Bible Strands
Psalms 150:4
Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the worshiping community, issuing a final liturgical call within the closing psalm of the collection. The verse functions as a direct command to the congregation during corporate praise.
The words — The Hebrew imperative הַלְלוּ (haləlū) commands "praise Him" and bookends the verse. It is coupled with תֹף (tôp̄, "tambourine") and מָחוֹל (māḥôl, "dancing") in the first clause, and מִנִּים (minnîm, "stringed instruments") and עוּגָב (ʿûḡāḇ, "flute") in the second.
The thread — The pairing of tambourine and dancing recurs in Psalms 149:3 and Exodus 15:20, while the use of stringed instruments for worship aligns with Isaiah 38:20. These passages collectively trace a pattern of instrument-specific praise throughout the biblical text.
Why it lands — The text explicitly lists percussion, dance, strings, and wind instruments as the means of honoring God. It requires the reader to recognize that the prescribed worship involves both bodily movement and diverse musical tools.
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
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Cross-references
- Psalms 149:3 Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
- Isaiah 38:20 The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
- 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.
- Psalms 144:9 I will sing to You a new song, O God; on a harp of ten strings I will make music to You—
- Job 30:31 My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
- Psalms 92:3 with the ten-stringed harp and the melody of the lyre.
- Job 21:12 singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
- Psalms 33:2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
- Psalms 45:8 All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces of ivory the harps make you glad.
- Habakkuk 3:19 GOD 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.