The term for sing more often occurs in contexts where God’s salvation is linked with his appearance as a divine warrior. Its connotation, then, is a shout of victory.¹ In Zephaniah 3:14 the prophet calls upon Israel to sing or shout aloud to God because God has beaten off the enemy. Elsewhere, in Zechariah 2:10 the daughter of Zion is called to shout and be glad because God is going to avenge Israel against its plunderers. Further, Psalm 20:5 shows how the joyful shouting is a response to the successful waging of warfare. So the word is certainly used in contexts where there is a shout for joy and warfare.

In this regard, it is also noteworthy that the word occurs in most of the Old Testament texts where the phrase new song is used (Psalm 33:1; Psalm 96:12; Psalm 98:4, Psalm 98:8; Psalm 149:5). God’s people are often called to sing a new song in light of the Lord’s victory in warfare, where he frees them from some sort of oppression. This association of sing aloud and new song heightens the connection between warfare and the shout.²