Bible Strands
Jeremiah 16:17
For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — YHWH addresses Judah in a pronouncement of judgment, positioned between the announcement of fishermen and hunters (v. 16) and the promise of double repayment (v. 18).
The words — נִסְתְּר֖וּ (nistēru), Niphal perfect of נִסְתַּר, "they have been hidden" — the passive form states that no act of concealment has succeeded; the condition is one of completed exposure.
The thread — The same image of God's eyes on human ways recurs in Proverbs 15:3, Proverbs 5:21, and Jeremiah 23:24, where the rhetorical question "Can a man hide where I cannot see him?" mirrors the flat denial here.
Why it lands — It forecloses the reader's assumption that sin can be kept from God's notice; the verse is not a comfort but a closing of the escape route before the judgment that follows.
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
For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
- Proverbs 5:21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
- 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.
- Psalms 90:8 You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
- Job 34:21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.
- 2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”
- Jeremiah 32:19 the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
- Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
- Psalms 139:3 You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.