# Hallelujah, Hosanna, Selah, Amen: 4 Hebrew Words You Already Say

> What they meant in Hebrew, and how each one leads to Jesus

Full guide: 6 min · IsraelForYou

## The opening

If you have been to church, you have spoken Hebrew. You have sung hallelujah, shouted hosanna on Palm Sunday and closed a thousand prayers with amen. The church has carried these three words, untranslated, through every language it has prayed in for two thousand years. The fourth, selah, waits for you seventy-one times in the Psalms, and most of us read straight past it.

They are not ideas. They are four movements of prayer: praise, a cry for help, a pause, a yes. Read in Hebrew, each one says more than we usually mean when we sing it. And in each one, as we will see, Jesus went first.

## The chapters

1. Hallelujah, Hosanna, Selah, Amen: 4 Hebrew Words You Already Say
2. 1. Hallelujah: praise Yah
3. 2. Hosanna: save us, please
4. 3. Selah: the pause no one can translate
5. 4. Amen: the word that came first

## Hebrew in this guide

[hallelujah](https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/hallelujah.md), [hosanna](https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/hosanna.md), [selah](https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/selah.md), [immanuel](https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/immanuel.md), [amen](https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/amen.md), [emunah](https://israelforyou.com/hebrew/emunah.md)

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You have read the opening. The other 4 chapters — with every verse opened and every Hebrew word a tap away — ship with IsraelForYou for iPhone.
https://israelforyou.com/g/hallelujah-hosanna-selah-amen/