Bible Strands
Job 31:4
Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job speaks these words in his final oath of innocence, addressing God directly as he lists his moral record. This occurs during his last defense speech, immediately after warning that disaster awaits the unjust.
The words — The verse centers on יִרְאֶ֣ה (yir.'Eh), meaning "does he see," and יִסְפּֽוֹר (yis.Por), meaning "does he count." These verbs describe divine observation as a continuous, meticulous accounting of human conduct.
The thread — This claim of exhaustive divine surveillance appears in Job 34:21, where God watches every step of a man. It parallels Proverbs 5:21, which states the LORD examines all paths, and 2 Chronicles 16:9, which describes His eyes roaming over the earth.
Why it lands — The text asserts that God observes all human actions and records every movement. It requires the reader to acknowledge that no conduct is hidden and that all behavior is subject to divine examination.
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
Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
Cross-references
- 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.”
- Proverbs 5:21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
- Job 14:16 For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.
- Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
- 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.
- 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.
- Psalms 139:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- Genesis 16:13 So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”
- Psalms 44:21 would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?