Subject

Pride

The oldest sin: the self enthroned where God belongs.

Also called: haughty, arrogance, lifted up, boasting, self-exalted, high looks

This subject covers the self enthroned where God belongs, from the oldest fall to the warnings against it. Seeing yourself the size you actually are belongs to Humility. Wanting what another man has belongs to Envy.

What Pride covers, and where it stops

On this page, 7 sections

Across the canon
Where Scripture speaks
The whole account
The voices
The words underneath
The complete list
Subjects beside it

12 passages

Where Scripture speaks

The passages this subject stands on, in canon order.

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Genesis 3:5KJVthe serpent's promise of becoming like God — pride at temptation's root

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:4KJVBabel's builders reach for heaven to make a name for themselves

But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.

2 Chronicles 26:16KJVUzziah's heart is lifted up to his own destruction

When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2KJVwhen pride comes, shame follows close behind

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18KJVpride goes before destruction — the Bible's most famous line on the subject

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Isaiah 14:13KJVthe pride behind the fall of the morning star — I will ascend, I will be like the Most High

Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Ezekiel 28:17KJVa heart lifted up because of its own beauty

The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

Daniel 4:30KJVNebuchadnezzar's boast over Babylon, spoken the moment before judgment falls

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

Obadiah 1:3KJVthe pride of Edom's heart deceives it into thinking no one can bring it down

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Luke 18:14KJVthe Pharisee and tax collector — whoever exalts himself will be humbled

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Romans 12:3KJVPaul warns against thinking of oneself more highly than one ought

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

James 4:6KJVGod resists the proud but gives grace to the humble — the verdict summed up

Belshazzar's feast, where a hand wrote his doom on the wall — pride that forgot his father Nebuchadnezzar's fall was humbled in a single night (Daniel 5).Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Pride in Scripture, in full

Pride in Scripture is the posture of self-exaltation and independence from God — named as the root of many sins and the opposite of the humility that receives grace. The biblical pattern is consistent: those who exalt themselves are brought low (Nebuchadnezzar, Herod Agrippa, the Pharisee in Luke 18). Pride is addressed not by self-help but by repentance.

4 voices

What teachers have said

“There is hardly a page in the holy books in which it is not shown that God resists the proud but to the humble offers grace.”

Augustine of Hippo · Christian Instruction 3:23.33

Written before 430.

“and pride and arrogance, either in states or individuals, have the peculiar abhorrence of God. Pride does not suit the sons of men; it made devils of angels, and makes fiends of men.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible

Written before 1832.

“The minds of the arrogant are doubtless so very mad, that even in what they think rightly, they are disfigured by the deformity of their pride.”

Gregory the Dialogist · Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII

Written before 604.

“But he giveth greater grace - To all who shun those tempers. Therefore it - The scripture. Saith, God resisteth the proud - And pride is the great root of all unkind affections.”

John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755

The words underneath

Each card is one Hebrew or Greek word behind pride. It gives the sense, the count across the canon, and the number in Strong's 1890 concordance.

gaon: pride

Hebrew · H1347

גָּאוֹן

Strong's entry: {arrogance or majesty; by implication, (concretely) ornament}

the standard Hebrew noun for pride

49 times in the Old Testament · gaon, in full →

hyperephanos: arrogant

Greek · G5244

ὑπερήφανος

Strong's entry: appearing above others (conspicuous), i.e. (figuratively) haughty

the Greek word for the proud

5 times in the New Testament · hyperephanos, in full →

gabahh: to exult

Hebrew · H1361

גָּבַהּ

Strong's entry: to soar, i.e. be lofty; figuratively, to be haughty

figuratively, to be haughty and self-exalted

34 times in the Old Testament · gabahh, in full →

rum: to exalt

Hebrew · H7311

רוּם

Strong's entry: to be high actively, to rise or raise (in various applications, literally or figuratively)

the root behind being 'high' or haughty

190 times in the Old Testament · rum, in full →

138 verses

The complete list

The King James text uses the language of pride in 142 verses. 4 of them are quoted above and the other 138 stand here, book by book. 8 more verses above show pride without using one of its words, so they are outside that count. Open a book to read the references with a clause of each verse.

Exodus1