Bible Strands
Psalms 149:3
Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the community of Israel and the children of Zion, instructing them to rejoice in their Maker and King before specifying the physical expressions of that worship.
The words — יְהַֽלְל֣וּ (ye.ha.Lu) translates to "let them praise," and בְ/מָח֑וֹל (ve./ma.Chol) means "with dancing," directly framing the command for communal celebration.
The thread — This pattern of celebratory movement and instrument-based praise recurs in Exodus 15:20 where Miriam leads women with tambourines, 2 Samuel 6:14 where David dances before the LORD, and Jeremiah 31:13 where the prophet promises a return to rejoicing with dancing.
Why it lands — The text commands physical worship through dance and stringed/percussion instruments before any theological justification is given, requiring the reader to enact praise corporately rather than reserve it for private reflection.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 31:13 Then 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.
- Exodus 15:20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
- 2 Samuel 6:14 And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD,
- 2 Samuel 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
- 1 Chronicles 15:28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.
- Psalms 81:2 Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.
- Judges 11:34 And 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.
- Psalms 30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
- Psalms 150:3 Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.
- 1 Chronicles 16:42 Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for the songs of God. And the sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.