Proverbs 16:5
Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished.
Everyone who is proud in heart
The phrase "everyone who is proud in heart" refers to individuals who harbor arrogance and self-exaltation within their innermost being. The Hebrew word for "proud" is "גֵּוָה" (gevah), which conveys a sense of loftiness or haughtiness. In the biblical context, pride is often seen as the root of sin, as it elevates the self above God and others. Historically, pride has been a significant theme throughout Scripture, from the fall of Lucifer to the downfall of many kings and nations. This phrase serves as a warning against the internal disposition that leads to rebellion against God's authority.

is detestable to the LORD
The term "detestable" in Hebrew is "תּוֹעֵבָה" (to'evah), which means something that is abominable or loathsome. This strong language indicates the severity with which God views pride. In the ancient Near Eastern context, detestable acts were those that violated the covenant relationship between God and His people. The LORD, or "יְהוָה" (YHWH), is the covenant name of God, emphasizing His holiness and righteousness. This phrase underscores the incompatibility of pride with the character of God, who desires humility and submission from His followers.

be assured that he will not go unpunished
The phrase "be assured" translates the Hebrew "יָד לֹא" (yad lo), which conveys certainty and inevitability. The assurance of punishment reflects the justice of God, who cannot overlook sin. The concept of divine retribution is a recurring theme in the wisdom literature, where actions have consequences. The phrase "will not go unpunished" highlights the moral order established by God, where pride leads to downfall. This serves as both a warning and a call to repentance, encouraging believers to seek humility and align themselves with God's will.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD
The sovereign God of Israel, who is holy and just, and who detests pride.

2. The Proud in Heart
Individuals who exhibit arrogance and self-exaltation, setting themselves against God's will.

3. Solomon
Traditionally considered the author of Proverbs, known for his wisdom and understanding of God's laws.

4. Ancient Israel
The cultural and religious context in which these proverbs were written, emphasizing a covenant relationship with God.

5. The Punishment
The divine consequence that awaits those who harbor pride, as a reflection of God's justice.
Teaching Points
The Nature of Pride
Pride is not merely an external action but a condition of the heart that sets itself against God. It is a fundamental sin that leads to other transgressions.

God's View of Pride
The Hebrew word for "detestable" (to'evah) indicates something that is an abomination to God. This strong language underscores the seriousness with which God views pride.

The Certainty of Judgment
The phrase "be assured" emphasizes the inevitability of divine punishment for the proud. God's justice is certain and unavoidable.

The Call to Humility
Believers are called to examine their hearts and root out pride, seeking humility and submission to God's will.

Living in Community
Pride disrupts relationships and community. Christians are encouraged to foster humility and unity within the body of Christ.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding the original Hebrew word for "detestable" deepen our understanding of God's view on pride?

2. In what ways can pride manifest in our daily lives, and how can we guard against it?

3. How does the account of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 illustrate the truth of Proverbs 16:5?

4. What practical steps can we take to cultivate humility in our relationships with others?

5. How can we encourage one another in our faith communities to live out the principles of humility and submission to God?
Connections to Other Scriptures
James 4:6
This verse echoes the theme of God opposing the proud but giving grace to the humble, reinforcing the idea that humility is favored by God.

Isaiah 2:12
This passage speaks of a day when the LORD will humble the proud, aligning with the theme of divine judgment against pride.

1 Peter 5:5
This verse encourages believers to clothe themselves with humility, as God opposes the proud, similar to the message in Proverbs 16:5.

Daniel 4:37
The account of King Nebuchadnezzar serves as a account example of God humbling the proud, illustrating the truth of Proverbs 16:5.

