STRINGED INSTRUMENT

There is uncertainty about the instrument(s) designated by the various original-language words rendered “stringed instrument.” The neʹvel is usually mentioned together with the kin·nohrʹ (“harp”), indicating that these instruments are distinctly different. The neʹvel, a portable instrument made from wood (1 Ki. 10:12), was used to play both sacred and secular music. (2 Sam. 6:5; 2 Chron. 5:12; Neh. 12:27; Isa. 5:12) It also had a place in the court of the king of Babylon. (Isa. 14:4, 11) Evidently various stringed instruments were employed, for the Bible mentions min·nimʹ (“strings”; Ps. 150:4), k^eliʹ neʹvel (‘instrument of the string type’ or “stringed sort”; 1 Chron. 16:5; Ps. 71:22), neʹvel ʽa·sohrʹ (“an instrument of ten strings,” ʽa·sohrʹ being linked with a word meaning “ten”; Ps. 33:2; 144:9), n^eghi·nohthʹ (related to a word meaning “to strike the strings”; “stringed instruments”; superscriptions of Psalms 4, 6, 54, 55, 61, 67, 76) and p^esan·te·rinʹ (understood to mean a “stringed instrument” of triangular shape; Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 15).