an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
fear
יְרָ֥אye.Ra'
H3372
to fear · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
LORD
יְ֝הוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
depart
וְס֣וּרve.Sur
H5493
to turn off (literal or figurative) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
evil
מֵרָֽעme.Ra'
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · preposition + adjective, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Romans 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Proverbs 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Psalms 34:11-14 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Isaiah 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 3:7-12
We have here before us three exhortations, each of them enforced with a good reason: -
I. We must live in a humble and dutiful subjection to God and his government (Pro 3:7): "Fear the Lord, as your sovereign Lord and Master; be ruled in every thing by your religion and subject to the divine will." This must be, 1. A humble subjection: Be not wise in thy own eyes. Note, There is not a greater enemy to the power of religion, and the fear of God in the heart, than conceitedness of our own wisdom. Those that have an opinion of their own sufficiency think it below them, and a disparagement to them, to take their measures from, much more to hamper themselves with, religion's rules. 2. A dutiful…
(Compare Pro 27:2; Rom 12:16).
fear . . . evil--reverentially regarding His law.
John Gill on Proverbs 3:7
Be not wise in thine own eyes,.... So as to act independently of God; not to trust in him, nor acknowledge him, nor seek to him for help and direction; nor ask nor take the advice of others; but, being conceited and self-sufficient, lean to thine own understanding, as being wise enough to conduct all affairs in life by thy own discretion; and in matters of religion wiser than thy teachers, and even than the Scriptures, being wise above that which is written; pleasing thyself with thine own wisdom, as exceeding others; glorying in it as thine own acquisition, and not ascribing it to God, so far as it any ways deserves the name of wisdom; though for the most part that which men glory in, and a…
Were "kindness and truth" (Pro 3:3) understood only in relation to men, then the following admonition would not be interposed, since it proceeds from that going before, if there the quality of kindness and truth, not only towards man, but also towards God, is commended:
5 Trust in Jahve with thy whole heart,
And lean not on thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make plain thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes;
Fear Jahve, and depart from evil.
8 Health will then come to thy navel,
And refreshing to thy bones.
From God alone comes true prosperity, true help. He knows the right way to the right ends. He knows what benefits us. He is able to free us from t…
The Church Fathers
If there are any who are even in the catholic church and live evil lives, before they finish this life, let them hasten to give up the evil life, and let them not think that the catholic name is enough for salvation, if they do not do the will of God.… In Proverbs each one of us is commanded both to fear the Lord and to depart from evil. There it is said, "Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body."
Do not be wise in your own eyes. Perhaps someone may think this command is the same as the one previously given, And do not rely on your own understanding; but there is a great difference: for one relies on his own understanding who prefers his own opinions about what should be done or said over the decrees of the fathers; but he is wise in his own eyes who, having rightly learned from the teaching of the fathers, exalts himself above others as if more learned. But what true wisdom for a man is, he shows subsequently:
Fear the Lord, etc. Just as it is in Job: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding (Job XXVI). For indeed, all the perfect ought to abstain from all evils, so that they always consider the presence of the divine majesty with fear. And it should be noted that above he commands to have trust in the Lord with all the heart, and not to lean on our own understanding, but now conversely admonishes with equal concern to fear God. But there is no contradiction: for there he strengthens the minds of the fragile, so they do not despair, with the promise of God's help; here he restrains the stronger ones, so they do not presume upon themselves, with the memory of divine fear.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Proverbs, Book of — A collection of moral and philosophical maxims of a wide range of subjects presented in a poetic form. This book sets forth the “philosophy of practical life. It is the sign to us that the Bible does…
Conceit · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
