King James Bible
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
This opening clause establishes pride as the precursor to complete ruin. The Hebrew word for 'destruction' implies violent shattering, suggesting that pride doesn't merely lead to setbacks but to catastrophic collapse. This parallel phrase reinforces the warning using synonymous language—'haughty spirit' refers to an arrogant inner attitude. The progression from 'destruction' to 'fall' employs Hebrew poetic parallelism, where the second line echoes and intensifies the first's meaning.