Jeremiah 16:17

17 For 1my eyes are on all their ways. 2They are not hidden from me, 3nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

Jeremiah 16:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 16:17

For mine eyes are upon all their ways
Not only which they may take to hide themselves from their enemies, and where they should be directed to find them; but their evil ways in which they walked, and which were the cause of their calamities; these, how secret soever they were, were under the eye of God, whose eyes are in every place, and upon all the ways of men, good and bad; though they might flatter themselves, as wicked men sometimes do, that the Lord sees them not, and does not take notice of their iniquities: but, that they might be assured of the contrary, it is added, they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine
eyes;
neither their ways nor their works, their persons nor their actions, could be concealed from the Lord; none can hide himself in secret places, that they should not be seen by him; the darkness and the light are both alike to an omniscient God. The Targum is,

``their iniquities are not hid from before (or from, or the sight of) my Word;''
the essential Word of God; see ( Hebrews 4:12 Hebrews 4:13 ) .

Jeremiah 16:17 In-Context

15 but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
16 "Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
18 But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."
19 O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Jeremiah 32:19; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Job 34:21; Proverbs 5:21
  • 2. [Psalms 51:9; Psalms 90:8]
  • 3. [Psalms 51:9; Psalms 90:8]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.