
        חָסִ֑יד
        כִּי־
        פַ֥סּוּ
        אֱ֝מוּנִ֗ים
        מִבְּנֵ֥י
        אָדָֽם׃
3. שָׁ֤וְא ׀
        יְֽדַבְּרוּ֮
        אִ֤ישׁ
        אֶת־
        רֵ֫עֵ֥הוּ
        שְׂפַ֥ת
        חֲלָק֑וֹת
        בְּלֵ֖ב
        וָלֵ֣ב
        יְדַבֵּֽרוּ׃
4. יַכְרֵ֣ת
        יְ֭הוָה
        כָּל־
        שִׂפְתֵ֣י
        חֲלָק֑וֹת
        לָ֝שׁ֗וֹן
        מְדַבֶּ֥רֶת
        גְּדֹלֽוֹת׃
5. אֲשֶׁ֤ר
        אָֽמְר֨וּ ׀
        לִלְשֹׁנֵ֣נוּ
        נַ֭גְבִּיר
        שְׂפָתֵ֣ינוּ
        אִתָּ֑נוּ
        מִ֖י
        אָד֣וֹן
        לָֽנוּ׃
6. מִשֹּׁ֥ד
        עֲנִיִּים֮
        מֵאַנְקַ֢ת
        אֶבְי֫וֹנִ֥ים
        עַתָּ֣ה
        אָ֭קוּם
        יֹאמַ֣ר
        יְהוָ֑ה
        אָשִׁ֥ית
        בְּ֝יֵ֗שַׁע
        יָפִ֥יחַֽ
        לֽוֹ׃
7. אִֽמֲר֣וֹת
        יְהוָה֮
        אֲמָר֢וֹת
        טְהֹ֫ר֥וֹת
        כֶּ֣סֶף
        צָ֭רוּף
        בַּעֲלִ֣יל
        לָאָ֑רֶץ
        מְ֝זֻקָּ֗ק
        שִׁבְעָתָֽיִם׃
8. אַתָּֽה־
        יְהוָ֥ה
        תִּשְׁמְרֵ֑ם
        תִּצְּרֶ֓נּוּ ׀
        מִן־
        הַדּ֖וֹר
        ז֣וּ
        לְעוֹלָֽם׃
9. סָבִ֗יב
        רְשָׁעִ֥ים
        יִתְהַלָּכ֑וּן
        כְּרֻ֥ם
        זֻ֝לּ֗וּת
        לִבְנֵ֥י
        אָדָֽם׃

Psalm 83:
Psalm 83
1. שִׁ֖יר
        מִזְמ֣וֹר
        לְאָסָֽף׃
2. אֱלֹהִ֥ים
        אַל־
        דֳּמִי־
        לָ֑ךְ
        אַל־
        תֶּחֱרַ֖שׁ
        וְאַל־
        תִּשְׁקֹ֣ט
        אֵֽל׃
3. כִּֽי־
        הִנֵּ֣ה
        א֭וֹיְבֶיךָ
        יֶהֱמָי֑וּן
        וּ֝מְשַׂנְאֶ֗יךָ
        נָ֣שְׂאוּ
        רֹֽאשׁ׃
4. עַֽל־
        עַ֭מְּךָ
        יַעֲרִ֣ימוּ
        ס֑וֹד
        וְ֝יִתְיָעֲצ֗וּ
        עַל־
        צְפוּנֶֽיךָ׃
5. אָמְר֗וּ
        לְ֭כוּ
        וְנַכְחִידֵ֣ם
        מִגּ֑וֹי
        וְלֹֽא־
        יִזָּכֵ֖ר
        שֵֽׁם־
        יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל
        עֽוֹד׃
6. כִּ֤י
        נוֹעֲצ֣וּ
        לֵ֣ב
        יַחְדָּ֑ו
        עָ֝לֶ֗יךָ
        בְּרִ֣ית
        יִכְרֹֽתוּ׃
7. אָהֳלֵ֣י
        אֱ֭דוֹם
        וְיִשְׁמְעֵאלִ֗ים
        מוֹאָ֥ב
        וְהַגְרִֽים׃
8. גְּבָ֣ל
        וְ֭עַמּוֹן
        וַעֲמָלֵ֑ק
        פְּ֝לֶ֗שֶׁת
        עִם־
        יֹ֥שְׁבֵי
        צֽוֹר׃
9. גַּם־
        אַ֭שּׁוּר
        נִלְוָ֣ה
        עִמָּ֑ם
        הָ֤י֥וּ
        זְר֖וֹעַ
        לִבְנֵי־
        ל֣וֹט
        סֶֽלָה׃
10. עֲשֵֽׂה־
        לָהֶ֥ם
        כְּמִדְיָ֑ן
        כְּֽסִֽיסְרָ֥א
        כְ֝יָבִ֗ין
        בְּנַ֣חַל
        קִישֽׁוֹן׃
11. נִשְׁמְד֥וּ
        בְֽעֵין־
        דֹּ֑אר
        הָ֥יוּ
        דֹ֝֗מֶן
        לָאֲדָמָֽה׃
12. שִׁיתֵ֣מוֹ
        נְ֭דִיבֵמוֹ
        כְּעֹרֵ֣ב
        וְכִזְאֵ֑ב
        וּֽכְזֶ֥בַח
        וּ֝כְצַלְמֻנָּ֗ע
        כָּל־
        נְסִיכֵֽמוֹ׃
13. אֲשֶׁ֣ר
        אָ֭מְרוּ
        נִ֣ירֲשָׁה
        לָּ֑נוּ
        אֵ֝֗ת
        נְא֣וֹת
        אֱלֹהִֽים׃
14. אֱ‍ֽלֹהַ֗י
        שִׁיתֵ֥מוֹ
        כַגַּלְגַּ֑ל
        כְּ֝קַ֗שׁ
        לִפְנֵי־
        רֽוּחַ׃
15. כְּאֵ֥שׁ
        תִּבְעַר־
        יָ֑עַר
        וּ֝כְלֶהָבָ֗ה
        תְּלַהֵ֥ט
        הָרִֽים׃
16. כֵּ֭ן
        תִּרְדְּפֵ֣ם
        בְּסַעֲרֶ֑ךָ
        וּבְסוּפָתְךָ֥
        תְבַהֲלֵֽם׃
17. מַלֵּ֣א
        פְנֵיהֶ֣ם
        קָל֑וֹן
        וִֽיבַקְשׁ֖וּ
        שִׁמְךָ֣
        יְהוָֽה׃
18. יֵבֹ֖שׁוּ
        וְיִבָּהֲל֥וּ
        עֲדֵי־
        עַ֗ד
        וְֽיַחְפְּר֥וּ
        וְיֹאבֵֽדוּ׃
19. וְֽיֵדְע֗וּ
        כִּֽי־
        אַתָּ֬ה
        שִׁמְךָ֣
        יְהוָ֣ה
        לְבַדֶּ֑ךָ
        עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן
        עַל־
        כָּל־
        הָאָֽרֶץ׃