Bible Strands
Psalms 98:5
Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, in melodious song with the harp.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the whole earth, following a call to break forth in joyful noise and preceding an instruction to shout with trumpets. This frames the verse as a directive for corporate proclamation before Yahweh as King.
The words — זַמְּר֣וּ (zamməru) translates to “make music” or “sing praises,” and בְּכִנּוֹר (bekinnôr) means “with a harp” or “lyre.” The text commands the use of stringed instruments to produce melodious sound for Yahweh.
The thread — The motif of instrumental praise appears in Psalms 33:2, which pairs harp music with ten strings, and Revelation 5:8, where elders hold harps before the Lamb. Isaiah 51:3 connects the resulting worship to God’s comfort of Zion.
Why it lands — The text issues a direct command to use musical instruments to praise Yahweh, extending the preceding call for vocal joy into a specific, structured act of worship. Readers are instructed to join the earth’s proclamation through instrumental music rather than observe it passively.
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
Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
Cross-references
- Psalms 33:2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.
- Isaiah 51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Revelation 5:8 When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
- Revelation 14:2 And 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.
- 1 Chronicles 25:1 Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:
- 2 Chronicles 29:25 Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet. For the command had come from the LORD through His prophets.
- Psalms 92:3 with the ten-stringed harp and the melody of the lyre.
- 1 Chronicles 15:16 David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.