Properly, instrumental music ; by implication, a poem set to notes
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
A psalm is a musical poem, a designation found in the Hebrew introductions to many prayers in the Psalter. This title tells readers something about the kind of composition they are approaching without telling them everything about its mood.
Reader summary
Full entry for מִזְמוֹר (H4210) · Open the biblical lexicon
A psalm is a musical poem, a designation found in the Hebrew introductions to many prayers in the Psalter. This title tells readers something about the kind of composition they are approaching without telling them everything about its mood.
The BSB source-word alignment has 57 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include A Psalm (57).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Psalms 3:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (57).
A psalm is a musical poem, a designation found in the Hebrew introductions to many prayers in the Psalter. This title tells readers something about the kind of composition they are approaching without telling them everything about its mood. A psalm can speak from danger, confess sin, offer thanksgiving, or cry from prolonged distress. Its designation does not require every line to sound cheerful. The prayer itself shows what is being brought before God and how the speaker addresses Him.
The introductions to Psalms 3, 51, 88, and 100 all use this term. The opening prayers differ sharply. Psalm 3 names multiplying enemies. Psalm 51 asks for mercy and cleansing. Psalm 88 cries day and night to the God of salvation, yet ends without a narrated change from darkness. Psalm 100 summons the earth to joyful worship. Reading these together allows the musical designation to serve the actual words instead of flattening them into one emotional pattern. The opening verses quoted below illustrate the poems; the word psalm belongs to their introductory headings.
For a congregation, this range encourages worship that listens closely to Scripture. Thanksgiving need not silence the grieving, and a prayer of confession should not be used to assign guilt to every sufferer. A musical form can carry truthful address to God even when the singer cannot report a resolved struggle. At the same time, the title does not supply a recoverable melody, prescribe a modern musical style, or determine an instrument for every performance. Attend first to the words entrusted to the worshiping community and to the God they address.
The same psalm designation introduces a plea amid enemies, a confession seeking mercy, a prolonged lament, and a call to thanksgiving. Their shared musical character does not erase the different situations and movements of the prayers.
O Lord, how my foes have increased! How many rise up against me!
The Hebrew introduction calls this a psalm, while the quoted opening names multiplying foes. The designation introduces an appeal from danger, not an assumption that worship begins with settled circumstances.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
Here the psalm heading introduces a prayer for mercy and cleansing. The opening directs confession toward God's compassion rather than toward confidence in the performance of a song.
O Lord, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.
The introduction includes the psalm designation before a cry offered day and night. The poem's closing darkness prevents readers from requiring every psalm to report an emotionally resolved ending.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
The introductory designation accompanies thanksgiving, and the opening calls the earth to joyful worship. This particular psalm's gladness should be heard fully without being imposed on every other psalm.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. properly, instrumental music ; by implication, a poem set to notes
properly, instrumental music; by implication, a poem set to notes BDB: melody Usage: psalm.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Psalm 88 is designated a psalm, yet its prayer does not end with the kind of resolution readers may expect from a worship song. Its opening addresses the Lord as the God of salvation, and its final line still speaks from darkness. The title makes room for hearing this whole prayer as part of the Psalter rather than dismissing its unresolved pain as unsuitable for worship.
A congregation can learn to sing and pray with those whose sorrow has not lifted. That does not require denying the glad thanksgiving of Psalm 100 or making darkness the only truthful voice. It requires receiving both prayers in their own terms. The pastoral invitation is patient companionship in truthful address to God, without forcing someone to perform a cheerful conclusion that the selected psalm itself does not give.
Ps.88.1
The noun identifies a musical composition in the selected Hebrew headings. It does not occur as an English word in the opening prayer lines quoted here. The lexical designation must be distinguished from the poem's content and from later editorial section titles.
Colossians 3:16 places psalms within the community's singing, teaching, and gratitude as Christ's word dwells among them. This is a canonical connection about receiving Scripture in worship, not a claim that the Hebrew term determines the precise categories, tunes, or instrumentation of that verse.