Bible Dictionaries
Hymn

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

denotes "a song of praise addressed to God" (Eng., "hymn"), Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16 , in each of which the punctuation should probably be changed; in the former "speaking to one another" goes with the end of ver. 18, and should be followed by a semicolon; similarly in Colossians 3:16 , the first part of the verse should end with the words "admonishing one another," where a semicolon should be placed.

Note: The psalmos denoted that which had a musical accompaniment; the ode (Eng., "ode") was the generic term for a song; hence the accompanying adjective "spiritual."

akin to A, is used (a) transitively, Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26 , where the "hymn" was that part of the Hallel consisting of Psalm 113-118; (b) intransitively, where the verb itself is rendered "to sing praises" or "praise," Acts 16:25; Hebrews 2:12 . The Psalms are called, in general, "hymns," by Philo; Josephus calls them "songs and hymns."