What does blessed be the name of the lord mean?

Answer 1

This is a translation of a congregational response from the Hebrew liturgy used in the time of the Temple in Jerusalem. When the High Priest pronounced the Tetragrammaton, the 4-letter name of God, those who heard the name would respond “Baruch Shem kevod malchuto le’olam va’ed,” meaning something like "blessed be the holy Name, who's glorious kingdom is forever and ever." To this day, in the Jewish liturgy, it is said after the Shema ("Hear oh Israel, the Lord your God the Lord is One.") In Eastern Orthodoxy, this has become a final congregational response, expanded into a hymn, at the end of the liturgy. Given the difficulty of translation, this is also attributed to Psalm 113:2 -- the Hebrew there is significantly different, but when rendered into English (or Latin, or High Church Slavonic) it can be the same: "Yehe Shem Adonai m'varech, meata v'ad olam," meaning literally "May the Name of the Lord be blessed, from now to forever" (my translation). Psalm 113 is the first of the Hallel psalms, recited in the Jewish liturgy on pilgrimage festivals and new moons).