Eighteen verses on the humble heart and the proud one, grouped by theme, with the full text and a printable sheet.
The psalms rarely define humility. They show it. Psalm 131 describes a heart that is not arrogant and a soul that has gone quiet. Psalm 51 offers a broken spirit instead of a sacrifice. Pride appears as its opposite: the face too proud to leave room for God, the eyes that look down on others. Again and again the psalms say that God looks after the lowly and brings the arrogant down.
The page moves from what a humble heart looks like, to what the psalms say God does for the humble, to what they say about pride, and ends with the verses on how brief a human life is. Tick any that help and print them on one sheet.
Verses where the writer speaks in a humble voice, rather than talking about humility from outside.
LORD, my heart isn’t arrogant, nor my eyes lofty;nor do I concern myself with great matters,or things too wonderful for me.
LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
The whole psalm is three verses, and this is its opening. The writer says the heart is not arrogant and does not reach for things too wonderful to grasp.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
The heading places this psalm after Nathan confronted David. What God will not despise, it says, is a broken and contrite heart.
Not to us, LORD, not to us,but to your name give glory,for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.
Not to us, not to us. The glory is handed away twice before the verse even names where it belongs.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,so our eyes look to the LORD, our God,until he has mercy on us.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
The picture is a servant watching a master's hand. The eyes stay up and wait until mercy comes.
My soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord.Apart from you I have no good thing.”
O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
A plain admission: apart from you I have no good thing. Nothing good is claimed as the writer's own.
The psalms return often to the same pattern: the humble are guided, heard, lifted and crowned.
He will guide the humble in justice.He will teach the humble his way.
The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
The humble are the ones God guides and teaches. Being taught is presented as something humility makes possible.
For though the LORD is high, yet he looks after the lowly;but he knows the proud from afar.
Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
The Lord is high, yet he looks after the lowly. The proud he knows only from a distance.
The LORD upholds the humble.He brings the wicked down to the ground.
The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
Upholds and brings down sit side by side in one line. The humble are held up while the wicked are brought low.
For the LORD takes pleasure in his people.He crowns the humble with salvation.
For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
The humble are crowned with salvation. The crown goes to the lowly rather than to the great.
LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble.You will prepare their heart.You will cause your ear to hear,
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
You have heard the desire of the humble. The verse says God listens, and prepares their heart as well.
But the humble shall inherit the land,and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
The humble shall inherit the land and delight in peace. Jesus' saying in Matthew 5:5 about the gentle inheriting the earth echoes this line.
How the psalms describe pride. It is usually shown in a face, in the eyes, or in the mouth.
The wicked, in the pride of his face,has no room in his thoughts for God.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
The clearest picture of pride in the psalms. The proud face leaves no room in its thoughts for God.
For you will save the afflicted people,but the arrogant eyes you will bring down.
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
Arrogant eyes are brought down while the afflicted are saved. The same reversal runs through many of the psalms.
I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor.I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited.
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
The heading attributes this psalm to David. The writer says he will not tolerate anyone arrogant and conceited.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.Let them not have dominion over me.Then I will be upright.I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
A prayer to be kept back from presumptuous sins. The danger it names is in the writer, not in someone else.
Humility in the psalms is often the result of looking up at the sky or down at the length of a life.
what is man, that you think of him?What is the son of man, that you care for him?
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
The writer looks at the moon and stars and asks what a human being is, that God should think of him. Hebrews 2 quotes this passage.
“LORD, show me my end,what is the measure of my days.Let me know how frail I am.
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
A request to know one's own end and how frail one is. It is asked for, not feared.
Man is like a breath.His days are like a shadow that passes away.
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Man is like a breath, and his days a passing shadow. The verse follows a question about why God cares for people at all.
The saying that pride goes before a fall comes from Proverbs 16:18, not the psalms. The closest psalm lines are Psalm 18:27, where arrogant eyes are brought down, and Psalm 147:6, where the wicked are brought to the ground while the humble are upheld. Psalm 75:7 puts it more simply: God puts down one and lifts up another.
Psalm 131 is the one most directly about it. In three verses it describes a heart that is not arrogant and a soul quieted like a weaned child.
They describe it in the face and the eyes. Psalm 10:4 says the proud face has no room for God, and Psalm 138:6 says God knows the proud from afar.
Psalm 138:6 says that though the Lord is high, he looks after the lowly. Psalm 113:7 says he raises the poor out of the dust.
Psalm 37:11. The King James Version reads the meek shall inherit the earth, and the World English Bible reads the humble shall inherit the land.
Psalm 51:17 says God will not despise a broken and contrite heart. Its heading places it after Nathan the prophet came to David.
Psalms about WisdomPsalms for Forgiveness and RepentancePsalms about Self Worth and Being Loved by GodPsalms about PrayerPsalms about Mercy and Grace