BIBLICAL PRAISE

What does the word "Praise" mean? Does it mean the same thing to you as it does to the person "praising" beside you? How do you know you're truly "giving God praise", if you don't fully recognize what "praise" is?

An individual's definition may fall short of the actual Biblical use of the words we see as "praise". Yes, the Bible has numerous words in Hebrew and Greek that have been turned into "praise" in the English language versions of the Bible. Here they are: Examine them closely to see how closely your church's praise aligns with praise from the Bible.

First, we need to view the word PRAISE and determine what it means in English (the "roots" of words can be very helpful). The word "praise" is derived from the Latin pretium, “price” or “value” (Thus it may be defined generally as an ascription of value or worth).

Now, let's examine the Biblical words that were translated into our English (formerly Latin) word, "praise". It's very important to note that praise can describe a number of different things. The numbers you see are from Strong's Concordance.

OLD TESTAMENT
#1984, “halal” – to be clear, often of color; to shine (hence to make a show, to boast); to rave; to be clamorously foolish; celebrate, commend.

#3034, “yadah” – to use the hand; revere or worship (by extending the hand); praise, give thanks.

#8416 “tehillah” – from halal; laudation, a hymn, praise.

#2167 “zamar” – striking of the fingers; to play, make music, accompanied by the voice (hence to celebrate, give praise, sing forth praises).

NEW TESTAMENT
#133/134/136 “aino/ainesis/ainos” – a commendable story; the act of praising, thanking; a story of praise.

#1867/1868 “epaino/epainos” from #134 – to applaud, commend, loud, praise; laudation, praise, a commendable thing; (“epi”=toward or upon, unto).

#2127 “eulogeo” – to speak well of, to bless, praise; thank or invoke a benediction upon.

Did you notice general "themes" in the use of the word "praise"? I saw some. For example, praise is dynamic in nature. It's vocal, lyrical, and often with others. It often involves movement of the body. In some cases, it's loud and boastful, perhaps so much that it may seem "foolish" to others around you. But in the Biblical sense of the word, if you do the above, you're praising like they did in Biblical times.

All of the above uses of the word "praise" are literal Biblical examples for us, of what true, historic praise looked and sounded like. Now examine the praise in your church, and see how closely aligned (or widely variant) your church's "praise" is to Biblical "praise".

If the praise you partake in during your church services doesn't align with the Biblical use of the word..... well, let's just say an examination may be in order.

In Psalms 146-150, the word "PRAISE" was used 41 times! Now THAT'S PRAISE!

God Bless!

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© 2009 Scotty Ward