The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.
- KJV Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
- NKJV The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread.
- NASB “It is the Lord of armies whom you are to regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread.
- NLT Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.
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
Instead of fearing human threats, God's people must regard the Lord himself as holy and reverence him above all.
Overview
The cure for misplaced fear is the right fear of God: holding Yahweh of Armies as holy and dreading him alone. When God is feared rightly, lesser fears lose their grip. The First Letter of Peter applies this directly to Christ, calling believers to sanctify Christ as Lord in their hearts (1 Peter 3:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 12:5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the One who, after you have been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!
- Rev 15:4Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”
- Isa 26:3–4You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Matt 10:28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- Ps 76:7You alone are to be feared. When You are angry, who can stand before You?
- Mal 2:5“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, which I gave to him; it called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name.
- Num 20:12–13But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
- Gen 31:53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
- Isa 29:23For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
- Rom 4:20Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
- Num 27:14for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.
- Lev 10:3Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 8:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.