Amsal 16:18

16:18 Pride ¹  goes ²  before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. ³ 

Amsal 18:12

18:12 Before destruction the heart ⁴  of a person is proud,

but humility comes ⁵  before honor. ⁶ 

Yesaya 10:12-15

10:12 But when ⁷  the sovereign master ⁸  finishes judging ⁹  Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then I ¹⁰  will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays. ¹¹  10:13 For he says:

“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,

by my strategy that I devised.

I invaded the territory of nations, ¹² 

and looted their storehouses.

Like a mighty conqueror, ¹³  I brought down rulers. ¹⁴ 

10:14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,

as one gathers up abandoned eggs,

I gathered up the whole earth.

There was no wing flapping,

or open mouth chirping.” ¹⁵ 

10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,

or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹⁶ 

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

Yesaya 14:13-15

14:13 You said to yourself, ¹⁷ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ¹⁸ 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ¹⁹ 

14:14 I will climb up to the tops ²⁰  of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High!” ²¹ 

14:15 But you were brought down ²²  to Sheol,

to the remote slopes of the pit. ²³ 

Yehezkiel 28:2-9

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ²⁴  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ²⁵  and you said, “I am a god; ²⁶ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ²⁷ 

28:3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; ²⁸ 

no secret is hidden from you. ²⁹ 

28:4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;

you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.

28:5 By your great skill ³⁰  in trade you have increased your wealth,

and your heart is proud because of your wealth.

28:6 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Because you think you are godlike, ³¹ 

28:7 I am about to bring foreigners ³²  against you, the most terrifying of nations.

They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, ³³ 

and they will defile your splendor.

28:8 They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die violently ³⁴  in the heart of the seas.

28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –

though you are a man and not a god –

when you are in the power of those who wound you?

Daniel 5:20

5:20 And when his mind ³⁵  became arrogant ³⁶  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him.

Daniel 5:23-30

5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. You brought before you the vessels from his temple, and you and your nobles, together with your wives and concubines, drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone – gods ³⁷  that cannot see or hear or comprehend! But you have not glorified the God who has in his control ³⁸  your very breath and all your ways! 5:24 Therefore the palm of a hand was sent from him, and this writing was inscribed.

5:25 “This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, ³⁹  TEQEL, and PHARSIN. ⁴⁰  5:26 This is the interpretation of the words: ⁴¹  As for mene ⁴²  – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end. 5:27 As for teqel – you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking. 5:28 As for peres ⁴³  – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

5:29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, ⁴⁴  Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom. 5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ⁴⁵  was killed. ⁴⁶ 

[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.”

[16:18]  ² tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

[16:18]  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).

[18:12]  ⁴ sn The term “heart” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the seat of the spiritual and intellectual capacities – the mind, the will, the motivations and intentions. Proud ambitions and intentions will lead to a fall.

[18:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “[is] before honor”; cf. CEV “humility leads to honor.”

[18:12]  ⁶ sn The way to honor is through humility (e.g., Prov 11:2; 15:33; 16:18). The humility and exaltation of Jesus provides the classic example (Phil 2:1-10).

[10:12]  ⁷ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:12]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 23, 24, 33 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[10:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “his work on/against.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “on”; NIV “against.”

[10:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Lord is speaking here, as in vv. 5-6a.

[10:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will visit [judgment] on the fruit of the greatness of the heart of the king of Assyria, and on the glory of the height of his eyes.” The proud Assyrian king is likened to a large, beautiful fruit tree.

[10:13]  ¹² tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”

[10:13]  ¹³ tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (kÿ’abir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).

[10:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshÿvim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.

[10:14]  ¹⁵ sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.

[10:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”

[14:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ¹⁸ sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ¹⁹ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[14:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the high places.” This word often refers to the high places where pagan worship was conducted, but here it probably refers to the “backs” or tops of the clouds. See HALOT 136 s.v. בָּמָה.

[14:14]  ²¹ sn Normally in the OT the title “Most High” belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El.

[14:15]  ²² tn The prefixed verb form is taken as a preterite. Note the use of perfects in v. 12 to describe the king’s downfall.

[14:15]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term בּוּר (bor, “cistern”) is sometimes used metaphorically to refer to the place of the dead or the entrance to the underworld.

[28:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  sn See Prov 16:5.

[28:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[28:3]  ²⁸ sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.

[28:3]  ²⁹ sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.

[28:5]  ³⁰ tn Or “wisdom.”

[28:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”

[28:7]  ³² sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.

[28:7]  ³³ tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”

[28:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”

[5:20]  ³⁵ tn Aram “heart.”

[5:20]  ³⁶ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

[5:23]  ³⁷ tn Aram “which.”

[5:23]  ³⁸ tn Aram “in whose hand [are].”

[5:25]  ³⁹ tc The Greek version of Theodotion lacks the repetition of מְנֵא (mÿne’, cf. NAB).

[5:25]  ⁴⁰ tc The Aramaic word is plural. Theodotion has the singular (cf. NAB “PERES”).

[5:26]  ⁴¹ tn Or “word” or “event.” See HALOT 1915 s.v. מִלָּה.

[5:26]  ⁴² tn The Aramaic term מְנֵא (mÿne’) is a noun referring to a measure of weight. The linkage here to the verb “to number” (Aram. מְנָה, mÿnah) is a case of paronomasia rather than strict etymology. So also with תְּקֵל (tÿqel) and פַרְסִין (farsin). In the latter case there is an obvious wordplay with the name “Persian.”

[5:28]  ⁴³ sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.

[5:29]  ⁴⁴ tn Aram “Belshazzar spoke.”

[5:30]  ⁴⁵ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

[5:30]  ⁴⁶ sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.