Psalms 68:25
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with tambourines.
American King James Version (AKJV)
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with tambourines.
American Standard Version (ASV)
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, In the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
The makers of songs go before, the players of music come after, among the young girls playing on brass instruments.
Webster's Revision
The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.
World English Bible
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, in the midst of the ladies playing with tambourines,
English Revised Version (ERV)
The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, in the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels.
Clarke's Psalms 68:25 Bible Commentary
The singers went before - This verse appears to be a description of the procession.
Barnes's Psalms 68:25 Bible Commentary
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 1 Chronicles 13:8; 1 Chronicles 15:16. "The players on instruments followed after." The different classes of performers would naturally be ranged together. In 1 Chronicles 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 Isaiah 5:12, under the word "tabret." It is an instrument which has been in use from the remotest antiquity.