What Does Proverbs 1:29 Mean?
Because they hate knowledge, and do not choose the awe of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:THE KEY
The verse pairs hatred of knowledge with refusal of awe, revealing that perception and reverence are not separate choices.
THE MEANING
The verse names a living choice: knowledge can be hated when it exposes what is real, and awe of the LORD can be left unchosen. This is not simple lack of information; it is a refusal of perception and reverence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that refusing knowledge is neutral, and that a person can reject what reveals truth while still choosing wisdom.
THE ROOT
דָּעַת
da'at
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive, often through direct relation or encounter.
The word for knowledge grows from the verb for knowing and perceiving, so it carries more than detached information. To hate da’at is to reject the act of seeing and recognizing what is before you.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know or perceive.
יָדַע
The verb behind da’at shows that knowledge involves the act of knowing, not simply possessing facts.
de'ah: Knowledge or understanding.
דֵּעָה
This related form keeps knowledge joined to understanding, deepening what it means to hate knowledge.
יִרְאַת יְהוָה
yir'at YHWH
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
The word translated “fear” can carry the sense of awe before the LORD. The verse places that awe beside knowledge: perception and reverence belong together in wisdom.
ALSO GROWS
yare: To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
יָרֵא
This verb is the root of yir’at, showing that awe is a response, not merely an abstract idea.
nora: Awe-inspiring or fearsome.
נוֹרָא
This related form describes what evokes awe and gives the phrase “fear of the LORD” its sense of reverence before the LORD.
בָחָרוּ
bacharu
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose or select.
“choose” in this verse is bacharu. The verse names an active choice: awe is not chosen. Refusing it is itself a consequential stance, not a neutral absence.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: Chosen or selected.
בָּחִיר
This form makes the root’s sense of selection explicit, sharpening the weight of “did not choose.”
mivchar: Choice or best selection.
מִבְחָר
This related noun shows how the root can name the result of choosing, connecting the verse’s refusal to what one selects.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom begins when knowing is joined to awe and remains open to what God gives.
The awe of the LORD is the head of knowledge, but fools make light of wisdom and straightening.And he says to humankind, "Look, awe of the LORD is wisdom, and to turn aside from evil is understanding."But if any of you is left behind in wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all without doubling and without taunting, and it will be given him.THE THREAD
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge, and I will reject you, so that you shall be no priest to me. Since you have forgotten the instruction of your God, I will also forget your children.Hosea uses the same word, da’at, from yada, for knowledge, linking the refusal here to rejecting perception itself. It makes the consequence stark: what is refused at the level of knowing shapes what is lost.
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