Bible Dictionary
BOAST
To praise or glory in God, or, in a sinful sense, to boast arrogantly in oneself or one's achievements. Scripture commends confidence in God but condemns self-righteous boasting.
Definition
To boast may mean to praise or glory in God, or, negatively, to vaunt oneself and trust in one’s own achievements or righteousness.
Biblical Usage
The Psalms use boasting positively of praising God and negatively of self-exaltation. The New Testament can use the word in a good sense for glorying, but condemns self-righteous boasting and describes boastful or braggart people.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>bost (halal, "to praise"; kauchaomai, "to vaunt oneself," used both in a good and a bad sense): To praise God: "In God have we made our boast all the day long" (Ps 44:8); to praise oneself, to vaunt (Ps 10:3). In the New Testament the Revised Version (British and American) frequently translates "glory," where the King James Version has "boast," in a good sense (2Co 7:14). In the sense of self-righteousness (Eph 2:9; Ro 2:17,23). Boaster (alazon, "a braggart") occurs in the King James Version (Ro 1:30; 2Ti 3:2); the Revised Version (British and American) has "boastful."</p>