📖 Biblical Definition
"Fear the LORD" is the most frequent Old Testament exhortation. It is not anxious dread or terrified flight; it is reverent awe that recognizes God for who He is and leads to obedience. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10; Psalm 111:10); "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13); "By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6). The fear of the LORD does not exclude the love of the LORD; the two are inseparable in Scripture: the same verse can command both (Deuteronomy 10:12: "to fear the LORD thy God... and to love him"). The man without the fear of God may be religious; he is not yet wise.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Most-frequent OT exhortation: reverent awe leading to obedience.
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The most-frequent OT exhortation. Hebrew yire can mean both anxious dread and reverent awe; fear-of-the-LORD is the second kind — awe that recognizes God for who He is and responds with worship and obedience. The beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10); the beginning of knowledge (Prov 1:7); the whole duty of man (Eccl 12:13); the disposition that orients all of life rightly. Fear of the LORD does not exclude love of the LORD; in Scripture the two are inseparable. "Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths," the saint prays (Ps 25:4) — and the same psalm later names "the secret of the LORD is with them that fear him" (Ps 25:14).
📖 Key Scripture
Proverbs 9:10 — "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."
Ecclesiastes 12:13 — "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
Psalm 34:11 — "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity often softens fear into respect; Scripture preserves the awe-content.
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"God is love, why fear?" goes the modern softening. Scripture binds fear and love together: God's love is His holy love, and reverent awe of His holiness is the beginning of wisdom. To shrink fear to mere respect is to lose the awe that makes worship possible.
Recover the awe: yirah is not abusive-relationship dread; it is the saint's right-orientation before the holy God. The same God whose chesed is unfailing is the God whose holiness consumes.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew yire YHWH.
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['Hebrew', 'H3372', 'yare', 'to fear, revere']
['Hebrew', 'H3374', 'yirah', 'fear, reverence']
Usage
"Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."
"Fear and love are inseparable."
"Whole duty of man."