StrongerBible

marom

מָרוֹם

HebrewH4791“on high, height, ...”

Appears 54 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Jdg 5:182Sa 22:172Ki 19:222Ki 19:23Job 5:11Job 16:19Job 25:2Job 31:2Job 39:18Psa 7:7(8)Psa 10:5Psa 18:16(17)Psa 56:2(3)Psa 68:18(19)Psa 71:19Psa 73:8Psa 75:5(6)Psa 92:8(9)Psa 93:4Psa 102:19(20)Psa 144:7Psa 148:1Pro 8:2Pro 9:3Pro 9:14Ecc 10:6Isa 22:16Isa 24:4Isa 24:18Isa 24:21 (2×)Isa 26:5Isa 33:5Isa 33:16Isa 37:23Isa 37:24 (2×)Isa 40:26Isa 57:15Jer 31:12Jer 49:16Jer 51:53Ezk 17:23Ezk 20:40Ezk 34:14Oba 1:3
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Word studymah-ROHMnoun

What marom means

height: a high place, the heights, on high; most often heaven as the high place where God dwells.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its core this word names elevation itself, the quality of being high up and the place that is high. From that one idea the Bible draws several shades that all stay tied together. The most common is heaven, pictured as the supreme height: God dwells on high, looks down from there, and reaches down from there to rescue. Closely related is ordinary elevated ground on earth, the top of a mountain or hill or the high point of a city.

Because height suggests safety and honor, the word also describes being lifted up to a secure or dignified position, set out of reach of trouble. And because height can swell into arrogance, it turns negative as well: people who hold their heads high, speak loftily, and look down on others, a proud height that God brings crashing down.

So the same word can be a comfort or a warning depending on who is high. When God is on high, height means greatness and rescue; when proud people climb high, height becomes the pride that invites their fall.

Nuances

1aheaven, the height on high: God's lofty dwelling, the place from which he looks down and reaches down to save.
2Sa 22:17Psa 7:7(8)Psa 10:5Psa 18:16(17)Psa 68:18(19)Psa 71:19Psa 92:8(9)Psa 93:4Psa 102:19(20)Psa 144:7Psa 148:1Isa 24:18
1ba high place on earth: a mountaintop, a hill, or the high ground of a city or land.
Jdg 5:182Ki 19:23Pro 8:2Isa 22:16Isa 37:24 (2×)Jer 31:12Jer 49:16Jer 51:53Ezk 17:23Ezk 20:40Ezk 34:14Oba 1:3
1ca place of exaltation, safety, or honor: being lifted up to a secure or dignified position.
Job 5:11Ecc 10:6Hab 2:9
1dloftiness as arrogance: proud height, a haughty bearing or lofty talk that looks down on others.
2Ki 19:22Psa 56:2(3)Psa 73:8Psa 75:5(6)Isa 24:4Isa 26:5Isa 37:23

What scholars say about marom

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat marom as a single noun from the root rum, to be high, with a coherent range of senses rather than as homonyms: literal height and high ground; the heights of heaven, especially as the dwelling and vantage of God; an elevated, secure, or dignified position; and, in a handful of texts, loftiness in the pejorative sense of arrogance. The heavenly sense dominates the poetic and prophetic corpus, where marom functions almost as a name for God's high abode and as the source of his saving intervention. A few occurrences are genuinely ambiguous, notably Psalm 56:2, where the form sits between an adverbial reading (proudly, arrogantly) and a vocative address to God on high.

Sources

  • Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), s.v. מָרוֹםlexicon
  • Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (BDB), s.v. מָרוֹםlexicon
  • David J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), s.v. מָרוֹםlexicon

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of מָרוֹם

m s absolute

מָּרוֹם, מָרוֹם

2Sa 22:17, Job 39:18, Psa 7:7, Psa 18:16, Psa 68:18, Psa 73:8, Psa 75:5, Psa 93:4

m s construct

מְרוֹם, מְּרוֹם

2Ki 19:23, Isa 24:4, Isa 37:24, Isa 37:24, Jer 31:12, Jer 49:16, Jer 51:53, Ezk 17:23

m p absolute

מְּרוֹמִים, מְרוֹמִים, מְּרֹמִים

Job 16:19, Psa 148:1, Ecc 10:6, Pro 8:2, Isa 33:16, Job 31:2

m p construct

מְרֹמֵי, מְרוֹמֵי

Pro 9:3, Pro 9:14, Jdg 5:18

m p construct

מְרוֹמָיו

Job 25:2