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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and I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will cause sackcloth to be brought up upon all loins and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son and the end thereof as a bitter day.
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
And when they had sung the hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
But at midnight as Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them,
How is it then, brothers? when ye come together, each one of you has a psalm, has doctrine, has tongues, has revelation, has interpretation. Let all things be done unto edification.
speaking among yourselves with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and praising the Lord in your hearts,
Let the word of the Christ dwell in you in abundance in all wisdom, teaching you and exhorting you one to another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with grace singing in your hearts unto the Lord.
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Is anyone among you afflicted? let them pray. Is anyone happy? let them sing.
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 sons of Israel sang this song unto the LORD and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my saving health; he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. read more. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host he has cast into the sea; his chosen princes also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them; they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power; thy right hand, O LORD, has dashed the enemy in pieces. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown those that rose up against thee; thou didst send forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my soul shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, magnificent in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou didst stretch out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed; thou hast guided them in thy strength unto the habitation of thy holiness. The peoples shall hear and be afraid; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling, shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone, until thy people pass over, O LORD, until the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place of thy dwelling which thou hast made ready, O LORD, in the Sanctuary of the Lord, which thy hands have established. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. For Pharaoh went in on horseback with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the sons of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass. read more. Because I will invoke the name of the LORD, ascribe ye greatness unto our God. The strong One, whose work is perfect: for all his ways are right; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and upright is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is that they are not his sons; they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not thy father that has possessed thee? He made thee and established thee. Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee; when the most High caused the Gentiles to be inherited, when he separated the sons of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the measuring line of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings, so the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth that he might eat the fruits of the field; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the strong flint, butter of cows and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams of the sons of Bashan (or fruitfulness) and goats with the fat of kidneys, of wheat; and thou didst drink the blood of the grape, pure wine. But Jeshurun (the upright one) waxed fat and kicked; (thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou hast covered thyself) and forsook the God who made him and lightly esteemed the strong One of his saving health. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came from nearby, whom your fathers feared not. Of the strong One that begat thee thou art unmindful and hast forgotten the God that travailed for thee. And when the LORD saw it, his wrath was kindled because of his sons and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end shall be: that they are a generation of perversities, sons without faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I also will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with foolish Gentiles. For fire shall be kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest part of Sheol and shall consume the earth with her fruit and burn up the foundations of the mountains. I will heap evils upon them; I will spend my arrows upon them. They shall be consumed with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. The sword without and terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. I said I would shatter them in pieces: I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men, if I did not fear the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should become vain and lest they should say, Our high hand has done this and not the LORD. For they are a Gentile void of counsel, neither is there any intelligence in them. O that they were wise, if they were prudent, they would understand their latter end! How could one chase a thousand and two put ten thousands to flight if their strong One had not sold them, and the LORD had not delivered them up? For their strong one is not as our strong One, and even our enemies are judges of this. Therefore, their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are very bitter. Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps. Do I not have this laid up in store, sealed up in my treasuries? Vengeance and recompense are mine, in the time when their foot shall slide; for the day of their calamity is at hand and that which is determined upon them makes haste. For the LORD shall judge his people and repent himself for his slaves when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their strong one in whom they trusted, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. See now that I, I am he, and there are no gods with me; I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; and there is not one that can deliver out of my hand. When I shall lift up my hand to the heavens and shall say, I live for ever, if I whet the resplendence of my sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and will recompense those that hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh, in the blood of the slain and of the captives of the heads, in revenge as an enemy. Rejoice, O ye Gentiles, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his slaves and will render vengeance to his enemies and will reconcile his land, to his people. And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hosea, the son of Nun.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.
My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will pay my vows before those that fear him.
speaking among yourselves with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and praising the Lord in your hearts,
Let the word of the Christ dwell in you in abundance in all wisdom, teaching you and exhorting you one to another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with grace singing in your hearts unto the Lord.
And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
and they sang as it were a new song before the throne and before the four animals and the elders; and no one could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who were redeemed from the earth.
And they sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.