Fearing ; morally, reverent
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יָרֵא (yare) is the Hebrew adjective and participial form for the God-fearer — the one who fears YHWH. While the related noun יִרְאָה (yirah, H3374, fear/reverence) has been separately companioned, yare describes the person: the yare YHWH, the God-fearer, the one in whom the fear of YHWH is the organizing posture of life.
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Full entry for יָרֵא (H3373) · Open the biblical lexicon
יָרֵא (yare) is the Hebrew adjective and participial form for the God-fearer — the one who fears YHWH. While the related noun יִרְאָה (yirah, H3374, fear/reverence) has been separately companioned, yare describes the person: the yare YHWH, the God-fearer, the one in whom the fear of YHWH is the organizing posture of life.
The BSB source-word alignment has 65 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include fear (6), those who fear Him (6), who fears (6), fears (3), You who fear (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 22:12. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (28), 2 Kings (5), Ecclesiastes (4), Proverbs (4).
יָרֵא (yare) is the Hebrew adjective and participial form for the God-fearer — the one who fears YHWH. While the related noun יִרְאָה (yirah, H3374, fear/reverence) has been separately companioned, yare describes the person: the yare YHWH, the God-fearer, the one in whom the fear of YHWH is the organizing posture of life. The local Hebrew artifact currently indexes 54 occurrences, and the word functions as one of the OT's important identity-descriptions for the covenant community.
Psalm 34:9 gives yare its invitation-and-promise form: 'O fear YHWH, you his holy ones, for those who fear him (yere'av) lack nothing.' The psalm is David's testimony after his deliverance from Abimelech, and its invitation to fear YHWH is paired with an unqualified promise: the yere'av lack nothing. Not the righteous, not the obedient, not the wise — but the ones who fear him. The fear is the root from which the covenant life's provisions flow.
Psalm 103:11-13 gives yare its covenant-love correlation: 'as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love (chesed, H2617) toward those who fear him (lire'av)... as a father has compassion on his children, so YHWH has compassion on those who fear him (lire'av).' The yirei YHWH — the God-fearers — are the objects of YHWH's unlimited chesed and fatherly compassion. The fear of YHWH is not the posture of a slave dreading punishment but of a child who holds their father in reverent awe.
Psalm 22:23 gives yare its congregational use: 'You who fear YHWH (yirei YHWH), praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!' The yirei YHWH are the congregation gathered for praise — called by name to glorify, stand in awe, and praise. The fear of YHWH is not private but communal: the yirei YHWH gather, and in gathering they praise.
Malachi 3:16 gives yare its covenant-record form: 'Then those who feared YHWH (yirei YHWH) spoke with one another. YHWH paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared YHWH and esteemed his name.' In a time of widespread covenant disillusionment (the context of Malachi 3:13-15), the yirei YHWH gather to speak with one another — and YHWH listens and records their names. The God-fearers' faithfulness in a time of widespread unfaithfulness is the occasion for YHWH's special attention: a book of remembrance.
Psalm 112:1 gives yare its double-object form: 'Blessed is the man who fears YHWH (yare YHWH), who greatly delights in his commandments.' The yare YHWH is also the one who delights in YHWH's commandments — fear and delight are not opposites in the Hebrew mind. The reverential awe of the God-fearer produces not dread but delight in YHWH's ways.
For the preacher, יָרֵא (yare) gives the congregation their identity in relation to YHWH: they are the yirei YHWH, the God-fearers — and that identity is the source of YHWH's covenant attention, his chesed, his compassion, and his provision.
The local Hebrew artifact currently indexes 54 occurrences of יָרֵא (yare) as the adjective and participial form describing the God-fearer (yare YHWH, yirei YHWH). It is concentrated in the Psalms, where the yirei YHWH form a recognizable sub-community within Israel: those who fear YHWH are called to praise (Ps 22:23), promised provision (Ps 34:9), recipients of YHWH's steadfast love and compassion (Ps 103:11-13), watched over by YHWH's eye (Ps 33:18), recorded in his book of remembrance (Mal 3:16), and described as the ones who fear him and keep his commandments (Ps 112:1).
The yirei YHWH are not a spiritual elite but the covenant community in its truest self-description.
Fear the Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.
Invitation and promise for the yare: 'those who fear him (yere'av) lack nothing.' Psalm 34's David-in-Abimelech-danger context gives the promise its weight: the God-fearer who is delivered (v. 4-7) testifies that the yere'av lack nothing. The promise is not material comfort but covenantal sufficiency: the one who fears YHWH will find that YHWH himself is enough.
Verse 10 adds the contrast: 'the young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek YHWH lack no good thing.' Seeking YHWH and fearing him are synonymous in Psalm 34.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
Fatherly compassion toward the yirei YHWH: 'as a father has compassion on his children, so YHWH has compassion on those who fear him (lire'av).' The pairing with v. 11 (YHWH's chesed as high as the heavens toward the yirei YHWH) and v. 17 (YHWH's chesed is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him) frames the yare as the object of YHWH's unlimited covenant love. The fear is not terror but the reverential awe of a child before a loving father — and the father's response is compassion, not severity.
