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Summary
- The King James Bible says “fear God” 10 times, from Joseph in Genesis 42:18 to the angel in Revelation 14:7, and 21 times with “feared”, “feareth” and “fearing God”.
- It says “fear the LORD” 30 times, most often in Deuteronomy and Psalms, and “fear of the LORD” 30 times, 14 of them in Proverbs.
- All together these phrases come 89 times, 77 in the Old Testament and 12 in the New, most of all in Proverbs, Psalms, Deuteronomy and Isaiah.
- “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10): Scripture makes this fear the place where knowing God begins.
- The Hebrew word, yare, means both fear and reverence, and the same Bible that says “Fear God” says “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).
- “Fear not” comes 62 times in the King James Bible, and “be not afraid” 28; the popular 365 is a lovely thought but not a true count.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version: Genesis 20:11; 22:12; 42:18; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 10:12; Job 1:1; 28:28; Psalm 36:1; 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Isaiah 2:10; 41:10; Luke 12:4–7; 18:4; Acts 9:31; Romans 3:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 2:17; 1 John 4:18; Revelation 14:7, BibleGateway.
- Phrase counts made on 20 October 2026 from the 1769 King James Version text, eBible.org verse-per-line edition, checked against Project Gutenberg eBook 10 and BibleGateway’s KJV phrase searches for fear God, fear the LORD, fear of the LORD, fear of God, fear not and be not afraid.
- Reina-Valera 1960 counts, BibleGateway searches of 20 October 2026: temor, temor de Dios, temor de Jehová, temor del Señor and temor a Dios.
- New International Version counts, BibleGateway phrase searches of 20 October 2026: do not be afraid, do not fear, don’t be afraid and have no fear.
- Strong’s H3372, yare, Blue Letter Bible, lexicon entry.
- Strong’s H3374, yir’ah, Blue Letter Bible, lexicon entry.
- Strong’s G5401, phobos, and G5399, phobeo, Blue Letter Bible, G5401 and G5399.
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