Reverence:
rev'-er-ens: In the Old Testament, "reverence" occurs as the translation of two Hebrew words, yare' and shachah. The root idea of the former is "fear." It is used to express the attitude toward God Himself, as in Ps 89:7 the King James Version; or toward His sanctuary, as in Le 19:30; 26:2. So the group of ideas there would be "fear," "awe," "reverence." The root idea of the second is "falling down," as prostration of the body. It is used to express the bearing toward another who is considered superior, as in 2Sa 9:6 the King James Version; 1Ki 1:31 the King James Version; Es 3:2,5. The group of ideas here, therefore, is "honor," "obeisance," "reverence."
In the New Testament "reverence" occurs as the translation of three Greek words, aidos, phobeomai, and entrepomai. In the first, the idea is "modesty" (Heb 12:28; compare 1Ti 2:9). In the second, "fear" (Eph 5:33 the King James Version), though here it is used to set forth the attitude of proper subjection on the part of a wife toward her husband (compare 1Pe 3:2,5). In the third, the idea is that of the "self-valuation of inferiority," and so sets forth an attitude toward another of doing him honor (Mt 21:37; Mr 12:6; Lu 20:13; Heb 12:9).
In the Apocrypha entrepomai occurs in The Wisdom of Solomon 2:10; Sirach 4:22. In addition, proskuneo, "make obeisance," occurs in Judith 10:23; 14:7; thaumazo, "wonder," Sirach 7:29, and aischunomai, "be ashamed," Baruch 4:15.
"Reverend" occurs in the Old Testament in Ps 111:9, of the name of God (yare'), and in the Apocrypha in 2 Macc 15:12, "a man reverend (aidemon, "modest") in bearing," and in the New Testament the Revised Version (British and American) has "reverent in demeanor" (hieroprepes) in Tit 2:3 and "reverend" in Php 4:8 margin (semnos).
Written by E. J. Forrester
The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.
Blue Letter Bible study tools make reading, searching and studying the Bible easy and rewarding.
Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
©2018 Blue Letter Bible
Note: MLA no longer requires the URL as part of their citation standard. Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs.
Loading...
Interlinear |
Bibles |
Cross-Refs |
Commentaries |
Dictionaries |
Miscellaneous |
Email / username or password was incorrect!
Check your email for password retrieval
Complete the form below to register [?]
Error: That Email is already registered
Error: Please provide a valid Email
Error: Passwords should have at least 6 characters
Error: Passwords do not match
Error: Please provide a valid first name
Error: That username is already taken
Error: Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores
Passwords should have at least 6 characters.
Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores.
Thank you for registering. A verification email has been sent to the address you provided.
Error: That Email / Username is not registered