literally signifies beaten or bruised, as with hard blows, or a heavy burden; and so, in Scripture language, imports one whose heart is broken and wounded for sin, in opposition to the heart of stone (Isaiah 66:2; Psalms 51:17). The evidences of a broken and contrite spirit are:
(1) Deep conviction of the evil of sin; (2) humiliation under a sense of it (Job 43:5, 6); (3) pungent sorrow for it (Zechariah 12:10); (4) ingenuous confession of it (1 John 1:9); (5) prayer for deliverance from it (Psalms 51:10; Luke 18:13); (6) susceptibility of good impressions (Ezekiel 11:19).