Praise the Lord with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
Parallel translations
- WEB Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
- KJV Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
- BSB Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
- NASB Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
- NLT Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp.
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
God's people should give him thanks with instruments, offering skilled and wholehearted musical praise.
Overview
The psalmist calls for thanksgiving expressed through the lyre and ten-stringed harp, showing that worship engages the whole person and our best gifts. Music here serves devotion, directing the heart toward God in gratitude. Such praise finds its final aim in the worship of the Lamb, to whom every faithful song ultimately points.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 150:3–6Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre!
- Ps 98:4–5Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!
- Ps 144:9I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
- Exod 15:20Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.
- Ps 71:22I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.
- 1 Chr 25:3Of Jeduthun; the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh with the harp.
- 1 Chr 25:6All these were under the hands of their father for song in Yahweh’s house, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, for the service of God’s house; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king.
- 1 Chr 15:28Thus all Israel brought the ark of Yahweh’s covenant up with shouting, with sound of the cornet, with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with stringed instruments and harps.
- 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.
- Rev 5:8Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
- Ps 81:2–3Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.
- Rev 14:2I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound which I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps.
- Ps 92:3with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre.
- 2 Sam 6:5David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with castanets, and with cymbals.
- Ps 149:3Let them praise his name in the dance! Let them sing praises to him with tambourine and harp!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 33:2 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.