At that time those who feared the Lord spoke with one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the Lord and honored His name.
The yirei YHWH in a time of disillusionment: in Malachi 3:13-15, the people say 'it is vain to serve God; what is the profit of keeping his charge?' Against this background, the yirei YHWH speak with one another — gathering in mutual encouragement — and YHWH himself takes notice. A book of remembrance is written for them. The covenant community that fears YHWH in a time when fear seems unprofitable is the special object of YHWH's attention and record-keeping.
This is the reverse of Malachi 3:7-12: while the people withhold tithes, the yirei YHWH are recorded in a book before YHWH.
You who fear the Lord, praise Him! All descendants of Jacob, honor Him! All offspring of Israel, revere Him!
The congregation of the yirei YHWH: 'you who fear YHWH (yirei YHWH), praise him!' Psalm 22 moves from the suffering of the abandoned speaker (vv. 1-21) to the congregational gathering (vv. 22-31). The yirei YHWH are the first community addressed — and their call is to praise, glorify, and stand in awe. The God-fearers are the praise community, and their gathering is the occasion for the proclamation of YHWH's name to the achim (v. 22, quoted in Heb 2:12).
Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.
The yare who delights: 'blessed is the man who fears YHWH (yare YHWH), who greatly delights in his commandments.' Psalm 112 pairs fear and delight as coexisting postures of the covenant life. The yare YHWH is not one who dreads the commandments but one who delights in them greatly (chafets). The beatitude (ashre, blessed) applies to this double-orientation: the God-fearer is happy, flourishing — his children are mighty (v. 2), wealth and riches are in his house (v. 3), he will never be moved (v. 6).
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Hebrew word. Fear of God encompasses both dread and reverent obedience, forming the foundation of OT piety and wisdom
Fear of God encompasses both dread and reverent obedience, forming the foundation of OT piety and wisdom
fearing; morally, reverent Usage: afraid, fear (-ful).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
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יָרֵא is built from this root:
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יָרֵא (yare) gives the congregation a self-description: they are the yirei YHWH, the God-fearers. Psalm 34:9's promise ('those who fear him lack nothing') and Psalm 103:13's picture ('as a father has compassion on his children, so YHWH has compassion on those who fear him') together show that the yare posture is not a posture of dread but of reverential belonging: you are the child of the God who watches over you with compassion and provides for you with his chesed.
Malachi 3:16 gives the congregation a vision for what the yirei YHWH look like in a time of widespread disillusionment: they speak with one another, encouraging each other in faithful fear when fear seems unprofitable — and YHWH listens and writes their names in his book. The preacher can call the congregation to be the Malachi 3:16 community: not the ones who say 'what profit is there in serving God?'
But the ones whose gathered fear and mutual encouragement is heard and recorded by YHWH. And Psalm 112:1's 'blessed is the man who fears YHWH, who greatly delights in his commandments' is the invitation: the fear and the delight belong together. The one who genuinely fears YHWH finds that his commandments are not a burden but a delight — because they are the words of the One whose compassion is from everlasting to everlasting.
Ps.34.9
יָרֵא (yare) is both an adjective (fearing, afraid) and the Qal participle of the verb יָרֵא (H3372, to fear). The noun form is יִרְאָה (yirah, H3374, fear/reverence) — the companion entry for the noun has already been published. The phrase yirei YHWH (those who fear YHWH) functions as a quasi-technical term for the faithful covenant community in the Psalms (Ps 22:23, 115:11, 118:4, 135:20) and in Malachi (Mal 3:16, 4:2).
The phrase also appears in the wisdom literature as the defining characteristic of the wise person (Prov 14:26-27, 'in the fear of YHWH there is strong confidence; and his children will have a refuge'). In NT Greek, the God-fearer (Greek sebomenos, one who worships/reveres) appears in Acts as the technical term for Gentile adherents to the synagogue who fear the God of Israel without full proselyte conversion (Acts 10:2, Cornelius; Acts 13:16, 26; Acts 17:4, 17).
These sebomenoi are the first Gentile converts in Acts — the NT community inheriting the OT's yirei YHWH identity.
The NT's yare-theology is distributed through the community of disciples and the Acts God-fearers. Luke 1:50 — 'his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation' — applies Psalm 103:13 to the new-covenant community Mary proclaims in the Magnificat. Acts 10:35 — 'in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him' — is the NT's most explicit statement of the universal scope of the yirei YHWH category: God-fearers from every nation are the heirs of the OT's covenant identity.
Revelation 11:18 and 19:5 show the yirei YHWH at the eschatological gathering: 'give the reward to your servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear your name (tois phoboumenois to onoma sou)' and 'praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him (hoi phoboumenoi auton), small and great.' The NT's phoboumenoi (those who fear/revere) is the Greek heir of the OT's yirei YHWH — the community whose defining characteristic is reverential awe before YHWH.
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