Moussar sur Les Proverbes 21:4

Whoever acts in this wise ought to be ashamed, and remember that according to the measure of his superciliousness will he experience contempt, and in proportion to his power will humiliation suddenly befall him. Thus the sage saith (id. , xxix. .23), "A man's pride shall bring him low," i.e., boastfulness and arrogance are the main causes of man's humiliation, and these, by my life, are characteristic of the wicked, as he saith (id., xxi. 4), " A high look and a proud heart. "

And pride causes several transgressions and amplifies the impulse of a man's heart against him, as it is stated (Deuteronomy 8:14), "And your heart grow haughty and you forget the Lord your God." And it is [also] stated (Proverbs 21:4), "Haughty looks, a proud heart - the tillage of the evildoers' sin." Its explanation is: Pride is the tillage of evildoers, for the sins grow from it; as it was stated, "And your heart grow haughty and you forget." And it is [also] stated (Psalms 10:2), "The wicked in his arrogance hounds the lowly." And it is [further] stated (Psalms 31:19), "that speak haughtily against the righteous with arrogance." And it is [also] stated (Ezekiel 32:24), "who struck terror in the land of the living." And just like people make a tillage in the field in order to plant seeds and to harvest much produce, so do the evildoers make pride into a tillage in their hearts, and seed it with their evil thoughts to produce and to grow sins. Metaphorically speaking, these are the fruit of their thoughts - like the prophet stated (Hosea 10:4), "this judgment springs up like poison weeds, etc." And the explanation of "sin" (above in Proverbs 21:4) is, the tillage of the evildoers is the tillage of sin. And all [mention of] sin is [actually] plural, like (in Jeremiah 17:1), "The sin of Judah." Or (alternatively), its explanation is "and sin," like in (Habakkuk 3:11), "Sun, moon" (which means, sun and moon). And the understanding is - beyond [the fact] that pride causes sins, the trait itself is a sin, as it is stated (Proverbs 16:5), "Every haughty person is an abomination to the Lord." And a proud person will be given over to his impulse; for God does not help him, since he is "an abomination to the Lord."