Psalms 82:2

The interpretation of סלה (selah) as an imperative form related to the root סלל (“to lift up, build up, cast up”) has been a subject of longstanding debate in biblical philology. While סלה was traditionally understood as a liturgical or musical term (like a pause or interlude), compelling evidence from other texts demonstrates that imperative forms derived from סלל were clearly used with the sense of “build up” or “cast up,” including with pronominal suffixes, which may underlie the semantic development or usage of סלה.

In Jeremiah 50:26, the imperative verb with a third-person feminine singular suffix appears as סלוה (sallûhā), translated as “pile her up” or “build her up” in reference to Babylon’s storehouses:

פתחו מאבסיה סלוהָ כמוֹ־ ערמים
“Open her storehouses, build her up as heaps.”

Here, סלוה is a clear Qal imperative plural form of סלל with the pronominal suffix הָ- (“her”), demonstrating the verbal usage in an imperative sense corresponding to “cast/build her up.”

Similarly, in Isaiah 57:14, the imperative verb סלו (sollû) occurs in a doubling, followed by an imperative פנוּ (“turn/face”):

ואמר סלו־ סלו פַנוּ־
“And he spoke, ‘Build up, build up, face the road!’” (RBT)

The base imperative form of the root סלל in the Qal stem is סל (sol), corresponding to the 2nd person masculine singular imperative “cast up” or “build up.”

סלה (sōlāh) would be the Qal 2nd person masculine singular imperative of the root ס־ל־ל (s-l-l) with the 3rd person feminine singular suffix -הָ (“her”), meaning “build her up” or “cast her up”.