Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.
Parallel translations
- WEB Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute!
- KJV Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
- NKJV Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
- NASB Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flute.
- NLT Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!
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
Praise is to be offered with tambourine, dancing, stringed instruments, and flute, engaging the whole body and every joyful means of worship.
Overview
The summons widens to include not only instruments but bodily expression in dancing, reflecting exuberant, festive worship in Israel's tradition (compare 2 Samuel 6:14). The point is that praise should be heartfelt and complete, holding nothing back. Christians may differ over particular forms of worship today, but the verse's enduring call is to glad, sincere praise of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 149:3Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
- Isa 38:20The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
- Exod 15:20Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
- Ps 144:9I will sing to You a new song, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will make music to You—
- Ps 92:3with the ten-stringed harp and the melody of the lyre.
- Job 30:31My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
- Ps 45:8All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.
- Job 21:12singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
- Ps 33:2Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
- Hab 3:19GOD the Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer; He makes me walk upon the heights! For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 150:4 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.