1 Chronicles 13:8

13:8 while David and all Israel were energetically ¹  celebrating before God, singing and playing various stringed instruments, ²  tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

1 Chronicles 15:16

15:16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as musicians; they were to play various instruments, including stringed instruments and cymbals, and to sing loudly and joyfully. ³ 

1 Chronicles 15:28

15:28 All Israel brought up the ark of the Lord’s covenant; they were shouting, blowing trumpets, sounding cymbals, and playing stringed instruments.

1 Chronicles 16:5

16:5 Asaph was the leader and Zechariah second in command, followed by Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel. They were to play stringed instruments; Asaph was to sound the cymbals;

1 Chronicles 16:42

16:42 Heman and Jeduthun were in charge of the music, including the trumpets, cymbals, and the other musical instruments used in praising God. The sons of Jeduthun guarded the entrance. ⁴ 

1 Chronicles 23:5

23:5 4,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I supplied for worship.” ⁵ 

1 Chronicles 25:1-6

David Organizes the Musicians

25:1 David and the army officers selected some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy as they played stringed instruments and cymbals. ⁶  The following men were assigned this responsibility: ⁷ 

25:2 From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were supervised by Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s supervision. ⁸ 

25:3 From the sons of Jeduthun: ⁹  Gedaliah, Zeri, ¹⁰  Jeshaiah, ¹¹  Hashabiah, and Mattithiah – six in all, ¹²  under supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied as he played a harp, giving thanks and praise to the Lord.

25:4 From the sons of Heman: ¹³  Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. 25:5 All these were the sons of Heman, the king’s prophet. God had promised him these sons in order to make him prestigious. ¹⁴  God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

25:6 All of these were under the supervision of their fathers; they were musicians in the Lord’s temple, playing cymbals and stringed instruments as they served in God’s temple. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the supervision of the king.

1 Chronicles 25:2

25:2 From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were supervised by Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s supervision. ¹⁵ 

1 Chronicles 5:13

5:13 Their relatives, listed according to their families, ¹⁶  included Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber – seven in all.

1 Chronicles 7:6

Benjamin’s Descendants

7:6 The sons of Benjamin: ¹⁷ 

Bela, Beker, and Jediael – three in all.

Ezra 3:10-11

3:10 When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ¹⁸  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ¹⁹  King David of Israel. ²⁰  3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ²¹  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ²²  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Psalms 81:1-4

Psalm 81 ²³ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ²⁴  by Asaph.

81:1 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!

Shout out to the God of Jacob!

81:2 Sing ²⁵  a song and play the tambourine,

the pleasant sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument!

81:3 Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon, ²⁶ 

and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins. ²⁷ 

81:4 For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel; ²⁸ 

it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.

Psalms 92:1-3

Psalm 92 ²⁹ 

A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.

92:1 It is fitting ³⁰  to thank the Lord,

and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! ³¹ 

92:2 It is fitting ³²  to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,

and your faithfulness during the night,

92:3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,

to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.

Psalms 149:3

149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing!

Let them sing praises to him to the accompaniment of the tambourine and harp!

Psalms 150:2-5

150:2 Praise him for his mighty acts!

Praise him for his surpassing greatness!

150:3 Praise him with the blast of the horn!

Praise him with the lyre and the harp!

150:4 Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing!

Praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!

150:5 Praise him with loud cymbals!

Praise him with clanging cymbals!

Revelation 5:8

5:8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground ³³  before the Lamb. Each ³⁴  of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). ³⁵ 

[13:8]  ¹ tn Heb “with all strength.”

[13:8]  ² tn Heb “with songs and with zithers [meaning uncertain] and with harps.” Due to the collocation with “harps,” some type of stringed instrument is probably in view.

[15:16]  ³ tn Heb “causing to be heard to lift up with a voice of joy.”

[16:42]  ⁴ tn Heb “and with them, Heman and Jeduthun, trumpets and cymbals for sounding, and the instrument of song of God, and the sons of Jeduthun [were] at the gate.”

[23:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “made to [or “for”] praise.”

[25:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “David and the officers of the army set apart for service the sons of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the ones prophesying by harps, by lyres, and by cymbals.”

[25:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and their number was, the men of work for their service.”

[25:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sons of Asaph [were] upon the hand of Asaph, the one prophesying upon the hands of the king.”

[25:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “belonging to Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun.”

[25:3]  ¹⁰ tn This name appears as “Izri” in v. 10.

[25:3]  ¹¹ tc One Hebrew ms and some LXX mss supply the name “Shimei” after “Jeshaiah.” Most Hebrew mss omit the name here (but cf. v. 17).

[25:3]  ¹² tc The list includes only five names. Apparently the name “Shimei” (see v. 17), which appears in one medieval Hebrew ms and in the LXX, has been accidentally omitted from the Hebrew text.

[25:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “belonging to Heman, the sons of Heman.”

[25:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “by the words of God to exalt a horn.” An animal’s horn is sometimes used metaphorically as a symbol of strength and honor. See BDB 901-2 s.v. קֶרֶנ.

[25:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the sons of Asaph [were] upon the hand of Asaph, the one prophesying upon the hands of the king.”

[5:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and their brothers by the house of their fathers.”

[7:6]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has simply “Benjamin,” but בְּנֵי (bÿney, “sons of”) has dropped out by haplography (בְּנֵי בִּנְיָמִן, bÿney binyamin).

[3:10]  ¹⁸ sn This was a long, straight, metallic instrument used for signal calls, rather than the traditional ram’s horn (both instruments are typically translated “trumpet” by English versions).

[3:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “according to the hands of.”

[3:10]  ²⁰ sn See Ps 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1. Cf. 2 Chr 5:13; 7:3; 20:21.

[3:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ²² tn Heb “great.”

[81:1]  ²³ sn Psalm 81. The psalmist calls God’s people to assemble for a festival and then proclaims God’s message to them. The divine speech (vv. 6-16) recalls how God delivered the people from Egypt, reminds Israel of their rebellious past, expresses God’s desire for his people to obey him, and promises divine protection in exchange for obedience.

[81:1]  ²⁴ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument. See the superscription to Ps 8.

[81:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “lift up.”

[81:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “at the new moon.”

[81:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word כֶּסֶה (keseh) is an alternate spelling of כֶּסֶא (kese’, “full moon”).

[81:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”

[92:1]  ²⁹ sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers.

[92:1]  ³⁰ tn Or “good.”

[92:1]  ³¹ tn Traditionally “O Most High.”

[92:2]  ³² tn The words “it is fitting” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Verses 1-3 are actually one long sentence in the Hebrew text, but this has been divided up into two shorter sentences in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.

[5:8]  ³³ tn Grk “fell down.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”

[5:8]  ³⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:8]  ³⁵ sn This interpretive comment by the author forms a parenthesis in the narrative.