Proverbs 29:23

29:23 A person’s pride ¹  will bring him low, ² 

but one who has a lowly spirit ³  will gain honor.

Isaiah 57:15

57:15 For this is what the high and exalted one says,

the one who rules ⁴  forever, whose name is holy:

“I dwell in an exalted and holy place,

but also with the discouraged and humiliated, ⁵ 

in order to cheer up the humiliated

and to encourage the discouraged. ⁶ 

Luke 14:11

14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but ⁷  the one who humbles ⁸  himself will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

18:9 Jesus ⁹  also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down ¹⁰  on everyone else. 18:10 “Two men went up ¹¹  to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee ¹²  and the other a tax collector. ¹³  18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ¹⁴  ‘God, I thank ¹⁵  you that I am not like other people: ¹⁶  extortionists, ¹⁷  unrighteous people, ¹⁸  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ¹⁹  18:12 I fast twice ²⁰  a week; I give a tenth ²¹  of everything I get.’ 18:13 The tax collector, however, stood ²²  far off and would not even look up ²³  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ²⁴  to me, sinner that I am!’ ²⁵  18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified ²⁶  rather than the Pharisee. ²⁷  For everyone who exalts ²⁸  himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

James 4:6

4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” ²⁹ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ³⁰  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ³¹  from your passions that battle inside you? ³² 

James 5:5

5:5 You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ³³ 

[29:23]  ¹ tn Heb “pride of a man,” with “man” functioning as a possessive. There is no indication in the immediate context that this is restricted only to males.

[29:23]  ² tn There is a wordplay here due to the repetition of the root שָׁפֵל (shafel). In the first line the verb תִּשְׁפִּילֶנּוּ (tishpilennu) is the Hiphil imperfect of the root, rendered “will bring him low.” In the second line the word is used in the description of the “lowly of spirit,” שְׁפַל־רוּחַ (shÿfal-ruakh). The contrast works well: The proud will be brought “low,” but the one who is “lowly” will be honored. In this instance the wordplay can be preserved in the translation.

[29:23]  ³ tn Heb “low in spirit”; KJV “humble in spirit.” This refers to an attitude of humility.

[57:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “the one who dwells forever.” שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) is sometimes translated “the one who lives forever,” and understood as a reference to God’s eternal existence. However, the immediately preceding and following descriptions (“high and exalted” and “holy”) emphasize his sovereign rule. In the next line, he declares, “I dwell in an exalted and holy [place],” which refers to the place from which he rules. Therefore it is more likely that שֹׁכֵן עַד (shokhen ’ad) means “I dwell [in my lofty palace] forever” and refers to God’s eternal kingship.

[57:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and also with the crushed and lowly of spirit.” This may refer to the repentant who have humbled themselves (see 66:2) or more generally to the exiles who have experienced discouragement and humiliation.

[57:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “to restore the lowly of spirit and to restore the heart of the crushed.”

[14:11]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context, which involves the reversal of expected roles.

[14:11]  ⁸ sn The point of the statement the one who humbles himself will be exalted is humility and the reversal imagery used to underline it is common: Luke 1:52-53; 6:21; 10:15; 18:14.

[18:9]  ⁹ tn Grk “He”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:9]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and despised.” This is a second parable with an explanatory introduction.

[18:10]  ¹¹ sn The temple is on a hill in Jerusalem, so one would go up to enter its precincts.

[18:10]  ¹² sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[18:10]  ¹³ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

[18:11]  ¹⁴ tn Or “stood by himself and prayed like this.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros eauton, “to/about himself”) could go with either the aorist participle σταθείς (staqeis, “stood”) or with the imperfect verb προσηύχετο (proshuceto, “he prayed”). If taken with the participle, then the meaning would seem at first glance to be: “stood ‘by himself’,” or “stood ‘alone’.” Now it is true that πρός can mean “by” or “with” when used with intransitive verbs such as ἵστημι ({isthmi, “I stand”; cf. BDAG 874 s.v. πρός 2.a), but πρὸς ἑαυτόν together never means “by himself” or “alone” in biblical Greek. On the other hand, if πρὸς ἑαυτόν is taken with the verb, then two different nuances emerge, both of which highlight in different ways the principal point Jesus seems to be making about the arrogance of this religious leader: (1) “prayed to himself,” but not necessarily silently, or (2) “prayed about himself,” with the connotation that he prayed out loud, for all to hear. Since his prayer is really a review of his moral résumé, directed both at advertising his own righteousness and exposing the perversion of the tax collector, whom he actually mentions in his prayer, the latter option seems preferable. If this is the case, then the Pharisee’s mention of God is really nothing more than a formality.

[18:11]  ¹⁵ sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

[18:11]  ¹⁶ tn Here the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used as a generic and can refer to both men and women (NASB, NRSV, “people”; NLT, “everyone else”; NAB, “the rest of humanity”).

[18:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

[18:11]  ¹⁸ sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

[18:11]  ¹⁹ sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.

[18:12]  ²⁰ sn The law only required fasting on the Day of Atonement. Such voluntary fasting as this practiced twice a week by the Pharisee normally took place on Monday and Thursday.

[18:12]  ²¹ tn Or “I tithe.”

[18:13]  ²² tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.

[18:13]  ²³ tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).

[18:13]  ²⁴ tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).

[18:13]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.

[18:14]  ²⁶ sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.

[18:14]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:14]  ²⁸ sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.

[4:6]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ³¹ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³² tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[5:5]  ³³ sn James’ point seems to be that instead of seeking deliverance from condemnation, they have defied God’s law (fattened your hearts) and made themselves more likely objects of his judgment (in a day of slaughter).