Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Parallel translations
- WEB They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
- BSB They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
- NKJV Yet they say, “The Lord does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob understand.”
- NASB They have said, “The Lord does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob perceive.”
- NLT “The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”
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 wicked say that the LORD does not see and the God of Jacob does not notice. Their evil flows from a practical denial of God's awareness.
Overview
The oppressors comfort themselves with the lie that God is blind to their deeds. This functional atheism, denying that God sees and cares, lies at the root of much injustice. The very next verses refute it: the God who made the eye certainly sees all (v.9; Psalm 10:11-14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 10:11–13He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
- Luke 18:3–4And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
- Zeph 1:12And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
- Isa 29:15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
- Ps 59:7Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?
- Job 22:12–13Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
- Ezek 8:12Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
- Ezek 9:9Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 94:7 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.