Bible Strands
Proverbs 5:21
For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD examines all his paths.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A father (or wise teacher) addresses his son in the middle of a warning against adultery, having just asked why he would be captivated by a foreign woman (v. 20).
The words — מַעְגְּלוֹת (ma'egglot), "tracks," is a hapax legomenon in the Hebrew Bible; the image is of wheel-ruts or the grooves a path leaves, more concrete than the generic "ways" (darke) used in the first half of the verse.
The thread — The same idea of God's unblinking observation recurs in Proverbs 15:3, Job 34:21, and Hebrews 4:13.
Why it lands — It removes the assumption that private action escapes notice; the reader is asked to weigh every choice as if it were already on record.
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 the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.
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.
- Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.
- 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.
- Psalms 11:4 The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.
- 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.
- Hosea 7:2 But they fail to consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face.
- Job 31:4 Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
- Psalms 119:168 I obey Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are before You.