Note, 1. Pride is the presage of ruin, and ruin will at last be the punishment of pride; for before destruction men are commonly so infatuated by the just judgment of God that they are more haughty than ever, that their ruin may be the sorer and the more surprising. Of, if that do not always hold, yet after the heart has been lifted up with pride, a fall comes, Pro 16:18. 2. Humility is the presage of honour and prepares men for it, and honour shall at length be the reward of humility, as he had said before, Pro 15:33. That has need to be often said which men are so loth to believe.

Before destruction the heart of man is haughty,.... Lifted up with his riches. Rich men are apt to be highminded, and therefore are to be charged and cautioned against it; they are apt to look above their poor neighbours, and with contempt upon them; and very often this haughtiness of theirs is a presage of their ruin and destruction: and those haughty airs are put on from the pride of their hearts, when a "breach" is near, as the word (u) signifies, or when they are ready to break; however, their haughty spirits are, sooner or later, humbled by one distressing providence or another; see Pro 16:18;

and before honour is humility; See Gill on Pro 15:33.

(u) "ante confractionem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens.

(Compare Pro 15:33; Pro 16:18).