Psalms 47:6-7

47:6 Sing to God! Sing!

Sing to our king! Sing!

47:7 For God is king of the whole earth!

Sing a well-written song! ¹ 

Psalms 68:32

68:32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God!

Sing praises to the Lord, (Selah)

Psalms 92:1-3

Psalm 92 ² 

A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.

92:1 It is fitting ³  to thank the Lord,

and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! ⁴ 

92:2 It is fitting ⁵  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 95:1-2

Psalm 95 ⁶ 

95:1 Come! Let’s sing for joy to the Lord!

Let’s shout out praises to our protector who delivers us! ⁷ 

95:2 Let’s enter his presence ⁸  with thanksgiving!

Let’s shout out to him in celebration! ⁹ 

Psalms 107:21-22

107:21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people! ¹⁰ 

107:22 Let them present thank offerings,

and loudly proclaim what he has done! ¹¹ 

Exodus 15:20-21

15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand-drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand-drums and with dances. ¹²  15:21 Miriam sang in response ¹³  to them, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.” ¹⁴ 

Revelation 5:8-10

5:8 and when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders threw themselves to the ground ¹⁵  before the Lamb. Each ¹⁶  of them had a harp and golden bowls full of incense (which are the prayers of the saints). ¹⁷  5:9 They were singing a new song: ¹⁸ 

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals

because you were killed, ¹⁹ 

and at the cost of your own blood ²⁰  you have purchased ²¹  for God

persons ²²  from every tribe, language, ²³  people, and nation.

5:10 You have appointed ²⁴  them ²⁵  as a kingdom and priests ²⁶  to serve ²⁷  our God, and they will reign ²⁸  on the earth.”

[47:7]  ¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term also occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142. Here, in a context of celebration, the meaning “skillful, well-written” would fit particularly well.

[92:1]  ² sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers.

[92:1]  ³ tn Or “good.”

[92:1]  ⁴ tn Traditionally “O Most High.”

[92:2]  ⁵ 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.

[95:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.

[95:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “to the rocky summit of our deliverance.”

[95:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “meet his face.”

[95:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “with songs of joy.”

[107:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.” See v. 8.

[107:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and let them proclaim his works with a ringing cry.”

[15:20]  ¹² sn See J. N. Easton, “Dancing in the Old Testament,” ExpTim 86 (1975): 136-40.

[15:21]  ¹³ tn The verb עָנָה (’ana) normally means “to answer,” but it can be used more technically to describe antiphonal singing in Hebrew and in Ugaritic.

[15:21]  ¹⁴ sn This song of the sea is, then, a great song of praise for Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel at the Sea, and his preparation to lead them to the promised land, much to the (anticipated) dread of the nations. The principle here, and elsewhere in Scripture, is that the people of God naturally respond to God in praise for his great acts of deliverance. Few will match the powerful acts that were exhibited in Egypt, but these nonetheless set the tone. The song is certainly typological of the song of the saints in heaven who praise God for delivering them from the bondage of this world by judging the world. The focus of the praise, though, still is on the person (attributes) and works of God.

[5:8]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[5:8]  ¹⁷ sn This interpretive comment by the author forms a parenthesis in the narrative.

[5:9]  ¹⁸ tn The redundant participle λέγοντες (legontes) has not been translated here.

[5:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”

[5:9]  ²⁰ tn The preposition ἐν (en) is taken to indicate price here, like the Hebrew preposition ב (bet) does at times. BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 5.b states, “The ἐν which takes the place of the gen. of price is also instrumental ἠγόρασας ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου Rv 5:9 (cp. 1 Ch 21:24 ἀγοράζω ἐν ἀργυρίῳ).”

[5:9]  ²¹ tc The Greek text as it stands above (i.e., the reading τῷ θεῷ [tw qew] alone) is found in codex A. א 2050 2344 Ï sy add the term “us” (ἡμᾶς, Jhmas), either before or after τῷ θεῷ, as an attempt to clarify the object of “purchased” (ἠγόρασας, hgorasa"). A few mss (1 vg^ms) delete the reference to God altogether and simply replace it with “us” (ἡμᾶς). This too is an attempt to remove ambiguity in the phrase and provide an object for “purchased.” The shorter reading, supported by the best witness for Revelation, best accounts for the other readings.

[5:9]  ²² tn The word “persons” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[5:9]  ²³ tn Grk “and language,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[5:10]  ²⁴ tn The verb ἐποίησας (epoihsas) is understood to mean “appointed” here. For an example of this use, see Mark 3:14.

[5:10]  ²⁵ tc The vast majority of witnesses have αὐτούς (autous, “them”) here, while the Textus Receptus reads ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”) with insignificant support (pc gig vg^cl sa Prim Bea). There is no question that the original text read αὐτούς here.

[5:10]  ²⁶ tn The reference to “kingdom and priests” may be a hendiadys: “priestly kingdom.”

[5:10]  ²⁷ tn The words “to serve” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the word “priests.”

[5:10]  ²⁸ tc The textual problem here between the present tense βασιλεύουσιν (basileuousin, “they are reigning”; so A 1006 1611 Ï^K pc) and the future βασιλεύσουσιν (basileusousin, “they will reign”; so א 1854 2053 Ï^A pc lat co) is a difficult one. Both readings have excellent support. On the one hand, the present tense seems to be the harder reading in this context. On the other hand, codex A elsewhere mistakes the future for the present (20:6). Further, the lunar sigma in uncial script could have been overlooked by some scribes, resulting in the present tense. All things considered, there is a slight preference for the future.