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An ancient lyre and an open scroll on a stone ledge beneath an olive branch, with the hills of Jerusalem at sunset, in a woodcut style

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

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

Hebrew & Bible

Full guide: 6 min · 5 chapters · 6 Hebrew words

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

hallelujahהַלְלוּ־יָהּ hosannaהוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא selahסֶלָה immanuelעִמָּנוּ אֵל amenאָמֵן emunahאֱמוּנָה

Scripture it opens

Psalm 150:6 Psalm 113:1 Matthew 26:30 Hebrews 2:12 Revelation 19:1-7 Psalm 118:22-26 Matthew 21:9 Matthew 21:42 Matthew 27:42 Psalm 46:7-11 Isaiah 7:14 Matthew 1:23 Nehemiah 8:6 Revelation 3:14 Isaiah 65:16 Revelation 22:21 2 Corinthians 1:20

How it reads in the app

The same guide, opened in IsraelForYou: tap any Hebrew word and its meaning rises from below, with the verses it lives in.

An ancient lyre and an open scroll on a stone ledge beneath an olive branch, with the hills of Jerusalem at sunset, in a woodcut style Hallelujah, Hosanna, Selah, Amen: 4 Hebrew Words You Already Say

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.

Continue in IsraelForYou

IsraelForYou is on the App Store, free to download. A Google Play edition is planned and will be linked here when it ships.

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