High can describe physical height, while a passage may use elevation language for pride when it names that inward condition. The high mountains in Psalm 104 provide a place for wild goats within praise of the Lord's creation.
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Full entry for גָּבֹהַּ (H1364) · Open the biblical lexicon
High can describe physical height, while a passage may use elevation language for pride when it names that inward condition. The high mountains in Psalm 104 provide a place for wild goats within praise of the Lord's creation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 41 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include high (10), the high (5), a high (3), . . . (1), [who is] proud (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 7:19. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (6), Isaiah (6), Ecclesiastes (5), 1 Samuel (4).
High can describe physical height, while a passage may use elevation language for pride when it names that inward condition. The high mountains in Psalm 104 provide a place for wild goats within praise of the Lord's creation. In Samuel's search among Jesse's sons, the Lord tells him not to judge by Eliab's appearance or height because the Lord sees the heart.
Proverbs explicitly condemns a proud heart. Physical elevation, impressive stature and inward arrogance therefore cannot receive one moral assessment simply from the adjective. A mountain is not proud because it is high, and a tall person is neither righteous nor guilty because of stature. Hear what is described and how the passage assesses it, keeping God's knowledge of the heart distinct from a human observer's impressions or private claims to know another person's motives.
High mountains, a candidate's height and a proud heart have different objects and assessments. Created habitat and outward stature must remain distinct from the inward arrogance explicitly condemned in Proverbs.
The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
High mountains are described as habitat for wild goats beside cliffs sheltering rock badgers, within the psalm's praise of the Lord's provision and ordering of creation.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the Lord does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord sees the heart.”
The Lord corrects Samuel's impression of Eliab by distinguishing appearance and height from the heart He sees; the statement does not grant Samuel universal insight into every hidden motive.
Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the Lord; be assured that he will not go unpunished.
The condemned condition is expressly pride in the heart, so the moral judgment must not be transferred to literal height or to every outwardly impressive person.
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. High in space or status, but prone to collapse when detached from humility before God.
High in space or status, but prone to collapse when detached from humility before God.
elevated (or elated), powerful, arrogant BDB: high Usage: haughty, height, high(-er), lofty, proud, × exceeding proudly.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
גָּבֹהַּ is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Samuel sees Eliab and initially assumes that the Lord's anointed stands before him. The Lord corrects that judgment by naming the difference between outward appearance and the heart. The issue is not that height is intrinsically evil, but that Samuel's visible impression does not establish the Lord's choice. Psalm 104 supplies an ordinary and positive created setting for height: the mountains provide habitat for wild goats.
Proverbs supplies a different object, a proud heart that the Lord detests. Teaching should therefore separate physical description from explicit moral assessment. It can challenge admiration based only on impressive appearance without pretending that a human teacher has received God's knowledge of every heart. Nor should it shame a person's stature or treat all confidence, achievement or visibility as arrogant.
The named object and stated judgment determine what the height language contributes.
1Sam.16.7
The licensed Hebrew adjective includes elevated or lofty description and a figurative proud application. The noun it qualifies and the surrounding assessment decide which use is present. Its related elevation verb is a separate entry, and neither physical measurement nor a shared English gloss supplies an automatic moral verdict.
Luke 16:14-15 distinguishes human approval from God's knowledge of hearts in Jesus' address to the Pharisees described there. That Greek teaching can be compared with Samuel's corrected outward judgment without merging lexical identities or treating every socially respected person as guilty on the basis of status alone.