Text -- Proverbs 16:18 (NET)

16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Pro 16:18

¹ sn The two lines of this proverb are synonymous parallelism, and so there are parasynonyms. “Pride” is paired with “haughty spirit” (“spirit” being a genitive of specification); and “destruction” is matched with “a tottering, falling.”

² tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

³ sn Many proverbs have been written in a similar way to warn against the inevitable disintegration and downfall of pride. W. McKane records an Arabic proverb: “The nose is in the heavens, the seat is in the mire” (Proverbs [OTL], 490).