“The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ And he disguises 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.
- BSB The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.
- NKJV The eye of the adulterer waits for the 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 in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
- Prov 7:9–10in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.
- Ezek 9:9Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’
- Ps 94:7They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
- Ezek 8:12Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’”
- Prov 6:32–35He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.
- Ps 73:11They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
- Job 22:13–14You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
- Exod 20:14“You shall not commit adultery.
- Gen 38:14–15She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn’t given to him as a wife.
- 2 Sam 12:12For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’”
- Ps 50:18When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.
- 2 Sam 11:4–13David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.