TO FEAR — and, in the same word, TO REVERE, to worship. Hebrew does not split the terror from the reverence: 'the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom.' ⚠ It is the pivot word of Jonah 1. Jonah CLAIMS it as his religion — 'I FEAR Jehovah, the God of heaven' (1:9) — while doing the one thing that shows his fear is not governing him; and the pagan sailors keep actually FEELING it, three rising times: they are afraid (1:5), they 'fear a great fear' at his confession (1:10), and after the sea calms they 'fear Jehovah with a great fear' and sacrifice to him (1:16). The man who says he fears God is out-feared, and out-worshipped, by the heathens around him. → first discussed at Jonah 1:9