¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant.^{(A) 12} For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.^(B)

⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(A)

¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray,^(A) one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself^(B) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast^(C) twice a week and give a tenth^(D) of all I get.’

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast^(E) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’^(F)

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(G)

⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position.^{(A) 10} But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower.^(B)