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Selected Verse: Psalms 68:25 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 68:25	King James	The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The singers went before - That is, in the removal of the ark; in the solemn procession referred to in the previous verse. "In" that procession those who sang preceded those who performed on instruments of music. Compare Ch1 13:8; Ch1 15:16. "The players on instruments followed after." The different classes of performers would naturally be ranged together. In Ch1 13:8, the following instruments of music are mentioned as having been employed on a similar occasion, if not on this very occasion - harps, psalteries, timbrels, cymbals, and trumpets. Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels - The true construction of the passage is, "Behind were the players in the midst of damsels playing." The singers and the players were surrounded by these women playing on timbrels. The word rendered "playing with timbrels" - תפף tâphaph - means to strike, to beat; and hence, to strike or beat upon a timbrel. A timbrel is a kind of drum, a tabret, or tambourine, usually beaten with the fingers. See a description of it in the notes at Isa 5:12, under the word "tabret." It is an instrument which has been in use from the remotest antiquity.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

The singers went before - That is, in the removal of the ark; in the solemn procession referred to in the previous verse. "In" that procession those who sang preceded those who performed on instruments of music. Compare Ch1 13:8; Ch1 15:16. "The players on instruments followed after." The different classes of performers would naturally be ranged together. In Ch1 13:8, the following instruments of music are mentioned as having been employed on a similar occasion, if not on this very occasion - harps, psalteries, timbrels, cymbals, and trumpets.

Among them were the damsels playing with timbrels - The true construction of the passage is, "Behind were the players in the midst of damsels playing." The singers and the players were surrounded by these women playing on timbrels. The word rendered "playing with timbrels" - תפף tâphaph - means to strike, to beat; and hence, to strike or beat upon a timbrel. A timbrel is a kind of drum, a tabret, or tambourine, usually beaten with the fingers. See a description of it in the notes at Isa 5:12, under the word "tabret." It is an instrument which has been in use from the remotest antiquity.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The singers went before - This verse appears to be a description of the procession.

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¹² And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

⁸ And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.

¹⁶ And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.

⁸ And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.