7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (1a) Bible citations

Here is the Biblical basis for the Catholic teaching that “Fear of the Lord” is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.


Job 28:28
And to man he said: Behold, the fear of the Lord is wisdom.

Psalms 111:10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; prudent are all who live by it.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Sirach 1:16
Wisdom’s garland is fear of the Lord, with blossoms of peace and perfect health.


[A garland is a necklace made out of real flowers and their stems, where the stems are winded together to make the necklace. Thus Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach, who wrote the Book of Sirach, is comparing “Fear of the Lord” to the stems that make the necklace of the garland, and the resulting flowers that spring up are peace and perfect health.]

[Notice that the passages from Psalms and Proverbs both state that “Fear of the Lord” is the beginning, which means the place from which to start all else, which is what I explained in my posting on that subject.]

By the way, let me explain why I am color coding each mention of a gift of the Holy Spirit in purple. This is a visual device so that the eye is happy whenever it sees one of the gifts in purple, such as "Fear of the Lord" and "Piety," so remind you that these are gifts from the Holy Spirit, and not something that humans can invent or seize for themselves. You must be aware of them, cultivate them, reinforce them, and be grateful for them, but they are still gifts, not the results of humans using their great powers of determination to "make it happen." Every human has been given the chance for these gifts, just as in our analogy, schools and teachers exist everywhere, whether a child walks through the classroom door or not. But the child did not invent the school or invent the teacher, he or she avails themselves of those gifts. It is likewise with the gifts from God through the Holy Spirit. I hope this helps.