שִׂיא

From the study of Job 20:6

Range of meaning

Height, elevation, loftiness. It is generally taken as a noun from נָשָׂא (nasaʾ, 'to lift, raise'), the same root behind śeʾet ('rising, dignity'). Because it appears only here, its meaning is worked out from that root and from the parallel 'his head … to the clouds'. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'loftiness, height'.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'excellency'; WEB and ESV 'height'; NASB 'loftiness'; BSB 'arrogance'; NIV 'pride'. 'Height' and 'loftiness' keep the picture of physical stature. 'Arrogance' and 'pride' spell out a moral meaning the context implies, but they swap the image for an abstract label.

How it drifted

In 1611 'excellency' still meant 'eminence, elevated standing'. It now suggests either moral excellence or a diplomatic title ('Your Excellency'), neither of which is the point. The modern 'pride/arrogance' renderings go the other way and turn a picture into a judgment.

Used elsewhere in the period

Unique (hapax legomenon) in the Hebrew Bible. Ancient translators split on it. The Greek Septuagint seems to have connected the root 'lift' with things lifted up to God and rendered it 'his gifts' (offerings). The Latin Vulgate has superbia, 'pride'. The image of human height reaching the sky is common: Gen 11:4 (Babel), Isa 14:13–14 (the king of Babylon: 'I will ascend to heaven … above the heights of the clouds', using the same word ʿab), Obad 3–4, Jer 51:53, Ezek 31:3–10 (the cedar whose top is among the clouds), Dan 4:11 (the tree reaching to heaven).