Psalm 106:1
Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
You might have wondered what praise actually means! How can we “praise God,” if no one in church actually explained to us what it means? In this series, we’re going to study what the Hebrew writers were actually telling us when they wrote praise. Then in the next series we will see why praise is actually a very important part of our life, also see a prophetic praise in the Old Testament, plus wherever else the Holy Spirit leads.
When we see the word praise in the Old Testament, there are 8 different words in Hebrew being used. I’m not going to go over any Greek words, because the New Testament was written in Hebrew. This part of the series might be a little mundane. If you’re ADHD, scroll down to the last one, t’hillah praise, and then the recap and printable PDF on praise. I’m ADHD. I understand, you’re welcome! 🙂
Barak
Barak means to kneel and is translated as praise only twice. When you study this word, you find that it’s translated as blessed 302 times in the KJV. What? I know… I’ll try to make this as short and clear as possible. When the Hebrew word contains a specific dagesh (dot), it puts the verb in the piel form. The piel form could intensify the meaning, change who is doing the action, or change the meaning entirely. That explains the meaning as in show respect or being intensified as kneel to show respect translated as in to praise.
Praise Barak ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
Judges 5:2
And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised barak.
Psalm 72:15
And he made his camels to kneel barak down without the city by a well of water at the time of the
evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
Genesis 24:11
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel barak before the Lord our maker.
Psalm 95:6
And God blessed barak them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 1:22
I will bless barak the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 34:1
Hillul
Hillul is used only twice in the Bible, and often overlooked, but it has a great definition, make merry, a rejoicing praise, and a celebration of thanksgiving for harvest. This is an old vintage word. It’s possible that as time went on that some words in the Bible were updated, just as city names were updated, and this could have been one of them. You might be horrified at me saying that, but if groovy was written in the Bible, at some point it would have to be replaced with cool and then drip. Just because we only have one example, doesn’t mean we still can’t hillul, make merry over a harvest. This word, hillul, comes from halal (see below).
But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise hillul the Lord withal.
Leviticus 19:24
And they went out into the fields, and gathered their vineyards, and trode the grapes, and made merry hillul, and went into the house of their god, and did eat and drink, and cursed Abimelech.
Judges 9:27
Halal
Halal is the root word for Hallelujah. Halal means to shine, shine God’s favor, flashing forth light, to boast, boast in praise, be made praiseworthy, make a show, clamorously foolish, rave and celebrate. The first word, shine means sound and color. That’s a reflection of Heaven here on Earth when we praise God, we’re making colors flow out with praise. This word predominately means shine, and we know from scripture that God is light (1 John 1:5). The meaning contained in this word is exciting to me! Original Hebrew was written in picture letters called pictographic script. In Hebrew it’s spelled HLL. The first picture, H, is of a man with arms raised up, meaning look, reveal, and breath. The other picture is double L, two shepherd’s staffs meaning authority, teach, yoke/bind. When you are halal, you are looking to God the authority who teaches and is bound to us. When we do that, we shine forth His light and colorful sound. Just this word alone is why your halal praise will put the enemy on the run. The enemy can’t be in the light, darkness has to leave. Halal is a key to being delivered from what seems to bind you and you feel like you can’t overcome. David uses halal a lot.
Hallelujah means halal plus jah which is actually yah or Yahweh (or Jehovah, God’s Name He gave Moses in English); it’s an adoring exclamation. In English, J used to make the Y sound and it changed over the years. That’s why we spell hallelujah with a J and say a Y sound.
My soul shall make her boast halal in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
Psalm 34:2
Praise Halal the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 106:1
Zamar
Zamar means to make music by striking an instrument with your fingers, playing an instrument, or making music with your voice in a celebratory song or music. This just means expressing your praise to Yahweh through celebratory music and singing. The root word of zamar means to pluck or prune a vine. That’s very revealing as to what can happen when we zamar the Lord, He can pluck or prune our vine so that we can produce more fruit.
Sing praise zamar to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Psalm 30:4
Let them praise zamar His name with the dance; let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
Psalm 149:3
Yadah
Yadah is just fun to say! Yadah means to physically use your hands to hold them out or throw; praise with your hands extended. The word is also translated as cast down or shoot an arrow depending on the marking indicators on the word. For example, we talked about the piel form, the extra dot, and that gives yada a different meaning. The markings can also change the word into confess. We have equal confusion in our language as well. You can run a wire along the wall, run to the store, or go run; they’re all different meanings but the same word. For that reason, it’s best to understand what meanings apply and why!
