Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of ancient Babylon — in modern-day Iraq — and one of the most powerful rulers the ancient world had ever seen. In Daniel chapter 4, his pride became so extreme that God intervened dramatically: Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind and lived outdoors like a wild animal for seven years. When God restored his sanity, Nebuchadnezzar wrote this declaration — a public acknowledgment that the God of Israel is supreme, that his ways are just, and that pride has a ceiling God will not allow anyone to exceed. It is one of the most unexpected testimonies in the entire Bible.
King of heaven, I don't want to need to be broken before I see you clearly. Teach me humility before it's forced on me. Everything I have, everything I've built, everything I am — it came from you. Help me actually live like that's true. Amen.
Picture it: the man who built one of the ancient world's great wonders, who had conquered nation after nation and answered to no one — on his hands and knees in a field, eating grass, hair matted, nails grown like claws. That is literally what Daniel 4 describes. And when it was over, when seven years of madness had stripped him to nothing, the first thing out of his mouth wasn't bitterness or denial. It was praise. Not reluctant, obligatory praise — exalting, glorifying praise. The man had been demolished by God and came out the other side saying, "He was right to do it." That kind of honesty is rare. Pride — the particular kind Nebuchadnezzar had — is a fortress most people defend to the grave. The conviction that we are the authors of our own success, the center of our own story, is one of the most seductive lies available. Nebuchadnezzar needed seven years and a complete psychological collapse to see through it. You may not need that. But where are you quietly convinced that you've earned what you have? The King of heaven, this verse says, is perfectly able to humble those who walk in pride. He's also, apparently, very patient about it.
What does Nebuchadnezzar's declaration reveal about what it sometimes takes for people to finally acknowledge God — and what does that say about human nature?
Is there an area of your life where you find it genuinely hard to admit you're not in control — and what makes that particular area so resistant?
Is it possible to be prideful without recognizing it? What are the subtle signs of pride that are easiest to overlook when you're the one experiencing them?
How does your own pride — or your humility — affect the people you live and work with in concrete, day-to-day ways?
What is one thing you've accomplished that you could genuinely, honestly attribute to God this week — not as a performance, but as a real act of acknowledgment?
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23:12
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
James 4:6
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Psalms 33:11
A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Proverbs 29:23
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:5
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Micah 6:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and faithful and His ways are just, and He is able to humiliate and humble those who walk in [self-centered, self-righteous] pride."
AMP
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
ESV
'Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.'
NASB
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
NIV
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.
NKJV
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”
NLT
And that's why I'm singing—I, Nebuchadnezzar—singing and praising the King of Heaven: "Everything he does is right, and he does it the right way. He knows how to turn a proud person into a humble man or woman."
MSG