That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
Parallel translations
- WEB who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
- BSB You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.
- NKJV Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
- NASB Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves,
- NLT You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They idly improvise music on harps, fancying themselves like David, while their world unravels. They misuse the gifts of celebration for empty self-pleasure.
Overview
By comparing themselves to David, they cloak their indulgence in a veneer of devotion, yet David's music served God whereas theirs serves only their leisure. Their artistry is divorced from worship and from concern for the people's plight. The verse warns against using God-given talents merely for self-gratification rather than for his glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 5:12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
- Amos 5:23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
- Amos 8:3And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
- Gen 31:27Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?
- 1 Chr 15:16And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.
- Eccl 2:8I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
- 1 Pet 4:3For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
- Job 21:11–12They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
- 1 Chr 23:5Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.
- Rev 18:22And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
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Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 6:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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