Reference: Hymns
Fausets
Hebrew tehillim; in direct praise to God (Ac 16:25; Jas 5:13). Not restricted to church worship; but used to exhilarate Christians in social parties. "Psalms," mizmor, were accompanied with an instrument, carefully arranged. "Songs," Greek oodai, Hebrew shir, were joyous lyric pieces on sacred subjects; contrast the reveling, licentious songs of pagan feasts (Am 8:10). The accompaniment is the "melody of the heart," not the lyre. Tertullian (Apology, 39) records that at the love feasts (agapae), after the water was furnished for the hands and the lights lit, according as any remembered Scripture or could compose (compare 1Co 14:26, "improvised psalms"), he was invited to sing praises to God for the general good. The heart is the seat of true psalmody, "singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col 3:16; Eph 5:19).
Some generally accepted confession, in the form of a hymn, appears in 1Ti 3:16; the short unconnected sentences, with words similarly arranged, almost in the same number of syllables, the clauses in parallelism (the principle of Hebrew versification) antithetically arranged, each two forming a pair which contrasts heaven and earth, the order reversed in each new pair, flesh and spirit, angels and Gentiles, world and glory; the first and the last clauses correspond, "manifested in the flesh. .. received up into glory." So Pliny, 1:10, ep. 97: "the Christians are wont on a fixed day, before dawn, to meet and sing a hymn in alternate responses to Christ as God." Christ and His disciples sang a hymn after the Passover and the Lord's supper (Mt 26:30; Mr 14:26). Probably it was the Great Hallel or paschal hymn, usually sung after the Passover by the Jews, namely, Psalm 113-118.
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I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all of your songs to dirges. I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth and to shave all of your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son, and its conclusion will be like the end of a bitter day."
Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
What, then, does this mean, brothers? When you gather, everyone has a psalm, teaching, revelation, foreign language, or interpretation. Everything must be done for upbuilding.
Then you will recite to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; you will sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts;
Let the word of the Messiah inhabit you richly with wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and singing to God with thankfulness in your hearts.
By common confession, the secret of our godly worship is great: In flesh was he revealed to sight, kept righteous by the Spirit's might, adored by angels singing. To nations was he manifest, believing souls found peace and rest, our Lord in heaven reigning!
Is anyone among you suffering? He should keep on praying. Is anyone cheerful? He should keep reciting psalms.
Morish
These occur in this order: 'psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.' Eph 5:19; Col 3:16. The word 'psalms' is the same as the Greek ???????; so the word 'hymns,' ??????; for 'spiritual songs' it is ?.???? ????????????, spiritual odes or songs. There can be no doubt that the Psalms of David had been used by the devout of Israel as songs of praise, and some of these may have been used in the early church, such as Psalm 23, Psalm 103, etc., which in substance have found their way into nearly all modern hymnals.
But the new dispensation required new songs of praise, and some may have been written that retained the name of psalms; others were called hymns, which apply to those compositions which are addressed to the Father or the Son, or directly to God. The word used for 'songs' is employed in Re 5:9 for the song of the redeemed; and in Re 14:3 for the new song; and in Re 15:3 for the song of Moses, the sentiments of which are often repeated in the Psalms: cf. also Ex 15:1-19; De 32:1-44.
It will be noticed that the passages in Ephesians and Colossians do not refer to singing in the assembly, and the one in Colossians may be punctuated thus: "in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." The Lord sang a hymn with His disciples at the last passover; and we may be sure that there was singing in the assemblies. The heathen Pliny bore testimony that the Christians sang 'odes to Christ as God.' Christ is twice represented as praising God, in the midst of His congregations, that is, in the assembly, and in the great congregation of Israel and those associated with them. Ps 22:22,25. Among hymns generally it is easy to see that some are hymns of praise; others recount what God has done; others speak of what Christ has suffered; others refer to future blessing; and again others are really prayers.
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Then Moses and the Israelis sang this song to the LORD: "I'll sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God and I'll praise him, the God of my father and I'll exalt him. read more. The LORD is a man of war, the LORD is his name! "Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea; his best officers sank in the Reed Sea. The deep covered them, they went down into the depths like a rock. Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in strength, your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you broke down your enemies. You sent forth your anger, it consumed them like stubble. By the breath of your nostrils the waters were piled up, the flowing waters stood up like a hill, the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea. "The enemy said, "I'll pursue them, I'll overtake them, I'll divide the spoil. I'll satisfy my anger on them, I'll draw my sword, and my hand will bring them to ruin.' "You blew with your breath, and the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty water. "Who is like you among the gods, LORD? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, and working wonders? You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them. "You have led with your gracious love this people whom you redeemed. You have guided them with your strength to your holy dwelling. "The people heard and they quaked, anguish has seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were terrified, the nobles of Moab trembled uncontrollably, and all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. Dread and fear have fallen on them, because of the strength of your arm. They have become silent as a stone, until your people pass by, LORD, until this people you acquired pass by. "You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD. The LORD will reign forever and ever." When the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD caused the waters of the sea to come back over them, but the Israelis walked through the middle of the sea on dry land.
