Psalms

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Psalm 111

1 Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the godly and the congregation. 2 The Lord’s deeds are great, eagerly awaited by all who desire them. 3 His work is majestic and glorious, and his faithfulness endures forever. 4 He does amazing things that will be remembered; the Lord is merciful and compassionate.⁠ 5 He gives food to his faithful followers; he always remembers his covenant. 6 He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people, giving them a land that belonged to other nations. 7 His acts are characterized by faithfulness and justice; all his precepts are reliable. 8 They are forever firm and should be faithfully and properly carried out. 9 He delivered his people; he ordained that his covenant be observed forever. His name is holy and awesome. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;¹⁶ all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight.⁠ He will receive praise forever.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 111:10 and Ecclesiastes 12:13

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Psalm 111 connects wisdom to the fear of God, describing it as a unique moral duty of following the commands of the Torah. Ecclesiastes concludes with the same principle, summing up life with the call to fear God and obey his commandments.

Passages

Psalm 111:10

Hebrew Bible

8 They are forever firm and should be faithfully and properly carried out. 9 He delivered his people; he ordained that his covenant be observed forever. His name is holy and awesome. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;¹⁶ all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight. He will receive praise forever.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Ecclesiastes 12:13

Hebrew Bible

11 The words of the sages are like prods, and the collected sayings are like firmly fixed nails; they are given by one shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them. There is no end to the making of many books, and much study is exhausting to the body. 13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ecclesiastes

References

"... Apart from references to 'sacred fear', Becker distinguishes three main meanings: moral (the fear of God is upright behaviour); cultic (the fear of God is the proper form of worship); legal (nomistisch - the fear of God is the observance of the law). Very decidedly, he puts the fear of the Lord in wisdom writings in the moral category. One can argue for an ethical understanding of the fear of the LORD from the general tenor of wisdom admonitions, and from the parallelism between them or the antithesis. Thus the 'righteous man' is mentioned just before the second occurrence of our saying in Proverbs (9:9). In Job 28:28, the parallel phrase is the ethical "turning from evil"; in Psalm 111:10, the practice of verse 7 ("them"); in Ecclesiastes 12:13, obedience to the commandments ..."

Henri Blocher, “The Fear of the Lord as the 'Princple' of Wisdom,” TynBul 28.1 (1977): 3–28.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 111:10 and Ecclesiastes 12:13

Summary

Passages

Psalm 111:10

Ecclesiastes 12:13

References

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