“You have exalted my horn”
But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; with fine oil I have been anointed. (Psalm 92:10 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A bizarre image of the psalmist growing an animal horn.
The cultural key
Throughout the Old Testament 'horn' (qeren) is a fixed metaphor for strength, dignity, and triumphant power, taken from the way a bull or wild ox drives everything before it. To have one's horn 'exalted' or 'lifted high' is to be given strength, victory, and honor; to have it 'cut off' or 'broken' is to be defeated and disgraced. So 'You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox' means God has made the psalmist strong and victorious, not that he is sprouting antlers. The same idiom lies behind 'the horn of my salvation,' Hannah's 'my horn is exalted in the LORD' (1 Samuel 2:1), and Zechariah's prophecy of a 'horn of salvation' raised up in David's house (Luke 1:69). Read literally it is grotesque; read as idiom it is a shout of God-given strength.
Recovered meaning
'Horn' is idiom for strength and victorious dignity, from the power of a horned animal; to lift up the horn is to grant strength and honor. The psalmist celebrates being made strong by God, not growing a horn.