Psalm 1/TPN/1/praise.1

The first line of this verse, praise Yah, is the superscription of Psalm 112. Superscriptions can identify the psalmist, the instruments, the tune, the setting, and other information. We know that this line is a superscription because it does not fit in the acrostic structure of the rest of the psalm (see the Poetic Feature YHWH's Deeds from A to Z for more information). The word Praise is in the imperative plural form, but it functions less as a command and more as an exclamation of praise—just like Christians today say "Praise God!" to express praise. Yah is a shortened form of the proper name YHWH. Most English translations convey the meaning of the phrase by rendering it *Praise the Lord!* (ESV, NASB, NLT, etc.), but the CSB transliterates the phrase with the rendering *Hallelujah!* In many cultures, special words whose meanings are not immediately clear can take on the role of incantations, that is, words with magical properties. In Africa, for example, this is often a problem with transliterated words like *hallelujah* and *amen*. For this reason, we recommend a translation that brings out the meaning of the phrase, such as the Hausa CSB: *Praise YHWH!* (Yabi Yahweh!) or the French NBS: *Praise the LORD (Yah)!* (Louez le Seigneur (Yah)!).