Psalm 101:5
This psalm highlights God's disdain for the proud and arrogant, further supporting the message of Proverbs 16:5.
On PrideThos. Gisborne, M.A.Proverbs 16:5
Thought, Action, PrayerW. Clarkson Proverbs 16:1, 3, 9
The Administration of Rewards and PunishmentsE. Johnson Proverbs 16:4-9
People
Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Abomination, Acquitted, Arrogant, Assured, Assuredly, Certainly, Disgusting, Free, Heart, Held, Innocent, Join, Pride, Proud, Punishment, Sure, Though, Unpunished
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 16:5

     5016   heart, fallen and redeemed
     5960   success
     5961   superiority
     8803   pride, evil of
     8805   pride, results

Library
April 27. "The Sweetness of the Lips" (Prov. xvi. 21).
"The sweetness of the lips" (Prov. xvi. 21). Spiritual conditions are inseparably connected with our physical life. The flow of the divine life-currents may be interrupted by a little clot of blood; the vital current may leak out through a very trifling wound. If you want to keep the health of Christ, keep from all spiritual sores, from all heart wounds and irritations. One hour of fretting will wear out more vitality than a week of work; and one minute of malignity, or rankling jealousy or envy
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

June 13. "The Sweetness of the Lips Increaseth Learning" (Prov. xvi. 21).
"The sweetness of the lips increaseth learning" (Prov. xvi. 21). Life is very largely made up of words. They are not so emphatic, perhaps, as deeds. Deeds are more deliberate expressions of thought. One of the most remarkable authors of the New Testament has said, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man." It is very often a test of victory in Christian life. Our triumph in this often depends on what we say, or what we do not say. It is said by James of the tongue, "It is set on
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 17. "He that Ruleth his Spirit is Better than He that Taketh a City" (Prov. xvi. 32).
"He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city" (Prov. xvi. 32). Temperance is true self-government. It involves the grace of self-denial and the spirit of a sound mind. It is that poise of spirit that holds us quiet, self-possessed, recollected, deliberate, and subject ever to the voice of God and the conviction of duty in every step we take. Many persons have not that poise and recollected spirit. They are drifting at the impulse of their own impressions, moods, the influence of
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

What I Think of Myself and what God Thinks of Me
'All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.'--PROVERBS xvi. 2. 'All the ways of a man'--then there is no such thing as being conscious of having gone wrong, and having got into miry and foul ways? Of course there is; and equally of course a broad statement such as this of my text is not to be pressed into literal accuracy, but is a simple, general assertion of what we all know to be true, that we have a strange power of blinding ourselves as to what is wrong
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Bundle of Proverbs
'Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly. 23. The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. 24. Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. 25. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 26. He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him. 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Unsound Spiritual Trading
A sermon (No. 849) delivered on Lord's Day morning, January 10th, 1869, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits."----Proverbs 16:2. During the last two years some of the most notable commercial reputations have been hopelessly destroyed. Men in the great world of trade who were trusted for hundreds of thousands of pounds, around whose characters there hovered no cloud of suspicion nor even the
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Trust in God --True Wisdom
A sermon (No. 392) delivered on Sunday Morning, May 12th, 1861, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."--Proverbs 16:20. Wisdom is man's true path--that which enables him to accomplish best the end of his being, and which therefore gives to him the richest enjoyment and the fullest play for all his powers. Wisdom is the compass by which man is to steer across the trackless waste
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

A Wise Desire
I remember once going to a chapel where this happened to be the text, and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance. It has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny: for," said he, "We do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose heaven; and any person
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Of Predestination
Eph. i. 11.--"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."--Rom. ix. 22, 23.--"What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory." In the creation of the world, it pleased the Lord,
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Conflict.
"Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against themselves, that ye
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Of Self-Surrender
Of Self-Surrender We should now begin to abandon and give up our whole existence unto God, from the strong and positive conviction, that the occurrence of every moment is agreeable to His immediate will and permission, and just such as our state requires. This conviction will make us resigned in all things; and accept of all that happens, not as from the creature, but as from God Himself. But I conjure you, my dearly beloved, who sincerely wish to give up yourselves to God, that after you have made
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Abandonment to God --Its Fruit and Its Irrevocability --In what it Consists --God Exhorts us to It.
It is here that true abandonment and consecration to God should commence, by our being deeply convinced that all which happens to us moment by moment is the will of God, and therefore all that is necessary to us. This conviction will render us contented with everything, and will make us see the commonest events in God, and not in the creature. I beg of you, whoever you may be, who are desirous of giving yourselves to God, not to take yourselves back when once you are given to Him, and to remember
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Providence of God
Q-11: WHAT ARE GOD'S WORKS OF PROVIDENCE? A: God's works of providence are the acts of his most holy, wise, and powerful government of his creatures, and of their actions. Of the work of God's providence Christ says, My Father worketh hitherto and I work.' John 5:17. God has rested from the works of creation, he does not create any new species of things. He rested from all his works;' Gen 2:2; and therefore it must needs be meant of his works of providence: My Father worketh and I work.' His kingdom
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Epistle xx. To Mauricius Augustus.
To Mauricius Augustus. Gregory to Mauricius, &c. Our most pious and God-appointed lord, among his other august cares and burdens, watches also in the uprightness of spiritual zeal over the preservation of peace among the priesthood, inasmuch as he piously and truly considers that no one can govern earthly things aright unless he knows how to deal with divine things, and that the peace of the republic hangs on the peace of the universal Church. For, most serene Lord, what human power, and what strength
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation
"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). In the last chapter when treating of the Sovereignty of God the Father in Salvation, we examined seven passages which represent Him as making a choice from among the children of men, and predestinating certain ones to be conformed to the image of His Son. The thoughtful reader will naturally ask, And what of those who were not "ordained to eternal life?" The answer which is usually returned to this question, even by those who profess
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

