Hallel: A Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving

Hallel is the church’s older hymnbook opened to a particular cluster of psalms, a standing invitation to bless the Lord for redemption already given and mercy still arriving. In Scripture the name points chiefly to Psalms 113–118, songs that summon the servants of the Lord to praise His name “both now and forevermore,” from sunrise to sunset, because He is high above the nations and near to the lowly (Psalm 113:1–3; Psalm 113:4–9). Within those pages the Exodus is remembered, idols are unmasked, personal deliverance is celebrated, the nations are invited, and a rejected stone becomes the cornerstone as a great procession gives thanks at the gates (Psalm 114:1–8; Psalm 115:3–8; Psalm 116:1–2; Psalm 117:1–2; Psalm 118:19–24).

The Gospels add a tender note. On the night He was betrayed, after the meal in which He spoke of the new covenant in His blood, Jesus and His disciples “sang a hymn” before going out to the Mount of Olives, language many have linked with the Hallel sung at Passover (Luke 22:19–20; Matthew 26:30). The One enthroned on high stooped to the cross so that the poor would be raised from the dust and the cup of salvation could be lifted in every land (Psalm 113:7–9; Psalm 116:13; Philippians 2:6–8).

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Words: 2567 / Time to read: 14 minutes / Audio Podcast: 29 Minutes

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Historical and Cultural Background

In Israel’s worship calendar, Hallel belonged to the feasts that rehearsed God’s mighty acts, especially Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when families explained to their children why the Lord redeemed them with a mighty hand (Exodus 12:24–27; Exodus 13:14–16). The opening lines, “Praise the Lord, you his servants,” fixed the people’s identity as those set free to serve, not slaves to Pharaoh or idols but a congregation taught to remember mercy (Psalm 113:1; Exodus 14:31). The call widened immediately: “Let the name of the Lord be praised…from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,” an echo of promises that nations would learn God’s ways in Zion and that His name would be great among the nations (Psalm 113:2–3; Isaiah 2:2–3; Malachi 1:11).

Memory stood at the center of that praise. Psalm 114 retells the Exodus with fresh thunder, as the sea sees and flees and the mountains skip like rams, turning deliverance into doxology so that future generations won’t forget who brought them out (Psalm 114:1–7; Exodus 15:1–2). Psalm 115 contrasts the living God with silver and gold statues that have mouths, eyes, and hands but do not speak, see, or grasp, a needed warning in a world thick with rival trusts (Psalm 115:3–8; Isaiah 44:9–20). Psalm 116 brings the lens down to a single life and vows public thanksgiving because the Lord bent down to hear, a reminder that the God who split seas also stoops to rescue one pleading voice (Psalm 116:1–2; Psalm 116:12–14).

A broader web of praise formed around the core. Psalm 117, the shortest chapter in Scripture, summons all nations and peoples to praise the Lord for His great love and enduring faithfulness, a seed of hope that blooms when the gospel runs beyond Israel to the ends of the earth (Psalm 117:1–2; Romans 15:9–11). Psalm 118 frames a procession with repeated thanks that God’s love endures forever, meets the cry “Lord, save us,” and declares that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, a word later tied to the Messiah whom the leaders refused and whom God exalted (Psalm 118:1; Psalm 118:25–26; Psalm 118:22–24; Matthew 21:9; 1 Peter 2:6–7). Alongside these, Israel also sang the “great Hallel” in Psalm 136, where steadfast love punctuates every line, though the Egyptian Hallel most directly names Psalms 113–118 (Psalm 136:1; Psalm 136:10–15).

Biblical Narrative

Hallel begins by lifting eyes to the God who is incomparable in majesty and incomparable in mercy. He sits enthroned on high with glory above the heavens, yet He stoops to look upon heaven and earth and to raise the poor from the dust, seating them with princes and settling the barren woman in her home with joy (Psalm 113:4–9). That double truth—transcendence and tenderness—governs everything that follows. Praise is not mood music; praise is the fitting, reasoned answer to who the Lord is and what He does (Psalm 96:7–9; Psalm 103:1–5).

The story of deliverance is sung back to God until it becomes the congregation’s present strength. The sea flees, the river turns back, rock becomes a pool, and the earth trembles before the Lord who turns impossibility into a way forward (Psalm 114:3–8; Exodus 14:21–22). That retelling is not mere nostalgia; it is spiritual formation. A people who carry those lines into their trials learn how to look for God in hard places, expecting Him to make a path where none appears (Psalm 77:11–14; Isaiah 43:16–19).

