'High' in the Bible

They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;They speak loftily [with malice].

They say, “How does God know?Is there knowledge [of us] with the Most High?”

‘Do not lift up your [defiant and aggressive] horn on high,Do not speak with a stiff neck.’”

And I said, “This is my grief,That the right hand of the Most High has changed [and His lovingkindness is withheld].”

Yet they still continued to sin against HimBy rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

And they remembered that God was their rock,And the Most High God their Redeemer.

Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High GodAnd did not keep His testimonies (laws).

For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship]And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].

I said, “You are gods;Indeed, all of you are sons of the Most High.

That they may know that You alone, whose name is the Lord,Are the Most High over all the earth.

But of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her,”And the Most High Himself will establish her.

You have a strong arm;Mighty is Your hand, Your right hand is exalted.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most HighWill remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand].

You will only [be a spectator as you] look on with your eyesAnd witness the [divine] repayment of the wicked [as you watch safely from the shelter of the Most High].

Because you have made the Lord, [who is] my refuge,Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

“Because he set his love on Me, therefore I will save him;I will set him [securely] on high, because he knows My name [he confidently trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never abandon him, no, never].

It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord,To sing praises to Your name, O Most High,

But You, Lord, are on high forever.

More than the sounds of many waters,More than the mighty breakers of the sea,The Lord on high is mighty.

But the Lord has become my high tower and defense,And my God the rock of my refuge.

For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;You are exalted far above all gods.

The Lord is great in Zion,And He is exalted and magnified above all the peoples.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].

The high mountains are for the wild goats;The rocks are a refuge for the shephanim.

They envied Moses in the camp,And Aaron [the high priest], the holy one of the Lord,

Because they had rebelled against the precepts of GodAnd spurned the counsel of the Most High.

For Your lovingkindness is great and higher than the heavens;Your truth reaches to the skies.

The Lord is high above all nations,And His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,Who is enthroned on high,

It is like the precious oil [of consecration] poured on the head,Coming down on the beard,Even the beard of Aaron,Coming down upon the edge of his [priestly] robes [consecrating the whole body].

It is like the dew of [Mount] HermonComing down on the hills of Zion;For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.

Though the Lord is exalted,He regards the lowly [and invites them into His fellowship];But the proud and haughty He knows from a distance.

Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me;It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.

My [steadfast] lovingkindness and my fortress,My high tower and my rescuer,My shield and He in whom I take refuge,Who subdues my people under me.

Let the high praises of God be in their throats,And a two-edged sword in their hands,

So find favor and high esteemIn the sight of God and man.

He who loves transgression loves strife and is quarrelsome;He who [proudly] raises his gate seeks destruction [because of his arrogant pride].

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;The righteous runs to it and is safe and set on high [far above evil].

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,And like a high wall [of protection] in his own imagination and conceit.

Wisdom is too exalted for a [hardened, arrogant] fool;He does not open his mouth in the gate [where the city’s rulers sit in judgment].

The fear of man brings a snare,But whoever trusts in and puts his confidence in the Lord will be exalted and safe.

If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight [of corruption]; for a higher official watches over another official, and there are higher ones over them [looking out for one another].

folly is set in many exalted places and in great dignity while the rich sit in humble places.

Furthermore, they are afraid of a high place and of dangers on the road; the almond tree (hair) blossoms [white], and the grasshopper (a little thing) is a burden, and the caperberry (desire, appetite) fails. For man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets and market places.

And the wrath of God will be against all the cedars of Lebanon [west of the Jordan] that are high and lifted up,Against all the oaks of Bashan [east of the Jordan],

Against all the high mountains,Against all the hills that are lifted up,

Against every high tower,Against every fortified wall,

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple.

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God [one that will convince you that God has spoken and will keep His word]; make your request as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.”

Therefore the Lord cuts off head and tail [the highest and the lowest] from Israel,Both [the high] palm branch and [the low] bulrush in one day.

Listen carefully, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the [beautiful] boughs with terrifying force;The tall in stature will be cut downAnd the lofty will be abased and humiliated.

Lift up a signal banner on the bare mountain,Summon them [the Medes and Persians] with a loud voice,Wave the [beckoning] hand so that they may enter the doorways of the [Babylonian] nobles.

‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;I will make myself like the Most High.’

They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places to weep.Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba;Everyone’s head is shaved, and every beard is cut off [in mourning].

So it will come to pass when Moab presents himself,When he wearies himself [worshiping] on his high place [of idolatry]And comes to his sanctuary [of Chemosh, god of Moab] to pray,That he will not prevail.

There will be no work for EgyptWhich head or tail, [high] palm branch or [low] bulrush, may do.

“So they will hang on him all the honor and glory [the complete responsibility] of his father’s house, offspring and issue [of the family, high and low], all the least of the articles, from the bowls to all the jars.

The earth dries up and crumbles away, the world dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.

So it will happen in that dayThat the Lord will visit and punish the host (fallen angels) of heaven on high,And the kings of the earth on the earth.

