The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.
Parallel translations
- WEB The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines,
- KJV The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
- NKJV The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; Among them were the maidens playing timbrels.
- NASB The singers went on, the musicians after them, In the midst of the young women beating tambourines.
- NLT Singers are in front, musicians behind; between them are young women playing tambourines.
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
Singers, musicians, and worshippers join the festive procession honoring God. It shows that praise is to be wholehearted, ordered, and full of joy.
Overview
The detailed description of singers, players, and tambourine-playing women conveys the joyful, organized worship of God's victory procession. Music and celebration are fitting responses to the Lord's saving acts. Such Spirit-filled, exuberant worship points forward to the praise of the redeemed who gather around the throne of the Lamb.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Chr 13:8David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
- Judg 11:34And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
- 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.
- 1 Sam 18:6As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and with tambourines and other instruments.
- Rev 14:2–3And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of many waters and the loud rumbling of thunder. And the sound I heard was like harpists strumming their harps.
- Rev 15:2–3And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God,
- Ps 87:7Singers and pipers will proclaim, “All my springs of joy are in You.”
- Ps 148:12–13young men and maidens, old and young together.
- Jer 31:13Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.
- Ps 150:3–5Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.
- Jer 31:4Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing.
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 68:25 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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