Hebrew word · H1348

גֵּאוּת

ge'ut

majesty

From gāʾâ, 'to rise up, be high'. It means loftiness, which can be good (God's majesty, Ps 93:1; the surging of the sea, Ps 89:9) or bad (arrogance, Isa 9:9 [9:8 Heb.], where Ephraim speaks 'in pride and arrogance of heart').

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) majesty

1a) a rising up (of column of smoke)

1b) a swelling (of sea)

1c) majesty (of God)

1d) pride

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 28:3

Range of meaning

From gāʾâ, 'to rise up, be high'. It means loftiness, which can be good (God's majesty, Ps 93:1; the surging of the sea, Ps 89:9) or bad (arrogance, Isa 9:9 [9:8 Heb.], where Ephraim speaks 'in pride and arrogance of heart').

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'crown of pride' and ESV/NASB 'proud crown' keep the moral edge. BSB 'majestic crown' gives only the positive side, so the reader misses that the crown stands for arrogance.

How it drifted

Modern 'pride' often means healthy self-respect or a thing one is proud of, while 'majestic' sounds purely admiring. The Hebrew word holds splendour and arrogance together, and in Isaiah, when it is used of human beings, it almost always means something God brings low (Isa 2:11-17).

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates it hybris ('insolence, outrageous arrogance'), so the earliest translators read it as negative. Isa 9:9 uses related vocabulary for Ephraim's boast that it would rebuild after disaster.

From the study of Isaiah 28:1

Range of meaning

From a root meaning 'to rise up, be high'. It can mean genuine majesty (God 'clothed with majesty', Psalm 93:1; the 'swelling' of the sea, Psalm 89:9) or arrogant self-exaltation (Psalm 17:10; Isaiah 9:9 of Ephraim's boast).

Against the English

KJV's 'crown of pride' hears only arrogance. BSB's 'majestic crown' hears only splendor. Hebrew allows both at once, and Isaiah exploits that.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 9:9 [9:8 Hebrew] uses a related word for Ephraim's arrogant boast after earlier disasters. The root is used of God's own exaltation in Exodus 15:1 ('he is highly exalted').

From the study of Isaiah 26:10

Range of meaning

Loftiness, majesty, exaltation; also a swelling or rising (of the sea, Psalm 89:9) and, used of humans, arrogance or pride. It comes from gāʾâ, 'rise up, be high'.

Against the English

'Majesty' (most versions) and 'excellency' (YLT) are accurate. They can miss the dynamic sense of something rising up or towering, which links to verse 11's 'your hand is lifted high'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 12:5: 'he has done gloriously (gēʾût)'. Psalm 93:1: 'the LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty (gēʾût)'. Psalm 89:9: 'you rule the raging (gēʾût) of the sea'. Of humans: Psalm 17:10, 'their mouths speak with arrogance (gēʾût)'.

Where it appears

Psalms · 3

  1. Psalm 17:10 בְגֵאֽוּת׃ with pride

    They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.

    Here: 'In loftiness': from the root 'to rise up'. Of the sea or of God the word means swelling surge or majesty; of human beings it means self-exaltation. Their speech rises up, claiming a height that belongs to God.

  2. Psalm 89:9 בְּגֵא֣וּת over [the] swelling of

    You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them.

    Here: It comes from a root meaning 'to rise high'. The word can mean the physical swelling of water and also arrogance, 'rising above one's place'. The Sea is pictured as surging up and as proudly defiant at the same moment. The prefix bə- marks what the ruling is over.

  3. Psalm 93:1 גֵּא֪וּת majesty

    The LORD reigns! He is robed in majesty; the LORD has clothed and armed Himself with strength. The world indeed is firmly established; it cannot be moved.

    Here: The root means 'to rise up high.' Here it is the towering grandeur God wears as a king's robe. The same word can describe the surging of the sea (Ps 89:9) and the arrogance of proud people. That fits the next verses, where the floods 'lift up' their roar against him.

Isaiah · 5

  1. Isaiah 9:18 גֵּא֥וּת a rising up of

    For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets, which roll upward in billows of smoke.

    Here: 'A rising-up / majesty of.' Literally the smoke 'rising,' but the word usually means grandeur or pride, and the poem began with Ephraim's 'pride and arrogance of heart' (9:9). Ephraim's lofty pride ends as a towering column of smoke.

  2. Isaiah 12:5 גֵא֖וּת majesty

    Sing to the LORD, for He has done glorious things. Let this be known in all the earth.

  3. Isaiah 26:10 גֵּא֥וּת [the] majesty of

    Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.

    Here: From a root meaning 'to rise up, be high'. It is Yahweh's exalted, towering majesty, especially as shown in powerful action. Elsewhere the same root can mean human arrogance, which sharpens the irony here: the wicked man cannot see the one who is truly high.

  4. Isaiah 28:1 גֵּאוּת֙ <the> pride of

    Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of his glorious splendor, set on the summit above the fertile valley, the pride of those overcome by wine.

    Here: Something that rises high, whether as real grandeur or as swagger. Here the city's real splendor is also the thing its leaders are arrogant about.

  5. Isaiah 28:3 גֵּא֖וּת <the> pride of

    The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards will be trampled underfoot.

    Here: From a root meaning 'to rise high'. It can mean real majesty (Ps 93:1, of God) or self-lifting arrogance. Here it is both at once: the crown is splendid, and it stands for the swagger of those who wear it.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.