To be high or rise can describe elevation, while a heart's rising may be assessed as delight or as pride according to the account. Jehoshaphat's heart takes delight in the Lord's ways as he removes the named objects of idolatry and arranges teaching.
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Full entry for גָּבַהּ (H1361) · Open the biblical lexicon
To be high or rise can describe elevation, while a heart's rising may be assessed as delight or as pride according to the account. Jehoshaphat's heart takes delight in the Lord's ways as he removes the named objects of idolatry and arranges teaching.
The BSB source-word alignment has 34 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include are higher (2), high (2), is proud (2), It towered (2), and exalts them (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at 1 Samuel 10:23. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (10), Isaiah (6), 2 Chronicles (4), Job (4).
To be high or rise can describe elevation, while a heart's rising may be assessed as delight or as pride according to the account. Jehoshaphat's heart takes delight in the Lord's ways as he removes the named objects of idolatry and arranges teaching. Uzziah's power is followed by arrogance and unfaithfulness when he enters the sanctuary to offer incense outside his stated responsibility.
Isaiah compares the Lord's ways and thoughts with heavens higher than the earth. These uses do not make every rising or inward confidence the same moral condition. Hear what is elevated, toward what the heart is directed and how the passage judges the action. The Lord's higher ways are not a title for a leader's unaccountable conduct, and Uzziah's narrated judgment does not provide a diagnosis of the cause of another person's illness.
Jehoshaphat's delight in the Lord's ways, Uzziah's destructive pride and Isaiah's comparison of divine and human ways require different assessments. Elevation is described or judged through the actual object, orientation and action.
And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord; furthermore, he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.
Jehoshaphat's heart takes delight in the Lord's ways, with removal of high places and Asherah poles and the subsequent arrangement of teaching giving the account its stated direction.
But when Uzziah became powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Uzziah's increased power is followed by arrogance and unfaithful entry to offer incense, while the priests' response names the particular boundary he has crossed.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
The heavens' height above earth compares the Lord's ways and thoughts with the people's, within His summons to return, promise of pardon and account of His accomplishing word.
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. Physical elevation to metaphorical pride: ascending literally becomes ascending in arrogance and self-exaltation against God's supremacy.
Physical elevation to metaphorical pride: ascending literally becomes ascending in arrogance and self-exaltation against God's supremacy.
to soar, i.e. be lofty; figuratively, to be haughty BDB: be high Usage: exalt, be haughty, be (make) high(-er), lift up, mount up, be proud, raise up great height, upward.
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 2 selected witnesses from 34 lexical occurrence verses.
גָּבַהּ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The term captures the posture that provokes divine opposition and eventual humbling.Hosea 13:1-8
Prosperity breeds self-exaltation.Isaiah 3:16-4:1
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Chronicles' two kings show why a lifted heart must be read in its actual direction. Jehoshaphat takes delight in the Lord's ways and supports teaching; Uzziah's growing power precedes arrogant unfaithfulness, exposed when the priests confront his unauthorized incense offering. The shared elevation family does not erase that difference. Isaiah supplies another application, comparing God's ways with heavens higher than earth within an invitation to return and receive pardon.
A teacher should therefore let the passage identify delight, pride or comparison instead of treating the verb as an automatic condemnation. Uzziah's scene also preserves the legitimacy of the priests' stated objection to a powerful king, rather than demanding silence before authority. Its particular judgment must not be turned into a diagnosis of every modern illness.
The comparison with God's higher ways should direct readers to His stated promise, never to unquestionable claims made on His behalf by a human ruler.
2Chr.26.16
The licensed Hebrew verb includes being high or elevated and a figurative proud application. Jehoshaphat's heart expression receives a positive contextual assessment, while Uzziah's receives a negative one. The related high adjective remains separate, and neither a root association nor an isolated English gloss replaces the account's stated judgment.
Luke 18:9-14 explicitly contrasts self-righteous contempt with the tax collector's plea for mercy, then speaks of self-exaltation and humbling. That Greek account supplies its own moral contrast and can be compared with Chronicles' assessed hearts without condemning Jehoshaphat's delight or making every elevation verb one identical canonical sense.