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King James Version

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blindness;   Fear of God;   Fool;   Knowledge;   Wisdom;   Young Men;   Thompson Chain Reference - Fear of God;   Instruction;   Reception-Rejection;   Rejection;   Reverence-Irreverence;   The Topic Concordance - Despisement;   Fear;   Foolishness;   Hate;   Instruction;   Knowledge;   Wisdom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fools;   Titles and Names of the Wicked;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Fear;   Fool, folly;   Knowledge;   Proverbs;   Wisdom;   Wisdom literature;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fear;   Knowledge of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Fear of the Lord the;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ethics;   Fear;   Fool, Foolishness, and Folly;   Israel, History of;   Proverbs, Book of;   Wisdom and Wise Men;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Education;   Fool;   Proverb;   Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Despise;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Beginning;   Fear;   Fool;   Know;   Poetry, Hebrew;   Proverbs, Book of;   Wisdom;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Cardinal Virtues;   Education;   Folly and Fool;   Japheth Ha-Levi;   Parallelism in Hebrew Poetry;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The fear of the Lordis the beginning of knowledge;fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Hebrew Names Version
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
English Standard Version
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
New Century Version
Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord , but fools hate wisdom and discipline.
New English Translation
Fearing the Lord is the beginning of moral knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Amplified Bible
The [reverent] fear of the LORD [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; But arrogant fools despise [skillful and godly] wisdom and instruction and self-discipline.
New American Standard Bible
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
World English Bible
The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The feare of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fooles despise wisedome and instruction.
Legacy Standard Bible
The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge;Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Berean Standard Bible
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Contemporary English Version
Respect and obey the Lord ! This is the beginning of knowledge. Only a fool rejects wisdom and good advice.
Complete Jewish Bible
The fear of Adonai is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Darby Translation
The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge: fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Easy-to-Read Version
Knowledge begins with fear and respect for the Lord , but stubborn fools hate wisdom and refuse to learn.
George Lamsa Translation
The reverence of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise knowledge and instruction.
Good News Translation
To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the Lord . Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn.
Lexham English Bible
Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; wisdom and instruction, fools despise.
Literal Translation
The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The feare of the LORDE is the begynnynge of wysdome. But fooles despyse wysdome and nurtoure.
American Standard Version
The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Bible in Basic English
The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and discipline.
King James Version (1611)
The feare of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fooles despise wisedome and instruction.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The feare of the Lorde is the begynnyng of knowledge: but fooles dispise wisdome and instruction.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and there is good understanding to all that practise it: and piety toward God is the beginning of discernment; but the ungodly will set at nought wisdom and instruction.
English Revised Version
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The drede of the Lord is the bigynning of wisdom; foolis dispisen wisdom and teching.
Update Bible Version
The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; [But] the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Webster's Bible Translation
The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction.
New King James Version
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
New Living Translation
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
New Life Bible
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of much learning. Fools hate wisdom and teaching.
New Revised Standard
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The reverence of Yahweh, is the beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and correction, the foolish have despised.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Revised Standard Version
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Young's Literal Translation
Fear of Jehovah [is] a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!
THE MESSAGE
Start with God —the first step in learning is bowing down to God ; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Contextual Overview

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

fear: Proverbs 9:10, Job 28:28, Psalms 111:10, Psalms 112:1, Ecclesiastes 12:13

beginning: or, principal part

but: Proverbs 1:22, Proverbs 1:29, Proverbs 1:30, Proverbs 5:12, Proverbs 5:13, Proverbs 15:5, Proverbs 18:2, John 3:18-21, Romans 1:28

Reciprocal: Genesis 20:11 - Surely Genesis 22:12 - now Exodus 20:20 - his fear Leviticus 25:17 - fear Leviticus 26:15 - despise Deuteronomy 4:6 - this is your Deuteronomy 32:28 - General 1 Samuel 12:24 - fear the Lord Job 21:14 - for we Job 30:8 - fools Psalms 5:5 - The Psalms 14:1 - fool Psalms 25:12 - What Psalms 34:11 - I will Psalms 50:17 - hatest Psalms 95:10 - and they Psalms 119:150 - draw nigh Psalms 119:155 - for they Proverbs 9:18 - he Proverbs 15:33 - fear Proverbs 31:30 - a woman Jeremiah 7:28 - correction Zephaniah 3:2 - correction Haggai 1:12 - fear Matthew 13:19 - and understandeth Matthew 22:5 - they Acts 9:31 - and walking Acts 10:35 - feareth Romans 3:11 - none that understandeth 1 Thessalonians 4:8 - despiseth not 2 Thessalonians 2:10 - they received 1 Peter 2:17 - Fear

