Hebrew word · H7318

רוֹמָם

veromam

extolling

A noun from the root rûm, 'to be high'. The related verb rômēm means 'to raise up, exalt, extol' (e.g. Psalm 30:1; 34:3; 99:5, 'Exalt the LORD our God'). The noun names the act of lifting someone high, here with the voice.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Polal) praise, exaltation, extolling

Also means: ro.me.mah (רוֹמְמָה "high" H7319)

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 Psalm 149:6

Range of meaning

A noun from the root rûm, 'to be high'. The related verb rômēm means 'to raise up, exalt, extol' (e.g. Psalm 30:1; 34:3; 99:5, 'Exalt the LORD our God'). The noun names the act of lifting someone high, here with the voice. It can mean praise in general, but the picture is height: God is shouted upward.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB have 'high praises', which keeps the idea of height but can sound like 'very great compliments'. YLT's 'exaltation' is closer. Some modern versions flatten it to plain 'praise' and drop the idea of lifting up.

How it drifted

In modern English, 'high praise' is an idiom for strong approval ('the film won high praise'). In Hebrew it is a physical, spatial picture of raising God up with the voice, as you would raise a king onto a throne.

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here and Psalm 66:17 ('he was exalted with my tongue' / 'exaltation was under my tongue'). The verb rômēm is common in Psalms of praise. The Greek Septuagint renders it hypsōseis, 'exaltings, liftings-up', and the Latin Vulgate exaltationes.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 66:17 וְ֝רוֹמַ֗ם and exaltation

    I cried out to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue.

  2. Psalm 149:6 רוֹמְמ֣וֹת [the] praises of

    May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a double-edged sword in their hands,

    Here: Plural, 'exaltings of': acts of lifting God up high. The word comes from the root for 'be high', so these are shouts that raise God's name, not quiet thoughts about him. The only other use is Psalm 66:17.

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