A familiar Bible saying, checked in context
Pride comes before a fall
Paraphrase
Proverbs 16:18 links pride with destruction and a haughty spirit with a fall; this common wording is a paraphrase.
By @The..Mustard..Seed · Updated
Read the relevant KJV passage
Proverbs 16:18Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Compare the evidence
Its first clause says a haughty heart comes before destruction, a close comparison with the remembered pride-and-fall wording. The second clause places humility before honor.
Proverbs 18:12Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
The next proverb praises being humble with the lowly over dividing spoil with the proud, reinforcing the contrast.
Proverbs 16:19Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
What the context adds
The popular sentence is a paraphrase of Proverbs 16:18, not a complete KJV quotation. Its first half resembles “Pride goeth before destruction,” and its last words come from the second half about a haughty spirit before a fall. Laying the clauses side by side shows how memory can blend a two-part proverb into one short sentence. The chapter’s next verse contrasts humility with sharing the spoil of the proud. Seeing the two clauses together explains the remembered wording more clearly than a simple correction would.
A question to carry forward
What difference do you hear between destruction in the first clause and a fall in the second?
Keep reading
Compare both halves of Proverbs 16:18, then read the surrounding sayings in Proverbs 16.
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