To be high actively, to rise or raise (in various applications, literally or figuratively)
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רוּם (rûm) means to be high, rise, or be exalted, and in other stems to lift, raise, present, exalt, or exalt oneself. Moses raises his hand, contributions are lifted or presented, high places stand above the landscape, a voice is raised in proclamation, and people or nations can be elevated in status.
Reader summary
Full entry for רוּם (H7311) · Open the biblical lexicon
רוּם (rûm) means to be high, rise, or be exalted, and in other stems to lift, raise, present, exalt, or exalt oneself. Moses raises his hand, contributions are lifted or presented, high places stand above the landscape, a voice is raised in proclamation, and people or nations can be elevated in status.
The BSB source-word alignment has 190 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include be exalted (7), is exalted (6), . . . (4), contributed (4), high (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 7:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (49), Isaiah (25), Ezekiel (17), Numbers (17).
רוּם (rûm) means to be high, rise, or be exalted, and in other stems to lift, raise, present, exalt, or exalt oneself. Moses raises his hand, contributions are lifted or presented, high places stand above the landscape, a voice is raised in proclamation, and people or nations can be elevated in status. The stem, object, and setting decide whether the action is physical, ritual, social, rhetorical, or theological.
Scripture uses rûm both for God's incomparable height and for human pride that forgets or defies God. Isaiah sees the Lord high and exalted, while Isaiah 2 announces a day against human loftiness. Deuteronomy warns a king not to lift his heart above fellow Israelites. Praise can exalt God's name without making God greater than he is, and God can raise people from danger or humiliation without endorsing every ambition for prominence.
Isaiah 52:13 announces that the servant will be raised, lifted up, and highly exalted before the poem describes rejection and suffering. Later canonical interpretation connects the servant's humiliation and vindication to Jesus, but the H7311 verb alone does not establish every detail of that Christological reading. Biblical reversal should comfort people who are brought low and confront pride; it must not be used to keep abused or poor people compliant with promises that suffering automatically produces status.
Rûm moves from literal height and lifting to ritual presentation, public proclamation, honor, divine exaltation, and proud self-elevation. The same vertical image can be positive, neutral, or condemned.
Moses raises his hand during Israel's battle with Amalek, a literal action within a narrated sign of dependence.
A portion of the ordination offering is raised or presented within the priestly rite.
Israel is warned that a lifted heart can forget the Lord after receiving abundance in the land.
The king must not lift his heart above fellow Israelites or turn aside from the commandment.
Hannah confesses that the Lord brings low and also raises up within her song of divine reversal.
Isaiah sees the Lord seated on a throne that is high and lifted up in the temple vision.
The servant is promised success and extraordinary exaltation as the final servant poem opens.
The high and exalted One also dwells with the crushed and lowly in spirit to revive them.
The worshiping community is invited to magnify the Lord and exalt his name together.
Boastful people are warned not to lift their horn high or speak with an arrogant neck.
The Lord raises the poor from the dust in a psalm that joins divine height to compassionate attention.
A generation with lofty eyes and raised eyelids embodies the arrogance criticized by the saying.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Ranges from physical elevation to exaltation; when applied to God, emphasizes absolute supremacy; of humans, often carries pride connotations.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 193 lexical occurrence verses.
רוּם is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Rûm asks who is lifting whom, what is being raised, and toward what end. Deuteronomy 17 makes accountable solidarity a test of royal elevation. Isaiah 6 locates true majesty in the holy Lord, while Isaiah 57 says this exalted God dwells with crushed people to revive them. Psalm 34 turns exaltation into shared praise rather than self-advertisement. Isaiah 52 promises the servant's vindication without inviting teachers to skip the suffering described in the poem.
Churches should resist celebrity systems that confuse visibility with holiness, and they should refuse applications that tell harmed people to accept degradation as a route to later reward. Humility means truthful dependence and neighbor-regarding service, not erasure of dignity, voice, boundaries, or legal protection.
Isa.57.15
H7311 appears across several verbal stems. Qal commonly describes being high or rising, while causative and intensive forms can express lifting, raising, presenting, exalting, or self-exalting. A translation such as exalt can therefore conceal an ordinary physical or ritual action.
The New Testament describes Jesus' humiliation and exaltation, calls communities to humility, and warns against self-promotion. Those teachings resonate with this Hebrew trajectory but require their own Greek vocabulary and literary contexts.
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