Proverbs 3:25 - Exposition

Be not afraid ; al-tirah, is literally "fear thou not," the future with al preceding being used for the imperative in a dehortative sense, as in Genesis 46:3 ; Job 3:4 , Job 3:6 , Job 3:7 ; Vulgate, ne paveas. Others, however, render, as the LXX ; οὐ φοβηθήσῃ , "Thou shalt not be afraid," in the sense of a promise. The verb yare, from which tirah, is here followed by min , as in Psalms 3:7 ; Psalms 27:1 , and properly means "to be afraid from or before" some person or thing. Sudden ; pithom, an adverb used adjectively (cf. like use of adverb khinnam in Proverbs 26:2 ). Fear ( pakhad ); as in Proverbs 1:16 , the object which excites terror or fear, as any great disaster. The desolation of the wicked ( shoath r'shaim ) may be taken either

" Si fractus illabatur orbis,

Impavidum ferient ruinae ."

(Horace, 'Od.,' 3.3, 7, 8.)

"Let Jove's dread arm with thunders rend the spheres,

Beneath the crush of worlds undaunted he appears."

(Francis's Trans.)