fear (of God)

The Hebrew and Greek that are translated as “fear (of God)” (or: “honor,” “worship,” or “respect”) is translated as “to have respect/reverence for” (Southern Subanen, Western Highland Purepecha, Navajo, Javanese, Tboli), “to make great before oneself” (Ngäbere), “fear-devotion” (Kannada — currently used as a description of the life of piety), “those-with-whom he-is-holy” (those who fear God) (Western Apache) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel), “revere God” Lalana Chinantec, “worship God” (Palantla Chinantec) (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “obey” (Chichewa) (source: Ernst Wendland), or with a term that communicates awe (rather than fear of an evil source) (Chol) (source: Robert Bascom).

Bullard / Hatton (2008, p. 8) say the following about this concept: “As the writer of Proverbs states in 1:7, ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.’ (…) ‘The fear of the Lord,’ that is, human fear of God, is an exceptionally difficult concept to express, at least in English. Other languages may have more appropriate terms. The idea probably is rooted in the most ancient days when people were indeed afraid of any deity. But in Israel the concept of fearing God was transformed by God’s revelation into a much fuller idea. Basically, as used in the Bible, the fear of God refers to the proper attitude of reverence and awe before the Holy One. To fear God is to recognize one’s own place as a mere mortal before the Creator, one’s place as a sinner before the Judge, one’s place as a child before the Father, one’s place as the recipient of God’s love. It thus involves submission, repentance, trust, and grateful love toward the One who is fearsome in holiness, in justice, in power that both protects and punishes, and in love. Using the word “fear” is sometimes as good as we can do, but often we will alternate that word with terms like ‘reverence’ or ‘awe.’”

See also fear of the LORD (Isa 11:2) and complete verse (Genesis 22:12) et al.

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 5:29

Oh that they had such a mind in them always: the Hebrew expression is in the form of a question: “Who will give…?” (meaning “If only there were…!”). This expresses a wish: “May they always be of such a mind” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh); “If only their heart were always so” (New Jerusalem Bible); “Would that they may always be of a mind” (Revised English Bible); “I wish that their hearts [or, minds] were always like this”; or even “I wish that they would always think like this.” In this passage mind translates the Hebrew word for “heart,” meaning here the people’s attitude or resolve.

To fear me: see 4.10.

Keep all my commandments: see 4.2.

That it might go well with them and their children forever: see 4.40; 5.16. We should note that the initial it is used idiomatically and does not refer back to anything earlier in the text. We can readily substitute “everything” (Good News Translation) or “things.” Here children means “descendants.” Another model for this final sentence is “Then they and their descendants would always enjoy a successful life.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .