Proverbs 22:4

4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

Proverbs 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 22:4

By humility [and] the fear of the Lord
Some render it, "the reward of humility, which [is] the fear of the Lord" F18; so the Targum; an humble man is blessed with it. Jarchi's note is,

``because of humility, the fear of the Lord comes;''
humility leads on to the fear of the Lord; he that behaves humbly towards man comes at length to fear the Lord, and be truly religious: though these are rather to be considered as the graces of the Spirit of God, which go together where there is one, there is the other; he that is humbled under a sense of sin, and his own unworthiness, fears the Lord; and he that fears the Lord, and his goodness, will walk humbly before him; they both flow from the grace of God, are very ornamental, and attended with the following happy consequences; [are] riches, and honour, and life;
spiritual riches, the riches of grace and glory; honour with God and men now, and everlasting life in the world to come.
FOOTNOTES:

F18 (hwhy tary hwne bqe) "praemium mansuetudinis, quae est reverentia Jehovae", Schultens; "merces humilitatis timor Domini", Baynus; "praemium humilitatis est timor Domini": Tigurine version; so Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius.

Proverbs 22:4 In-Context

2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.
3 The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; the cautious will keep far from them.
6 Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.