Selah


Selah is a word used 74 times in the Hebrew Bible—seventy-one times in the Psalms and three times in the Book of Habakkuk. The meaning of the word is not known, though various interpretations are given below. It is probably either a liturgico-musical mark or an instruction on the reading of the text, something like "stop and listen." Another proposal is that selah can be used to indicate that there is to be a musical interlude at that point in the Psalm. It can also be interpreted as a form of underlining in preparation for the next paragraph.
At least some of the Psalms were sung accompanied by musical instruments and there are references to this in many chapters. Thirty-one of the thirty-nine psalms with the caption "To the choir-master" include the word selah. Selah may indicate a break in the song whose purpose is similar to that of amen in that it stresses the truth and importance of the preceding passage; this interpretation is consistent with the meaning of the Semitic root ṣ-l-ḥ also reflected in Arabic cognate salih. Alternatively, selah may mean "forever," as it does in some places in the liturgy. Another interpretation claims that selah comes from the primary Hebrew root word salah, which means "to hang," and by implication "to measure ".

Etymology

Its etymology and precise meaning are unknown. This word occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine of the Psalms and three times in Habakkuk 3: altogether 74 times in the Bible. It is found at the end of Psalms 3, 24, and 46, and in most other cases at the end of a verse, the exceptions being Psalms 55:19, 57:3, and Hab. 3:3, 9, 13.
The significance of this term was apparently not known even by ancient Biblical commentators. This can be seen by the variety of renderings given to it. The Septuagint, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate — a word as enigmatic in Greek as is selah in Hebrew. The Hexapla simply transliterates it as σελ. Aquila, Jerome, and the Targum translate it as "always." According to Hippolytus, the Greek term διάψαλμα signified a change in rhythm or melody at the places marked by the term, or a change in thought and theme. Against this explanation, Baethgen notes that selah also occurs at the end of some psalms.
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Modern ideas

One proposed meaning is given by assigning it to the root, as an imperative that should not properly have been vocalized, "sollah". 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". But as the interchange of shin and samek 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.
Grätz argues that selah introduces a new paragraph, and also in some instances a quotation 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 also at the end of Psalms 3, 24, 46 and 68 B. Jacob concludes that since no etymological explanation is possible, selah signifies a pause in or for the Temple song; and that its meaning was concealed lest the Temple privileges should be obtained by the synagogues or perhaps even by the churches.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon shows that the main derivation of the Hebrew word selah is found through the fientive verb root which means "to lift up " or "to exalt," and also carries a close connotational relationship to the verb, which is similar in meaning: "to lift up" or "to cast up." The word, 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.

Contemporary usage

commonly used the word to end articles and personal letters.
Journalist, author and screenwriter George MacDonald Fraser used selah occasionally in The Flashman Papers, a celebrated historical fiction series published between 1969 and 2005.
Selah is used in Iyaric Rastafarian vocabulary. It can be heard at the end of spoken-word segments of some reggae songs. Its usage here, again, is to accentuate the magnitude and importance of what has been said, and often is a sort of substitute for Amen. Notable, according to Rastafarian faith, is also the word's similarity with the incarnated god and savior Selassie.
Furman Bisher, the former sports editor and columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for decades signed off his columns with "Selah." The same is often done by political columnist and blogger Ed Kilgore at the close of a day's postings.
In Predator 2, just before being killed by the predator, the Jamaican drug lord King Willie says, "His foundation lie in the holy mountain" before pausing and adding "Selah."
U2 frontman Bono during a Jimmy Kimmel Live performance announced "Take you to church, Selah," right before the choir started singing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ylSoAxpcKk
"Selah" is the name of both a sculpture and a 2017 exhibition by artist Sanford Biggers.
“Selah” is the name of the second track on the 2019 album Jesus Is King by Kanye West, which West defined as a term meaning "to look back and reflect upon." According to BibleGateway.com, the title is a reference to Psalm 57:6 of the Bible.

Literary instances