to lift up or raise: to move the eyes, head, hands, voice, or an object upward
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
This is the everyday word for raising something upward. It is built from the common verb for lifting (αἴρω) with a prefix that adds the sense of "up," so it almost always names a deliberate upward movement.
Most of its uses are fixed gestures, each carrying its own plain meaning:
lifting the eyes or the head, which means to look up or to take heart
lifting the hands, the posture of blessing and of prayer
lifting the voice, which simply means to speak out or cry aloud
lifting the heel against someone, an old figure of speech for turning on a friend
The Gospel writers took these phrases straight from the Hebrew Scriptures, where the verb for carrying (נָשָׂא) is paired with "eyes," "voice," or "hands" in the very same way. Because English keeps most of these idioms, their meaning usually comes through in translation.
Nuances
1ato raise the eyes or head: to look up, whether to see something, to look to God, or to take heart
Mat 17:8Luk 6:20Luk 16:23Luk 18:13Luk 21:28*Jhn 4:35Jhn 6:5Jhn 17:1
1bto raise the hands: the gesture of blessing or of prayer
Luk 24:501Ti 2:8
1cto raise the voice: to speak out or cry aloud
Luk 11:27Act 2:14Act 14:11Act 22:22
1dto lift the heel against someone: to turn on a friend (an idiom of betrayal)
TranslatabilityApproximate
Jhn 13:18*
1eto raise or hoist physically: to lift an object, or to be taken up bodily
Act 1:9*Act 27:40
2
to exalt oneself: to rise up in pride or opposition
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
In two places Paul turns the same verb around: not lifting something up, but a person lifting himself up. The picture is of someone who rises too high, whether by lording it over other people or by setting his own thinking above the truth about God.
This is the language of pride and defiance. It sits close to the standard word for exalting (ὑψόω), but where that word can describe honor rightly given, here the raising is self-made and unwelcome: a person who puts on airs, or a proud argument that stands itself up against the knowledge of God.
2Co 10:52Co 11:20
Related words
The English words used to translate epairō
“lift up”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“raise”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
keeps the picture of a person physically rising up too high, standing over others or over the truth2Co 11:202Co 10:5
Both
both name a raising of oneself above where one belongs2Co 11:20
Only exalt oneself
the English "exalt" can describe honor that is deserved or God-given, while here the lifting is always proud and unwelcome
How epairō differs from similar Greek words
αἴρωThe broader verb for lifting, taking up, or carrying away; this word is its focused form, aimed at raising something upward, especially the eyes, hands, or voice.
It raises a part of the body upward as a deliberate gesture: the eyes to look, the hands in blessing or prayer, the head in hope.Mat 17:8Luk 24:50Luk 21:28
Figuratively it means to lift oneself up in pride or set oneself against another in hostility.2Co 10:52Co 11:20Jhn 13:18
Both
Both can describe raising the voice, lifting it in a loud cry or proclamation.Act 4:24Act 2:14
It picks up and carries an object: taking up a mat, hoisting stones, shouldering a cross.Mat 9:6Jhn 5:8Mat 27:32
It means to take away or remove something, from lifting off a burden to canceling a debt to washing away sin.Jhn 1:29Jhn 11:39Col 2:14
In a mob cry it hardens into a demand to do away with someone, to get rid of them by death.Luk 23:18Jhn 19:15Act 21:36
It gathers up what is left over, collecting the leftover fragments after a meal.Mat 14:20Mrk 8:8
ὑψόωThe standard verb for exalting or being exalted, often of honor rightly given; this word's figurative use is narrower and negative, the self-made pride a person takes on.
