To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm.
1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
2 Sing forth the honor of his name: make his praise glorious.
3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.
7 He ruleth by his power forever; his eyes behold the nati ons: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
8 O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:
9 Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
11 Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
19But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
A prayer for the propagation of the church. Learning how to deal inwardly with the Lord and pass through the fiery trials into a place of rich abundance to offer Christ in God’s house.
Selah
There are many references that show that Selah (Sela) is an actual geographic location.
Now that we have established that Selah is an actual place from history past, let’s look and see if the bible gives reference to the city of Selah Petra being inhabited and used in a future, prophetical way.
The bible mentions that there will come a time known as the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, and it is a very fierce and ominous period of human history.
In the 30th chapter of the book of Jeremiah, the Lord is giving prophecy about a time yet future when the Jews would be regathered into their land, Israel, but it would not be a time of peace. In fact, it would be just the opposite.
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book. For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these [are] the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jer 30:1-5, 7).
We know this ‘time of Jacob’s trouble’ to be what the New Testament refers to as the Great Tribulation. The time in which the Antichrist will visibly rule, and his main target will the people of Jacob who became Israel – the Jews.
God prepares a hiding placeThe Hebrew word Selah occurs 74 times in the Old Testament, often at the ends of stanzas within psalms or at the ends of entire psalms. Three of these occurrences appear in the prayer song of Habakkuk 3. While scholars concur that this is a musical term, there is little agreement as to its precise meaning.
Some suggest that Selah is derived from salal, which means “to lift up.” If this is correct, Selah could be an instruction either to raise the voice or to increase the instrumental volume during an interlude.
Some take it to indicate a pause or a breath in singing, perhaps reflecting an understanding of the instrumental interlude above.
Some posit that Selah marks an affirmation of what has just been sung – much like Amen in later Judaism and Christianity.
The presence of musical directions within the Psalms reminds modern readers that these compositions were not intended simply to be read but were for Israel a part of a total, vibrant worship experience.