Is It Wrong to Say Awesome? What the Bible Says
Should Christians reserve the word awesome for God alone? Some choose to do that, while others use it to describe a beautiful view, welcome news, or an excellent meal. I want to understand how Scripture uses the word so we can deepen our reverence without making a personal choice about vocabulary into a law for everyone.
God Alone Is Awesome Without Qualification
Scripture leaves no doubt that God is awesome. His greatness and holiness are beyond comparison, and His power to judge is joined with perfect justice. His mercy deserves our wonder too. We learn reverent fear as Scripture reveals His name and recalls His covenant works. His saving acts display His majesty, and the coming judgment reveals His unique authority. Nothing created possesses that greatness independently.
We do need to distinguish God’s greatness from the English word awesome. It is a translation choice, not a divine title written into Hebrew and Greek. The NKJV uses it in thirty-eight verses, most often for God Himself or His name. Other occurrences describe His works and revealed majesty, and the coming day of the LORD is also called awesome.
The translators also use the word for created things. A place can be called awesome, as can a person in a poetic comparison. Elsewhere the adjective describes a catastrophic collapse or an object in a vision. Daniel even uses it for a pagan king’s imposing image. Those uses keep me from declaring the adjective exclusively sacred.
Deuteronomy, Nehemiah, Psalms, Jeremiah, and Daniel all apply this language to the Lord. In Deuteronomy 28:58, Psalm 99:3, and Psalm 111:9, His name is called glorious, holy, and awesome. Exodus, Samuel, Psalms, and Isaiah also use awesome for His covenant wonders and mighty acts, whether the setting is salvation or judgment.
Each occurrence needs its own context. In Genesis 28:17, Jacob called the place awesome because he recognized God’s presence and the gate of heaven. Song of Solomon 6:4 and 6:10 compare the beloved to an army, using awesome to convey commanding beauty. Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel apply it to collapse, high wheels, crystal, and a great image.
Judges 13:6 describes the countenance of the Angel of God as very awesome. I understand this Messenger to be the preincarnate Christ. The way He is treated and the identity He bears point to a Christophany, an appearance of Christ before His birth. So this example does not place God’s unique greatness on the level of an ordinary angel.
The wider examples show that the NKJV translators did not restrict awesome grammatically to God. They used it for what inspired fear or wonder, including dread and commanding awe, as the context required. God alone is awesome without qualification, because His greatness belongs to Him by nature. Everything created depends on Him.
Awe in Scripture and Its Original-Language Context
The Hebrew form often transliterated nora’ belongs to the word family of yare’, “to fear” or “to revere.” Depending on context, nora’ can describe someone who inspires reverent awe, dread, or fear. We can see why context matters in Deuteronomy 10:17. Moses is speaking about the sovereign Judge who cannot be bribed, not expressing the kind of enthusiasm the word often conveys today.
In Acts 2:20, the NKJV uses awesome as Peter quotes Joel’s prophecy about the Day of the LORD. The received Greek text has epiphanes, which can mean conspicuous or manifest and can also carry the sense of illustrious or notable. That explains the KJV’s wording, “notable.” The same English rendering can therefore represent different original words in different passages.
The beloved in Song of Solomon 6 is described with a different Hebrew term, commonly transliterated ayom. She is imposing or formidable like an army with banners. Daniel 2 uses an Aramaic word related to fear for Nebuchadnezzar’s great image. So awesome does not stand for one exclusive term in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.
I would not want the English word to control how we understand God’s majesty. Scripture can reveal His greatness without using awesome at all, and an object called awesome does not automatically possess a divine attribute. Confusing a word with the whole idea it expresses is sometimes called the word-concept fallacy.
Changes in English help explain some differences between translations. In older usage, terrible could describe something that caused terror or inspired fear, including something formidable. A modern reader is more likely to hear morally bad or deeply unpleasant, or even simply poor in quality. An accurate older rendering can therefore suggest the wrong meaning to a reader today.
That is why the KJV often uses terrible where later translations use awesome. Translators are trying to communicate a passage’s meaning in English their readers understand. Sometimes the emphasis is fear or dread; elsewhere it is majesty that calls for reverence. Neither English choice functions as a secret theological code.
The word awesome has changed too. Its older force is close to “full of awe” or “inspiring awe.” Today it may simply mean excellent or describe something impressive or especially enjoyable. Someone may also use it to welcome good news. We need the context to know whether the speaker means reverent wonder or ordinary approval.
