Bible Strands
Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — An unnamed sage addresses a general audience within a series of antithetical proverbs (Proverbs 11:1–31), each couplet contrasting two opposing dispositions. No specific occasion or addressee is identified.
The words — Za.don (זָדוֹן) carries the sense of arrogance or haughtiness, not mere self-confidence. Tze.nu.'im (צְנוּעִים) is a plural noun referring to a class of people — "the modest" or "the humble" — rather than a single trait.
The thread — The same antithesis recurs in Proverbs 16:18 (pride before destruction), 29:23 (pride brings low, humble spirit obtains honor), and 15:33 (humility before honor). The pattern is consistent: pride is a trajectory toward ruin; humility is a trajectory toward gain.
Why it lands — The verse states a causal sequence rather than inviting reflection: pride produces disgrace, humility produces wisdom. It asks the reader to recognize which trajectory they are on.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
- Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
- Luke 18:14 I 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.”
- Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
- Proverbs 3:34 He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.
- 1 Corinthians 8:1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
- Luke 14:8 “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.
- Daniel 4:30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”