Lexical Summary
hadarah: Splendor, majesty, beauty
Original Word:הֲדָרָה
Part of Speech:Noun Feminine
Transliteration:hadarah
Pronunciation:hah-dah-RAH
Phonetic Spelling:(had-aw-raw')
KJV: beauty, honour
Word Origin:[feminine ofH1926 (הָדָר - majesty)]
1. decoration
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
beauty, honor
Feminine ofhadar; decoration -- beauty, honour.
see HEBREWhadar
Brown-Driver-Briggs
[] — only construct ; —
holy adornment (ChePsalm), always in connection with public worship of1 Chronicles 16:29; 2Chronicles 20:21;Psalm 29:2;Psalm 96:9.
the glory of a king, figurative of ,Proverbs 14:28.
Topical Lexicon
OverviewHadarah (הֲדָרָה, Strong’s Hebrew 1927) conveys the idea of stately beauty, regal splendor, or majestic honor. Every occurrence associates that splendor with either the holiness of God or the stature of a ruler, highlighting a glory that is both awe-inspiring and covenantally ordered.
Occurrences and Contexts
1 Chronicles 16:29;2 Chronicles 20:21;Psalm 29:2;Psalm 96:9 – the term crowns calls to worship, anchoring the congregation’s response to “the splendor of His holiness.”
Proverbs 14:28 – the word sets forth a civic principle: “A large population is a king’s glory,” showing that human authority reflects splendor when rightly ordered under God.
Worship and Liturgical Usage
The four cultic texts employ hadarah within hymnic imperatives. David’s tabernacle liturgy (1 Chronicles 16) and the Psalter exhort the people to acknowledge Yahweh’s unrivaled majesty. In2 Chronicles 20, singers march ahead of Judah’s army, declaring: “Give thanks to the LORD, for His loving devotion endures forever,” thus linking hadarah with covenant faithfulness. The worshiper is not invited to create beauty but to enter and proclaim the beauty already inherent in God’s holiness.
Royal and Communal Splendor
Proverbs 14:28 shifts the focus to earthly kingship, teaching that splendor is realized in the flourishing of subjects. Theologically, human glory is derivative; a ruler’s majesty is a reflection of the greater divine hadarah. Misused authority erodes that reflected glory, whereas wise leadership mirrors God’s regal beauty.
Theological Themes
1. Holiness as Beauty – Hadarah insists that true beauty is moral and relational, arising from God’s holy character.
2. Glory Shared and Reflected – Whether in heavenly praise or civic wellbeing, splendor radiates outward, drawing others into ordered worship and life.
3. Eschatological Anticipation – The phrase “splendor of His holiness” anticipates the consummation when the knowledge of the LORD covers the earth (compareHabakkuk 2:14), and every realm will echo the cry of Psalms 29 and 96.
Pastoral and Ministry Applications
• Worship Planning – Services should intentionally portray the kind of holiness-splendor these texts celebrate: reverent, joyful, Scripture-saturated.
• Leadership –Proverbs 14:28 challenges pastors and civic leaders alike: the health of the people is the leader’s ornament. Shepherding that builds up the flock magnifies God’s glory.
• Discipleship – Teaching believers to perceive beauty in holiness counters a culture that divorces aesthetics from morality. Spiritual formation should unite virtue and loveliness, reflecting divine hadarah.
Canonical Connections
The Septuagint renders hadarah with words later applied to Jesus Christ (doxa, timē), preparing readers to see in the incarnate Son the fullest disclosure of divine splendor (John 1:14;Hebrews 1:3). Thus the Old Testament summons to worship in hadarah finds its Christological fulfillment, and the church continues the refrain, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name” (Psalm 29:2).
Forms and Transliterations
בְּהַדְרַת־ בהדרת־ הַדְרַת־ הדרת־ לְהַדְרַת־ להדרת־ bə·haḏ·raṯ- behadrat bəhaḏraṯ- haḏ·raṯ- hadrat haḏraṯ- lə·haḏ·raṯ- lehadrat ləhaḏraṯ-
Links
Interlinear Greek •
Interlinear Hebrew •
Strong's Numbers •
Englishman's Greek Concordance •
Englishman's Hebrew Concordance •
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