Alleluia

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("Praise ye Jehovah".) Never found in the palms of David and his singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun: but in later psalms, namely, those of the captivity and the return, the Fifth Book. So "Selah" is restricted to his and their psalms. Used in the temple liturgy; at the beginning, close, or both, of Psalm 106; 111; 113; 117; 135. So in the heavenly perfect liturgy ( Revelation 19:1;  Revelation 19:3-4;  Revelation 19:6), the triumphant shout of the great multitude, the 24 elders, and four living creatures at the judgment on the whore.

The Hebrew form may imply the special interest of the Jews in the destruction of antichrist ( Psalms 149:8-9). Psalm 113-118 were called by the Jews the Hallel: sung on the first of the month, at the Feast of Dedication, that of Tabernacles, that of Weeks, and that of Passover. They sang Psalm 142 and Psalm 114 before the supper (according to Hillel's school, or only Psalm 113 according to Shammai's school), the rest after the last cup. This was the hymn sting by Christ and His disciples ( Matthew 26:30). As the full choir of Levites in the temple service took up the Alleluia, so in heaven the multitude in mighty chorus respond Alleluia to the voice from the throne, "Praise our God, all ye His servants," etc. ( Revelation 19:1-6.)

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

or HALLELU-JAH

הללואּ?יה , praise the Lord; or, praise to the Lord: compounded of הללו , praise ye, and יה the Lord. This word occurs at the beginning, or at the end, of many Psalms. Alleluia was sung on solemn days of rejoicing: "And all her streets shall sing Alleluia," says Tobit, speaking of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Tob_13:18 . St. John, in the   Revelation 19:1;  Revelation 19:3-4;  Revelation 19:6 , says, "I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, who cried, Alleluia; and the four living creatures fell down, and worshipped God, saying, Alleluia." This expression of joy and praise was transferred from the synagogue to the church. At the funeral of Fabiola, "several psalms were sung with loud alleluias," says Jerom, in Epitaphio Paulae. "The monks of Palestine were awaked at their midnight watchings, with the singing of alleluias." It is still occasionally used in devotional psalmody.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Alleluia. So written in  Revelation 19:6 foll., or more properly Hallelujah , Praise Ye Jehovah , as it is found in the margin of  Psalms 104:35;  Psalms 105:45; Psalms 106;  Psalms 111:1;  Psalms 112:1;  Psalms 113:1. Compare  Psalms 113:9;  Psalms 115:18;  Psalms 116:19,  Psalms 117:2. The literal meaning of "hallelujah", sufficiently indicates the character of the Psalms in which it occurs, as hymns of praise and thanksgiving.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Alleluia.  Revelation 19:1. See Halleluiah.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Revelation 19:1,3,4,6

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

See Hallelujah .

Holman Bible Dictionary

Hallelujah

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

Hallelujah.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

ALLELUIA . See Hallelujah.

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) Alt. of Alleluiah

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( Ἀλληλούϊα ) , a Graecized form ( Revelation 19:1;  Revelation 19:3-4;  Revelation 19:6) of the Hebrew exclamation HALLELUJAH (See Hallelujah) (q.v).

The singing of this Hebrew word, meaning Praise the Lord, like Amen and Sabaoth, has been derived from the use of the Church of Jerusalem. It is attributed to pope Damasus. Pope Gregory allowed it to be sung out of Eastertide. The Alleluioe inclusio was the close of the time for singing Alleluia, from Christmas to Epiphany. The famous Alleluia Victory was won by St. Germanus and the Britons chanting Alleluia (A.D. 492) at Easter-time over the Saxons and Picts. The Saturday before Septuagesima was called "Alleluia Saturday," because the Alleluia was then sung for the last time until Eastertide. Gregory ordered the Alleluia to be sung not only at Easter, but throughout the year. It was allowed at funerals. Alexander II prohibited the Alleluia in the liturgy in the interval between Septuagesima and Easter-eve, and the fourth Council of Toledo forbade it on all fast- days. It was used in the mass to represent the Hebrew title of the cross, as Kyrie eleison was a reminiscence of the Greek. Victor of Utica called it the Alleluiatic Melody.

On the Circumcision, which was a fast-day as a protest against heathen revelry, the Alleluia was not sung. The people sang it together in divine service, monks assembled to its sound, and the laborer in the field and the seaman on shipboard chanted it in the early days of the Church. As early as the 4th century, Alleluia seems to have been well known as the Christian shout of joy or victory, and as an expression of encouragement. A special use of the Alleluia is found in the liturgies both of East and West. In most Eastern liturgies it follows immediately upon the Cherubic Hymn, which precedes the greater Entrance, as, for instance, in those of St. James, St. Mark, and St. Chrysostom. In the Mozarabic it is sung after the gospel, while the priest is making the oblation; while in the West it immediately precedes the reading of the gospel. In early times it seems to have been simply intoned by the cantor who had sung the gradual, standing on the steps of the ambo, and repeated by the choir. Before the 8th century the custom arose of prolonging the last syllable of the Alleluia, and singing it to musical notes. This was called jubilatio. In the Roman arrangement of the ordinary offices, the Alleluia follows the Invocation, but from Septuagesima to the Thursday of Holy-week the verse "Laus tibi, Domine, Rex aeternae gloriae" is substituted.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Allelu´ia [HALLELUJAH]