Psalms 33:2

Praise the Lord with harp ,.... An instrument David was well skilled in the use of, the inventor of which was Jubal, Genesis 4:21 ;

sing unto, him with the psaltery ; the name of this instrument is in the Hebrew language "nebel": the account which Josephus F23 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 12. s. 3. gives of this, and of the former, is,

"the harp is extended with ten strings, and is plucked with a quill; the "nabla", or psaltery, has twelve sounds, and is played upon with the fingers;'

some make this and the next to be the same:

and an instrument of ten strings ; and read them together thus, "with the psaltery of ten strings": and so the Targum, Septuagint, and other versions F24 Vid. Jarchium in loc. & R. Mosem in Aben Ezra in loc. : but it seems from Josephus that it was not a stringed instrument, but had holes, and those twelve; and besides it is distinguished from the instrument of ten strings, Psalm 92:3 ; it was in the form of a bottle, from whence it had its name.