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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So will I turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into a dirge, and I will bring up - on all loins - sackcloth, and upon every head - baldness, - and I will make it like the mourning for an only one, even the afterpart thereof, as a day of bitterness.
And, at midnight, Paul and Silas, being at prayer, began singing praise unto God; and the prisoners unto them, did hearken.
What, then, is it, brethren? Whensoever ye are coming together, each one, hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath a translation: - let, all things, be done, unto building up.
Speaking to yourselves, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing, and striking the strings, with your heart unto the Lord;
Let, the word of the Christ, dwell within you richly, - in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, with gratitude, raising song with your hearts unto God:
And, confessedly great, is the sacred secret of godliness, - Who was made manifest in flesh, was declared righteous in spirit, was made visible unto messengers, was proclaimed among nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
In distress, is any among you? Let him pray; Cheerful, is any? Let him strike the strings;
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, sang Moses, and the sons of Israel, this song unto Yahweh, and they spake, saying, - I will sing to Yahweh, for he is exalted, exalted, - The horse and his rider, hath he cast into the sea. My might and melody, is Yah, And he became mine, by salvation, - This, is my GOD, and I will glorify him, The God of my father and I will set him on high. read more. Yahweh is a warlike one, - Yahweh, is his name. The chariots of Pharaoh and his train, hath he cast into the sea, - Yea, the choice of his warriors, were sunk in the Sedgy Sea. Roaring deeps, covered them, - They went down in the raging depths like a stone. Thy right hand, O Yahweh is splendid in power, - Thy right hand, O Yahweh dasheth in pieces a foe; And in the greatness of thine exaltation, dost thou tear down thine opposers, - Thou dost send forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as straw; And with the blast of thy nostrils, heaped up are the waters, Upreared like a mound, are the flowing waves, - Roaring deeps are congealed in the heart of the sea. Said the fee - I will pursue - overtake divide spoil, - Take her fill of them - shall my soul, I will bare my sword, root them out - shall my hand. Thou didst blow with thy wind they were covered by the sea, - They rolled like lead, into the waters so wide. Who is, like unto thee, among the mighty O Yahweh? Who is, like unto thee, Majestic in holiness, - To be revered in praises, Doing a marvellous thing? Thou didst stretch forth thy right hand, earth swallowed them up. Thou hast led forth in thy lovingkindness, the people which thou hast redeemed, - Thou hast guided them in thy might into the home of thy holiness. Peoples have heard they tremble, - A pang, hath seized the dwellers of Philistia: Then, were amazed the chiefs of Edom, The mighty ones of Moab, there seizeth them, a trembling, - Melted away, have all the dwellers of Canaan: There falleth upon them a terror and dread, With the greatness of thine arm, are they struck dumb as a stone, - Till thy people pass over O Yahweh, Till the people pass over, which thou hast made thine own: - Thou bringest them in and plantest them, In the mountain of thine inheritance, Thy dwelling-place to abide in which thou hast made, O Yahweh, - A hallowed place O My Lord which thy hands have established. Yahweh, shall reign unto times age-abiding and beyond. For the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and his horsemen, entered into the sea, Then did Yahweh bring back upon them the waters of the sea, - But the sons of Israel, had gone their way on the dry ground through the midst of the sea.