Praise Halal the Lord! I will praise yadah the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.
Psalm 111:1
Why are you cast down yada, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
Psalm 43:5
He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses yada and forsakes them will have mercy.
Proverbs 28:13
Mahalal
Mahalal is from the word halal meaning a degree/measure of praise. It’s only used once in the Bible.
The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is valued by what others say of him mahalal.
Psalms 27:21
The original Hebrew writing says, “…and a man’s value by his mahalal.”
Shabach
Shaback means to address in a loud tone. It also means to commend, glory, triumph, and be free from care in this loud tone. I like that, don’t you? We can get excited and shout, and there’s a praise name for that too!
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise shabach You.
Psalms 63:3
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph shabach in Your praise tehillah. (see below)
Psalm 106:47
T’hillah
T’hillah is a glorious song of praise. It comes from the word halal and means the singing of halals. It’s used 57 times in the Bible. This is my absolute favorite type of praise. Bringing t’hillah praise into the New Testament, we can involve the Holy Spirit. Doing so, we have a new song in our spirit for every season and every situation in our life. How do we sing these songs? Like everything else in the New Testament, by faith and listening to or being led by the Holy Spirit. People say to me, “I never heard this before.” Exactly, because it’s hidden in the Hebrew language, and we take English as the main source of our Biblical information. English only studies wipe out all these wonderful meanings of praise.
He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise T’hillah to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust batach (boldly, carelessly, have confidence) in the Lord.
Psalms 40:3
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise t’hillah.
Jeremiah 17:14
Recap
We went through all the meanings of praise so we know EXACTLY HOW we should be praising God. I’ve been in many church services where people are like robots and stare straight ahead and sing old hymns out of the song book to a piano only. They wholeheartedly believe that’s the true way. I’ve been in a few church services where people are having a full-blown concert with jumping and dancing, house lights off, color spotlights shining, and a fog machine to replace the glory. They wholeheartedly believe that’s the true way. The real answer is here with the definition of praise. If you’re doing what’s within the definition of praise and Bible truth, the Holy Spirit is NOT condemning you! If you want to stare straight ahead like a robot, that’s within the definition of praise. If you want to have a full-blown concert, it’s also within the definition of praise. It’s WRONG when we decide to judge how others praise, when it’s within the definition of praise.
I want to share an important story, quick recap, and then next week we’ll get into some deeper meanings of praise.
When I was in college, we had computers, but we still had to use the library for some things. I went in with a friend, because I was waiting to go eat. While I was waiting for him to find a book, I was mega-bored looking at books. I came across a book written by a professor that went into the African jungle after a particular Christian missionary, and on his very same journey. His book was about the damaging effects of missionaries on African tribes. I was immediately appalled! I went on to read why this atheist professor would say such horrible things. He told how the tribe would regularly gather to celebrate with song and dance. The missionary that talked to them about Jesus told them it was a sin to dance. I immediately changed my mind and was on the side with the atheist professor. He went on to tell how they sat around singing and stared at each other around a fire every night. The atheist professor encouraged them to dance. At first, they ignored him. As his time there went on, eventually mama can’t-remember-her-name jumped up and danced. The whole tribe joined in with her. He went on to explain how the tribe was much happier singing and dancing, and how it changed the whole dynamic of the tribe back to what it was. My friend found his book. I didn’t have a library barcode on my student ID, so I had to leave the book there.
This story has bothered me about religious doctrine for over 20 years. An atheist should never need to come in behind a Christian to clean up their mess and make a community a better place by making them do what they think is outside of Jesus. If this missionary studied praise in Hebrew, none of that would have happened. As I said, the answer to praise and worship, they can be the same word, is in John 4:24 and the definition of praise.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
Quick Meanings
Barak – kneel to show respect
Hillul – celebration of thanksgiving
Halal – make a show of your praise
Zamar – celebratory music with an instrument or voice
Yadah – extending your hands
Mahalal – measure of praise
Shabach – a loud praise
T’hillah – glorious song of praise
Chose borderless printing in the options after you send to printer.
Thank you for going through this word study with me. I hope this helps you feel free to enjoy your praise and worship time with the Lord. You might be in a church where these types of praise aren’t acceptable. That’s ok, you can be free at home. When I stay with my grandmother, I hillul, halal, zamar, yada, shabach, and t’hillah at her house, but when I go to her church, I use a mahalal and zamar only.
Let this week be filled with singing, dancing, and celebrating The Father with the Holy Spirit. Give it a try for one week, it will change your life. Blessings from the Father be upon you!
Christi
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