Idols are unmasked as Hallel moves from rescue to trust. The living God is in the heavens and does whatever pleases Him, while the work of human hands can never answer or act (Psalm 115:3–8). Those who trust in the Lord are called to bless Him, to fear Him, and to expect His increase across generations because He made heaven and earth and gives breath to His own (Psalm 115:11–15; Acts 17:24–25). The contrast is pastoral: turn from vanities that cannot save to the Lord whose faithfulness fills the skies (Jeremiah 2:13; Psalm 36:5).

Thanksgiving narrows to an individual in Psalm 116 as a rescued worshiper explains that he loves the Lord because the Lord heard his voice. Bonds were loosed, tears were dried, and stumbling feet were steadied; now the cup of salvation is lifted and vows are paid in the presence of God’s people (Psalm 116:1–2; Psalm 116:8–14). Gratitude becomes concrete as the redeemed bring public thanks and holy promises, a pattern that keeps mercy from being a private secret (Psalm 66:16; Hebrews 13:15).

A universal summon rings out when Hallel reaches Psalm 117. All nations and all peoples are commanded to praise the Lord because His love is great and His faithfulness endures forever, a two-verse doorway through which the mission of God steps into view (Psalm 117:1–2). Later the apostle gathers that line with other promises to show that the Messiah’s mercies are never provincial; they were always aimed at a choir larger than Israel alone (Romans 15:9–12; Isaiah 11:10).

The cluster climaxes with Psalm 118, where thanksgiving answers the refrain that love endures forever and a royal figure enters the gates in triumph. The congregation cries, “Lord, save us!” and blesses the One who comes in the name of the Lord, even as builders reject a stone that God Himself appoints as the cornerstone (Psalm 118:1; Psalm 118:19–26; Psalm 118:22–24). Those words rise again in Jerusalem when crowds welcome Jesus with palm branches, and they echo in apostolic preaching when the risen Christ is named as the rejected yet exalted stone (Matthew 21:9; Acts 4:10–11). Hallel’s journey from praise to procession finds its goal in Him.

Theological Significance

Hallel teaches that true worship holds majesty and mercy together. The Lord is exalted above every nation and over the very heavens, which silences pride and undoes fear, and the same Lord leans down to lift the poor and to fill empty homes, which births compassion and hope (Psalm 113:4–9; Psalm 97:9). Every doctrine in these psalms moves toward doxology because every attribute of God is shown in action: power that breaks seas, faithfulness that keeps promises, love that endures, and justice that exposes idols (Psalm 114:3–8; Psalm 136:1; Psalm 115:3–8).

A theology of remembrance saturates Hallel and shapes obedience. The God who “causes his wonders to be remembered” invites His people to ponder and speak them so mercy will not be forgotten when pressure mounts (Psalm 111:4; Psalm 114:1–2). Under the administration given through Moses, feasts and songs drilled memory into the calendar so households would hand down the story of grace (Deuteronomy 6:6–9; Psalm 78:4–7). In the fullness of time, Jesus took bread and the cup and commanded His church to remember Him until He comes, carrying Hallel’s memory-work forward with a clearer center and a wider table (Luke 22:19–20; 1 Corinthians 11:25–26).

The nations’ summons in Psalm 117 fits the larger arc of promise that blessing would reach all families of the earth. Praise from sunrise to sunset matches the pledge that the coastlands would hope in the Lord’s instruction and that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea (Psalm 113:3; Isaiah 42:4; Habakkuk 2:14). The risen Christ now claims all authority in heaven and on earth and sends His people to teach the nations what He commanded, promising His presence until the end of the age (Matthew 28:18–20). Worship therefore has a missional shape: adoration opens mouths to witness, and witness aims to multiply adoration (Psalm 67:3–4; Romans 15:9–12).

Hallel’s movement from corporate praise to personal gratitude reveals the heart of redeemed life. The congregation magnifies God’s name, and a single voice tells how the Lord heard, delivered, and kept his feet from stumbling; then vows are paid before the assembly so mercy becomes public encouragement (Psalm 116:1–2; Psalm 116:12–14). That pattern becomes the church’s habit as believers confess that God has delivered them from deadly peril and will deliver again, learning to bring “the sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name” (2 Corinthians 1:10; Hebrews 13:15). Grace received becomes grace declared.

The rejected stone of Psalm 118 meets its fulfillment in Jesus. Builders turned Him aside, yet God made Him the cornerstone, a truth the apostles proclaim as they call hearers to trust the name by which we must be saved (Psalm 118:22; Acts 4:10–12). “Hosanna” becomes both cry and confession—“Lord, save us”—as the King who comes in the Lord’s name enters, suffers, rises, and reigns (Psalm 118:25–26; Matthew 21:9; Revelation 1:17–18). The day the Lord made in resurrection is the day the church rejoices in, because the right hand of the Lord has done mighty things (Psalm 118:24; Psalm 118:16; 1 Peter 1:3).