Cross-References

Genesis 1:8
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Genesis 1:9
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:15
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Genesis 1:24
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Job 26:8
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.
Psalms 104:10
He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
Psalms 148:4
Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The fear of the Lord [is] the beginning of knowledge,.... Here properly the book begins, and this is the first of the proverbs, and an excellent one; it is such an one as is not to be found in all the writings of the Heathens. By "the fear of the Lord" is not meant a servile fear, a fear of punishment, of hell, wrath, and damnation, which is the effect of the first work of the law upon the conscience; but a filial fear, and supposes knowledge of God as a father, of his love and grace in Christ, particularly of his forgiving love, from whence it arises, Psalms 130:4; it is a holy, humble, fiducial fear of God; a reverential affection for him, and devotion to him; it includes the whole of religious worship, both internal and external; all that is contained in the first table of the law, and the manner of performing it, and principle of acting: this is the first of all sciences to be learned, and it is the principal one; it is the basis and foundation of all the rest, on which they depend; and it is the head, the fountain, the root an source, from whence they spring; and unless a man knows God, knows God in Christ, and worships him in his fear, in spirit and in truth, according to his revealed will, he knows nothing as he ought to know; and all his knowledge will be of no avail and profit to him; this is the first and chief thing in spiritual and evangelical knowledge, and without which all natural knowledge will signify nothing; see Job 28:28;

[but] fools despise wisdom and instruction; the same with "knowledge" before; they do not desire the knowledge of God, and of his ways and worship, but despise it, make no account of it, but treat it with contempt; especially the knowledge of God in Christ, in which lies the highest wisdom, for this is "life eternal", John 17:3; they despise Christ "the Wisdom of God", and the Gospel, and the truths of it, which are "the hidden wisdom" of God; and all "instruction" into it, and the means of it; they despise the Scriptures, which are able to make a man "wise unto salvation"; and the ministry of the word, and the ministers of it: such sort of "discipline" n was this, as the word signifies, they dislike and abhor; and especially "correction" or "chastisement" o, which is also the sense of it; suffering reproach and affliction for the sake of wisdom, a profession of Christ and his Gospel; and they are fools with a witness that despise all this; such fools are atheists, deists, and all profane and wicked men. The Septuagint render it, "the ungodly"; and such sort of men are all along meant by "fools" in this book.

n מוסר "disciplinam", Tigurine version, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens, o "Castigationem, correctionem", Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The beginning of wisdom is found in the temper of reverence and awe. The fear of the finite in the presence of the Infinite, of the sinful in the presence of the Holy (compare Job 42:5-6), this for the Israelite was the starting-point of all true wisdom. In the Book of Job 28:28 it appears as an oracle accompanied by the noblest poetry. In Psalms 111:10 it comes as the choral close of a temple hymn. Here it is the watchword of a true ethical education. This fear has no torment, and is compatible with child-like love. But this and not love is the “beginning of wisdom.” Through successive stages and by the discipline of life, love blends with it and makes it perfect.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord — In the preceding verses Solomon shows the advantage of acting according to the dictates of wisdom; in the following verses he shows the danger of acting contrary to them. The fear of the Lord signifies that religious reverence which every intelligent being owes to his Creator; and is often used to express the whole of religion, as we have frequently had occasion to remark in different places. But what is religion? The love of God, and the love of man; the former producing all obedience to the Divine will; the latter, every act of benevolence to one's fellows. The love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit produces the deepest religious reverence, genuine piety, and cheerful obedience. To love one's neighbour as himself is the second great commandment; and as love worketh no ill to one's neighbour, therefore it is said to be the fulfilling of the law. Without love, there is no obedience; without reverence, there is neither caution, consistent conduct, nor perseverance in righteousness.

This fear or religious reverence is said to be the beginning of knowledge; ראשית reshith, the principle, the first moving influence, begotten in a tender conscience by the Spirit of God. No man can ever become truly wise, who does not begin with God, the fountain of knowledge; and he whose mind is influenced by the fear and love of God will learn more in a month than others will in a year.

Fools despise — אוילים evilim, evil men. Men of bad hearts, bad heads, and bad ways.


 
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