God's Glory the Chief End of Man's Being
Rom. xi. 36.--"Of him and through him, and to him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever." And 1 Cor. x. 31--"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." All that men have to know, may be comprised under these two heads,--What their end is, and What is the right way to attain to that end? And all that we have to do, is by any means to seek to compass that end. These are the two cardinal points of a man's knowledge and exercise. Quo et qua eundum est,--Whither to go, and what way to go.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Reprobation.
In discussing this subject I shall endeavor to show, I. What the true doctrine of reprobation is not. 1. It is not that the ultimate end of God in the creation of any was their damnation. Neither reason nor revelation confirms, but both contradict the assumption, that God has created or can create any being for the purpose of rendering him miserable as an ultimate end. God is love, or he is benevolent, and cannot therefore will the misery of any being as an ultimate end, or for its own sake. It is
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

How the Rude in Sacred Learning, and those who are Learned but not Humble, are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 25.) Differently to be admonished are those who do not understand aright the words of the sacred Law, and those who understand them indeed aright, but speak them not humbly. For those who understand not aright the words of sacred Law are to be admonished to consider that they turn for themselves a most wholesome drought of wine into a cup of poison, and with a medicinal knife inflict on themselves a mortal wound, when they destroy in themselves what was sound by that whereby they ought,
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Consolation
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received at the LORD 's hand double for all her sins. T he particulars of the great "mystery of godliness," as enumerated by the Apostle Paul, constitute the grand and inexhaustible theme of the Gospel ministry, "God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Epistle ii. To Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch.
To Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. Gregory to Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch. I have received the letters of your most sweet Blessedness, which flowed with tears for words. For I saw in them a cloud flying aloft as clouds do; but, though it carried with it a darkness of sorrow, I could not easily discover at its commencement whence it came or whither it was going, since by reason of the darkness I speak of I did not fully understand its origin. Yet it becomes you, most holy ones, ever to recall
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

How the Impatient and the Patient are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 10.) Differently to be admonished are the impatient and the patient. For the impatient are to be told that, while they neglect to bridle their spirit, they are hurried through many steep places of iniquity which they seek not after, inasmuch as fury drives the mind whither desire draws it not, and, when perturbed, it does, not knowing, what it afterwards grieves for when it knows. The impatient are also to be told that, when carried headlong by the impulse of emotion, they act in some
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Effects of Messiah's Appearance
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped: Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. H ow beautiful and magnificent is the imagery, by which the Prophet, in this chapter, represents the effects of MESSIAH'S appearance! The scene, proposed to our view, is a barren and desolate wilderness. But when He, who in the beginning said, Let there be light, and there was light, condescends to visit this wilderness, the face of nature is
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

A Preliminary Discourse to Catechising
'If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled.' - Col 1:23. Intending next Lord's day to enter upon the work of catechising, it will not be amiss to give you a preliminary discourse, to show you how needful it is for Christians to be well instructed in the grounds of religion. If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled.' I. It is the duty of Christians to be settled in the doctrine of faith. II. The best way for Christians to be settled is to be well grounded. I. It is the duty of Christians
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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