Jeremiah 16:17

17 I see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from me; their sins do not escape my sight.

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 Instead, they will swear by me as the living God who brought the people of Israel out of a northern land and out of all the other countries where I had scattered them. I will bring them back to their own country, to the land that I gave their ancestors. I, the Lord, have spoken."

16 The Lord says, "I am sending for many fishermen to come and catch these people. Then I will send for many hunters to hunt them down on every mountain and hill and in the caves among the rocks.

17 I see everything they do. Nothing is hidden from me; their sins do not escape my sight.

18 I will make them pay double for their sin and wickedness, because they have defiled my land with idols that are as lifeless as corpses, and have filled it with their false gods."

19 Lord, you are the one who protects me and gives me strength; you help me in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors had nothing but false gods, nothing but useless idols.