1. Exposition

What does the word “praise” mean?

Revelation 19:5 (ESV)

5 And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

The term used here is quite rare in the New Testament (8x) but very frequent in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) as a translation of the Hebrew term hallel (used in the word hallelujah). The instruction from the voice, then, forms a direct echo of the summons of the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures of Revelation 19:4 as caught in the word “Hallelujah” (praise Yahweh). We are to understand the word “praise” as meaning: to speak well of, to commend, to augment his reputation, and so to worship and adore.