False Confidence

How Nave’s arranged it

• In selfDeuteronomy 29:191 Kings 20:11Proverbs 3:5Proverbs 23:4Proverbs 26:12Proverbs 28:26Isaiah 5:21Romans 12:162 Corinthians 1:9
• In outward resourcesPsalms 20:7Psalms 33:17Psalms 44:6Psalms 49:6Proverbs 11:28Isaiah 22:11Isaiah 31:1–3Jeremiah 48:7Zechariah 4:6Mark 10:24
• In manPsalms 33:16Psalms 62:9Psalms 118:8Psalms 146:3Psalms 146:4Isaiah 2:22Jeremiah 17:5Hosea 5:13Hosea 7:11
• INSTANCES OF
• At BabelGenesis 11:4
• Sennacherib, in the siege of Jerusalem2 Kings 19:23
• Asa, in relying on Syria rather than on God2 Chronicles 16:7–9
• Hezekiah, in the defenses of JerusalemIsaiah 22:11
• Peter, in asserting his devotion to JesusMatthew 26:35Luke 22:33Luke 22:34John 13:37John 13:38
• See Confidence, False

The passages, in Bible order (36)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 11:4

   “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 11:42 voices

   “And they arose and came from the land of the east; and, as they went through the land, they chanced upon the land of Shinar, which was exceeding broad; where they took in hand to build a tower. They sought means thereby to go up to heaven, and be able to leave their work as a memorial to those men who should come after them.

   “And they said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower,.... Some Jewish writers (r) say, these are the words of Nimrod to his people; but it is a question whether he was now born, or if he was, must be too young to be at the head of such a body of people; but they are spoken to one another, or by the principal men among them to the common people, advising and encouraging to such an undertaking.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 11:4→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Deuteronomy 29:19

   because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 29:192 voices

   “To add drunkenness to thirst - The words may be rendered, to add thirst to drunkenness, and so the sense may be, that when he hath multiplied his sins, and made himself as it were drunk with them, yet he is not satisfied therewith, but still whets his appetite, and provokes his thirst after more, as drunkards often use means to make themselves thirst after more drink.

   “Compare on the thought Jer 23:17. The secret and presumptuous sinner is meant who flatters himself that all is well and will be well with him, since he follows his own devices and prospers. Compare Psa 73:11 ff. To add drunkenness to thirst - The sense is probably: “Himself, drinking iniquity like water, Job 15:16, he corrupts and destroys others who are thirsting for it or prone to it.” The sense of the whole passage from Deu 29:16 onward to Deu 29:20 may be exhibited thus: “Ye have seen the abominations of idolatry among the pagan.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 29:19→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. 1 Kings 20:11

   And the king of Israel replied, “Tell him: ‘The one putting on his armor should not boast like one taking it off.’”

   ›Commentary on 1 Kings 20:112 voices

   “THESE two kings were about to proceed to war and they irritated one another by insulting messages. That was the custom of all combatants in the old heathen times. They seemed to delight in stinging each other and exciting each other's worst passions before they commenced the battle. Let it not be so among us. If we have to contend for the Truth of God let us endeavor to do it in the kindest spirit.

   “Let not him that girdeth on - This was no doubt a proverbial mode of expression. Jonathan translates, “Tell him, Let not him who girds himself and goes down to the battle, boast as he who has conquered and returned from it.

   Everything gathered on 1 Kings 20:11→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. 2 Kings 19:23

   Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 19:232 voices

   “And hast said - Isaiah clothes in words the thoughts of Sennacherib’s heart - thoughts of the most extreme self-confidence. Compare Isa 10:7-14, where, probably at an earlier date, the same overweening pride is ascribed to this king. With the multitude of my chariots - There are two readings here, which give, however, nearly the same sense. The more difficult and more poetical of the two is to be preferred.

   “Lebanon - An high hill, famous for cedars and fir-trees. Cut down - I will cut down the trees that hinder my march, and plane the way for my numerous army and chariots. Lodgings - Those cities (which he calls lodgings in way of contempt) which are in his utmost borders.

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 19:23→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. 2 Chronicles 16:7–9

   At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and told him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.

   ›Commentary on 2 Chronicles 16:7–92 voices

   “Escaped - And so reserved to be a scourge to thy kingdom and posterity: whereas if he had joined with Baasha against thee, thou shouldst have overthrown them both, and prevented all that mischief which that monarch will do to thy family.

   “The rebuke of Hanani and his imprisonment by Asa, omitted by the writer of Kings, are among the most important of the additions to Asa’s history for which we are indebted to the author of Chronicles. 2Ch 16:7 Escaped out of thine hand - Hanani means, “Hadst thou been faithful, and opposed in arms the joint host of Israel and Syria, instead of bribing the Syrian king to desert to thy side, the entire host would have been delivered into thy hand, as was Zerah’s. But now it is escaped from thee.

