Stringed instruments

In many musical instruments strings are stretched over a sounding box or connected to the sounding box. Sound is produced by causing the strings to vibrate by plucking them.

There is considerable uncertainty about the identification of the various stringed instruments in the Bible. Confusion is increased by the fact that the Hebrew words nevel and kinor are frequently used interchangeably or in parallel (see, for example, 1SA 10:5; 2SA 6:5; PSA 33:2; PSA 57:8; PSA 71:22; PSA 81:2; PSA 92:3; PSA 108:2; PSA 150:3). Both instruments were likely types of lyre, varying only in size. The kinor was the smaller of the two. A clear distinction between the nevel and the kinor is not easy to make, and the main difference may have been the thickness of the sound box, which was thicker for the nevel. For further discussion on these stringed instruments, see Braun, Lawergren (page 55), and O’Connell.