The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Parallel translations
- KJV The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- BSB The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
- NKJV The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- NASB ¶The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- NLT Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
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
Proverbs' motto: real knowledge begins with the fear of the LORD — reverent awe of God is the foundation everything else is built on.
Overview
This verse is the thesis of Proverbs. "The fear of the LORD" is not terror but a reverence that takes God seriously enough to reshape one's life. The contrast — "fools despise wisdom and instruction" — frames wisdom as fundamentally a matter of the heart's posture toward God, not mere intelligence.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”
- Ps 111:10The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
- Eccl 12:13This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
- Prov 9:10The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
- Prov 15:33The fear of Yahweh teaches wisdom. Before honor is humility.
- Prov 18:2A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.
- Prov 1:29–30because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
- Rom 1:28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- Prov 1:22“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
- Prov 15:5A fool despises his father’s correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.
- John 3:18–21He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
- Prov 5:12–13and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Pastoral
Henry on the fear of the LORD and the purpose of Proverbs.
Commentaries & study tools
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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
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 1:7 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.