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Subject

Fear

What fear does to people, and the fear of God that drives every other fear out.

Part of Topics & Trials

Also called: afraid, terror, dread, the fear of the LORD, reverence, fainthearted

What Fear covers, and where it stops

This subject covers both fears Scripture names: the terror that grips a person, and the fear of God that drives every other fear out. Standing when fear is present belongs to Courage. Worry about what has not happened belongs to Anxiety.

On this page, 7 sections

The one drawing

Across the canon

Old Testament

New Testament

The other 8 books of the canon carry none.

716 verses across 58 of the 66 books, Genesis to Revelation. A column is taller and brighter where the King James text returns to it. Each book with a verse in it opens that book.

12 passages

Where Scripture speaks

The passages this subject stands on, in canon order.

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Genesis 3:10KJVAdam hides from God for the first time: I was afraid, because I was naked
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Genesis 15:1KJVGod answers Abram's uncertainty with fear not, I am thy shield
And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Exodus 20:20KJVMoses tells the trembling people God has come to test them, not destroy them
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Deuteronomy 31:6KJVbe strong and of good courage, fear not, for the Lord goes with you
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9KJVJoshua is commanded three times over: be strong, be not afraid, be not dismayed
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalms 27:1KJVthe Lord is my light and my salvation, David asks, whom shall I fear
I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Psalms 34:4KJVDavid sought the Lord, and he delivered him from all his fears
The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
Proverbs 29:25KJVthe fear of man brings a snare, but trust in the Lord keeps safe
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10KJVfear thou not, for I am with thee, God repeats through Isaiah
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28KJVJesus tells his disciples not to fear those who can kill the body only
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32KJVfear not, little flock, it is the Father's pleasure to give you the kingdom
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7KJVGod has not given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind
Saul, terrified before the Philistines, seeks a medium in the night — fear driving him where faith once stood (1 Samuel 28).
Saul, terrified before the Philistines, seeks a medium in the night — fear driving him where faith once stood (1 Samuel 28).Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Fear in Scripture, in full

Fear in Scripture appears both as godly reverence (the fear of the LORD) and as the dread that paralyses obedience. The prophets, apostles, and disciples are repeatedly told "fear not" — not because the threats are imagined, but because the presence of God redefines them. Scripture directs fear away from creatures and toward the One before whom all creatures stand.

4 voices

What teachers have said

“For to none other than to God does it belong to implant courage in the fearful, saying to the faint-hearted, ‘Fear not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed,’ as says the Psalmist, ‘Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.’”

Gregory of Nyssa · Against Eunomius 2:15

Written before 395.

“I feared God then, when, buoyed up with prosperity, I felt no hurts of the scourge. But ye, who fear not God from love, dread Him from the stroke of the rod alone.”

Gregory the Dialogist · Morals on the Book of Job, Book VII

Written before 604.

“Let us tremble at the approach of that dread day and the thought that our actions provoke blasphemy against God.”

John Chrysostom · Baptismal Instructions 6:10

Written before 407.

“The gospel dispensation is not properly a dispensation of fear, sorrow, and dread, but of peace and joy. Terror and astonishment may well attend mount Sinai, but exultation and joy mount Zion, where appears the eternal Word, the eternal life, manifested in our flesh.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710

The words underneath

Each card is one Hebrew or Greek word behind fear. It gives the sense, the count across the canon, and the number in Strong's 1890 concordance.

phobeo: to fear

Greek · G5399
φοβέω

Strong's entry: to frighten, i.e. (passively) to be alarmed; by analogy, to be in awe of, i.e. revere

the root of the English word "phobia"

95 times in the New Testament · phobeo, in full →

phobos: fear

Greek · G5401
φόβος

Strong's entry: alarm or fright

what "perfect love casteth out" in John's epistle

46 times in the New Testament · phobos, in full →

pachad: dread

Hebrew · H6343
פַּחַד

Strong's entry: a (sudden) alarm (properly, the object feared, by implication, the feeling)

the object feared as much as the feeling itself

49 times in the Old Testament · pachad, in full →

yare: to fear

Hebrew · H3372
יָרֵא

Strong's entry: to fear; morally, to revere; caus. to frighten

the ordinary Hebrew word behind "fear not"

315 times in the Old Testament · yare, in full →

704 verses

The complete list

The King James text uses the language of fear in 716 verses. 12 of them are quoted above and the other 704 stand here, book by book. Open a book to read the references with a clause of each verse.

Genesis25
Exodus15
Leviticus8
Numbers4
Deuteronomy45
Joshua12
Judges8
Ruth2
1 Samuel27
2 Samuel12
1 Kings9
2 Kings19
1 Chronicles8
2 Chronicles11
Ezra1
Nehemiah10
Esther4
Job46
Psalms89
Proverbs29
Ecclesiastes8
Song of Solomon1
Isaiah52
Jeremiah45
Lamentations3
Ezekiel22
Daniel10
Hosea3
Joel2
Amos2
Jonah4
Micah2
Nahum1
Habakkuk3
Zephaniah3
Haggai2
Zechariah3
Malachi7
Matthew19
Mark14
Luke29
John9
Acts21
Romans6
1 Corinthians2
2 Corinthians7
Galatians2
Ephesians2
Philippians2
Colossians1
1 Timothy1
Hebrews11
1 Peter7
2 Peter1
1 John1
Jude2
Revelation10

Topics & Trials

The subjects beside it