Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Fear


Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,

Selah 

that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.

Selah

Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!



I don't like the word fear here, but that's what it says. Revere, honor, in awe of, those words shake the Earth less. But fear is the word chosen by the translators who understood the intent of the original. Why fear? The Earth does move, doesn't it? Even now, under our feet, like waves. 

14 comments:

  1. I don't like the word fear here either but I think years ago they felt that fear was a big part of Christianity. Not sure- also the verse that says to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

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    1. I think so too. It seems like people used to be sort of afraid to do wrong...something like that. The fear of God was seen as a good thing.

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  2. I believe this does not refer to actual terror or fright. It is meaning fear in the sense of respecting and being in awe.

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  3. Your post reminds me of a quote that I came across one day....

    “I no longer fear God, but I love Him. For perfect love casts out fear.” Saint Anthony the Great

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  4. I understand the meaning of the word here...respect, in awe. Sometimes the words used when the translators chose a specific word could also be because of how the culture was at the time of translation. That is the reason I love being able to check out different versions of the Bible to see what is meant.

    In the meantime...let the peoples praise thee, O God!

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  5. Hi Sandi,
    yes, the word 'fear' in this scripture actually means the kind of respect that causes you to listen to and obey instruction and guidance.

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  6. What they said. Fear = respect, awe, reverence. It is a holy fear...we need to be aware of just how holy and Just our God is. He is not to be trifled with...so fear is still a good word...but not the kind of fear that causes terror. Rather, the kind of fear that brings us to our knees. We need to have a lot more of that kind of fear in our world today.

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    1. "We need to have a lot more of that kind of fear in our world today."

      That is so true, Pamela.

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  7. I agree with the comments. I think of fear as awe.

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