Bible Strands
Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A wisdom teacher (traditionally Solomon) addresses a general audience of students and readers, stating a foundational premise for the ethical instruction that brackets the verse.
The words — צֹ֝פ֗וֹת (tso.fot), "watching," derives from the root tsaphah, meaning to keep watch or stand guard — active, sustained vigilance rather than passive observation.
The thread — Jeremiah 16:17 and 23:24 put the same claim in God's own first-person voice; Hebrews 4:13 extends it to "nothing in all creation."
Why it lands — It forecloses the option of private behavior: every action, whether evil or good, is already seen. The reader is left with no hidden room in which to act without consequence.
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
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Cross-references
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 31:4 Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
- Job 34:21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.
- 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.