An interesting passage is Ps. cxviii. 27, though there is some uncertainty again about the text. The R.V. reads: “Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” The word _ḥag_ is here translated “sacrifice”; but this is not justified (in spite of Mal. ii. 3), for, as Briggs rightly points out, the procedure “would not be in accord with sacrificial laws and usage[144].” On the other hand, to translate it by “sacred dance” would be to give the word, as we have seen, its essential meaning[145]. Then, further, the word rendered “bind” (_ʾasar_) can equally well mean “join”; cp. this meaning of the word in 1 Kings xx. 14, “Who will join battle?” The same use is found in 2 Chron. xiii. 3, “And Abijah joined battle”; in each case this root (_ʾasar_) is used. So that our passage could be rendered quite correctly: “Join the sacred dance.” As to the word translated “cords,” or “ropes,” this would be used quite appropriately in connexion with dancing; it is the same idea as that connected with _ḥebel_ (“chain,” or “band”), used of prophets going about in single file (see further below, p. 108). In Hos. xi. 4 the two words are used as parallels. So that the reference in the psalm may well be to strings of worshippers being called upon to join in the sacred dance. Briggs’ objection to an explanation of this kind on the ground that this usage of _ḥag_ is rare and early, “not to be thought of in so late a psalm,” is not valid when one remembers the tenacity with which religious customs and expressions are clung to. It is well to remember that this psalm belongs to the “Hallel” (Pss. cxiii.-cxviii.), the most important of the festival psalms; the “Hallel” was sung at all the great feasts. We shall see presently that very clear evidence exists for the performance of the encircling of the altar during the singing of this psalm in later days, as well as other dancing during the great festivals. It may be taken for granted that both kinds of dance were not innovations belonging to subsequent ages, but the continuance of what had been handed down for ages.