Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David;
Parallel translations
- WEB who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David;
- KJV That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
- BSB You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.
- 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 5:12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
- Amos 5:23Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
- Amos 8:3The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
- Gen 31:27Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;
- 1 Chr 15:16David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers with instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up their voices with joy.
- Eccl 2:8I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men — musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
- 1 Pet 4:3For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
- Job 21:11–12They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
- 1 Chr 23:5four thousand were doorkeepers, and four thousand praised Yahweh with the instruments which I made for giving praise.”
- Rev 18:22The voice of harpists, minstrels, flute players, and trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. No craftsman, of whatever craft, will be found any more at all in you. The sound of a mill will be heard no more at all in you.
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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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