The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.
Parallel translations
- WEB The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye shall see me.’ He disguises his face.
- KJV The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
- NKJV The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face.
- NASB “The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ And he disguises his face.
- NLT The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The adulterer waits for dusk, hiding his face, sure no eye will see. It matters because secret sin presumes God does not see.
Overview
Job describes the adulterer relying on twilight and disguise, convinced he is unobserved. His error is forgetting that God's eye penetrates all darkness. Scripture reminds us that nothing is hidden from God, and that the secret sins of the heart are laid bare before Christ, who searches minds and hearts (Rev. 2:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 10:11He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Prov 7:9–10at twilight, as the day was fading into the dark of the night.
- Ezek 9:9He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’
- Ps 94:7They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
- Ezek 8:12“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”
- Prov 6:32–35He who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself.
- Ps 73:11The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”
- Job 22:13–14Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?
- Exod 20:14You shall not commit adultery.
- Gen 38:14–15she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
- 2 Sam 12:12You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
- Ps 50:18When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
- 2 Sam 11:4–13Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 24:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.