Humility

¹³ If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

¹⁴ and if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

²⁶ But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for the words that you heard,

²⁷ because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁸ “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.

⁹ Then the host who invited both of you will come and tell you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ And in humiliation, you will have to take the last place.

¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the last place, so that your host will come and tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in front of everyone at the table with you.

¹¹ For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

⁸ But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

⁹ And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ.

¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant.

¹² For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.

Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.

¹⁶ Then King David went in, sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

¹⁷ And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O God, You have spoken about the future of the house of Your servant and have regarded me as a man of great distinction, O LORD God.

¹⁸ What more can David say to You for so honoring Your servant? For You know Your servant,

¹⁹ O LORD. For the sake of Your servant and according to Your own heart, You have accomplished this great thing and revealed all Your greatness.

And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in.

⁶ So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”

⁷ When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the LORD turned away from him, and He did not destroy him completely. Indeed, conditions were good in Judah.

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.

¹⁸ But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for the words that you heard,

¹⁹ because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

Then King David went in, sat before the LORD, and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far?

³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

³⁶ At the same time my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne, and surpassing greatness was added to me.

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

¹ As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:

² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

³ and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

⁶ So Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends with the message: “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to have You come under my roof.

⁷ That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to You. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

¹ When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

³ I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews.

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

²⁷ Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

²⁸ suppose the fifty righteous ones lack five. Will You destroy the whole city for the lack of five?” He replied, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

⁴ So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.

⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?”

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul found out about this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting,

¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped.

⁵ At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God,

⁶ and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.