Aramaic word · H7313

רוּם

hitromamta

to rise

רוּם means to be high, rise, be exalted. In the causative it means to raise someone up or promote them (5:19). In the reflexive it means to exalt oneself (5:23). לְבַב (heart) is the inner command center: mind, intention, will, understanding.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to rise

1a) (P'al) to be lifted up

1b) (Aphel) to exalt

1c) (Hithpolel) to lift oneself up

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 Daniel 5:20

Range of meaning

רוּם means to be high, rise, be exalted. In the causative it means to raise someone up or promote them (5:19). In the reflexive it means to exalt oneself (5:23). לְבַב (heart) is the inner command center: mind, intention, will, understanding. A 'heart raised high' is a fixed phrase for arrogance: a person setting himself above his proper place.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT keep the picture ('lifted up', 'was high'). BSB and NIV turn it into the abstract word 'arrogant'. That is accurate, but it loses the up-and-down movement that holds the verse together: the heart goes up and the king is brought down.

How it drifted

Modern English links 'heart' with emotion, so 'his heart became arrogant' can sound like a feeling of conceit. In Aramaic and Hebrew the heart is where decisions are made. A lifted heart is a stance of the will toward God and other people.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew parallels: Deut 8:14 ('your heart be lifted up and you forget the LORD'). Deut 17:20, from the law of the king: he must read the Torah 'so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers'. Ezek 28:2, 5, 17, the king of Tyre (with the synonym gābah). Isa 14:13–15, the king of Babylon who says 'I will ascend' and is 'brought down to Sheol'. In Daniel the same root shapes the whole scene: God 'raised' Nebuchadnezzar to greatness (5:19). Nebuchadnezzar 'raised' whomever he liked (5:19, mārim). His heart 'rose' (5:20). Belshazzar 'exalted himself' against the Lord of heaven (5:23).

From the study of Daniel 5:23

Range of meaning

The root rum means 'be high' or 'rise'. In the active form it means to raise someone or exalt them. The reflexive form used here means to raise oneself up, to act as if one stands higher than one does.

Against the English

BSB and NASB say 'exalted yourself', KJV and ESV 'lifted up yourself', NIV 'set yourself up', NLT 'proudly defied'. All of these catch the arrogance. The rhythm of up and down in the chapter is easy to miss in English.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 5:19–20 uses the same root. God gave Nebuchadnezzar power so that 'whom he wished he raised up, whom he wished he brought low', and 'his heart was lifted up' (rim) until God brought him down. In 4:37 the humbled Nebuchadnezzar exalts (meromem) the King of heaven and says that 'those who walk in pride he is able to humble.'

Where it appears

Daniel · 4

  1. Daniel 4:37 וּמְרוֹמֵ֤ם and [am] lifting up

    Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

    Here: 'And lifting high.' This is the 'high' word that the verse's last word, 'bring low', answers. In 5:20 and 5:23 the same root describes a heart 'lifted up' against God. Here the king lifts up God and not himself.

  2. Daniel 5:19 מָרִ֔ים lifting up

    Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.

  3. Daniel 5:20 רִ֣ם it rose up

    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: 'Rose high, was lifted up.' A raised heart is the standard Hebrew and Aramaic picture of arrogance. It also plays on v. 19: Nebuchadnezzar 'raised up' (mārim, same root) whomever he wished, until his own heart rose.

  4. Daniel 5:23 הִתְרוֹמַ֡מְתָּ you have lifted yourself up

    Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

    Here: 'You have lifted yourself up.' The verb is reflexive and pictures height: the king has made himself high. It reverses 5:22 ('you have not humbled your heart') and claims for himself what 5:19 says belongs to God, raising up and bringing low.

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