LandonWillis

Category: Words In Psalms

  • Miktam

    In the heading to Psalm 16, we read:

    A miktam of David.

    So, what’s a Miktam?

    Well, no one’s really too sure how to answer that. You see, this Hebrew word only appears six times in the entirety of the Bible. Here and then also in the headings to Psalms 56-60.

    Since we don’t have much context for how this word was used, we can’t be entirely sure what it means.

    However, there are a few theories.

    First, we can compare ancient translations of the Old Testament to see what ancient authors thought it meant.

    For example, in Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation of the Old Testament, he translates the term as Tituli inscriptio, which loosely means “an inscription of honor”. In this same vein, other scholars think Miktam meant something along the lines of “an engraving”.

    This idea is that the Psalms with Miktam in their headings were so important that they should be “engraved” or “inscribed” on stone tablets in addition to just being on a paper scroll.

    Another theory comes from later Jewish tradition. It states that Miktam means “golden” or “precious”, again emphasizing the importance of these six Psalms.

    There are also a few other theories that it could be some sort of musical term, but the above two theories are most popular. The one that makes most sense to me is that Miktam probably means “engraving” because that’s what some of the ancient translators thought it meant.

  • Higgaion

    In Psalm 9:16, we read:

    16 The Lord has made Himself known;
    He has executed judgment.
    A wicked one is ensnared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah

    This is the only place in an English translation of the Bible that you will find the word Higgaion.

    However, it does appear three other times (twice in the Psalms and once in Lamentations). The key distinction is that translators had trouble deciding how to translate it in this verse, so they just didn’t translate it and instead kept the Hebrew word: Higgaion.

    Well, how is it translated in the other three areas?

    For the most part, it’s translated as some form of “meditation” or “murmuring”, making the above verse possibly just mean that the reader should reflect on what was just said.

    Many scholars seem to think the word comes from the Hebrew word hagah, which means “to utter” or “to murmur”. That would make Higgaion literally mean “a murmuring”.

    Another option is that the word comes from an Arabic root which has something to do with a deep, vibrating noise. This theory is that when we see Higgaion in the verse above, it was an instruction for the Israelites to let a harp play a solemn little tune while everyone else stays quiet for a moment.

    If that option is true, it would likely be a good comparison to the English word “affetuoso”, which is a musical term for playing soft, tender notes.

  • Gittith

    In the heading to Psalm 8, we read:

    For the music director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David.

    That word, Gittith, appears also in the headings of Psalm 81 and Psalm 84.

    There are two main theories about what the word means.

    The first, and far more popular, theory is that it comes from the name for the Philistine city of Gath. So, a Gittith would maybe be a type of harp or lyre made in Gath. One Jewish tradition even says that it was a specific instrument that David got when he was in Gath in 1 Samuel 21.

    Another theory is that the word Gittith does come from the word Gath, but in a different way. You see, the city of Gath is named from the Hebrew word Gath, which just means “winepress”. So, this theory goes that Gittith is some sort of melody associated with the grape harvest. Or maybe it’s in reference to treading on the enemies of God like a winepress.

    This theory seems far less likely. However, it does have one thing going for it. In the Ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint), the word Gittith is translated as “winepress”. The Vulgate translates it the same way in the late fourth century.

    Overall, we don’t know exactly what the word Gittith means, but the best guess thrown out is it was probably some sort of stringed instrument from the city of Gath.

  • Shiggaion

    In the heading to Psalm 7, we read:

    A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.

    And in Habbakuk 3:1, we read:

    A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

    Do you notice the similarity between those two words: shiggaion and shigionoth? Well, that’s because shigionoth is just the plural form of shiggaion.

    Well, now you’re asking, what do either of those words mean?

    So far as I can tell, there are three main theories.

    Assyrian Shigu

    One theory suggests that the word shiggaion comes from the Assyrian word shigu, meaning “lament”.

    This could make sense because both Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3 describe stories of lament and destruction.

    However, this does not sound like a very popular nor likely theory.

    It could fit in place with Psalm 7 as “a lament of David”, but it sounds weird in Habakkuk 3 that the song is sung “according to lament”. Typically, a word like that in Hebrew refers to some sort of musical term.

    Hebrew shagah

    Both of these other theories are based on the idea that shiggaion actually comes from the Hebrew word shagah, meaning “to make a mistake” or “to wander”.

    The second overall theory is that the word shiggaion essentially means “a mistake”. If this is correct, then the idea is that someone committed a mistake in both of the songs: Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3.

    There are scholars who try to point out how each song shows someone making a mistake. One example is how some people argue that Psalm 7 indirectly talks about David making a mistake by being tempted to kill Saul or overthrow him by force.

    This theory doesn’t hold up too well overall, but especially not when it comes to Habakkuk 3. Saying that the song is “according to mistakes” just makes no sense, especially in the context of the chapter.

    The Likely Theory

    Now, there is one guess which seems to be the most popular and make the most sense.

    This theory goes that shiggaion does come from shagah. But it has an emphasis on the definition “to wander”.

    If shiggaion means something like “a wandering”, then it could just mean a song that is wild and goes all over the place in its tune.

    And, everyone who writes about this theory always compares the word to a very specific English word. So, I suppose that I’m obligated to do the same.

    Dithyramb.

    There.

    If you already know what the word dithyramb means, then good for you. I hope the comparison helps you understand shiggaion better.