That should make us patient as well as precise. We cannot use language change to rewrite Scripture’s meaning. But before making a moral command out of a word, we need to know whether the speaker and hearer even share the definition we are assuming.
Deuteronomy 10 Shows What Reverence Looks Like
Moses spoke Deuteronomy 10 after recalling Israel’s rebellion with the golden calf. He had described his intercession and the tablets broken because of their sin, along with God’s gracious renewal of the covenant words. These people had experienced deliverance and then failed terribly. God disciplined them, yet continued to show mercy and provide for them.
So the question “what does the LORD your God require of you?” was addressed to a people already redeemed and in covenant with Him. Moses was not giving humanity a way to earn salvation. He was describing how Israel should respond to the God who had chosen them and rescued them from bondage. Even after correcting their rebellion, He forgave them and continued to lead them.
Against that background, awesome describes more than impressive power. Israel’s God is powerful and holy. He keeps His covenant and judges each person impartially. His greatness also appears in His defense of vulnerable people and His love for the stranger. He calls His people to reflect that same character in how they live.
"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
Fear belongs within the whole life Moses describes, rather than remaining an isolated religious feeling. Recognizing God’s holy authority changes how a person walks. Love brings loyal affection to that relationship, and service directs our strength toward His will. When we obey, we receive His words as good.
I don’t want to pass over Moses’ statement that these commands were for Israel’s good. God was not laying traps or restricting their lives out of insecurity. His commands turn His people away from idolatry and the injustice that follows it. They also protect against impurity and the self-destruction sin brings.
Christians do not stand under the Mosaic covenant as Israel did. The church has not inherited Israel’s civil administration, sacrificial calendar, or covenant signs. Those belonged to that covenant. We can still learn from this passage about God’s unchanging character and the wholehearted reverence His grace produces.
Moses told Israel to circumcise the foreskin of the heart and stop being stiff-necked. Physical circumcision marked Abraham’s male descendants, but the outward sign could not replace inward surrender. The image of a stiff neck comes from an animal resisting its yoke and refusing direction, just as Israel had resisted at Sinai. They needed to stop defending that stubbornness and resisting God’s words.
Entering the land would not change their hearts if they carried rebellion with them. I need to take that seriously when thinking about religious practice now. Church attendance cannot replace repentance and new birth, and neither can baptism or familiar religious language. Even a visible ministry role cannot produce spiritual life.
The new covenant answers that need through God’s work within the believer. The indwelling Holy Spirit writes God’s truth on his heart, and obedience grows from willingness rather than outward pressure alone. External practices can express genuine faith, but they cannot create the inward life only God gives.
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
Notice where those great titles lead: God judges honestly and cares for people in practical ways. No bribe buys His favor, and neither social status nor tribal loyalty bends His judgment. The powerful have no private entrance into His court, while the socially weak never disappear from His notice.
A fatherless child or widow in Israel often lacked the protection a household would normally provide. A stranger could be vulnerable too, without an established social position or property. God’s greatness appears in how He refuses to let power determine a person’s worth. He judges without corruption and acts for those other people overlook.
Israel was then told to love the stranger because they knew life as strangers in Egypt. Their memory of being rescued from oppression should move them to mercy. Having power themselves gave them no right to repeat what had been done to them.
That makes me examine what I mean by reverence. I could reserve awesome for God and still dishonor Him through partiality or greed. Cruelty and contempt for an outsider would contradict that claim just as clearly. Moses was concerned with a life reflecting God’s character, not with protecting an English adjective that did not yet exist.
At the close of Deuteronomy 10, Moses called the LORD Israel’s praise and recalled the great and awesome things they had seen. Seventy members of Jacob’s household had gone down to Egypt, and God multiplied them like the stars. In the exodus, He showed His power over Pharaoh and Egypt’s false gods. He opened the sea and saved His people when human escape appeared impossible.
That rescue also showed His covenant faithfulness. God remembered His promises to Abraham and remained faithful to Isaac and Jacob by delivering their descendants from bondage they could not escape on their own.
Remembering God’s works nurtures biblical awe. Israel was responsible to tell later generations what He had done. The Psalms repeatedly recall creation and the exodus, along with His provision in the wilderness and faithfulness during the conquest. They speak honestly about His discipline while celebrating His mercy. This revealed history gives worship something firmer than atmosphere alone.
