'Recommended to librarians, biblical scholars, musicologists, linguists, theologians, historians, humanists, archaeologists, and Bible translators, as it contains information and research of interest within and to all these fields.' --Journal of Religious and Theological Information
'This compendium, defined as a collection of concise yet detailed information about a subject, is unique. The depth and breadth of research are both impressive. This book is highly recommended for biblical scholars or musicologists interested in exploring a little-known area of music history and the role of music in the Bible. This excellently researched book will be a welcome addition to many libraries.' --Review of Biblical Literature
'This book contains an impressive amount of detail: it draws upon 36 Bible versions in 20 languages, uses over sixty illustrations of material evidence ancient and modern, drawn by Anatoly Morozov (the author's husband), and is a fine attempt to bring clarity to a challenging topic.' --This book contains an impressive amount of detail: it draws upon 36 Bible versions in 20 languages, uses over sixty illustrations of material evidence ancient and modern, drawn by Anatoly Morozov (the author's husband), and is a fine attempt to bring clar
'As a former music educator and music librarian and now a theological librarian, I highly recommend this book for purchase for libraries and am very pleased to have it in my personal library. It provides an essential, centralized, and comprehensive source of descriptions of biblical musical instruments and how the Hebrew terms are translated in numerous versions and languages. Indeed, this book will be valuable in supporting a vast spectrum of research interests and levels.' --Theological Librarianship
As the first compendium of musical instruments in the Bible, this volume is both a reference book and a piece of serious scholarly research based on historical facts, comparative linguistic analysis, and careful musical study. In researching the musical instruments in the Bible, the sources drawn on include the main translations of the Bible both ancient and modern, the works of rabbinic teachers, Church Fathers, medieval exegetes and contemporary scholars.The Compendium contains a historical survey and 34 specific entries. The survey outlines the background of Hebrew instrumental music, its origin and links with neighboring cultures, the role of instruments in the religious, social, public and private life of ancient Israel, and the system of musical education. It also traces the development of Hebrew musical instruments in post-biblical times, showing their new symbolic significance in the writings of the Church Fathers, in the comments of the Medieval and Renaissance exegetes, and culturally based interpretations of the terms for the instruments in translations of the Bible into different languages both ancient and modern.The specific entries include the whole range of instrumental terminology, including ambiguous terms that may have instrumental meaning.
The Compendium also contains indices, a glossary of Biblical and Talmudic terms, a bibliography, a list of all the references to musical instruments in the Bible, a table of instrumental ensembles and a summary table of their names as found in different Bible versions. The Compendium is intended for specialists in various disciplines: theologians, historians, philologists and Bible translators, as well as for all who would like to have a deeper understanding of the Book of Books.