The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
Parallel translations
- KJV The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
- BSB To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.
- NKJV The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
- NASB “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride, arrogance, the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate.
- NLT All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech.
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
To fear Yahweh is to hate evil. Wisdom itself despises pride, arrogance, evil conduct, and deceitful speech.
Overview
The fear of the Lord, the foundation of wisdom, is here defined morally: it produces a hatred of evil that mirrors God's own. Pride, arrogance, the corrupt way, and the perverse mouth are named as the very things wisdom rejects. Reverence for God is never merely emotional; it reshapes our affections so we love what he loves and hate what he hates, a transformation worked by the Spirit in those united to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Ps 97:10You who love Yahweh, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
- Prov 16:6By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of Yahweh men depart from evil.
- 1 Sam 2:3“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, For Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed.
- Prov 4:24Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you.
- 1 Th 5:22Abstain from every form of evil.
- 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Ps 119:128Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate every false way. PEY
- Amos 5:15Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
- Ps 5:4–5For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil can’t live with you.
- Prov 6:12A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth;
- Prov 16:18Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
- Prov 6:16–19There are six things which Yahweh hates; yes, seven which are an abomination to him:
- 2 Tim 2:19However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”
- Ps 101:3I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
- Ps 138:6For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but the proud, he knows from afar.
- Zech 8:17and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.
- Rom 12:9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
- Ps 119:104Through your precepts, I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. NUN
- Prov 10:31The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
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 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.