What Does Proverbs 1:7 Mean in the King James?
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Awe is the beginning of knowledge because knowing the LORD starts as lived encounter.
THE MEANING
Awe of the LORD is where your knowing begins, giving it the shape of encounter with God. Wisdom stays open through instruction that can correct and form you, while contempt closes that way in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that knowledge is proved by mastery or certainty: this verse places its beginning in awe and its continuation in teachability.
THE ROOT
דַּעַת
da’at
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
to know, perceive, or recognize through encounter
This word family makes knowing relational from its first mention. Awe gives knowledge its orientation as encounter with God.
ALSO GROWS
yada: to know, perceive, recognize
יָדַע
The noun in this verse grows from this verb, carrying the sense of knowing and perceiving into the word translated “knowledge.”
yodea: one who knows
יוֹדֵעַ
This branch keeps knowing connected to a knower, illuminating the verse’s picture of knowledge as relationship.
יִרְאַת
yir’at
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
to fear, revere, or stand in awe
“fear” in this verse is yir’at. The noun used here belongs to a family that includes the verb for standing in awe and an adjective for what is awesome or fearsome. With the LORD as its object, awe names a reverent relation that opens into knowing.
ALSO GROWS
yare: to fear or stand in awe
יָרֵא
The verb form shows awe as an active posture at the beginning of knowledge.
nora: awesome, fearsome
נוֹרָא
This adjective carries the root’s sense of awe into a description of what evokes it.
מוּסָר
musar
GROWS FROM
יסר
y-s-r
to discipline, correct, or train
Wisdom and instruction appear together, and the root shows that instruction carries the work of correction. Receiving wisdom includes being formed by what one learns.
ALSO GROWS
yasar: to discipline, correct, instruct
יָסַר
The verb reveals the formative action carried by the instruction fools despise.
yissurim: chastisements, corrections
יִסּוּרִים
This branch shows how the root’s corrective force can be experienced, giving “instruction” a depth beyond simply receiving information.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom opens where the reader stands in awe of God and receives understanding as something given.
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.THE THREAD
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.Proverbs 2:5 repeats יִרְאַת (yir’at, awe) and דַּעַת (da’at, knowing) from this verse, now linking awe of the LORD with finding knowledge of God. The pairing makes their connection visible: awe opens into knowing.
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