Proverbs 22:4

4 The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life.

Proverbs 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 22:4

By humility [and] the fear of the Lord
Some render it, "the reward of humility, which [is] the fear of the Lord" ^F18; so the Targum; an humble man is blessed with it. Jarchi's note is,

``because of humility, the fear of the Lord comes;''

humility leads on to the fear of the Lord; he that behaves humbly towards man comes at length to fear the Lord, and be truly religious: though these are rather to be considered as the graces of the Spirit of God, which go together where there is one, there is the other; he that is humbled under a sense of sin, and his own unworthiness, fears the Lord; and he that fears the Lord, and his goodness, will walk humbly before him; they both flow from the grace of God, are very ornamental, and attended with the following happy consequences; [are] riches, and honour, and life;
spiritual riches, the riches of grace and glory; honour with God and men now, and everlasting life in the world to come.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F18 (hwhy tary hwne bqe) "praemium mansuetudinis, quae est reverentia Jehovae", Schultens; "merces humilitatis timor Domini", Baynus; "praemium humilitatis est timor Domini": Tigurine version; so Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius.

Proverbs 22:4 In-Context

2 The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.

3 The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences.

4 The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life.

5 Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.