ABASE, ABASEMENT (שָׁפֵל֒, H9164, to bring low; עָנָה֮, H6700, to afflict; ταπεινόω, G5427, to make humble, to make low). God was esp. determined to exercise Himself against the proud. Job was told, “Look on everyone that is proud and abase him” (40:12). Even Nebuchadnezzar, the pagan, recognized this and declared that “those who walk in pride he is able to abase” (Dan 4:37). When Isaiah denounced Israel’s leadership for looking to the might of Egypt for deliverance instead of God, he wrote “When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall” (Isa 31:3). The NT insists that whoever exalts himself will be humbled (Matt 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14) and Paul insisted that it was a spiritual lesson to know how to be abased and yet abound (Phil 4:12).