What Does Proverbs 14:26 Mean?
In the awe of the LORD is a strong place to lean your full weight on, and his children have a shelter.
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
In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.THE KEY
Awe of the LORD is not the opposite of confidence here; it is where confidence takes root, extending refuge to the next generation.
THE MEANING
Awe of the LORD is joined to strong confidence in the reader’s life now. The verse extends that security beyond the self: children have a place of refuge too.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that awe of God makes a person less secure: here awe and strong confidence stand together.
THE ROOT
יִרְאָה
yirʾāh
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
The verse’s “fear” is awe toward the LORD, and it stands alongside strong confidence rather than opposing it. The same root holds reverence and awe, revealing a way of seeing God that can coexist with security.
ALSO GROWS
yārēʾ: To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
יָרֵא
This verbal form shows the response as an active orientation toward the one revered.
môrāʾ: Awe or dread.
מוֹרָא
This noun carries the same root’s range of awe and fear, making the verse’s reverence more than mere alarm.
מִבְטָח
mivṭāḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
To trust, feel secure, or be confident.
“a strong place to lean your full weight on” in this verse is mivṭāḥ. “Strong confidence” grows from the language of trust and security. Its pairing with awe makes security something grounded in reliance on the LORD, not in having control over every circumstance.
ALSO GROWS
bāṭaḥ: To trust, rely on, or feel secure.
בָּטַח
The verb behind this family makes confidence a form of reliance, not bravado.
beṭaḥ: Securely or in safety.
בֶּטַח
This related form brings out the settled safety contained in the verse’s strong confidence.
THE PATTERN
Awe of the LORD is joined to steadiness and shelter, even where danger or uncertainty remains.
The messenger of the LORD encamps all around those in awe of him, and draws them out.Then the assemblies had wholeness throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were built up. And walking in the awe of the LORD and in the comfort of the Set-Apart Breath, they were multiplied.He does not fear evil report; his heart is set firm, leaning his weight on the LORD.THE THREAD
The messenger of the LORD encamps all around those in awe of him, and draws them out.Both verses use the Hebrew root ירא (y-r-ʾ, yārēʾ, fear or awe) in relation to the LORD. Proverbs links that awe with confidence and refuge; Psalm 34:7 pictures protection surrounding those who fear him.
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