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Psalm 128 · a question people ask

"Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD" (128:1). Does fearing the LORD mean being afraid of him?

In the text

Psalm 128 doesn't define the word, but it says two things beside it. It pairs fearing with walking: "who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways" (128:1). And it calls the one who fears the LORD happy: "You will be happy, and it will be well with you" (128:2). Deuteronomy puts the same two together: "to walk in his ways, and to fear him" (Deuteronomy 8:6), and "to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him" (Deuteronomy 10:12). Psalm 112's study of the verb fear sets out how the WEB gives one Hebrew verb as both fears and afraid (Psalm 112:1, 112:7), and Psalm 111 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10). In Psalm 128 the word is joined to walking in his ways and to being happy, and the psalm says no more about it than that.

The verses

“A Song of Ascents. Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways. For you will eat the labor of your hands. You will be happy, and it will be well with you.”
Psalm 128:1-2 · World English Bible
“You shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.”
Deuteronomy 8:6 · World English Bible
“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
Deuteronomy 10:12 · World English Bible
“Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who delights greatly in his commandments.”
Psalm 112:1 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 128

Psalm 128: Everyone who fears the LORD

In Psalm 128, Blessed (128:1) and You will be happy (128:2) are one Hebrew word, ashrei. Its olive shoots (128:3) is a word found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, and its "May the LORD bless you out of Zion" (128:5) opens with the same three Hebrew words as the last verse of the last song of ascents (Psalm 134:3).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions