Pride

¹⁵ And in Jerusalem he made skillfully designed devices to shoot arrows and catapult large stones from the towers and corners. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was helped tremendously so that he became powerful.

¹⁶ But when Uzziah grew powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹⁹ It is better to be lowly in spirit among the humble than to divide the spoil with the proud.

A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.

²⁵ But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶ Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

¹¹ But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure my leprosy.

¹² Are not the Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not have washed in them and been cleansed?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

²⁰ But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.

²¹ He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

²² But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

²³ Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

¹¹ Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.

¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses in which to dwell,

¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all that you have is multiplied,

¹⁴ then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”

As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.

¹⁶ There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him:

¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil,

When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.

The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished.

²⁸ He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

²⁹ so that no one may boast in His presence.

³⁰ It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

⁶ Brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over another.

⁷ For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders

Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed.

²⁹ Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,

³⁰ the 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?”

³¹ While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.

³² You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”

³³ At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

³ And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

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.”

⁵ Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

⁶ And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.

⁹ To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:

¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

¹² I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

⁹ That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

¹¹ Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

¹² “What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king.

¹³ Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

Then an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.

A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest.

²¹ On the appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes, sat on his throne, and addressed the people.

²² And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. How I wish you really were kings, so that we might be kings with you!

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹ Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!

¹¹ Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

⁶ Even if I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me,

⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

⁹ I have written to the church about this, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not accept our instruction.

¹⁰ So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.

⁷ And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor,

⁸ have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head.

But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go.

³⁴ When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart—he and his officials.

³⁵ So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory—all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.