'Singing' in the Bible
Why did you run away secretly and deceive me and not tell me, so that [otherwise] I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with [music on the] tambourine and lyre?
But Moses said,“It is not the sound of the cry of victory,Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat;But I hear the sound of singing.”
As they were coming [home], when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, [songs of] joy, and musical instruments.
I am this day eighty years old. Can I [be useful to advise you to] discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or drink? Can I still hear the voices of singing men and women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
They ministered with singing before the tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon had built the Lord’s house (temple) in Jerusalem, performing their service in due order.
Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skilled.
Then on that day David first entrusted to Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord [as their chief task].
She looked, and there was the [young] king, standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters were beside him. And all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments were directing the [singing of] praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
Also Jehoiada placed the offices and officers of the house of the Lord under the authority of the Levitical priests, whom David had [previously] assigned over the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing in accordance with the order of David.
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. The Levites and priests praised the Lord day after day, singing to the Lord with loud instruments.
Then Jeremiah sung a lament (funeral song) for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken about Josiah in their laments to this day. They made the songs an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Lamentations.
The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, and their brothers opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, as commanded by David the man of God, [one] division [singing] in response to [the men in the opposite] division.
Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places in order to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving, and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres.
Blessed and greatly favored are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence;They will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah.
Serve the Lord with gladness and delight;Come before His presence with joyful singing.
He brought out His people with joy,And His chosen ones with a joyful shout,
And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,And speak of His deeds with shouts of joy!
Then our mouth was filled with laughterAnd our tongue with joyful shouting;Then they said among the nations,“The Lord has done great things for them.”
‘The flowers appear on the earth once again;The time for singing has come,And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
“The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;They break into shouts of joy.
Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;In the vineyards there will be no singing or joyful sound;No treader treads out wine in the presses,For I (God) put an end to the joyful shouting.
It will blossom abundantlyAnd rejoice with joy and singing.The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,The majesty of [Mount] Carmel and [the plain] of Sharon.They will see the glory of the Lord,The majesty and splendor of our God.
And the ransomed of the Lord will returnAnd come to Zion with shouts of jubilation,And everlasting joy will be upon their heads;They will find joy and gladness,And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!Shout in triumph, you depths of the earth;Break forth into jubilant rejoicing, you mountains,O forest, and every tree in it!For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,And He shows His glory in Israel.
Get out of Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans [who reign there]!Declare with a voice of jubilation, proclaim this,Send it out to the end of the earth;Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”
Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,And break forth into singing, O mountains!For the Lord has comforted His peopleAnd will have compassion on His afflicted.
So the redeemed of the Lord will returnAnd come with joyful shouting to Zion;Everlasting joy will be on their heads.They will obtain gladness and joy,And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
“Shout for joy, O barren one, she who has not given birth;Break forth into joyful shouting and rejoice, she who has not gone into labor [with child]!For the [spiritual] sons of the desolate one will be more numerousThan the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
“For you will go out [from exile] with joyAnd be led forth [by the Lord Himself] with peace;The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
“The Lord your God is in your midst,A Warrior who saves.He will rejoice over you with joy;He will be quiet in His love [making no mention of your past sins],He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
But about midnight when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;