How blessed is the person who fears always, But one who hardens his heart will fall into disaster.
Parallel translations
- WEB Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
- KJV Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
- BSB Blessed is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
- NKJV Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
- NLT Blessed are those who fear to do wrong, but the stubborn are headed for serious trouble.
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
Those who reverently fear God are blessed, but the hard-hearted fall into trouble. It commends a tender, watchful heart over stubborn presumption.
Overview
Blessing rests on the one who maintains a holy, reverent fear of God, while hardening one's heart leads to calamity. The verse contrasts humble dependence with proud self-assurance. Scripture repeatedly warns against hardening the heart and calls us to a softened heart that hears God's voice in Christ today (Hebrews 3:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Prov 23:17Don’t let your heart envy sinners; but rather fear Yahweh all day long.
- Ps 2:11Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
- Isa 66:2For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but to this man will I look, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.
- Rom 11:20True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear;
- Jer 32:40and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me.
- 1 Pet 1:17If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:
- Heb 4:1Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Prov 29:1He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
- Ps 112:1Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who delights greatly in his commandments.
- Rom 2:4Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Ps 95:8Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
- Job 9:4God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
- Ps 16:8I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
- Exod 7:22The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.
- Exod 14:23The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the middle of the sea: all of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 28:14 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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