Remembering God’s works also increases our responsibility. Israel had seen God’s power, so they could not dismiss His warnings as speculation. Their privileged covenant position could never buy favor from an impartial Judge. The more light God gives His people, the more seriously they must respond.
Created things can impress us, but their greatness has limits and depends on God. A mountain’s height comes from His forming it, and a storm’s force remains within the limits He set. Human skill depends on the body and mind He supplied. Even our materials belong to Him, along with the time and opportunity in which we develop that skill.
God is not simply a greater version of something created. He is self-existent and eternal, borrowing neither life nor authority from anyone. His complete knowledge and unrivaled sovereignty belong to Him, and holiness governs all He does. His goodness and glory are entirely His own. Every excellence in creation depends on Him.
For the LORD Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.
When I call God awesome, I mean far more than I do when calling a performance excellent. He is King over all the earth and deserves worship and reverent fear. His character gives us reason to trust Him, while His authority calls for obedience. No single word can fully express His greatness, and we cannot measure it on the same scale as creation.
Reverence Without Unbiblical Word Policing
In Genesis 28:17, Jacob called Bethel awesome after recognizing God’s presence and promise there. The place was created, but awe was fitting because of what God revealed. Song of Solomon uses the word differently, comparing the beloved to an army with banners. Her commanding beauty and presence do not make her divine, and the romantic admiration is not worship.
Ezekiel’s visionary wheels and crystal-like expanse are called awesome, while Daniel’s image was awesome in form. In Lamentations, the same English word describes Jerusalem’s collapse as shocking or dreadful. It can communicate dread as well as wonder.
Wonder at creation should turn our attention toward the Creator. We may be moved by the night sky or a mountain’s height, by a child’s birth or an unexpected rescue. Human skill can awaken wonder too, since God made the mind and body behind it. We go wrong when we worship the gift or forget its Giver, and human achievement must never become a reason for pride.
The NKJV’s uses of awesome for created things prevent me from defending a rule that reserves the English word for God. Scripture gives no such command. Someone may choose that restraint as an act of devotion, but a personal choice cannot become a law for every believer.
An ordinary listener who hears that a meal was awesome usually understands that it was excellent or especially enjoyable. The speaker is not calling the food holy or sovereign, much less worthy of worship. The shared meaning of the word in that setting tells us what is being said.
Romans 14 helps us approach differences of conscience. Believers may honor the Lord through different choices without treating each other with contempt or condemning what God has not forbidden. We need to give greater attention to whether our words are true and loving, and whether they build up the people hearing them.
Calling a Christian blasphemous for an ordinary use of awesome goes beyond Scripture and can damage fellowship. I can explain a personal conviction gently without making the linguistic evidence say more than it does. After that, every conscience still belongs under God’s Word.
Freedom from an invented rule does not make speech unimportant. We still need to tell the truth and refuse words that corrupt those who hear us. Flattery and exaggeration are dishonest too. Our words should give grace to the hearer instead.
If we call every experience amazing, perfect, life-changing, or awesome, it becomes harder to tell what we mean. The issue is honest precision and self-control, not a hidden list of sacred adjectives. Wisdom chooses a word that expresses the intended degree truthfully.
God’s name is different because Scripture explicitly forbids taking it in vain. Using His name as casual profanity violates that command, as does false prophecy claiming to speak for Him. Claims of divine endorsement used to manipulate people dishonor Him too. Even empty religious performance in His name calls for serious correction.
I want reverence to shape my speech without turning it into anxiety over a vocabulary list. Avoiding an adjective accomplishes little if I continue to lie or spread gossip. Flattery used to control people and cruel speech reveal the same need for a changed heart. Jesus teaches that our words show what is within, so the change must go deeper than policing vocabulary.
Awe, Fear, Love, and the Gospel
Music can create a powerful atmosphere in worship, but sound alone cannot produce biblical awe. Praise shaped by Scripture tells us who God is and recalls what He has done. It honors His holiness instead of seeking emotion for its own sake. The worshiper responds with gratitude that reaches into obedience.
Psalm 66 calls the congregation to say how awesome God’s works are and to come see what He has done. That gives the emotion of praise a clear direction. Awe grows as we consider His work in creation and salvation. His righteous judgment deepens our reverence, while His mercy teaches us to draw near. His covenant faithfulness gives our worship a firm foundation.
