This morning as I was reading the Psalms, I came across the word “Selah” in the text a few times more than I think I normally would. If you have a Bible with footnotes you’ll read that the meaning of the word is uncertain. It’s unknown. And that it’s very likely that it’s some kind of musical or liturgical term or direction. So, rather than trying to guess at the meaning of the word, our translators simply preserve it by transliterating it for us.
This is a beautiful thing for those who honor God’s Word. There are many things in Scripture we do not understand, and many things in Scripture that are somewhat ambiguous. Since we believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of Scripture—the doctrine that every word of the original manuscripts was inspired by the Holy Spirit—we ought to be committed to preserving the meaning of actual words. And when we don’t know what the words mean, it honors God simply to transliterate them.
Unfortunately, as my senior pastor has been fond of pointing out, the preservation of the word “Selah” is nothing more than hypcrisy on the part of many modern Bible translators. “Selah” is a safe word. It’s kind of sweet sounding, really. It’s where I pause to sip my coffee, sigh (because I subconsciously turn the word into onomatopoeia when I see it), and gaze out the window for a few moments before returning to my reading. Read the rest of this entry »
