Selah: Name Meaning, Origin, and Bible Story. A long table set with bread and candles beneath olive trees at sunset.

Name meaning

Selah: Meaning, Origin, and the Bible

Hebrew · pause, or lift up (a musical rest) · Psalm 46:10

Selah is a Hebrew name meaning pause, or lift up (a musical rest). It is a name cherished by Christians. Below is its true meaning, its story, a verse that fits it, and a blessing.

In the Bible a name is never only a label. It carries a hope, a prayer, or a story, and again and again God Himself gives or changes a name to mark what He is doing in a life. So to ask what a name means is a good and old question, and it deserves an honest answer, not a guess. Here is the real meaning, where it comes from, and where it can lead.

What the name Selah means

The name Selah comes from Hebrew and means pause, or lift up (a musical rest). Names like this were chosen with care, often to remember what God had done or to speak a hope over a child, and the meaning has carried down through the generations to the families who give the name today.

Where the name Selah comes from

Selah is a word that appears many times in the Psalms, most likely a musical direction meaning to pause and lift up, a rest that invites the singer to stop and consider. As a name it carries a beautiful stillness, an echo of the psalm's charge, Be still, and know that I am God. It calls its bearer to a life of thoughtful worship.

A verse for Selah

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”Psalm 46:10

A blessing for Selah

A blessing over Selah: may Selah grow to know that the God who names the stars knows Selah by name and loves Selah still. The name means pause; may that meaning become more than a word, a true and lived thing. May Selah be kept, be brave, and be drawn all the days of life to Jesus Christ, in whom every good hope is kept safe.

Every name points to one Name

Scripture says God has given Jesus a name which is above every name, and that there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Whatever your name means, its deepest hope is met in Him. He knows His own by name, and He calls them to Himself as the Living Bread, the One who satisfies the hunger no name can fill.

Who is Jesus? · The gospel explained · Begin with Jesus

Go deeperPeople of the BibleRead the chapterAll name meanings

Questions people ask

Is Selah a name in the Bible?

There is no person named Selah in the Bible, but it is a name long loved by Christians. It comes from Hebrew and means pause, or lift up (a musical rest), and it carries a truth that Scripture itself teaches.

What does the name Selah mean?

Selah is a Hebrew name meaning pause, or lift up (a musical rest).

What does Selah mean in Hebrew?

In Hebrew, the name Selah means pause, or lift up (a musical rest). That is its genuine root, not a modern guess.

More name meaningsPatiencePrudenceBethanyShiloh All name meanings
Enter Living Breadprayer, Scripture, a family near you