Alliyz (H5947) describes a jubilant, exulting, triumphing emotion — often of a city reveling in its power or a person in wild joy. It is used both positively (Israel's future joy) and negatively (the arrogant exultation of wicked nations). The root connects to alaz (to exult, rejoice).
The prophets deploy alliyz with theological precision. When Zephaniah condemns the 'exultant city' (Nineveh) that sits securely and says 'I am and there is no one else' (Zeph 2:15), alliyz describes the pride before a fall. Yet Isaiah 22:2 describes Jerusalem herself as a 'tumultuous, exultant city.' The word cuts both ways — human exultation is unstable; only joy rooted in God endures. Psalm 149:5 calls the godly to 'exult in glory' — the redeemed may be wildly jubilant precisely because their exultation is in the Lord, not in themselves.