Harp

The harp (Hebrew kinnor) was the national musical instrument of Israel and one of the oldest stringed instruments known to antiquity. Jubal is credited with its invention (Genesis 4:21), and it appears in the earliest patriarchal narratives: Laban rebuked Jacob for leaving without giving him a chance to send him away "with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp" (Genesis 31:27). The kinnor was played by David to soothe Saul's troubled spirit (1 Samuel 16:23) and was among the instruments played by the prophetic bands (1 Samuel 10:5). David organized large choirs and orchestras using harps for the worship at Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 15:16; 25:1–6).

The precise form of the Israelite kinnor is debated — it may have resembled a lyre more than a true harp, with strings stretched across a frame and plucked rather than a vertical column. It was used in both joyful celebration (Isaiah 24:8; Revelation 5:8; 14:2) and in lament: the exiles in Babylon hung their harps on the willow trees by the rivers, unable to sing the LORD's song in a foreign land (Psalm 137:2). In Revelation, harps accompany the song of the redeemed in the heavenly worship (Revelation 5:8; 14:2; 15:2).