Psalm 78/Notes/Lexical.v. 64.201697

v. 64 – The root of הוּלָּֽלוּ is quite unambiguously √הלל "to praise" (SDBH), here in quite a unique use of being praised "in wedding songs" (HALOT, 249). Some (e.g., DCH, 561; HALOT, 249) have suggested the emendation הֵילִילוּ "they wailed," though this is unattested anywhere in the manuscripts, and doesn't solve the passive voice problem. The best options are "praised >> sung for" either (1) in a wedding or (2) in a funeral. The latter is probably intended by "they were mourned" in the LXX and Greek revisers—minus Aquila's ὑμνήθησαν—(ἐπενθήθησαν), Hebr. (luxit) and the CPA (ܐܬܒܠܝ). Nevertheless, the wedding setting is more likely with the young men at war in the previous line (so Radak and Ibn Ezra). Cf. also the Aramaic nominal הִלּוּלָה as "praising the bride by dancing before her >> wedding" (Jastrow 1903, 346). See, for example, the ESV: "and their young women had no marriage song."