Give ear O ye heavens and I will speak, And let the earth hear the sayings of my mouth: Let my teaching drop as the rain, Let my speech distil as the dew, - As copious rains on tender grass, As myriad drops on seeding plants. read more. When, the name of Yahweh, I proclaim, Ascribe ye greatness unto our God: - A Rock! faultless his work, For, all his ways, are just, A GOD of faithfulness and without perversity, Right and fair, is he! They have broken faith with him to be no sons of his - their fault, - A generation twisted and crooked. Is it Yahweh, ye thus requite, O impious people and unwise? Is not, he, thy father who begat thee? He, that made thee and established thee? Remember the days of age-past times, Remark the years of many generations, - Ask thy father and he will tell thee, Thine elders and they will say to thee: - When the Most High gave inheritances unto the nations, When he spread abroad the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples, According to the number of the sons of Israel. For, Yahweh's portion is his people, - Jacob, his inherited possession. He met him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness, - He encompassed him watched over him, Shielded him as the pupil of his own eye. As, an eagle, stirreth up his nest, Over his young ones, fluttereth, Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh one, Beareth it up on his pinions, Yahweh alone did lead him, - And there was with him no GOD of a stranger. He made him ride on the high places of the land, Caused him to eat the increase of the fields, - And gave him to suck honey out of the cliff, And oil out of the rock of flint: Curds of kine and milk of sheep, - With fat of well-fed lambs, Yea rams bred in Bashan, and he-goats, With the white of the kernels of wheat, - And, the blood of the grape, thou didst drink as it foamed. Then Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: Thou wast fat, Thou wast thick, Thou wast gorged, So he forsook the GOD who made him, And treated as foolish his Rock of salvation. They moved him to jealousy with foreign gods , - With abominations, angered they him: They sacrificed to mischievous demons to a No-GOD, Gods whom they knew not, - New ones lately come in, Your fathers never shuddered at them! Of the Rock who had begotten thee, thou wast unmindful, - And didst forget GOD who had given thee birth. When Yahweh, he derided, - Because his sons and his daughters gave pro-vocation. So he said: - I will hide any face from them, I will see what will be their hereafter, - For a generation given to intrigue, they are, Sons, whom there is no trusting; They have moved me to jealousy with a No-GOD, They have angered me with their vanities: I, therefore, will move them to jealousy with a No-people, With an impious nation, will I anger them. For, a fire, is kindled in mine anger, And shall burn as far as hades beneath, - And consume the earth with her produce, And set ablaze the foundations of the mountains: I will heap on them, calamities, - Mine arrows, will I spend upon them: The meltings of hunger, The devourings of fever, And the dangerous pestilence, - And, the tooth of beasts, will I send among them, With the poison of crawlers of the dust: Without, shall the sword bereave, In the inmost recesses, terror, - To both young man and virgin, Suckling, with man of grey hairs. I said, I would puff them away, I would destroy from mortals, their memory; Were it not that the taunt of the foe, I feared, Lest their adversaries should mistake, - Lest they should say - Our own hand, is exalted, It is not Yahweh, therefore who hath wrought all this! For a nation of vanished sagacity, they are, - And there is in them no understanding. If they had been wise, they would have understood this, - They would have given heed to their here-after! Oh! how would one, have chased, a thousand! And, two, put, ten thousand to flight, - Were it not that their Rock had sold them, And, Yahweh, had abandoned them; For, not like our Rock, is their rock, Our enemies themselves, being judges; For of the vine of Sodom, is their vine, And of the vineyards of Gomorrah, - Their grapes, are grapes of gall, Clusters of bitter things, are theirs: The poison of large serpents, is their wine, - Yea the fierce venom of asps. Is not, that, stored up with me, - Sealed up amongst my treasures; Unto the days of vengeance and requital: Unto the time their foot shall totter? For, near, is the day of their fate, And their destiny speedeth on. For Yahweh will vindicate his people, And upon his servants, will have compassion, - When he seeth that strength is exhausted, And there is no one shut up or at large, Then will he say, Where are their gods, The rock in whom they have trusted; Who used to eat the fat of their sacrifices, To drink the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be over you for a coveting! See, now, that, I, I, am, he that is, And there are no gods with me, - I, kill - and make alive, I wound and, I, heal, And there is none who, from my hand, can deliver, For I lift up unto the heavens my hand, - And say, Living am, I, unto times age-abiding: If I whet my flashing sword, And my hand take bold on justice, I will return vengeance unto mine adversaries, And them who hate me, will I requite: I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And, my sword, shall devour flesh, - With the blood of the slain and the captive, With the flesh of the chief leader of the foe. Shout for joy O ye nations with his people, For the blood of his servants, he avengeth, - And, vengeance, he returneth unto his adversaries, And is propitious unto the soil of his people. So Moses came in and spake all the words of this Song in the hearing of the people, - he and Hoshea son of Nun.
I will declare thy Name unto my brethren, - In the midst of the convocation, will I praise thee.
Of thee, is my praise in the great convocation, My vows, will I pay, before them who revere him.
Speaking to yourselves, with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing, and striking the strings, with your heart unto the Lord;
Let, the word of the Christ, dwell within you richly, - in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another, with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, with gratitude, raising song with your hearts unto God:
and they sing a new song, saying - Worthy, art thou, to take the scroll and to open the seals thereof; because thou wast slain, and didst redeem unto God by thy blood men out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. And, no one, was able to learn the song, save the hundred and forty-four thousand, who had been redeemed from the earth.
and they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying - Great and marvelous, are thy works, Lord, God, the Almighty! Righteous and true, are thy ways, O King of the ages!