Bible Strands
Proverbs 14:27
The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The passage belongs to a wisdom collection addressing a general audience, situated between a declaration on the security of fearing the LORD and an observation about a ruler’s population.
The words — מְק֣וֹר (me.Kor) translates literally as “fountain” or “source,” and מָֽוֶת (Ma.vet) means “death.”
The thread — The “fountain of life” phrasing reappears in Proverbs 13:14 regarding wise teaching, while the life-and-death contrast aligns with Revelation 21:6 and Proverbs 2:10.
Why it lands — The text states that reverence for God operates as a life-giving source that diverts a person from deadly traps. It requires the reader to treat fear of the LORD as a practical mechanism for avoiding ruin.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 13:14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one from the snares of death.
- Revelation 21:6 And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
- Proverbs 2:10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight your soul.
- Psalms 18:5 The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
- Proverbs 22:5 Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.
- Isaiah 33:6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
- Ecclesiastes 7:26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.