Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
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.
- BSB The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.
- 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 forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
- Rev 15:4Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
- Isa 26:3–4Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
- Matt 10:28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
- Ps 76:7Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
- Mal 2:5My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
- Num 20:12–13And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
- Gen 31:53The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac.
- Isa 29:23But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
- Rom 4:20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
- Num 27:14For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
- Lev 10:3Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.