What Does Proverbs 3:25 Mean in the King James?
Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
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
The verse names sudden dread as real and still refuses to grant it authority over the reader.
THE MEANING
A threat can arrive without warning, and the verse names its dread directly. Its arrival does not automatically have the final say over the reader’s inner life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that danger arriving without warning must control what happens inside you.
THE ROOT
פַּחַד
paḥad
GROWS FROM
פחד
p-ḥ-d
To dread or fear; the root names terror as an inner response to danger.
“fear” in this verse is paḥad. The Hebrew pairs paḥad (פַּחַד, dread) with pitt’om (פִּתְאֹם, suddenly): it names the terror without making its arrival the same thing as its rule over the reader. The same root can describe both the experience of dread and the act of fearing.
ALSO GROWS
paḥad: Dread, terror
פַּחַד
This noun names the sudden dread the verse acknowledges without surrendering to it.
yipḥad: He will fear, dread
יִפְחַד
This verb form shows fear as a response; it is distinct from the danger that arrives.
THE PATTERN
A coming threat can be named plainly without granting fear the right to govern the inner life.
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.THE THREAD
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.The word translated “fear” in both verses is paḥad (פַּחַד), meaning dread or terror. Proverbs 1:33 pictures quiet from that same dread, opening Proverbs 3:25 as a word about meeting what comes without letting terror rule.
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