Hallowed means set apart as holy, revered as sacred, treated with the highest honor and awe due the divine. In the Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be thy name" (Matt. 6:9) is a petition — and a declaration — that God's name would be regarded as it truly is: utterly holy, infinitely worthy, and absolutely other. To hallow God's name is not merely to avoid profanity but to live, think, speak, and worship in a manner that reflects the holiness of the God who bears it. Hallowing is the proper human response to divine revelation.
HALLOWED, pp. Consecrated; made holy; set apart from common use for sacred purposes. HALLOW, v.t. To make holy; to consecrate; to set apart for holy or religious use. "God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it." (Gen. 2:3)
Culture has reduced "hallowed" to a vague adjective meaning "revered by tradition" — as in "hallowed ground" at a battlefield or sports stadium. The sacred weight of the word — its direct connection to the holiness of God — has been scraped away. More perversely, "Hallowed" appears in pop culture (Harry Potter's "Deathly Hallows") divorced from any divine referent. When any ground can be "hallowed" without reference to God, the word loses its vertical dimension entirely.
Matthew 6:9 — "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."
Genesis 2:3 — "So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work."
Exodus 20:11 — "The LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Leviticus 22:32 — "You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be hallowed among the people of Israel."
Ezekiel 36:23 — "I will vindicate the holiness of my great name… and the nations will know that I am the LORD."
G37 — hagiazo — "to make holy, to sanctify, to set apart"; the Greek word used in Matt. 6:9 for "hallowed."
G40 — hagios — "holy, sacred, set apart"; the root of hagiazo.
H6942 — qadash — "to be set apart, to consecrate, to hallow"; the Hebrew counterpart for making holy.
• "To hallow God's name is to live in such a way that those around you come to see God as holy."
• "The Sabbath was hallowed by God Himself — its sanctity does not depend on human agreement."
• "Every prayer that begins with 'hallowed be thy name' is a vow to align one's life with God's glory."