⁷Arrogance is hateful to the Lord and to mortals,
   and injustice is outrageous to both.
⁸Sovereignty passes from nation to nation
   on account of injustice and insolence and wealth.^*
9How can dust and ashes be proud?
   Even in life the human body decays.^*
10A long illness baffles the physician;^*
   the king of today will die tomorrow.
¹¹For when one is dead
   he inherits maggots and vermin^* and worms.
¹²The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord;
   the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.
¹³For the beginning of pride is sin,
   and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities,
   and destroys them completely.
¹⁴The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers,
   and enthrones the lowly in their place.
¹⁵The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations,^*
   and plants the humble in their place.
¹⁶The Lord lays waste the lands of the nations,
   and destroys them to the foundations of the earth.
¹⁷He removes some of them and destroys them,
   and erases the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁸Pride was not created for human beings,
   or violent anger for those born of women.