Daniel 3:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Daniel 3:5
That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:
a set time · preposition + noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
hear
תִשְׁמְע֡וּןtish.me.'Un
H8086
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
sound
קָ֣לkal
H7032
a voice or sound · noun, common both genders singular construct
cornet
קַרְנָ֣אkar.Na'
H7162
a horn (literally or for sound) · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
flute
מַ֠שְׁרוֹקִיתָאMash.ro.ki.ta'
H4953
a (musical) pipe (from its whistling sound) · noun, common feminine singular determined + particle of affirmation
harp
קַתְר֨וֹסki.ta.ros
H7030
a lyre · noun, common both genders singular absolute
sackbut
סַבְּכָ֤אsa.be.Kha'
H5443
a lyre · noun, common both genders singular absolute
psaltery
פְּסַנְתֵּרִין֙pe.san.te.Rin
H6460
psalterion · noun, common both genders singular absolute
dulcimer
סוּמְפֹּ֣נְיָ֔הsu.me.Po.ne.Yah
H5481
a bagpipe (with a double pipe) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
all
וְכֹ֖לve.Khol
H3606
properly · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular construct
kinds
זְנֵ֣יze.Nei
H2178
sort · noun, common masculine plural construct
musick
זְמָרָ֑אze.ma.Ra'
H2170
instrumental music · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
down
תִּפְּל֤וּןti.pe.Lun
H5308
to fall · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
worship
וְתִסְגְּדוּן֙ve.tis.ge.Dun
H5457
to prostrate oneself (in homage) · conjunction + verb, qal, 2nd person masculine plural
golden
דַּהֲבָ֔אda.ha.Va'
H1722
gold · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
image
לְצֶ֣לֶםle.Tze.lem
H6755
an idolatrous figure · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
Nebuchadnezzar
נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּ֥רne.vu.khad.ne.Tzar
H5020
Nebukadnetstsar (or -retstsar · proper noun, a man's name
king
מַלְכָּֽאmal.Ka'
H4430
a king · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
up
הֲקֵ֖יםha.Keim
H6966
to rise (in various applications · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Daniel 3:15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick,…
Daniel 3:10 Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and…
Daniel 3:7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Daniel 3:1-7
We have no certainty concerning the date of this story, only that if this image, which Nebuchadnezzar dedicated, had any relation to that which he dreamed of, it is probable that it happened not long after that; some reckon it to be about the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar, a year before Jehoiachin's captivity, in which Ezekiel was carried away. Observe,
I. A golden image set up to be worshipped. Babylon was full of idols already, yet nothing will serve this imperious prince but they must have one more; for those who have forsaken the one only living God, and begin to set up many gods, will find the gods they set up so unsatisfying, and their desire after them so insatiable, that they will m…
cornet--A wind instrument, like the French horn, is meant.
flute--a pipe or pipes, not blown transversely as our "flute," but by mouthpieces at the end.
sackbut--a triangular stringed instrument, having short strings, the sound being on a high sharp key.
psaltery--a kind of harp.
dulcimer--a bagpipe consisting of two pipes, thrust through a leathern bag, emitting a sweet plaintive sound. Chaldee sumponya, the modern Italian zampogna, Asiatic zambonja.
fall down--that the recusants might be the more readily detected.
Adam Clarke on Daniel 3:5
The sound of the Cornet - There is not less difficulty in ascertaining the precise meaning of these musical instruments than there is in the offices in Dan 3:2. קרנא karna, here translated cornet, is the common blowing horn, which makes a deep and hollow sound, as well as one shrill and piercing.
Flute - משרוקיתא mashrokitha, from שרק sharak, to whistle, shriek. A wind instrument which made a strong and shrill noise, such as the hautbois or clarionet.
Harp - קיתרס kithros, cytharus; κιθαρα. Some kind of stringed instrument. It seems to be formed from the Greek word.
Sackbut - סבכא sabbecha. The Greek has it σαμβυκη, from which our word sackbut, from סבך sabach, to interweave; probably on acc…
Abednego — Servant of Nego=Nebo, the Chaldee name given to Azariah, one of Daniel’s three companions (Dan. 2:49). With Shadrach and Meshach, he was delivered from the burning fiery furnace (3:12-30).
