It comes as a shock to learn that the Book of Common Prayer, one of the two distinguishing documents of the Anglican church, nowhere uses the word. At the time of the Reformation, one of the complaints was that church services were "in a language not understanded of the people" (from Article 24 of the Thirty-Nine Articles, the other distinguishing document of the Anglican church (themselves not easily understood by people nowadays!)). So when Archbishop Thomas Cranmer almost single-handedly produced the Prayer Book in 1549, not only did Latin disappear, except in the universities, but also Greek (where Kyrie eleison became Lord have mercy upon us) and Hebrew - except for the word Amen ("truly"), which everybody understood, and which was probably untranslatable anyway.
For Alleluia is Hebrew. A better transcription is Hallelujah - meaning, praise the Lord. We use it, but in English, at Morning and at Evening Prayer. In the Prayer Book translation we say, "Praise ye the Lord." "The Lord's name be praised." And in our modern service book, we use the slightly mutated form "Let us worship the Lord." "All praise to his name."
The word found its rightful place in worship again after 1708, when a book of hymns, Lyra Davidica, was published, including "Christ the Lord is risen today", where it comes at the end of every line. And later, Charles Wesley used it in his hymns, and from there it found its way into the Free Churches in the evangelical tradition, and into modern songs and choruses.
Hallelujah is the refrain in a number of Psalms, especially in the last section of the psalter. In particular, Psalms 113 to 118 echo God's praises. These were used at the great Jewish festivals. Jesus and his disciples would have sung them - two before and four after - at the Last Supper. They would also have sung Psalm 136, known as "the Great Hallel".
The early church used Alleluia in prayers, or just as a prayer by itself, "a shout of encouragement". In the Eucharist, a psalm was often used - in Western Europe just before the reading of the Gospel - and elaborate plainchant settings were composed for singing Alleluia at the end of these, especially during the fifty days between Easter and Whitsun, when, as St Augustine said at the beginning of the fifth century, it is "a characteristic expression of joy." For this reason, the Western church refrained from singing Alleluia during Lent and Advent, as a sign of penitence and expectancy: for we are saved "already, but not yet", as someone has said.
The word is used in only two places in the Bible outside the Psalms. One is in Tobit 13:18 (one of the Apocrypha - the books in the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the early church), the other in Revelation 19:1-6. Both are used as a song of joy at the final victory of God over evil.
And this brings us back to Easter. For by his resurrection, Jesus conquered death and sin once and for all time. The Kingdom of Heaven is already here, waiting for us to accept it with our whole hearts, and to be caught up in the rejoicing of the saints above, who praise the Lord for ever. Alleluia!
HD