The ordinary physical act of raising a part of the body: eyes toward something, hands in prayer, the head in expectation.Jhn 17:1Luk 21:281Ti 2:8
Raising the voice, that is, speaking out loudly so a crowd can hear.Luk 11:27Act 2:14Act 14:11
Hoisting up a physical object, such as a ship's sail to catch the wind.Act 27:40
Figuratively, puffing oneself up in arrogance, setting oneself up against God or lording it over others, without any note of true honor.2Co 10:52Co 11:20
Raising a person to a higher station in status or rank, the plain opposite of bringing them low, and often God's own doing.Luk 1:52Jas 4:101Pe 5:6
The reversal proverb where the one who exalts himself will be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted, weighing a person's standing rather than their body.Mat 23:12Luk 14:11Luk 18:14
God's exaltation of Christ to the place of highest honor at his right hand.Act 2:33Act 5:31
In John, the deliberate double sense of Jesus being "lifted up" on the cross, where the physical raising is at the same time his glorification.Jhn 3:14Jhn 8:28Jhn 12:32
epairō in the other biblical languages
נָשָׂאHebrew“to lift: bear”The broad Hebrew verb for lifting, carrying, and bearing; the New Testament's "lift up the eyes, voice, and hands" idioms come straight from its set phrases.
Used reflexively for arrogant self-exaltation, a person or power that rises up against God or lords it over others.2Co 10:52Co 11:20
Both
Both form the set phrase "lift up the eyes," raising one's gaze to look at something; the New Testament idiom follows the Hebrew directly.Gen 13:14Jhn 4:35
Both form the set phrase "lift up the voice," to cry out or speak up loudly.Gen 21:16Act 2:14
Both raise the hand as a solemn, weighty gesture, whether in an oath or in blessing.Exo 6:8Luk 24:50
Carries or bears a physical load, hoisting cargo and provisions or loading them onto animals.Gen 45:23Exo 12:34
Bears guilt, and so comes to mean "forgive," lifting sin or trespass away from the guilty party.Gen 50:17Exo 10:17
Takes a person up and carries them away, moving someone from one place to another.Gen 46:5Gen 47:30
רוּםHebrew“to exalt”The Hebrew verb for being high or exalted; it matches this word's figurative sense of rising up in pride more than its plain physical lifting.
Raising the eyes to look, a set gesture of lifting one's gaze upward or toward someone. This is the single most common use of the Greek word, where Hebrew normally reaches for a different verb.Mat 17:8Jhn 17:1Luk 18:13
Concrete acts of hoisting or being lifted up in the physical world, such as raising a ship's sail or a body carried up out of sight at the ascension.Act 27:40Act 1:9
Both
The plain physical act of raising the hand upward.Exo 14:161Ti 2:8
Lifting oneself up in pride, arrogantly raising oneself above one's proper place and against God.Deu 8:142Co 10:52Co 11:20
The plain physical height of things in the world, with no person involved: floodwaters rising over the earth, or worship sites perched on high hills and mountains.Gen 7:17Deu 12:2
Raising a person's status or rank, the reversal by which God brings the humble low and lifts the poor from the dust to seat them with princes.1Sa 2:71Sa 2:8
Exalting God in praise, holding him high above all rivals in worship.Exo 15:2
A cultic technical sense: the portion of an offering that is set apart and lifted off as the priests' due, the raised contribution.Num 15:19Num 18:19
What scholars say about epairō
ἐπαίρω (ἐπί + αἴρω) means to raise or lift up, attested from classical Greek onward (LSJ) for the physical elevation of objects and body parts. In the Septuagint and the New Testament it renders and reflects the Hebrew idiom of נָשָׂא plus a body-part object (eyes, voice, hands), a set of fixed expressions for looking up, crying out, and lifting the hands in prayer or blessing (BDAG). Acts 27:40 preserves the nautical sense of hoisting a sail, which is also documented in the papyri (Moulton-Milligan). The middle and passive forms carry a figurative sense of self-exaltation or presumptuous opposition, which Paul applies to a domineering intruder (2 Corinthians 11:20) and to every proud argument set against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5); BDAG classes these under a distinct sense of rising up in opposition.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. ἐπαίρωlexicon
LSJ, s.v. ἐπαίρωlexicon
Moulton and Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, s.v. ἐπαίρωlexicon