For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
- KJV For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
- NKJV Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
- NASB Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord.
- NLT For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord.
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
Their ruin comes because they hated knowledge and refused the fear of Yahweh. It matters because it names the root cause: rejecting reverence for God.
Overview
The reason for unanswered cries is given: a settled hatred of knowledge and refusal to fear the Lord. Since the fear of Yahweh is wisdom's foundation (1:7), rejecting it forfeits everything. Their judgment is just, flowing from their own deliberate choice against God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 6:23For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,
- Job 21:14–15Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
- Prov 1:22“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
- Heb 11:25He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.
- Isa 27:11When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.
- Ps 50:16–17To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?
- Acts 7:51–54You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- John 3:20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
- Prov 5:12and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!
- Luke 10:42But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.”
- Isa 30:9–12These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 1:29 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.