Hebrew word · H2172

זִמְרָה

zimrah

melody

From the verb zāmar, "to make music, sing praise, play an instrument" (the same root as mizmôr, "psalm"). The noun means melody, music or the sound of playing, usually in praise of God.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

music, melody, song

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Amos 5:23

Range of meaning

From the verb zāmar, "to make music, sing praise, play an instrument" (the same root as mizmôr, "psalm"). The noun means melody, music or the sound of playing, usually in praise of God. In Exod 15:2 and its echoes some scholars take a separate homonym meaning "strength" or "protection", but that sense does not fit here, where the word is tied to harps.

Against the English

BSB/WEB "music", KJV/ESV "melody", YLT "praise". All are defensible. "Praise" (YLT) brings out the worship setting best. "Music" is the most neutral.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 81:2 ("raise a zimrâ, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the nēbel"); Ps 98:5 ("with the lyre and the sound of zimrâ"); Isa 51:3 ("thanksgiving and the voice of zimrâ" in restored Zion). It is the vocabulary of the psalms.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 81:2 זִ֭מְרָה music

    Lift up a song, strike the tambourine, play the sweet-sounding harp and lyre.

    Here: Music, whether sung or played. The root is the same one behind mizmor ('psalm'). Here it is the general word, and the instruments listed next fill it in.

  2. Psalm 98:5 זִמְרָֽה׃ music

    Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, in melodious song with the harp.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 51:3 זִמְרָֽה׃ ס music

    For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

    Here: Music, sung and played, as at festivals and in worship (compare Ps 81:2; Amos 5:23).

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 5:23 וְזִמְרַ֥ת and [the] music of

    Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

    Here: "And the music of…". This is a word from worship language for festive, praising music, often played on instruments. The second line is set beside "the din of your songs" and makes the same point again: the voices and the instruments are both rejected.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.