When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.
Parallel translations
- WEB When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.
- KJV When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
- NKJV When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.
- NASB When pride comes, then comes dishonor; But with the humble there is wisdom.
- NLT Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
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
Pride leads to disgrace, but humility brings wisdom. An inflated view of self sets us up for a fall, while lowliness opens the door to true insight.
Overview
This proverb links pride with the shame that inevitably follows it, and humility with the wisdom God grants the lowly. Scripture consistently teaches that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Christ Himself models the humility that God exalts, and the path of wisdom begins with humbly submitting to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 29:23A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
- Prov 16:18–19Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Prov 15:33The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
- Luke 18:14I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Prov 18:12Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
- Prov 3:34–35He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.
- 1 Cor 8:1–2Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
- Luke 14:8–11“When you are invited to a wedding banquet, do not sit in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited.
- Dan 4:30–32the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 11:2 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.