    As for pretty much everyone else who, like me, has no clue what this word means, here’s the definition.

    A wild, impassioned song. Originally in reference to a song for the Greek god of wine and drunkenness, Dionysus.

    So, when translators and scholars say that the word shiggaion was likely a dithyramb, they mean that the song was all over the place. Fast here. Slow there. High pitched here. Low pitched there. Shouting here. Whispering there. Enthusiasm everywhere.

    In the end, this theory seems to make the most sense. The word shiggaion probably meant some sort of an impassioned, enthusiastic song. So, both Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3 were probably sung in a specific, energized way.

  • Selah

    In Psalm 3:2, we read:

    2 Many are saying of my soul,
    “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

    We’re interested specifically in that last word, Selah.

    It appears 71 times in the Book of Psalms, and 3 times in the Book of Habbakuk in a song-like section. So, the only times it appears in the Bible are in connection with songs.

    Plus, of the 39 psalms in the Book of Psalms that are written “for the music director”, 31 of them contain the word Selah at least once. Many take this to mean that it was a word associated with musical instruction, rather than part of a sentence.

    Well, what does the word mean?

    That’s the fun part. We don’t really know. Selah has been a very complex and confusing word among scholars for thousands of years.

    We know it’s a Hebrew word, but that’s about where the agreement ends. The meaning of this word was lost so long ago that we have records of Christian and Jewish scholars in the first few centuries giving different definitions.

    But, there are a number of pretty good guesses as to what it probably means. So, let’s dive in.

    1. Calah, To Measure

    Plenty of scholars connect the word Selah with the Hebrew word Calah, which means “to hang” or “to measure”. (The meaning of “to hang” would be like how an ancient merchant would “hang” something on a scale to measure its weight).

    This theory goes that if the term Selah has a meaning related to “measure”, then it is used as a way to tell the reader to carefully measure/weigh/consider what was just said.

    It would basically mean something along the lines of “Hey, pay attention to what you just read; it’s really important”.

    The Amplified Bible translates it as “pause, and calmly think of that”.

    2. Salal, To Lift Up

    One of the most common theories I’ve read was that Selah is related to the Hebrew word Salal, which means “to lift up” or “to praise”.

    The main idea with this theory is that Selah is acting as an instruction either to the people to “lift up” their voices and sing loudly/shout or as an instruction to the musicians to play louder, maybe by smashing cymbals at that moment or blowing trumpets.

    If it were a direction to the musicians, it would be similar to our modern musical instruction “fortissimo”, which is Italian for “very loud”.

    Either way, according to this theory, the musicians or the singers (whichever it was) would take a pause from singing or playing while the other one “lifted up” their noise and praise.

    This leads into the next theory.

    3. Salah/Shelah, To Pause

    A few people also say that the word Selah just comes outright from the Hebrew word meaning “pause”. (I found conflicting sources about what exactly that word was, either Salah or Shelah).

    Because of the actual spelling in Hebrew though, most scholars say that this etymology is unlikely. Still, it is similar to the first two theories because all three have the idea of pausing in some way.

    This theory is also backed up by the Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. It translates Selah as Diapsalma (I’ve also seen the word called Daplasma in a couple articles). Diapsalma means, literally, “apart from the Psalm”. So, this at least lines up with the idea that Selah isn’t actually part of the writing itself. Some scholars use this to support the theory that it just means a pause.

    4. Section Break

    Another theory is just that Selah is a note letting you know that the topic is about to change. Most scholars don’t like this theory, especially because some Psalms end with the word Selah.

    Why would you say that the topic is about to change at the end of the song?

    Still, the theory tries to explain this away by saying that we only have fragments of some Psalms or that the Psalms were all meant to be read in order.

    5. Acronym

    This theory is that Selah is just an acronym of other Hebrew words.

    One Jewish tradition says that it stands for the phrase from Numbers 14:19 “Please forgive the sins of this people”.

    Most people don’t seem to like this theory too much either.

    6. Latin Semper, Always

    This theory is a touch complicated.

    When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin (called the Vulgate), he made one translation of each book, obviously…. except for the Book of Psalms.

    For Psalms, Jerome made three different translations, two from the Greek translation and one from the Ancient Hebrew.

    Plus, there are three different main versions of the Vulgate in existence today. And those versions are split between which of Jerome’s translations they use. Plus, the numbers of the Psalms don’t line up between English and Latin. For example, Psalm 3:2 is Psalm 3:3 in Latin, and Psalm 54:3 is Psalm 53:5 in Latin.

    So, all that to say, if you go looking for a Latin version of something in the Book of Psalms, be careful. It gets confusing and difficult really fast.

    Anyway, in Jerome’s translation from the Greek, he just uses the word Diapsalma, like in the Greek.

    But, in his translation from the Hebrew, he translates Selah as the Latin word Semper, which means “forever” or “always”.

    Aside from just Latin, several other ancient Jewish writings from the first few centuries after Christ say that the word Selah just means “forever”.

    Considering that all the other theories have to do with Selah being outside of the writing itself, this is a fun little theory. And since forever is such a versatile word, it could fit in place everywhere Selah appears.

    Conclusion

    In the end, Selah is a weird, confusing word. But, there are many scholars smarter than I who have studied this a whole bunch and have come up with the theories I listed above.

    I hope this helped you. Selah