Hear, heavens, and I will speak! Listen, earth, to the words of my mouth! May my instructions descend like rain and may my words flow like dew, as light rain upon the grass, and as showers upon new plants. read more. For I'll proclaim the name of our LORD. Ascribe greatness to our God! Flawless is the work of the Rock, because all his ways are just. A faithful God never unjust righteous and upright is he. But those who are not his children acted corruptly against him; they are a defective and perverted generation. This is not the way to repay the LORD, is it, you foolish and witless people? Is he not your father, who bought you, formed you, and established you? Remember the days of old, reflect on the years of previous generations. Ask your father, and he'll tell you; your elders will inform you. When the Most High gave nations as their inheritance, when he separated the human race, he set boundaries for the people according to the number of the children of God. For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is his allotted portion. The LORD found him in a desert land, in a barren, eerie wilderness. He surrounded, cared for, and guarded him as the pupil of his eye. Like an eagle stirs its nest, hovering near its young, spreading out his wings to take him and carry him on his pinions, the LORD alone guided him. There was no foreign god with him. He mounted him on a high place above the earth, feeding him from the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil from the flint rock, with curds from cattle and with milk from sheep, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, with the fat of goats, with the finest of wheat and from the juice of grapes you drank wine. Jacob dined until satisfied; Jeshurun grew fat and kicked. He grew fat, coarse, and gross, so that he abandoned the God who made him and spurned the Rock that was his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy over foreigners and to anger over detestable things. They sacrificed to demons not to the real God gods whom they didn't know, new neighbors who had recently appeared, whom your ancestors never feared. You neglected the Rock that fathered you; you abandoned God, who was awaiting your birth. The LORD saw it and became jealous, provoked by his sons and daughters. So he said: "Let me hide my face from them. I will observe what their end will be, because they are a perverted generation, children within whom there is no loyalty. They provoked me to jealousy over non-gods, and to be angry over their vanity. Now I'll provoke them to jealousy over a non-people; and over a foolish nation I'll provoke them to anger. For a fire breaks out in my anger burning to the deepest part of the afterlife, consuming the earth and its produce and igniting the foundations of the mountains. I'll bury them in misfortunes and bring them to an end with my arrows. Emaciated from famine, feverish from plague, and destroyed by bitterness, I'll send fanged beasts against them, along with poisonous snakes that glide through the dust. Outside, the sword will cause bereavement; within, there will be terror for the young man and virgin alike, also for the nursing infant and the aged man." "I said, "I will scatter them, erasing their memory from the human race, if it weren't for dreading the taunting of their enemies otherwise, their adversary might misinterpret and say, "Our power is great. It isn't the LORD who made all of this happen."'" They are a nation devoid of purpose and without insight. O, that they were wise to understand this and consider their future! How can one person chase a thousand of them and two put a myriad to flight, unless their Rock delivers them and the LORD gives them up? For their rock isn't like our Rock, as even our enemies admit. Instead, their vine is from the vines of Sodom and the vineyards of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous, their clusters bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents, a poisonous cobra. "Is this not kept in reserve, sealed up with me in my treasury? To me belong vengeance and recompense. In due time their feet will slip, because their time of calamity is near and the things prepared for them draw near. For the LORD will vindicate his people and bring comfort to his servants, because he will observe that their power has waned, when neither prisoner nor free person remain. "He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge? Who ate the fat of their offerings and drank the wine that was their drink offering? Let them rise and help you and be your hiding place!' "Look now! I AM, and there is no other god besides me. I myself cause death and I sustain life; I wound severely and I also heal; from my power no one can deliver. "I solemnly swear to heaven I say "As certainly as I'm alive and living forever, I'll whet my shining sword, with my hands in firm grasp of judgment. I'll show vengeance on my adversary and repay those who keep on hating me. I'll make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword will devour flesh, along with the blood of the slain, and I'll take their enemy leaders captive.' "Sing for joy, nations! Sing for joy, people who belong to him! For he'll avenge the blood of his servants, turn on his adversary, and cleanse both his land and his people." So Moses and Nun's son Joshua came and recited all the words of this song while the people were assembled.
I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation, I will praise you, saying,
My praise in the great congregation is because of you; I will pay my vows before those who fear you.
Then you will recite to one another psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; you will sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts;
Let the word of the Messiah inhabit you richly with wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and singing to God with thankfulness in your hearts.
They sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered. With your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
They were singing a new song in front of the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
They sang the song of God's servant Moses and the song of the lamb: "Your deeds are both spectacular and amazing, Lord God Almighty. Your ways are just and true, King of the nations.