Adore — To worship; to express reverence and homage. The forms of adoration among the Jews were putting off the shoes (Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15), and prostration (Gen. 17:3; Ps. 95:6; Isa. 44:15, 17, 19; 46:6).…
Cornet — Heb. shophar, “brightness,” with reference to the clearness of its sound (1 Chr. 15:28; 2 Chr. 15:14; Ps. 98:6; Hos. 5:8). It is usually rendered in the Authorized Version “trumpet.” It denotes the…
Dulcimer — (Heb. sumphoniah), a musical instrument mentioned in Dan. 3:5, 15, along with other instruments there named, as sounded before the golden image. It was not a Jewish instrument. In the margin of the…
Flute — A musical instrument, probably composed of a number of pipes, mentioned Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 15. In Matt. 9:23, 24, notice is taken of players on the flute, here called “minstrels” (but in R.V.…
Music, Instrumental — Among instruments of music used by the Hebrews a principal place is given to stringed instruments. These were, (1.) The kinnor, the “harp.” (2.) The nebel, “a skin bottle,” rendered “psaltery.” (3.)…
Musical Instruments Of The Hebrews — (There has been great obscurity as to the instruments of music in use among the Hebrews, but the discoveries on the monuments of Egypt and Assyria have thrown much light upon the form and nature of…
Nebuchadnezzar — In the Babylonian orthography Nabu-kudur-uzur, which means “Nebo, protect the crown!” or the “frontiers.” In an inscription he styles himself “Nebo’s favourite.” He was the son and successor of…
Psaltery — A musical instrument, supposed to have been a kind of lyre, or a harp with twelve strings. The Hebrew word nebhel, so rendered, is translated “viol” in Isa. 5:12 (R.V., “lute”); 14:11. In Dan. 3:5,…
Sackbut
John Gill on Daniel 3:5
That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet,.... So called of the horn of which it was made; a sort of trumpet; so the Jews had trumpets of rams' horns:
flute; or pipe, or whistle, so called for its hissing noise; it is used of the shepherd's pipe or whistle; see Zechariah 10:8,
harp; an instrument of music used by David, and much in use among the Jews, and other nations;
sackbut; or "sambuca"; which, according to Athenaeus (g), was a four stringed instrument, an invention of the Syrians; and Strabo (h), a Greek writer, speaks of it as a barbarous name, as the eastern ones were reckoned by the Grecians:
psaltery; this seems to be a Greek word, as does the next that follows, rendere…
Daniel 3:4-5
4. Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
4. Et praeco clamabat in fortitudine: [169] Vobis edicitur, populi, gentes, et linguae, [170]
5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up.
5. Simulae audieritis vocem cornu, vel, tuboe, fistulae, citharae, sambucae, psalterii, symphoniae, et omnia instrumenta musices: ut procidatis, et adoretis imaginem auream, quam erexit Nebuchadnezer rex.
I do not know of what kind [16]these musical instruments were.
Footnotes:
[169] Or, in t…
The erection and consecration of the golden image, and the accusation brought against Daniel's friends, that they had refused to obey the king's command to do homage to this image.
Dan 3:1
Nebuchadnezzar commanded a golden image to be erected, of threescore cubits in height and six cubits in breadth. צלם is properly an image in human likeness (cf. Dan 2:31), and excludes the idea of a mere pillar or an obelisk, for which מצּבה would have been the appropriate word. Yet from the use of the word צלם it is not by any means to be concluded that the image was in all respects perfectly in human form. As to the upper part - the head, countenance, arms, breast - it may have been in the form of a man,…
Pipes could be rendered “drums,” or possibly this was a word of musical direction that indicated being “in harmony” with the other instruments.
Rashi on Daniel 3:5
At the time you hear the sound of the whistling horn Aram. קָל קַרְנָא מַשְּׁרוֹקֵיתָא, the sound of the whistling horn, like (Zech. 10:8) “I will whistle (אֶשְּׁרְקָא) to them, and I will gather them.”
the clavichord, the harp, etc. They are all musical instruments.
kinds of music Aram. זְנֵי זְמָרָא kinds of music. (Gen. 1:11) “After its kind,” Onkelos renders: לִזְנוֹהִי.
— (Chald. sabkha; Gr. sambuke), a Syrian stringed instrument resembling a harp (Dan. 3:5, 7, 10, 15); not the modern sackbut, which is a wind instrument.
Flute · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Idolatry · .Music — .Music
Indictments · .Three Hebrew — .Three Hebrew
Music · .CORNET — .CORNET
Proclamation · Imperial — Imperial
Psaltery · Used in idolatrous worship — Used in idolatrous worship
Sackbut · A stringed musi — A stringed musi
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