The high fortifications of your walls He will bring down,Lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O Lord, the wicked do not see it.Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame;Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.

Therefore this wickedness [this sin, this injustice, this wrongdoing] will be to youLike a crack [in a wall] about to fall,A bulge in a high wall,Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,

On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams of water on the day of the great slaughter (the day of the Lord), when the towers fall [and all His enemies are destroyed].

Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,And the fertile field is valued as a forest.

The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high;He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in and rely on the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?

O Zion, herald of good news,Get up on a high mountain.O Jerusalem, herald of good news,Lift up your voice with strength,Lift it up, do not fear;Say to the cities of Judah,“Here is your God!”

Lift up your eyes on highAnd see who has created these heavenly bodies,The One who brings out their host by number,He calls them all by name;Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,Not one is missing.

This is what the Lord God says,“Listen carefully, I will lift up My hand to the [Gentile] nationsAnd set up My banner to the peoples;And they will bring your sons in the fold of their garments,And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

Indeed, My Servant (the Messiah) will act wisely and prosper;He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.

“Upon a high and lofty mountainYou have [openly and shamelessly] made your [idolatrous and adulterous] bed;Even there you went up to offer sacrifice [to idols, in spiritual unfaithfulness to Me].

For the high and exalted OneHe who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy says this,“I dwell on the high and holy place,But also with the contrite and humble in spiritIn order to revive the spirit of the humbleAnd to revive the heart of the contrite [overcome with sorrow for sin].

“The facts are that you fast only for strife and brawling and to strike with the fist of wickedness.You do not fast as you do today to make your voice heard on high.

Then you will take pleasure in the Lord,And I will make you ride on the high places of the earth,And I will feed you with the [promised] heritage of Jacob your father;For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

“For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience]And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you];You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’For on every high hillAnd under every green treeYou have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute.

Moreover, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king [of Judah], “Have you seen what that faithless Israel has done—how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there she was a prostitute?

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [to honor Molech, the fire god]—which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart (mind).

As they remember their children,So they remember [in detail] their [pagan] altars and their AsherimBeside green trees on the high hills.

O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the countryside,I will give [to the Babylonians, as the cost of your sin] your wealth and all your treasures as plunder,And throughout your territory, your high places of sin.

A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning,Is the place of our sanctuary (the temple).

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind (heart);

“Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them:‘The Lord will roar from on highAnd utter His voice from His holy dwelling;He will roar mightily against His fold and pasture.He will jubilantly shout like those who tread the grapes [in the wine press],Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the [bronze] pillars, the [bronze] Sea, the [bronze] bases [of the ten basins in Solomon’s temple used for washing sacrificial animals], and the rest of the articles that are left in this city (Jerusalem),

They built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom) to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to [worship and honor] Molech—which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this repulsive thing, to cause Judah to sin.

Concerning Moab.Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,“Woe (judgment is coming) to [the city of] Nebo, for it has been destroyed!Kiriathaim has been shamed, it has been captured;Misgab [the high fortress] has been shamed, broken down and crushed.

Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab,” says the Lord, “the one who ascends and offers sacrifice in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,“When I will cause an alarm of war to be heardAgainst Rabbah of the Ammonites;And it [along with the high ground on which it stands] will become a desolate heap,And its villages will be set on fire.Then will Israel take possession of his possessors,”Says the Lord.

“As for Your terror,The pride and arrogance of your heart have deceived you,O you who live in the clefts of the rock (Sela also called Petra),Who hold and occupy the height of the hill.Though you make your nest as high as the eagle’s,I will bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

We are perplexed and ashamed, for we have heard reproach;Disgrace has covered our faces,For foreigners [from Babylon] have comeInto the [most] sacred parts of the sanctuary of the Lord [even those places forbidden to all but the appointed priest].

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“The broad wall of Babylon will be completely overthrown and the foundations razedAnd her high gates will be set on fire;The peoples will labor in vain,And the nations become exhausted [only] for fire [that will destroy their work].”

The Lord has rejected His altar;He has abandoned His sanctuary.He has given into the hand of the enemyThe walls of her palaces;They have made a noise in the house of the LordAs on a day of an appointed feast.

To deprive a man of justiceIn the presence of the Most High,

Is it not from the mouth of the Most HighThat both adversity (misfortune) and good (prosperity, happiness) proceed?

Regarding their rims: they were so high that they were awesome and dreadful, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes all around.

Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those came to a stop, these came to a stop; and whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them, for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places [of idolatrous worship],

Everywhere you live, the cities will become waste and the high places will become deserted, so that your altars may bear their guilt and become deserted, your idols may be broken and destroyed, your incense altars [for sun-worship] may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

Then you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every leafy tree and under every oak with thick branches, the places where they offered sweet incense and a soothing aroma to all their idols.

You took some of your clothes and made for yourself [decorated] high places and shrines of various colors and prostituted yourself on them—things which should never have come about and taken place.

that you built yourself an altar for prostitution and made yourself a high place [for ritual prostitution] in every square [of Jerusalem].