Job 24:15

The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job addresses his friends during a discourse on delayed divine justice, describing the calculated behavior of the wicked. He focuses on the adulterer who deliberately waits for darkness to commit his crime.

The words — נֹאֵף (no.'Ef) translates to adulterer, and נֶשֶׁף (ne.shef) denotes twilight. These terms anchor the verse in the specific moment of nocturnal concealment.

The thread — The narrative places this figure alongside the nocturnal murderer and house-breaker in Job 24:14 and 24:16. The cited passages show Proverbs 7:9 marking twilight as a time of opportunity, while Psalms 10:11 and 94:7 record the wicked claiming God does not see or hides His face, not a claim of personal invisibility.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human attempts to hide sin in darkness are self-deceptive. It forces the reader to confront the gap between the sinner’s presumption and the reality of divine oversight.

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

וְעֵ֤יןve./'Einand/ [the] eye of נֹאֵ֨ף׀no.'Efan adulterer שָׁ֤מְרָֽהSha.me.rahit watches for נֶ֣שֶׁףNe.sheftwilight לֵ֭אמֹרLe./mor<to>/ saying לֹא־lo'-not תְשׁוּרֵ֣נִיte.shu.Re./niit will observe/ me עָ֑יִן'A.yinan eye וְסֵ֖תֶרve./Se.terand/ covering of פָּנִ֣יםpa.Nimface יָשִֽׂים׃ya.Simhe puts

King James Version

The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.

Cross-references

Psalms 10:11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
Proverbs 7:9 at twilight, as the day was fading into the dark of the night.
Psalms 94:7 They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
Proverbs 6:32 He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
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.’”
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.’
Genesis 38:14 she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
2 Samuel 11:4 Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.
2 Samuel 12:12 You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”