The paradox of enthronement and stooping crystallizes at the cross. The One seated above the heavens bent lower than any has ever bent, taking the form of a servant and humbling Himself to death even on a cross, so that God highly exalted Him with the name above every name (Psalm 113:4–6; Philippians 2:6–11). By that descent He raised the poor from the dust and seated them with princes, sharing His life with those who were far off and making them a people near to God (Psalm 113:7–8; Ephesians 2:4–7; 1 Peter 2:9–10). Hallel was always hinting at this pattern; the gospel shows its blazing center.

The “now and forever” horizon woven through the songs steadies hope. Praise is commanded today and promised for the age to come, because mercy meets us in time and glory awaits us beyond time (Psalm 113:2; Psalm 117:2). Believers taste the powers of the coming age as they worship and obey, even as they await the day when the King returns and the nations’ praise becomes the earth’s normal air (Hebrews 6:5; Revelation 7:9–10). The church therefore sings Hallel-like praise in the midst of enemies while longing for the fullness when every rival voice is quieted and every tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord (Psalm 118:7; Romans 8:23; Philippians 2:10–11).

Idolatry’s exposure in Psalm 115 remains a present warning. Hands reach for substitutes that cannot see or save, and hearts become like what they adore unless they turn to the living God (Psalm 115:4–8; Psalm 135:15–18). The antidote is not only negation but reorientation: “Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1). Praise displaces false worship by filling the room with a better song.

Spiritual Lessons and Application

Daily life can be tuned to a Hallel rhythm. Morning and evening praise bracket the day so that prayer becomes the first word and thanksgiving the last, echoing the psalmist’s impulse to bless the Lord “now and forevermore” and across the map of one’s responsibilities (Psalm 113:2–3; Psalm 92:1–2). Households can read one Hallel psalm at meals each week, asking how God’s past mercies guide present choices and future trust, so Scripture moves from page to pattern (Deuteronomy 6:6–9; Colossians 3:16).

Public thanks strengthens private faith. When God answers prayer or rescues from trouble, lifting the “cup of salvation” before others turns deliverance into discipleship, teaching hearts to make and keep grateful vows (Psalm 116:12–14; Psalm 66:16). Congregations can cultivate moments for testimony and thanksgiving, not as performance but as obedience to the God who hears and helps (Psalm 34:4–6; James 5:13). Quiet lives then echo on ordinary streets with the same theme: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (Psalm 118:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Mission flows from worship. If all nations are summoned to praise, then neighbors near and far must hear the name that saves, and the church must welcome the stranger with the same mercy it has received (Psalm 117:1–2; Romans 10:13–15). Generosity and hospitality become fitting fruits of Hallel because the God who stoops to lift the lowly makes a people who reach low in love, defending the vulnerable and sharing what they have without grumbling (Psalm 113:7–9; Deuteronomy 10:17–19; 1 Peter 4:9–11). The song on Sunday becomes the posture on Monday.

Conclusion

Hallel gathers the redeemed to sing the same truths until they become reflex. God is high and God is near; He breaks seas and He hears a single sob; He dethrones idols and He steadies stumbling feet (Psalm 113:4–9; Psalm 114:3–8; Psalm 116:1–2; Psalm 115:3–8). The nations are not an afterthought but an audience envisioned from the first notes, and the rejected stone is not a footnote but the cornerstone on which the whole house stands (Psalm 117:1–2; Psalm 118:22–24). In the Upper Room, the Lord who sang these words enacted their deepest promise, giving Himself for sinners and setting a table where the cup of salvation would be lifted until He comes (Matthew 26:30; 1 Corinthians 11:25–26).

For believers today, Hallel becomes both hymn and habit. Praise reorders the heart, remembrance anchors obedience, gratitude keeps grace from going stale, and witness carries the song into streets that have forgotten how to sing (Psalm 118:24; Psalm 116:12–14; Psalm 67:3–4). The proper end of such worship is not a mood but a world remade, when sunrise-to-sunset praise is not aspirational but actual and the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord (Psalm 113:3; Habakkuk 2:14). Until that day, the church lives between majesty and mercy and takes up the refrain that belongs everywhere: praise the Lord (Psalm 113:1; Revelation 7:9–10).

“Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.” (Psalm 113:2–3)