Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 149:3

"Let them praise his name in the dance: Let them sing praises unto him with timbrel and harp." — Psalms 149:3 (ASV)

In the dance. —Rather, as noted in the margin, with the pipe. The use of the word machôl in what was evidently a list of all the orchestral instruments used in the Temple in the next psalm would alone be almost decisive for the meaning. But one possible derivation certainly supports this rendering, as does the translation in the Syriac version by the name of a flute still found in Syria. Its connection, too, with the timbrel or drum (compare our pipe and tabor), just as a cognate, chalîl, is connected in 1 Samuel 10:5 and Isaiah 5:12, points the same way. (See Bible Educator, volume 1, page 70, and Note to Song of Solomon 6:13.)

Timbrel.—See Exodus 15:20; Bible Educator, volume 1, page 314.

Harp.—See Psalm 33:2.