Matthew 23:12

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
whosoever	ὅστις hostis	G3748	which some · relative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
shall exalt	ὑψώσει hupsōsei	G5312	to elevate (literally or figuratively) · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person singular
himself	ἑαυτὸν he'auton	G1438	him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
shall be abased	ταπεινωθήσεται, tapeinōthēsetai	G5013	to depress · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person singular
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
he that	ὅστις hostis	G3748	which some · relative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
shall humble	ταπεινώσει tapeinōsei	G5013	to depress · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person singular
himself	ἑαυτὸν he'auton	G1438	him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
shall be exalted	ὑψωθήσεται.¶ hupsōthēsetai	G5312	to elevate (literally or figuratively) · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God res…
James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Luke 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he tha…
Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.
Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 23:12

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased--See on Luk 18:14. What follows was addressed more immediately to the scribes and Pharisees.

John Gill on Matthew 23:12

And whosoever shall exalt himself,.... Above his fellow Christians, or fellow ministers, by entertaining too high an opinion of himself, by boasting of his gifts, as preferable to others, and as if he had not received them; by assuming, or eagerly coveting titles of honour among men, or by affecting honour that do not belong to him, or, abusing what he has: "shall be abased"; or humbled by God, or men, or both; such shall lose the honour they have, and come greatly short of what they are ambitious of; they shall fall into disgrace with men, and are abominable in the sight of God: "and he that shall humble himself"; by entertaining low thoughts, and a mean opinion of himself, behaving modestl…

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John Calvin on Matthew 23:1-12

Matthew 23:1-12 Matthew 23:1-12 Mark 12:38-39 Luke 11:45-46 1. Then Jesus spoke to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2. Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses. 3. Observe and do, therefore, all things whatever they command you to observe; but do not according to their works; for they say and do not. 4. For they bind heavy and intolerable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they refuse to touch them with their finger. 5. And they do all their works that they may be seen by men, and make their phylacteries broad, and wear large fringes on their robes, 6. And love the first places at entertainments, and the first seats in the synagogues, 7. And salutati…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 23:11-12

Jesus’ disciples should lead by serving, in stark contrast to Israel’s religious leaders (who are described in 23:5-7).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

A hermit said, 'He who is praised and honoured above what he deserves suffers grievous loss. He who receives no honour at all among men, shall be glorified hereafter.'
— Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

Which means that every one who thinks highly of his own deserts, shall be humbled before God; and every one who humbles himself concerning his good deeds, shall be exalted with God.
— Remigius of Rheims ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Scribes — Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V.,…
Ambition · 49:11-13; — 49:11-13;
Humility · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Meekness · Those who are gifted with: Are exalted — Those who are gifted with: Are exalted
Pharisees · .By Jesus — .By Jesus
Pride · 4:1; — 4:1;
Satire · Of Jesus against hypocrites — Of Jesus against hypocrites
Teachers · .Admonition against — .Admonition against

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).