Tehillah #90

Tehillah comes from the same root as halal, “to praise,” that also underlies “Hallelujah,” and refers to praise itself — a song, act, or object of praise directed toward God. Its plural form, Tehillim, is the traditional Hebrew title of the book of Psalms, “Praises,” a name that describes the collection by its dominant purpose rather than, as the English title does, by the idea of songs sung to instrumental accompaniment.

Biblical Usage

The Psalms use tehillah both to describe God’s own character and to call for a response to it. Psalm 22 addresses God as the one who “inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3), picturing praise almost as the dwelling place where God is present among his people. Psalm 33 opens by declaring that “praise is comely for the upright” (Psalm 33:1), and Psalm 100 instructs worshipers to “enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4). Psalm 145, one of the psalms whose Hebrew heading identifies it as a tehillah, closes the book’s main collection by resolving, “My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:21).

Theological Significance

Tehillah differs from simple thanksgiving in that it is less about a single answered request and more about declaring, often publicly, what God is like and what he has done — praise as testimony as much as worship. That the entire Psalter came to be known by this one word suggests how central the act of praise was considered to Israel’s relationship with God: not an occasional response to blessing but the defining purpose of the songs Israel sang to him.