Laudation ; specifically (concretely) a hymn
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תְּהִלָּה (tehillah) is a Hebrew noun for praise, a song or declaration of praise, praiseworthiness, glory, fame, or renown. Much of its corpus concerns praise of the LORD, but it can also describe the praise or reputation of a people or city.
Reader summary
Full entry for תְּהִלָּה (H8416) · Open the biblical lexicon
תְּהִלָּה (tehillah) is a Hebrew noun for praise, a song or declaration of praise, praiseworthiness, glory, fame, or renown. Much of its corpus concerns praise of the LORD, but it can also describe the praise or reputation of a people or city.
The BSB source-word alignment has 57 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include His praise (8), Praise (6), and praise (4), the praise (4), My praise (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 15:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (30), Isaiah (11), Jeremiah (6), Deuteronomy (2).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
תְּהִלָּה (tehillah) is a Hebrew noun for praise, a song or declaration of praise, praiseworthiness, glory, fame, or renown. Much of its corpus concerns praise of the Lord, but it can also describe the praise or reputation of a people or city. The traditional Hebrew title Tehillim for Psalms comes from this word family, yet the biblical noun itself does not reduce the Psalter or worship to music and celebration.
Exodus celebrates the Lord as awesome in praises after deliverance. Deuteronomy says the Lord is Israel's praise and also speaks of Israel being set high for praise, fame, and honor. Isaiah portrays a people formed to recount divine praise and a restored city whose gates are called Praise. Jeremiah can call the Lord the speaker's praise while also announcing that Moab's praise has ended. In Psalms, praise arises in song, testimony, lament, waiting, confession, and anticipated restoration.
Psalm 22:3 is translated in more than one way, commonly addressing God as holy and enthroned on or inhabiting Israel's praises. It stands inside a lament of unanswered cries and cannot mean that sufficient volume or emotional intensity manufactures God's presence. Praise may coexist with grief, doubt, silence, disability, trauma, and delayed deliverance. It must not be coerced, staged as proof of faith, or used to suppress complaint, disclosure, medical care, justice, or mourning.
H8416 appears as praise directed to the Lord, a song or declaration of praise, praiseworthiness, a person's or people's praise and honor, a city's fame, and an image within restoration.
The Song at the Sea asks who is like the Lord, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, and doing wonders after rescue from Egypt.
The Lord is Israel's praise and God, grounded in the great acts the people have seen.
Israel is to be set high among nations for praise, fame, and honor while living as a holy people.
The restored people formed for the Lord are to recount divine praise within a new-exodus oracle.
Moab's praise or renown is no more in a judgment oracle, demonstrating a nonliturgical reputation sense.
God promises to gather the outcast and turn shame into praise and renown, locating praise within restoration of a stigmatized people.
The lament addresses the Holy One as enthroned on or inhabiting Israel's praises while the speaker still experiences unanswered cries.
God puts a new song of praise in the rescued speaker's mouth, and others see, fear, and trust.
The penitent asks the Lord to open the lips so the mouth can declare praise, joining praise to confession and dependence.
A compact and textually nuanced line places praise, silence or waiting, and fulfilled vows before God in Zion.
Singers begin praise before the narrated defeat of invading armies, a particular national deliverance account rather than a combat technique.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Praise as a concrete act of spoken or sung worship, not abstract sentiment; foundational to Hebrew liturgical practice
Praise as a concrete act of spoken or sung worship, not abstract sentiment; foundational to Hebrew liturgical practice
laudation; specifically (concretely) a hymn BDB: praise Usage: praise.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 58 lexical occurrence verses.
Defines the purpose of redemption in worship. Isaiah 43:14-21
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H8416 helps teachers join praise to reality rather than performance. The noun can describe worship, testimony, song, praiseworthiness, and public renown. Psalm 22 places praise language inside abandonment and unanswered prayer; Psalm 51 asks for opened lips after confession; Zephaniah promises praise and renown to people marked by shame; Jeremiah can speak of a city's lost reputation.
These uses protect congregations from the claim that praise must always sound triumphant. Psalm 22:3 should not become a formula that worship leaders use to summon God, judge a room's spirituality, or demand louder singing. God is not powered by human emotion. Deaf people, nonspeaking people, people with sensory needs, depressed or traumatized worshipers, and those in grief can participate through many accessible forms, including silence.
Second Chronicles 20 does not promise that music defeats enemies or replaces safety planning, diplomacy, military ethics, or lawful action. Praise remains truthful witness, never forced positivity or institutional image management.
Ps.22.3
H8416 is a feminine noun from the H1984 word family and can describe praise, a praise-song, praiseworthiness, glory, or renown. The later Hebrew title Tehillim is the plural form used for Psalms. That title does not make every psalm a song of celebration or erase lament, wisdom, and imprecation.
New Testament praise, hymn, glory, witness, and worship texts use several Greek terms. Hebrews 13's sacrifice of praise and Revelation's hallelujahs can develop the canonical story, but they do not turn every H8416 occurrence into musical liturgy or make suffering a prerequisite for acceptable praise.
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