fear (of God)

The Hebrew and Greek that are translated as “fear (of God)” (or: “honor,” “worship,” or “respect”) is translated as “to have respect/reverence for” (Southern Subanen, Western Highland Purepecha, Navajo (Dinė), Javanese, Tboli), “to make great before oneself” (Ngäbere), “fear-devotion” (Kannada — currently used as a description of the life of piety), “those-with-whom he-is-holy” (those who fear God) (Western Apache) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel), “revere God” (Lalana Chinantec), “worship God” (Palantla Chinantec) (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “obey” (Chichewa) (source: Ernst Wendland), “having/showing respect (for God)” (Makonde) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext), or with a term that communicates awe (rather than fear of an evil source) (Chol) (source: Robert Bascom).

Bullard / Hatton (2008, p. 8) say the following about this concept: “As the writer of Proverbs states in 1:7, ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.’ (…) ‘The fear of the Lord,’ that is, human fear of God, is an exceptionally difficult concept to express, at least in English. Other languages may have more appropriate terms. The idea probably is rooted in the most ancient days when people were indeed afraid of any deity. But in Israel the concept of fearing God was transformed by God’s revelation into a much fuller idea. Basically, as used in the Bible, the fear of God refers to the proper attitude of reverence and awe before the Holy One. To fear God is to recognize one’s own place as a mere mortal before the Creator, one’s place as a sinner before the Judge, one’s place as a child before the Father, one’s place as the recipient of God’s love. It thus involves submission, repentance, trust, and grateful love toward the One who is fearsome in holiness, in justice, in power that both protects and punishes, and in love. Using the word “fear” is sometimes as good as we can do, but often we will alternate that word with terms like ‘reverence’ or ‘awe.’”

See also fear of the LORD (Isa 11:2) and complete verse (Genesis 22:12) et al.

complete verse (2 Samuel 23:4)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 2 Samuel 23:4:

  • Kupsabiny: “it is like the sun rising when the sky has been swept (clear sky),
    glistening like dew on grass.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “He is like rays of sunlight of the morning time when there are no clouds,
    He is like brightness after rain that brings grass from the Land.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “he is like the light of the sun that rises in the morning without dark-cloud,
    that causes-to-shine the grass that had been rained on!’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They are like the sun that shines at dawn
    and causes the grass to sprout/sparkle after the rain ends.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 2 Samuel 23:4

Good News Translation has restructured this verse by combining the first two lines. Contemporary English Version also combines lines one and two but breaks the sentence into four lines as follows:

is like the sunrise
on a cloudless day,
or like rain that sparkles
on the grass.

He dawns: the pronoun refers back to the one who rules justly. And the verb, which is normally used only of the sun, is used figuratively to speak of the ruler. The subject of the verb is usually the sun (for example, Gen 32.31; Jonah 4.8), but it is sometimes used of the LORD or the glory of the LORD (Isa 60.1-2), or “the sun of righteousness” (Mal 4.2). This, however, is the only case in the Old Testament where the subject of the verb “dawn” is a human ruler. The context clearly indicates that the just ruler is being compared to the sun. Nevertheless many languages will have to use a verb with a more general meaning like “appear” or “arise.” Or another alternative is to make the implied comparison explicit by saying something like “he [the ruler] is like the sun dawning….”

Like rain: instead of taking this as a second comparison, this time likening the ruler to the rain, most modern scholars translate “after rain” (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), making this an extension of the original comparison of the ruler to the sun, and this interpretation seems to be more faithful to the Hebrew. The image is that of the sun rising on a clear morning just after a rain storm: “He is like sunshine after a rain…” (New Century Version). Translators are advised to follow this interpretation.

Makes grass to sprout: literally “grass from earth” or “grass of earth.” The cryptic nature of the Hebrew text has led some interpreters to supply the verb sprout as in Revised Standard Version, or “grow” (New Century Version), but others supply “sparkle” (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, as well as Good News Translation). The latter is preferred.

In some languages it may be necessary to state more clearly in what way the just ruler is like the sun. Possibly some may wish to say that such a ruler is “as welcome as the sunrise on a day without clouds, or as pleasing as sunshine after the rain….”

If translators use the quote within a quote formula as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, it will be very important that the end of the internal quotation is clearly marked at the end of this verse.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .