Proverbs 22:4

4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is ¹riches and honor and life. ^[a]

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.

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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 meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.

3 The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.

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

Cross References

• 1. 22:4 [ch. 21:20, 21]

Footnotes

• [a] 22:4 Or 'The reward for humility is the fear of the 'Lord', riches and honor and life'