to be so high as to be out of reach: unassailably high, supremely exalted, or lifted safely beyond harm
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
At its root this verb pictures something so high that nothing can reach it: a wall too tall to scale, a city too strong to storm. From that one image the word branches in three directions, but the picture underneath never changes.
A wall or fortress can be too high to be taken, and so unassailable.
God can be too high to be rivaled, and so supremely exalted.
A person can be lifted too high for danger to touch, and so kept safe.
Because the same word does all three, Hebrew hears the safety of the rescued and the majesty of God as versions of one thing: being out of reach. When God is the one doing the lifting, the word becomes rescue, as he sets the helpless where trouble cannot climb. This is close to the ordinary word for rising or being raised, רוּם, but where that word simply means going up, this one adds that the height itself is the protection.
Nuances
1ato be too high to reach or overcome: of a wall, city, or a truth beyond human grasp, and so unassailable or inaccessible
TranslatabilityApproximate
Deu 2:36Psa 139:6*Pro 18:11Isa 26:5Isa 30:13
1bto be exalted, lifted supremely high: said above all of God, whose majesty stands untouchable above every rival
the Hebrew pictures lifting a person up out of reach, not standing guard beside them at the same levelPsa 91:14
Both
both mean keeping someone from being harmed by an enemyPsa 59:1
Only defend
English "defend" suggests fighting off an attacker, which loses the upward image of being carried above the danger
“set on high”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“too high”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How sagav differs from similar Hebrew words
רוּםthe broad word for rising or being lifted up; this word narrows that to being so high as to be out of reach, and so safe or unassailable
גָּבַהּbeing high or lofty, often shading into haughtiness; this word is height as security or majesty, not pride
sagav in the other biblical languages
ὑψόωGreek“to lift up”the general Greek word for lifting up or exalting; this Hebrew word adds that the height itself puts the subject beyond reach
What scholars say about sagav
The lexica derive שׂגב from a root meaning "be high, inaccessibly high" (BDB; HALOT). The stems distribute the sense predictably: the simple and passive forms describe being high, lofty, or unassailable (Deuteronomy 2:36;Isaiah 26:5;Proverbs 18:11), while the intensive and causative forms describe setting a person on high, that is, out of the reach of harm (Psalm 20:2; 59:2; 91:14; 107:41), a usage concentrated in the Psalms as a term for divine protection. The related noun מִשְׂגָּב, "secure height, refuge," is built on the same image. TWOT and DCH treat the whole range as one root; the chief interpretive crux is Isaiah 9:10 (English 9:11), where the causative is applied to strengthening Israel's adversaries rather than protecting the faithful.