Timbrel

How Nave’s arranged it

• (Also called TABRET, an instrument of music (in the tambourine category))
• Used by MiriamExodus 15:20
• By Jephthah' s daughterJudges 11:34
• Used in religious services2 Samuel 6:51 Chronicles 13:8Psalms 68:25Psalms 81:2Psalms 149:3Psalms 150:4
• Used in dancesJob 21:12
• See Music, Instruments of

The passages, in Bible order (9)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 9 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Exodus 15:20

   Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 15:202 voices

   “And Miriam taking the timbrel led the dances with maidenly modesty. But consider whom she was then prefiguring. Was she not a type of the church, who as a virgin with unstained spirit joins together the religious gatherings of the people to sing divine songs?

   “And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,....

   Everything gathered on Exodus 15:20→

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2. Judges 11:34

   And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.

   ›Commentary on Judges 11:342 voices

   “With timbrels and with dances - From this instance we find it was an ancient custom for women to go out to meet returning conquerors with musical instruments, songs, and dances; and that it was continued afterwards is evident from the instance given 1Sa 18:6, where David was met, on his return from the defeat of Goliath and the Philistines, by women from all the cities of Israel, with singing and dancing, and various instruments of music.

   “And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house,....

   Everything gathered on Judges 11:34→

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3. 2 Samuel 6:5

   David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 6:52 voices

   “And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord,....

   "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them." Strictly speaking, the word symphony is used by musicians for the voices of harmony. For among musical tones, some harmonize with each other and others do not. But the Gospel is also familiar with this term as applied to music where it says, "He heard music [symphōnias] and dancing."

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 6:5→

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4. 1 Chronicles 13:8

   David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

   Verse page →Original language →

5. Job 21:12

   singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.

   ›Commentary on Job 21:122 voices

   “Ver. 12. They take the timbrel, and harp, and rejoice at the noise of the organ. As if he said in plain speech; 'Whilst the masters swell with honours and substance, the dependants rejoice in festive sports.' But, O blessed man, wherefore dost thou tell us all these many things of the delights of the wicked? It is now a long time that thou runnest on in the description of them; after much said, in one word point out what thou thinkest.

   “They take the timbrel and harp,....

   Everything gathered on Job 21:12→

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6. Psalms 68:25

   The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 68:252 voices

   “Ver. 25. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after. This was the order of the march, and God is to be worshipped evermore with due decorum. First the singers, and lastly the musicians, for the song must lead the music, and not the music drown the singing. In the midst of the vocal and instrumental band, or all around them, were the maidens: among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

   The princes went before, joined with those making melody. The apostles themselves went before, and those who through them believed followed: or certainly the churches. But he says "of the timbrel-players" because their body is dead to sin. And Miriam the sister of Moses and Aaron, holding a timbrel in Exodus, went before those making melody, and said: "Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has he been honored."

   Everything gathered on Psalms 68:25→

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7. Psalms 81:2

   Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 81:22 voices

   “Ver. 2. Take a psalm. Select a sacred song, and then raise it with your hearty voices. And bring hither the timbrel. Beat on your tambourines, ye damsels, let the sound be loud and inspiriting. "Sound the trumpets, beat the drums." God is not to be served with misery but with mirthful music, sound ye then the loud timbrel, as of old ye smote it by "Egypt's dark sea." The pleasant harp with the psaltery. The timbrel for sound, must be joined by the harp for sweetness, and this by other stringed instruments for variety.

   “Take a psalm,....

   Everything gathered on Psalms 81:2→

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8. Psalms 149:3

   Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 149:32 voices

   “. Ver. 3. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. Thus let them repeat the triumph of the Red Sea, which was ever the typical glory of Israel. Miriam led the daughters of Israel in the dance when the Lord had triumphed gloriously; was it not most fit that she should? The sacred dance of devout joy is no example, nor even excuse, for frivolous dances, much less for lewd ones. Who could help dancing when Egypt was vanquished, and the tribes were free?

   “Let them praise his name in the choir. Wherever there is a choir, there diverse voices are gathered together into one song. For just as diverse strings produce the one sound of a song, so also diverse voices — that is, when they have been gathered together at once — make the choir of the Lord. Let them praise his name in the choir: where there is dissension, where there is envy, there is no choir. Let them praise his name in the choir: let them sing praise to him on the timbrel and the psaltery.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 149:3→

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9. Psalms 150:4

   Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 150:42 voices

   “The timbrel represents the death of fleshly desire because of honesty itself. Dancing is the agreement of reasonable spirits all saying the same thing and in which there are no divisions. The stringed instruments suggest the unison of the voices of moral excellence and the unity of the organ which is the church of God resting on reflective and active minds.

   “Praise him with the timbrel and dance,.... Or "pipe" (u); See Gill on Psa 149:3; praise him with stringed instruments; or divers "kinds" (w) of instruments not named, as R.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 150:4→

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