When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
Parallel translations
- WEB When pride comes, then comes shame, but with humility comes wisdom.
- BSB When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes 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 shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
- Prov 16:18–19Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
- Prov 15:33The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
- Luke 18:14I 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.
- Prov 18:12Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
- Prov 3:34–35Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
- 1 Cor 8:1–2Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
- Luke 14:8–11When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
- Dan 4:30–32The 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?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.