Aramaic word · H2103
זוּד
lahazadah
be proud
Aramaic causative: to act presumptuously, insolently, defiantly. The Hebrew cognate (H2102) means to boil or seethe (Gen 25:29, Jacob 'boiled' stew) and, figuratively, to act with deliberate arrogance, overstepping a boundary on purpose.
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament.
What it means
1) to act proudly, be presumptuous
1a) (Aphel) to act presumptuously
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
- Range of meaning
Aramaic causative: to act presumptuously, insolently, defiantly. The Hebrew cognate (H2102) means to boil or seethe (Gen 25:29, Jacob 'boiled' stew) and, figuratively, to act with deliberate arrogance, overstepping a boundary on purpose. The related Hebrew nouns zādôn (presumption, insolence) and zēd (an insolent person) are common in Psalms and Proverbs.
- Against the English
BSB and KJV 'hardened with/in pride' make it a state of mind. WEB 'so that he dealt proudly' and YLT 'to act proudly' keep the action and the result clause better. The word is not mainly about feeling superior. It is about doing what one has no right to do.
- How it drifted
English 'pride' now covers everything from healthy self-respect to vanity, and it usually names an inner attitude. The Semitic root names presumptuous conduct: a subordinate defying a superior's limits.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Hebrew uses: Exod 21:14 (a man who 'acts presumptuously' against his neighbor to kill him by cunning, that is, premeditated murder). Deut 17:12–13 (whoever 'acts presumptuously' by refusing the verdict of the priest or judge). Deut 18:20 (the prophet who 'presumes' to speak in God's name). Most strikingly, Jer 50:29, 31 says Babylon 'has acted presumptuously (zādāh) against the LORD' and calls the city 'O Presumption' (zādôn). The Aramaic word appears only here in the Bible.
Where it appears
Daniel · 1
-
Daniel 5:20 לַהֲזָדָ֑ה to act presumptuously
But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
Here: 'So as to act presumptuously': the result the hardening produced. The root pictures boiling over, and it means deliberately overstepping the limits a higher authority has set. This is the only time it appears in biblical Aramaic.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.