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 turned your festivals into mourning, and all your songs to lamentation; and I brought up sackcloth upon all loins, and upon every head, baldness; and I set it as the mourning of an only one, and its last part as a day of bitterness.
And having sung, they went forth to the mount of Olives.
And having sung, they came out to the mount of Olives.
And at midnight Paul and Silas praying, praised God: and the imprisoned heard them.
Therefore, what is it brethren when ye come together, every one of you has a Psalms, has teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretatior. Let all things be for the building of the house.
Speaking to yourselves on harps, and songs, and spiritual odes, singing and playing on the harp in your heart to the Lord;
Let the word of Christ dwell in, you richly; teaching and reminding one another in all wisdom, playing with harps, and songs, and spiritual odes, with grace singing in your hearts to the Lord.
And manifestly great is the mystery of devotion: God was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit, was seen by angels, was proclaimed in the nations, was believed on in the world, was received up in glory.
Does any suffer among you? let him pray. Is any cheerful? let him play on the harp.
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 will Moses sing, and the sons of Israel, this song to Jehovah; and they will speak, saying, I will sing to Jehovah, for exalting himself, he was exalted: the horse and his horsemen he threw into the sea. Jehovah my strength and song, and he shall be to me for salvation: this my God, and I will cause him to rest; the God of my father, and I will exalt him. read more. Jehovah, a man of war: Jehovah his name. The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he threw into the sea; his chosen rulers sank in the sea of sedge. The depths will cover them: they will go down into the deep as a stone. Thy right hand, Jehovah, was magnified in strength: thy right hand, Jehovah, will break in pieces the enemy. And in the multitude of thy majesty thou wilt destroy those rising up against thee: thou wilt send forth thine anger; it shall eat them as straw. And by the spirit of thine anger the waters shook them off, the flowings stood up as a heap: the depths were contracted in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will enclose, I will divide the spoil: my soul shall be filled with them: I will draw out my sword, my hand shall dispossess them. Thou didst blow with thy spirit; the sea covered them: they rolled down as lead in the great waters. Who like thee among the gods, O Jehovah? who like thee magnified in in holiness, wonderful in praise, doing a wonder? Thou didst stretch forth thy right hand, the earth will swallow them. Thou didst lead in thy kindness this people thou didst redeem: thou didst conduct with thy strength to thy holy dwelling. The peoples heard, and they will be angry: pain took those inhabiting Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom trembled; the mighty of Moab, trembling, shall take them; all those dwelling in Canaan melted away. Dread shall fall upon them and terror: by the greatness of thine arm they shall be dumb as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Jehovah: till this people pass over, thou didst buy. Thou shalt bring them in and shalt plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, into the place of thy Sabbath, thou didst make, O Jehovah: a holy place, O Jehovah, which thy hands prepared. Jehovah shall reign forever and yet For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen, into the sea, and Jehovah will turn back over them the water of the sea: and the sons of Israel went on the dry land in the midst of the sea.
Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; Thou earth shalt hear the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain; My word shall pour out as the dew, As the showers upon the herbage, And as the rains upon the green herb: read more. For I will call the name of Jehovah: Give ye greatness to our God. The Rock, his work complete: For all his ways judgment: A God of faithfulness and not of iniquity Just and right is he. He acted wickedly to him; not his sons their blot: A generation perverted and crooked. To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee. Remember the days of eternity; Discern the years of generation and generation: Ask thy father, and he will announce to thee; Thy old men, and they shall say to thee. The Most High distributing the nations, In his dispersing the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. For Jehovah the portion of his people; Jacob the cord of his inheritance. He will find him in the land of the desert, In a waste howling desolation: He will encompass him about; he will teach him, He will keep him as the pupil of the eye. As the eagle he will arouse his young brood, He will brood over his young birds; He will spread out his wings, and will take them; He will lift them up upon his wings: Jehovah alone will lead him, And no strange god with him. He will cause him to ride upon the heights of the land; He shall eat the produce of the field; And he shall suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flint of the rock Curdled milk of the cow, and milk of the sheep, With the fat of lambs, And rams, sons of Bashan, and he goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat; Thou shalt drink wine, the blood of the grape. And Jeshurun will be fat and will tread down: Thou wert fat, thou wert thick, thou wert covered; And he will reject God having made him, And he will despise the Rock of his deliverance. He will cause him to be jealous with strangers, With abominations they will irritate him. They will sacrifice to demons, not God; Gods they have not known them New ones came out from the midst; Your fathers not having feared them. Thou wilt forsake the Rock begetting thee, And thou wilt forget God setting thee free. And God will see and will reject, From the irritating of his sons and his daughters And he will say, I will hide my face from them; I will see what shall be after them: For they a generation of perverseness, Sons no faith in them. They made me jealous with not God; They irritated me with their vanities: And I will make them jealous with not a people; With a foolish nation will I irritate them. For a fire was kindled in mine anger. And it shall burn to the lowest hades, And it shall consume the land and its produce, And it shall burn the foundations of the mountains. I will gather evils upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. Exhausted with hunger, consumed with burning, And bitter destruction: And I will send upon them the tooth of beasts, With the wrath of those crawlers of the dust The sword shall bereave without, And terror from the chambers, Also the youth, also the virgin, The suckling, with the man of gray hair. I have said I will blow them away, I will turn away their remembrance from man; Unless I shall fear the enemy's their adversaries shall dissemble, Lest they shall say, Our high hand And not Jehovah did all this For they a nation destroying counsels, And no understanding in them. Would they were wise! will they look at this? Will they discern to their latter part? How shall one chase a thousand; And two shall cause ten thousand to flee, If that their Rock had not sold them, And Jehovah delivered them up? For their rock not as our Rock, And our enemies judging. For their vine from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah: Their grapes the grapes of poverty, The clusters of bitterness to them. Their wine the wrath of dragons, And the fierce head of asps. Is not this laid up with me, Sealed up in my treasuries? To me vengeance and requital; At the time their foot shall waver: For the day of their destruction is near, And he hastened things prepared for them For Jehovah will judge his people, And upon his servants will he have compassion; When he shall see that the hand has failed, And nothing detained and left And he said, Where their gods, The rock they trusted in it? Whose fat of their sacrifices they shall eat; They shall drink the wine of their libations They shall rise up, and they shall succor you, It shall be for you protection. See ye now, that I, I am he, And no God with me: I will kill, and I will preserve alive; I struck through and through, and I will heal; And none takes away out of my hand. For I will lift up my hand to the heavens, And I said, I live forever. If I sharpened the lightning of my sword, And my hand shall lay hold upon judgment, I will turn back vengeance to mine adversaries, And to those hating me I will requite, I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall eat flesh, From the blood of the wounded and the captivity, From the head of the enemy's leaders. Rejoice ye nations with him, For he will raise up the blood of his servants, And he will turn back vengeance to his adversaries, And he will expiate for his land, his people. And Moses will come and speak all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua, son of Nun.
I will recount thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the convocation I will praise thee.
Of thee my praise in the great convocation: I will complete my vows before them fearing him.
Speaking to yourselves on harps, and songs, and spiritual odes, singing and playing on the harp in your heart to the Lord;
Let the word of Christ dwell in, you richly; teaching and reminding one another in all wisdom, playing with harps, and songs, and spiritual odes, with grace singing in your hearts to the Lord.
And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open its seals: for thou wert slain, and didst purchase us to God by thy blood from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation;
And they sing as a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders: and none could learn the song, except the hundred forty-four thousand, purchased from the earth.
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful thy works, O Lord God, Omnipotent Ruler; just and true thy ways, King of the holy.