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Psalms 33:2

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

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Praise the Lord with harp,.... An instrument David was well skilled in the use of, the inventor of which was Jubal, Genesis 4:21;

sing unto, him with the psaltery; the name of this instrument is in the Hebrew language "nebel": the account which Josephus (w) gives of this, and of the former, is,

"the harp is extended with ten strings, and is plucked with a quill; the "nabla", or psaltery, has twelve sounds, and is played upon with the fingers;''

some make this and the next to be the same:

[and] an instrument of ten strings; and read them together thus, "with the psaltery of ten strings": and so the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions (x): but it seems from Josephus that it was not a stringed instrument, but had holes, and those twelve; and besides it is distinguished from the instrument of ten strings, Psalms 92:3; it was in the form of a bottle, from whence it had its name.

(w) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. s. 3. (x) Vid. Jarchium in loc. & R. Mosem in Aben Ezra in loc.

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