Hallelujah
The Greek transliteration ἀλληλούϊα (allēlouia) appears in the Septuagint version of these Psalms, in Tobit 13:17 and 3 Maccabees 7:13, and four times in Revelation 19:1–6, the great song of praise to God for his triumph over the Whore of Babylon.
[19] In Tractate Shabbat of the Talmud, Rabbi Yose is quoted as saying that the Pesukei dezimra Psalms should be recited daily.
[20] Psalms 145–150, also known as the Hallel of pesukei dezimra, are included to fulfill this requirement in the liturgy for the traditional Jewish Shacharit (morning) service.
This expanded version of the third blessing in the Amidah is said during the Shacharit and Mincha (morning and afternoon) services when there is a minyan present.
[24] At the Easter service and throughout the Pentecostarion, Christos anesti is used in the place where Hallelujah is chanted in the western rite expressing happiness.
[25] In contemporary worship services across denominational lines, the use of these jubilatory phrases require no specific prompting or call or direction from those leading times of praise and singing.
[28] In modern English, "Hallelujah" is frequently spoken to express happiness that a thing hoped or waited for has happened.
Leonard Cohen's 1984 song "Hallelujah" was initially rejected by Columbia Records for lacking commercial appeal, was popularized through covers by John Cale (1991) and Jeff Buckley (1994), achieved "modern ubiquity" after its inclusion in the animated movie Shrek (2001), and reached the Billboard charts upon Cohen's death in 2016.