   Everything gathered on 2 Chronicles 16:7–9→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Psalms 20:7

   Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 20:72 voices

   “Contrasts frequently bring out the truth vividly, and here the church sets forth the creature confidences of carnal men in contrast with her reliance upon the Prince Immanuel and the invisible Jehovah. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses." Chariots and horses make an imposing show, and with their rattling, and dust, and fine caparisons, make so great a figure that vain man is much taken with them; yet the discerning eye of faith sees more in an invisible God than in all these.

   “They trusted in horses and chariots, he is saying, and enjoyed no benefit from them but were caught up in unseen entanglements and collapsed. We, by contrast, invoked divine assistance, and won salvation in visible manner and emerged superior to the adversaries.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 20:7→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Psalms 33:16

   No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 33:162 voices

   “There is no king saved by the multitude of an host. Mortal power is a fiction, and those who trust in it are dupes. Serried ranks of armed men have failed to maintain an empire, or even to save their monarch's life when a decree from the court of heaven has gone forth for the empire's overthrow. The all seeing God preserves the poorest of his people when they are alone and friendless, but ten thousand armed men cannot ensure safety to him whom God leaves to destruction. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

   “There is no king saved by the multitude of an host,.... He may be at the head of a numerous army, and yet not get the victory over a lesser one, nor escape safe, but be taken by it: there have been such instances; and if he is saved, or gets the victory, it is not owing to the multitude with him, but to the Lord, that gives salvation to kings, Psa 144:

   Everything gathered on Psalms 33:16→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Psalms 33:17

   A horse is a vain hope for salvation; even its great strength cannot save.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 33:172 voices

   “An horse is a vain thing for safety. Military strength among the Orientals lay much in horses and scythed chariots, but the psalmist calls them a lie, a deceitful confidence. Surely the knight upon his gallant steed may be safe, either by valour or by flight? Not so, his horse shall bear him into danger or crush him with its fall. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Thus the strongest defences are less than nothing when most needed. God only is to be trusted and adored.

   “You will not be safe any more than the man who trusted in his own horse, of whom it was sung, "He cast the horse and its rider into the sea." The horse failed to save him. And so even if you are a giant …

   Everything gathered on Psalms 33:17→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Psalms 44:6

   For I do not trust in my bow, nor does my sword save me.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 44:61 voice

   “For I will not trust in my bow,.... In any carnal weapon, in any creature help and assistance, or in an arm of flesh, but in the word of the Lord, and in his name; see Psa 20:7; neither shall my sword save me; that is, I will not ascribe salvation to it; the church's weapons are not carnal, but spiritual; not the sword of the civil magistrate, but the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Christ's kingdom, being not of this world, is not supported and defended by worldly means, or carnal weapons.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 44:6→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Psalms 49:6

    They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 49:61 voice

    “They that trust in their wealth,.... In their outward force, power, and strength; their horses, chariots, and armies; see Psa 33:16; or in their worldly goods and substance; which seems to be the sense of the word here, as appears from Psa 49:10. To "trust" in them is to set the eye and heart upon them; or to take up rest in them, to depend on them, to the neglect of divine Providence, with respect to future living in this world; and to expect eternal happiness hereafter, because favoured with many earthly enjoyments here: so to do is evil.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 49:6→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Psalms 62:9

    Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 62:91 voice

    “Surely men of low degree are vanity,.... Or "sons of Adam" (i); of the earthly man; of fallen Adam; one of his immediate sons was called Hebel, "vanity"; and it is true of all his sons; but here it designs only one sort of them; such as are poor and low in the world; mean men, as the phrase is rendered in Isa 2:9; See Gill on Psa 49:2; these are subject to sinful vanity; their thoughts are vain, their affections vain, their minds vain, their conversation vain, sinful, foolish, fallacious, and inconstant.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 62:9→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Psalms 118:8

    It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Psalms 146:3

    Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 146:31 voice

    “Put not your trust in princes,.... Not in foreign princes, in alliances and confederacies with them; nor in any at home. David did not desire his people to put their trust in him, nor in his nobles and courtiers; but in the Lord Christ, who, as he is the object of praise, is also the proper object of trust.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 146:3→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Psalms 146:4

    When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 146:41 voice

    “His breath goeth forth,.... That is, the breath of a son of man, of any and everyone of the princes; it goes forth continually, and is drawn in again as long as a man lives; but at death it goes forth, and returns no more till the resurrection: the breath which the Lord breathed into man, and which is in his nostrils while he lives, and is very precarious.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 146:4→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Proverbs 3:5

    Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 3:51 voice

    In preaching “trust in God” the moralist anticipates the teaching that man is justified by faith. To confide in God’s will, the secret of all true greatness, is to rise out of all our anxieties and plans and fears when we think of ourselves as the arbiters of our own fortunes, and so “lean to our own understanding.”

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 3:5→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Proverbs 11:28

    He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.

    ›Commentary on Proverbs 11:282 voices

    “He who trusts in his riches will fall, etc. He who hankers after present goods and does not think of future ones, will lack both in the end. But those who do good in the hope of future rewards, justly receive what they hope for …

    “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall,.... As leaves in autumn, which are withered and dry.

    Everything gathered on Proverbs 11:28→

    Verse page →Original language →