Selah ( Hebrew: סלה) meaning "pause, reflection", within the context of a prayer or psalms, is similar in purpose to Amen in that it stresses the importance of the preceding passage.

In this way, Selah is thought to infer that one should pause and reflect on what has been said. Alternatively, Selah may be a musical notation (thus explaining its use throughout Psalms) or may mean "forever", as it does in some places in the liturgy (notably the penultimate blessing of the Amidah).

Etymology: The word's origins

Its etymology and precise meaning is unknown. This word occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine of the Psalms, and three times in Habakkuk 3. It is found at the end of Psalms 3, 4, 24, 46, and in most other cases at the end of a verse, the exceptions being Psalms 55:20, 57:4, and Hab. 3:3, 9.

The significance of this curious 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 διάψαλμα — a word as enigmatical in Greek as is "Selah" in Hebrew. The Hexapla simply transliterates σελ. Aquila, Jerome, and the Targum translate it as "always". According to Hippolytus (De Lagarde, "Novæ Psalterii Græci Editionis Specimen" 10), 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 ("Psalmen," p. xv., 1st ed. Göttingen, 1892) notes that Selah occurs also at the end of some psalms. On the other hand, perhaps this objection may be countered: the mark may have been inserted at the end by a later editor who may have expected the Psalms to be recited in succession without reference to the divisions in the Masoretic text. Also, it is not certain that where in the Hebrew a psalm now ends it ended in the original.

Modern ideas

It is generally held that "Selah" has no grammatical connection. It may be either a liturgico-musical mark, or an instruction on the reading of the text. As thirty-one of the thirty-nine psalms with the caption "To the choir-master []" present "Selah," the musical value of the mark has been regarded as well assured.

In keeping with this it has been assigned to the root , as an imperative that should properly have been vocalized , "Sollah" (Ewald, "Kritische Grammatik der Hebräischen Sprache,"p. 554; König, "Historisch-Kritisches Lehrgebäude der Hebräischen Sprache," ii., part i., p. 539). 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" (="pause"). 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 (e.g., Ps. lvii. 8 et seq. from cviii. 2 et seq.). The fact that the term occurs four times at the end of a psalm would not weigh against this theory. As stated above, the Psalms were meant to be read in sequence, and, moreover, many of them are fragments; indeed, Ps. ix. is reckoned one with Ps. x. in the Septuagint, which omits διάψαλμα also at the end of Ps. iii., xxiv., and xlvi. B. Jacob (l.c.) concludes (1) that since no etymological explanation is possible, "Selah" signifies a pause in or for the Temple song; and (2) that its meaning was concealed lest the Temple privileges should be obtained by the synagogues or perhaps even by the churches.

See also

• List of Jewish Prayers and Blessings
• Davening