Category:Fear of the Lord

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Fear of the Lord - Is in the Old Testament used as a designation of true piety (Proverbs 1:7; Job 28:28; Psalms 19:9). It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather filial reverence. (Compare Deuteronomy 32:6; Hosea 11:1; Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 63:16; Isaiah 64:8.) God is called "the Fear of Isaac" (Genesis 31:42, Genesis 31:53), i.e., the God whom Isaac feared. A holy fear is enjoined also in the New Testament as a preventive of carelessness in religion, and as an incentive to penitence (Matthew 10:28; 2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Philippians 2:12; Ephesians 5:21; Hebrews 12:28, Hebrews 12:29).