Selah

Interspersed through out various places in the Psalms is the word "selah". As far as we know, anciently, when the Psalms were read when they came to "selah" a trumpet was blown. I think it would be great if Logos could put a trumpet sound that would sound when we click on "selah".

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Xegesis

Hi Jim. Do you by any chance know what ancient source mentions that?

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/695165#Comment_695165

SELAH (Heb. selâ)
Likely a musical or liturgical notation, occurring 71 times in 39 Psalms and 3 times in the psalm of Hab. 3. In the LXX Selah is rendered as Greek diápsalma (“pause in singing”), suggesting some type of caesura. According to the Targ., followed by Jerome, the term means “forever” or “everlasting.” Perhaps this was a directive to insert a benediction, refrain, or prayer collect at that point. Proposals based on etymology include “voice modulation,” “increase in volume,” “prostration,” and “prayer ritual.” Others have suggested that the consonants of Selah form an acronym for “voice modulation” or “repetition.”
GERALD M. BILKES

Gerald M. Bilkes, “Selah,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1180.

Jerome being rather ancient and a person who not only lived in Bethlehem but was taught by Rabbis there. I am not convinced we can have much certainty what it really means.

I have saved the The Jewish Encyclopedia/ A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 12 Volumes article on it which may lead to the idea stated above, but it gives no real indication of a particularly ancient theory.

6505.Selah.pdf

-Dan