Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you.
- NASB “Your heart was haughty because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I threw you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.
- NLT Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His heart grew proud over his beauty and his wisdom became corrupted, so God casts him to the ground before kings. Pride in God-given gifts brings public humiliation.
Overview
The root of the fall is named plainly: a heart lifted up by beauty and splendor. Self-admiration corrupted the very wisdom that should have led to humility. God responds by exposing him before watching rulers, displaying that he opposes the proud and brings them low, a principle Scripture applies universally and that finds its remedy in the humble, exalted Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Ezek 28:5By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it.
- Ezek 31:10Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,
- Jas 4:6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Prov 16:18Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Luke 14:11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Ezek 28:2“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
- Prov 11:2When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.
- Ps 147:6The LORD sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.
- Ezek 32:10I will cause many peoples to be appalled over you, and their kings will shudder in horror because of you when I brandish My sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life.’
- Isa 19:11–13The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?
- Ezek 28:7behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.
- Rom 1:22–25Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Ezek 16:41Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.
- Ezek 23:48So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.
- 1 Cor 1:19–21For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
- Isa 14:9–11Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—all the rulers of the earth. It makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.
- Jer 8:9The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?
- Job 40:11–12Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
- Ezek 16:14–15Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.
- Ps 73:18Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 28:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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