I recieved a Tweet today that “fear not” was in the Bible 365 times – apparently Joce Meyer teaches this. I did a quick scan using eSword for the phrase “fear not” and it did not appear 365 times. Instead, I saw it only 63 times.
The “fear not” is in the Bible 365 times is used as a preaching device to make people think that God doesn’t want them to fear, this is a good intention, but I am “afraid” I couldn’t see fear not 365 times. Does that mean God wants us to be afraid for 302 days and not to fear for 63 days? Of course not. God only needs to say fear not once – and that is enough for 365 days, 52 weeks, 24 hours, 60 minutes and 60 seconds. God only needs to say something once – He is sovereign.
Also, according to Yahoo! Answers it appears 62 times – so I might have double counted along the way. Or, WikiAnswers did a search using the NAB and found just over 100 references to fearing not – although not the exact phrase “fear not”.
If you can find 365 in the Bible let me know…
Posted by Christina on July 22, 2009 at 2:51 am
what if you search for other word combinations like “do not fear” or “have no fear?”
Posted by NIna on August 7, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Fear not, do not be afraid, Have no fear are all dirived from the FEAR NOT model.
It is true there are 365 of them in the books, one for every day of the year.
Posted by MH on October 27, 2009 at 2:52 am
Is there a list online of the complete list. I’ve been looking….
Posted by Nate on September 1, 2009 at 7:52 pm
@Nina is right. Don’t limit your search to just the phrase “fear not,” but also include phrases like “Do not be afraid,” etc. You’ll find something a lot closer to 365.
Posted by jesusblogger on September 1, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Do you have a link referencing all the verses to prove there are 365?
Posted by NLT on November 8, 2009 at 1:33 pm
wikiAnswers listed all. you might want to see it.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_times_does_the_Bible_tell_us_to_Fear_Not
Posted by Ronnie on November 10, 2009 at 7:39 am
I used e-Sword to look up “fear not” my results were as follows:
KJV – 144 verses found , 2 words, 331 hits
MKJV – 159 verses found, 2 words, 375 hits
Webster – 144 verses found , 2 words, 331 hits
and
KJV-1611 – Feare not- 147 verses found, 2 words, 375 hits
e-Sword® Version 8.0.5 Copyright © 2000-2008 Rick Meyers All Rights Reserved Worldwide
But you are right, we should be Bereans.
Blessings
Posted by Ronnie on November 10, 2009 at 8:26 am
P.S. you were right here are the numbers.
“Fear not” exact match 63
“Do not fear” 69
“Shall not fear” 98
“did not fear” 7
“will not fear” 5
“be not afraid” 3
MKJV
Posted by Chris on November 12, 2009 at 9:43 pm
It is like those forwarded emails about ‘NASA’s experiment on Age of Earth and Joshua’ story’. (I hope many of you have read it.)
I did not know about ‘Fear Not’, nor did I hear a sermon on it being 365 times! I agree with you, even if it is written with the best intention, the fact is that it is not TRUE.