Selah

the end; a pause

This expression is found in the Psalms seventy-four times, and thrice in the Prophet Habakkuk. The interpreters Symmachus and Theodotion generally translate _selah_ by _diapsalma_, which signifies “a rest” or “pause” in singing. Jerom and Aquila translate it “for ever.” Some moderns pretend that _selah_ has no signification, and that it is only a note of the ancient music, whose use is no longer known; and, indeed, _selah_ may be taken away from all the places where it is found without interrupting the sense of the psalm. Calmet says it intimates the end, or a pause, and that is its proper signification; but as it is not always found at the conclusion of the sense, or of the psalm or song, so it is highly probable the ancient musicians put _selah_ in the margin of their psalters, to show where a musical pause was to be made, or where the tune ended.