StrongerBible

hupsoō

ὑψόω

GreekG5312exalt, lift up

Appears 20 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Mat 11:23Mat 23:12 (2×)Luk 1:52Luk 10:15Luk 14:11 (2×)Luk 18:14 (2×)Jhn 3:14 (2×)Jhn 8:28Jhn 12:32Jhn 12:34Act 2:33Act 5:31Act 13:172Co 11:7Jas 4:101Pe 5:6
Names & words formed with this
Word studyhoop-SO-ohverb

What hupsoō means

to lift up: to raise on high, and so to exalt someone to a high position of honor, status, or power

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This verb means to raise something to a high place, and from there to raise a person to a high position of honor, status, or power. The physical picture of lifting up and the social picture of exalting are the same act seen at two levels, and the New Testament moves freely between them. A plainer word exists for ordinary physical lifting, such as raising the eyes or the hands (ἐπαίρω); this word leans toward the higher raising of a person's standing.

Its most frequent use is exaltation. God lifts up the lowly, seats the risen Jesus in the place of highest honor, and promises to raise up those who lower themselves before him. This drives one of the New Testament's great reversals, repeated almost word for word: whoever lifts himself up will be brought low, and whoever lowers himself will be lifted up. The lifting here is God raising a person to honor, never a person congratulating himself.

John's Gospel turns the word into a deliberate play on words. When Jesus speaks of being lifted up, he means both his physical raising on the cross and his raising into glory as one single movement, so that the word sits very close to the word for showing forth glory (δοξάζω). The image reaches back to Moses raising the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so that all who looked to it would live.

Nuances

1ato exalt: to raise a person to a high position of honor, status, or power
Mat 23:12 (2×)Luk 1:52Luk 14:11 (2×)Luk 18:14 (2×)Act 2:33Act 5:31Act 13:172Co 11:7Jas 4:101Pe 5:6
1bto be raised to the heights: a figure of presumed privilege and standing, using the language of being lifted up to heaven
Mat 11:23Luk 10:15
1cto be lifted up (John's Gospel): the raising of Jesus on the cross, told as at once his exaltation into glory
Jhn 3:14 (2×)Jhn 8:28Jhn 12:32Jhn 12:34

What scholars say about hupsoō

The standard lexica (BDAG) give the verb two senses: to lift up spatially, and to exalt in honor, fame, position, or power, with the New Testament weighted heavily toward the second. Bertram's TDNT article on the word group traces its Septuagint background, where it commonly renders Hebrew רום and kindred roots for God's exalting of the lowly and abasing of the proud, a pattern the New Testament inherits in the exalt-and-humble sayings and the songs of reversal. On the Johannine "lifting up" (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34), commentators widely agree that the evangelist intends a deliberate double meaning in which crucifixion and exaltation to glory coincide, with the bronze-serpent episode of Numbers 21 in the background; discussion continues over how far the ascension is also folded into that single movement.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ὑψόωlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ὑψόωlexicon
  • Georg Bertram, "ὕψος, ὑψόω, ὑπερυψόω," TDNT 8:602-620theological-dictionary
  • D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Pillar New Testament Commentary, 1991), on John 3:14 and 12:32commentary

All attested forms of ὑψόω

aorist active indicative 3s

ὕψωσεν

Luk 1:52, Jhn 3:14, Act 5:31, Act 13:17

future passive indicative 3s

ὑψωθήσεται

Mat 23:12, Luk 14:11, Luk 18:14

aorist passive infinitive

ὑψωθῆναι

Jhn 3:14, Jhn 12:34

future active indicative 3s

ὑψώσει

Mat 23:12, Jas 4:10

future passive indicative 2s

ὑψωθήσῃ

Mat 11:23, Luk 10:15

present active participle nominative m s

ὑψῶν

Luk 14:11, Luk 18:14

aorist active subjunctive 2p

ὑψώσητε

Jhn 8:28

aorist active subjunctive 3s

ὑψώσῃ

1Pe 5:6

aorist passive participle nominative m s

ὑψωθεὶς

Act 2:33

aorist passive subjunctive 1s

ὑψωθῶ

Jhn 12:32

aorist passive subjunctive 2p

ὑψωθῆτε

2Co 11:7