The Bible has a great deal to say about pride. This study gathers passages from across Scripture and sets them out for reading and reflection.
What Scripture Says
Pride is not a minor flaw in Scripture but a condition of the heart that God actively opposes. It appears first as a national and personal power that must be broken: “And I will break the pride of your power” (Leviticus 26:19). When Hezekiah and Jerusalem humbled themselves “for the pride of his heart,” God’s wrath was withheld (2 Chronicles 32:26). The book of Job describes God’s purpose to “withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man” (Job 33:17), showing that pride distorts human purpose and requires divine intervention. Proverbs places pride among the things God hates: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth” (Proverbs 8:13).
Pride consistently leads to deception and downfall. Obadiah declares, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee… that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” (Obadiah 1:3). Jeremiah announces judgment: “After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 13:9). Hosea warns that “the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity” (Hosea 5:5). Ezekiel pictures pride as something that blossoms into a rod of judgment (Ezekiel 7:10). Pride is not merely an attitude; it is a seed that ripens into ruin.
Pride also reveals itself in how people treat others. “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor” (Psalm 10:2). Eliab accused David of coming to the battle out of “thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart” (1 Samuel 17:28). Zephaniah speaks of those who “reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts” (Zephaniah 2:10). Whether in a family, a nation, or a crowd, pride turns people against the vulnerable and against God’s own people.
Yet Scripture also holds out hope. Nebuchadnezzar, after being humbled, confessed, “those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Daniel 4:37). God cuts off pride—the pride of the Philistines (Zechariah 9:6), the pride of Judah—but He does so to turn hearts back. The consistent testimony is that pride cannot stand before God, and He is able to bring down every proud heart.
Living It Out
Practically, pride shows up in ordinary moments: refusing to admit we were wrong, needing to be the one who is right, quietly comparing ourselves to others, or resisting correction. The verses above suggest that pride is not just a feeling but a direction—turning us away from God and toward ourselves. The first step is to ask God to “hide pride” from us (Job 33:17), to reveal it in our hearts before it blossoms into something worse. Then we practice the opposite: humbling ourselves, confessing sin, listening to others, and giving God the honor for anything good in us. Hezekiah’s example shows that humility turns away wrath; Nebuchadnezzar’s shows that God can abase even the proudest person.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you most tempted to say in your heart, “Who shall bring me down to the ground?”—and what would it look like to humble yourself there today?
- When you are corrected or challenged, do you respond with defensiveness and self-justification, or with the humility that Hezekiah showed when he “humbled himself for the pride of his heart”?
Verses to Consider
- Leviticus 26:19 — And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
- 1 Samuel 17:28 — And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that t…
- 2 Chronicles 32:26 — Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
- Job 33:17 — That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
- Psalms 10:2 — The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
- Proverbs 8:13 — The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
- Isaiah 9:9 — And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
- Jeremiah 13:9 — Thus saith the LORD, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 7:10 — Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
- Daniel 4:37 — Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Hosea 5:5 — And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity: Judah also shall fall with them.
- Obadiah 1:3 — The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
- Zephaniah 2:10 — This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts.
- Zechariah 9:6 — And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
Where These Come From
These verses are drawn from different parts of the Bible on purpose. A subject is rarely settled by a single line; the whole counsel of Scripture gives the shape of it.