Reverence need not be emotionally cold. Psalm 150 includes loud instruments and open praise. Biblical order does not require stiffness, and genuine joy does not require disorder. Worship should engage our minds and affections, with our bodies and choices responding to the truth as well.
The response continues after the music ends. In Deuteronomy 10, the awesome God calls His people to judge impartially and show compassion. Loyalty becomes visible in practical obedience. Tears brought on by a song do not complete that response if repentance never follows.
Deuteronomy places fear alongside love because both belong in our response to God. Fear recognizes His holiness and authority, while love delights in Him and stays loyal. We do not have to cancel one in order to express the other.
In Christ, believers need not live with tormenting uncertainty about final condemnation. God’s child is indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and perfect love casts out the fear connected with punishment. Our eternal security rests in Christ’s saving work.
That confidence does not make God ordinary. An adopted child can approach the Father freely and still accept correction and honor His authority. Acts joins the fear of the Lord with the comfort of the Holy Spirit in the church’s life.
I can take refuge in the same God before whom I tremble. His power cannot be resisted, and no accuser can bribe away His covenant mercy. His greatness gives us rest because it belongs to the One who is faithful.
Israel looked back to the exodus. Christians look to the death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the greater deliverance to which Scripture’s redemptive history moves.
Jesus is the eternal Son who became fully man while remaining fully God. He was born of a virgin and lived without sin. Wicked men physically tortured and punished Him before killing Him, and He willingly bore that real punishment for our sins in His innocent body. He shed His blood and died, was buried, and rose bodily. The Father did not punish or curse Him. He did not abandon Jesus or strike or bruise Him, and He did not pour wrath on Him.
Christ died for the whole world, though people may resist God’s genuine offer. Everyone who repents and believes is forgiven and justified. That person is born again and made new, with the Holy Spirit dwelling in him and sealing him in eternal security. This never permits lawlessness, and a superficial profession does not prove the new birth has occurred.
No care with vocabulary can justify me before God. Neither a powerful emotional experience nor an impressive act of worship can do it, and even the best moral record falls short. Christ saves by His blood.
The cross and resurrection give us reason for awe by revealing God’s holy love. Christ’s willing sacrifice shows the seriousness of our sin, and His bodily resurrection shows His victory over death. Someone who has received that salvation should respond in worship and no longer treat grace casually.
How Christians Should Respond
We should begin with what Scripture actually calls awesome, rather than argue from intuition. Read each passage in context to see what the word means there. Then distinguish God’s unique qualities and works from ordinary use of an English adjective.
Personal conscience deserves respect, but it must remain under the text. If reserving awesome for God helps you remember His majesty, you are free to do so. That freedom does not authorize accusing others where God has given no command.
Awe deepens as we give attention to what God has revealed. Reading the Psalms aloud can focus us on His character, and following His covenant works through Scripture shows His faithfulness across generations. Creation displays His power and wisdom and deserves careful attention too. We can rehearse the gospel often and remember particular prayers He has answered. Those truths give us more to consider than a vague atmosphere can.
Love for God should be visible in how we live. We walk in His ways and serve Him with our whole heart, receiving His moral commands as good rather than resenting them as a burden. Deuteronomy 10 makes that response concrete through impartial judgment and care for vulnerable people.
Moses was not defending a vocabulary rule in Deuteronomy 10. The great and awesome God is the Judge who shows no partiality and takes no bribe. Moses then described His care for the fatherless and widow, along with His love for the stranger. Israel was told to love the stranger because they knew what life as strangers in Egypt had been like.
I need to let that connection test more than the words I choose. Careful religious language does not excuse contempt for vulnerable people. Scripture calls me to honor God in speech and to reflect His character in how I use power.
The gospel gives us still more reason for awe. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, became fully man and gave His sinless body on the cross for sinners. He shed His blood and died, then rose bodily from the grave. Remembering His work makes worship an honest response to mercy we could never earn.
Scripture calls us to remember who God is and receive His correction, rather than try to manufacture reverence through one particular word. His mercy should affect how we treat people. With those responses in place, we can take care with our speech without becoming anxious about it.
My Final Thoughts
God alone is awesome without qualification. I want my words and worship to reflect His holiness and the wonder of His justice and mercy, but Scripture does not make an English adjective into a rule for every conscience. Scripture calls for deep reverence that asks more of us than a vocabulary choice. It leads us to remember His works and reflect His character in the way we live.