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# נֵבֶל

Biblical Hebrew

**harp** — used 27 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

harp [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/lemma_3a_5e0_5b5_5d1_5b6_5dc/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

נֵ֫בֶל²: n.m. harp lute, guitar [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/lemma_3a_5e0_5b5_5d1_5b6_5dc/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. ψ 57:9 a musical instrument, either a portable harp, or a lute, guitar (with bulging resonance-body at lower end); (perhaps = i. נֵבֶל, and then shape seems to favour lute; perhaps independent word, e.g. Egyptian loan-word, cf. nfr, lute, WeHpt 222);—abs. נֵ֫בֶל 1 S 10:5 + 3 times, נֶ֫בֶל ψ 71:22 + 3 times; נָ֑בֶל Am 6:5 + 2 times; pl. נְבָלִים 2 S 6:5 + 4 times; sf. נְבָלֶיךָ Am 5:23 Is 14:11;—harp (or lute), played at feasts and religious ceremonies, probably less simple, cheap and common than כִּנּוֹר (q.v.; often named with נ׳):— as mark of luxury, revelry Am 5:23; 6:5 Is 14:11, so 5:12 (כִּנּוֹר נ׳ תֹּף חָלִיל, also (not in bad sense) 1 K 10:12; played by wandering band of prophets 1 S 10:5 (list as Is 5:12); in worship 2 S 6:5; elsewhere only ψψ Chr. always in worship: ψ 57:9; 81:3; 92:4; 108:3; 150:3; כְּלִי נֶבֶל 71:22; נ׳ עָשׂוֹר a harp with ten strings 33:2; 144:9; 1 Ch 13:8; 15:16, 20, 28; 16:5 (כְּלֵי נְבָלִים), 25:1, 6 2 Ch 5:12; 9:11; 20:28; 29:25 Ne 12:27.—Cf. further BenzArch. 273 ff. NowArch. i. 273 ff. Dr Amos 234 ff. WeHpt 222 ff.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 27 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses (7 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (6 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: lyres (13); lyre (6); a lyre (3).

## In the verses

[Psalms 108:3](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.108.3/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.108.3/#tree)

ע֭וּרָֽה הַנֵּ֥בֶל וְכִנּ֗וֹר אָעִ֥ירָה שָּֽׁחַר׃

*Word for word:* awake O lyre and harp I.will.waken \[the\].dawn

*JPS 1917:* Awake, psaltery and harp; I will awake the dawn.

[Psalms 81:3](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.81.3/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.81.3/#tree)

שְֽׂאוּ־זִ֭מְרָה וּתְנוּ־תֹ֑ף כִּנּ֖וֹר נָעִ֣ים עִם־נָֽבֶל׃

*Word for word:* lift.up music and beat a.tambourine a.harp pleasant with a.lyre

*JPS 1917:* Take up the melody, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the psaltery.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/lemma_3a_5e0_5b5_5d1_5b6_5dc.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1504/lemma_3a_5e0_5b5_5d1_5b6_5dc/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).