לוים
The Levites and the sound of the House
Joined to the priests
The Torah tells Aaron to bring the tribe of Levi near, ‘that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee’.
Twenty-one guard posts
Every night Levites kept watch in twenty-one places: at the gates of the Mount and of the court, at the corners, by the chambers and behind the Holy of Holies. Priests watched in three more.
A psalm for every day
Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.The Levites sang a fixed psalm each day of the week. The same seven psalms close the morning prayers in synagogues today, each introduced by a line recalling that the Levites sang it in the Temple.
- Sunday24The earth is the Lord's
- Monday48Great is the Lord
- Tuesday82God stands in the congregation
- Wednesday94God to whom vengeance belongs
- Thursday81Sing aloud to God our strength
- Friday93The Lord reigns
- Shabbat92A song for the Sabbath day
Instruments, counted
The Mishnah gives numbers rather than melodies: at least twelve Levites on the platform, between two and six harps, between two and twelve flutes, and between twenty-one and forty-eight trumpet blasts a day.
הַלְלוּהוּ בְּתֵקַע שׁוֹפָר הַלְלוּהוּ בְּנֵבֶל וְכִנּוֹר׃ הַלְלוּהוּ בְתֹף וּמָחוֹל הַלְלוּהוּ בְּמִנִּים וְעוּגָב׃ הַלְלוּהוּ בְצִלְצְלֵי־שָׁמַע הַלְלוּהוּ בְּצִלְצְלֵי תְרוּעָה׃
Praise Him with the blast of the horn; Praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and the pipe. Praise Him with the loud-sounding cymbals; Praise Him with the clanging cymbals.
Temple sound
Five voices from the descriptions above, synthesised in your browser. Where the sources are silent, so is the site: none of this is authentic Temple music.
Contemporary musical interpretation inspired by textual descriptions. The melodies, scales and timbres of the Temple are not known. Nothing plays until you press a button.