Bible Strands
Isaiah 29:15
Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks to the people of Jerusalem, who are plotting in secret and assume God cannot see them. This oracle sits within a passage (29:11–16) where God declares he will confound human wisdom.
The words — עֵצָה ('eṣāh) means "a plan, counsel," the specific thing being concealed. The preposition מֵ (mē, "from") in מֵיְהוָה makes the target explicit: they are hiding it from Yahweh, not merely from other people.
The thread — The same pattern of secret action and the claim "no one sees me" appears in Isaiah 47:10 and Ezekiel 8:12. Isaiah 30:1 likewise condemns those who "carry out a plan that is not Mine."
Why it lands — The verse strips away the assumption that privacy from God is a viable strategy. It asks the reader to name the plans they treat as invisible to God and recognize that the premise itself is the error.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 8:12 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”
- Isaiah 47:10 You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’
- Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Psalms 94:7 They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
- Psalms 10:11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Psalms 59:7 See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”
- Psalms 139:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- Isaiah 28:15 For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”
- Jeremiah 23:24 “Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 9:9 He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’