It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also from that don’t withdraw your hand; for he who fears God will come out of them all.
- KJV It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.
- NKJV It is good that you grasp this, And also not remove your hand from the other; For he who fears God will escape them all.
- NASB It is good that you grasp one thing while not letting go of the other; for one who fears God comes out with both of them.
- NLT Pay attention to these instructions, for anyone who fears God will avoid both extremes.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
It is good to grasp the one warning without letting go of the other, for the God-fearing person will navigate both. It matters because the fear of God keeps us from every destructive extreme.
Overview
The Preacher resolves the tension of the preceding verses: the one who fears God avoids both self-righteous pride and reckless wickedness. The fear of the Lord is the steadying center of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). This reverent fear, deepened in the gospel into loving trust, enables believers to walk the wise path between dangerous extremes by depending on God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mal 4:2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
- Eccl 12:13When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.
- Eccl 11:6Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.
- Luke 1:50His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.
- Luke 11:42Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
- Eccl 8:12Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
- Prov 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
- Ps 145:19–20He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.
- Eccl 3:14I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.
- Ps 25:12–14Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him.
- Prov 4:25–27Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
- Jer 32:40I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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