We hear a lot about praising the Lord but what is praise? The best way to understand what praise means is to examine the words used for praise in the Old Testament. Below you will find some of the meanings of the word praise.

halal (Hebrew) We have this word in the English language in the transliteration “hallelujah.” it means simply, praise the Lord, or “praise Yah”. Yah is the shortened form of the Old Testament Yahweh, translated in the King james as Jehovah.

yadah(Hebrew)--Means to acknowledge in public This word expresses the core of praise, it is telling others what God has done. This verb has a root meaning of “extended hand”. It implies worshipping with raised hands.

barak(Hebrew) This word means simply to bless. This is the word that describes kneeling and and blessing God as an act of adoration.

zamar (Hebrew) This is one of the musical verbs found in the book of Psalms. It carries the idea of making music in praise to God as in Psalms 92:1

shabach (Hebrew) In this context the word praise means to laud, to speak well of in a high and befitting way. It also means to address in a loud tone, to command triumph, glory, to shout. Pslams 63:3-4,Pslams 117:1

towdah (Hebrew) towdah is related to yadah. In the New American Standard Bible it is translated as thanksgiving. it also involves the extension of the hand in adoration. this word has the distinct connotation of sacrifice of praise.

tehillah (Hebrew) Meaning to sing, to laud. tehillah is singing our halals. singing unprepared, unrehearsed songs, what is commonly known today as singing in the spirit.

Other words: ruah (Hebrew) Meaning to shout in joy. qara (Hebrew) Meaning to proclaim. nagad (Hebrew) Meaning to declare. rum(Hebrew) Meaning to extol.