ru.a denotes a loud collective cry, voiced in celebration, worship, battle, alarm, or distress.

The verb most often marks a loud public acclamation in celebration and praise, but it also occurs for battle cries and alarm signals and, less often, for cries arising from hostility, fear, or anguish. The surrounding clauses regularly portray an audible communal response rather than quiet speech.

1. Celebratory or worshipful acclamation · dominant

   Hiphil imperatives call groups to raise a loud voice to the LORD or in response to his acts: in Psalm 100:1 the APB renders the command “Shout to the LORD, all the land,” and in Isaiah 44:23 it places the command alongside singing and the LORD’s redemption of Jacob. In Ezra 3:11 the people’s great cry follows praise and thanksgiving at the founding of the house of the LORD, while in Zechariah 9:9 the feminine singular imperative addresses daughter Zion at the coming of her king.

   Psalm 100:1Isaiah 44:23Ezra 3:11Job 38:7Zechariah 9:9Zephaniah 3:14
2. Battle cry or alarm call · common

   The verb marks a loud cry connected with conflict, attack, or warning. In Joshua 6:16 the Hiphil imperative is Joshua’s command before taking the city, and Joshua 6:20 reports the people’s cry with trumpet sound before the wall falls. In Numbers 10:9 the plural form is used when going to war against an attacking enemy, and Hosea 5:8 places the imperative with trumpet and horn signals.

   Joshua 6:16Joshua 6:20Numbers 10:9Hosea 5:81 Samuel 17:522 Chronicles 13:15
3. Cry amid hostility or anguish · occasional

   In Isaiah 15:4, the imperfect describes Moab’s armed men crying out as their soul is ill; in Micah 4:9, the feminine singular form occurs in a question about crying aloud as agony seizes the hearer. Job 30:5 depicts people driven out and cried at as though they were thieves, showing a hostile public outcry rather than celebration.

   Isaiah 15:4Micah 4:9Job 30:5Judges 7:21

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the supplied verses, the APB commonly presents the verb with “shout,” “shouted,” or “raise a battle cry,” and sometimes frames it as an alarm. These renderings confirm the clauses’ loud vocal action without fixing a separate English equivalent in every occurrence.