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Selected Verse: Ephesians 5:19 - King James

Verse         Translation Text
Eph 5:19 King James Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
(Col 3:16).

to yourselves--"to one another." Hence soon arose the antiphonal or responsive chanting of which PLINY writes to Trajan: "They are wont on a fixed day to meet before daylight [to avoid persecution] and to recite a hymn among themselves by turns, to Christ, as if being God." The Spirit gives true eloquence; wine, a spurious eloquence.

psalms--generally accompanied by an instrument.

hymns--in direct praise to God (compare Act 16:25; Co1 14:26; Jam 5:13).

songs--the general term for lyric pieces; "spiritual" is added to mark their being here restricted to sacred subjects, though not merely to direct praises of God, but also containing exhortations, prophecies, &c. Contrast the drunken "songs," Amo 8:10.

making melody--Greek, "playing and singing with an instrument."

in your heart--not merely with the tongue; but the serious feeling of the heart accompanying the singing of the lips (compare Co1 14:15; Psa 47:7). The contrast is between the heathen and the Christian practice, "Let your songs be not the drinking songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].

to the Lord--See PLINY'S letter quoted above: "To Christ as God."
 
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7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.