Halal (הָלַל) is praise that makes noise. The root reaches toward shining, boasting, and celebrating without embarrassment, and it is the verb stacked again and again across Tehillim [Psalms] 150. From its plural imperative joined to the short name of God comes the word every tongue already knows: halelu-Yah, “praise YHWH.” Where yadah throws out the hand and barakh bends the knee, halal raises the voice. It is the least dignified and the most contagious of the praise verbs, and Scripture is not shy about commanding it.