Selah - Modern Ideas

Modern Ideas

E. W. Bullinger believes selah is a conjunction linking two verses (or thoughts, or Psalms) together either in contrast, further explanation, or to mark a cause/effect relationship.

Another meaning is given by assigning it to the root, as an imperative that should not properly have been vocalized, "Sollah" (Ewald, "Kritische Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache,"p. 554; König, "Historisch-Kritisches Lehrgebäude der Hebräischen Sprache," ii., part i., p. 539). The meaning of this imperative is given as "Lift up," equivalent to "loud" or "fortissimo," a direction to the accompanying musicians to break in at the place marked with crash of cymbals and blare of trumpets, the orchestra playing an interlude while the singers' voices were hushed. The effect, as far as the singer was concerned, was to mark a pause. This significance, too, has been read into the expression or sign, selah being held to be a variant of "shelah" (="pause"). But as the interchange of shin ש and samek ס is not usual in Biblical Hebrew, and as the meaning "pause" is not held to be applicable in the middle of a verse, or where a pause would interrupt the sequence of thought, this proposition has met with little favor. Though there are not any official cases of evidence to support this claim, it is reported in various cities in the middle east, that the word selah originates in Syrian Aramaic as a word reserved for prayer as a praise that is used exclusively for praising God and is the highest form of praise man is able to give. Additionally, this word also means prayer in modern Arabic.

Grätz argues that selah introduces a new paragraph, and also in some instances a quotation (e.g., psalms 57:8 et seq. from 108:2 et seq.) The fact that the term occurs four times at the end of a psalm would not weigh against this theory. The Psalms were meant to be read in sequence, and, moreover, many of them are fragments; indeed, psalm 9 is reckoned one with psalm 10 in the Septuagint, which omits διάψαλμα (diapsalma) also at the end of psalms 3, 24, 46 and 68 B. Jacob (l.c.) concludes (1) that since no etymological explanation is possible, selah signifies a pause in or for the Temple song; and (2) that its meaning was concealed lest the Temple privileges should be obtained by the synagogues or perhaps even by the churches.

BDB shows that the main derivation of the Hebrew word selah is found through the fientive verb root סֶ֜לָה which means "to lift up (voices)" or "to exalt", and also carries a close connotational relationship to the verb סָלַל, which is similar in meaning: "to lift up" or "to cast up". The word סֶלָה, which shifts the accent back to the last syllable of the verb form, indicates that in this context, the verb is being used in the imperative mood as somewhat of a directive to the reader. As such, perhaps the most instructive way to view the use of this word, particularly in the context of the Psalms, would be as the writer's instruction to the reader to pause and exalt the Lord.