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Hebrews 4:13

in Hebrews 4

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

KJV

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

This verse in Hebrews 4

Commentary

20 notes on this verse

A commentator

Basil of Caesarea

LETTER 260 · Written before 379.

And Scripture calls by the name of "sword" the Word which has the power of trying and of discerning thoughts and which "extends even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow." … Every soul at the time of the passion was subjected to a sort of test, as it were, according to the words of the Lord, who said, "You will all fall away because of me."

This site's exposition

the word of God is living

on Hebrews 4:12-13

The word of God is living and active, and it cuts to the innermost part of a person, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. The warning rests on God's own sight, since everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

This site's exposition

uncovered and exposed

John Wesley hears the law's sacrifices in the word exposed. The victim was flayed and cleft through the neck and backbone, so all within lay open to view. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that the Greek perfect tense marks this as the constant state of every creature before God.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Oecumenius

The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews · Written before 550.

proposed

"And no creature is hidden from his sight." But what do I say about men, he says? Nor can any other creature hide or be concealed from that watchful eye, whether you speak of angels, or Cherubim, or Seraphim. "but all are naked." Nothing can …

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On Paradise 14.68, 70 · Written before 397.

proposed

For God says, 'I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God.' So when the fear of divine power returns to the perception of the soul, then we blush, then we desire to hide, then being placed in the thoughts of our sins, we are found in the midst of the tree of paradise where we sinned, desiring to hide, and thinking that God does not seek the hidden things. But the searcher of hearts and thoughts, penetrating even to the division of the soul, says, 'Adam, where are you?' ... But when He said, 'Where are you?' He is not seeking the place which knew His secret, for God does not have closed eyes so as not to see what is hidden. But God sees the faults of all and knows the offenses of all: he has eyes over every soul, over all hidden things. So, where are you, Adam? That is, not in what place, but in what state are you. Therefore, it is not an inquiry, but a rebuke.

A commentator

Tertullian

An Answer to the Jews · Written before 220.

proposed

"Thine arrows," he says, "are sharp," -God's everywhere-flying precepts (arrows) threatening the exposure of every heart, and carrying compunction and transfixion to each conscience: "peoples shall fall beneath thee," -of course, in adoration.

A commentator

Theodoret of Cyrus

INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 4 · Written before 458.

proposed

He used the phrase "laid bare to the eyes of him" as a metaphor from sacrificed beasts, which lie completely mute, the slaughter doing away with their life, and along with their life their cries. In similar manner, he is saying, when we also are …

A commentator

Cassiodorus

EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS, PREFACE 15 · Written before 585.

proposed

"The word of God is … sharper than any two-edged sword." Now the holy depth of divine Scripture is expressed in such common language that everyone immediately takes it in. But buried within it are hidden senses of truth, so that the vital meaning must …
12 more voices on this verse

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Hebrews 7 · Written before 407.

proposed

And why speak I of men? he says. For even if thou speak of Angels, of Archangels, of the Cherubim, of the Seraphim, even of any "creature" whatsoever: all things are laid open to that Eye, all things are clear and manifest; there is nothing able to escape it; "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him, with whom we have to do." But what is "opened"? It is a metaphor from the skins which are drawn off from the victims. For as in that case, when a man has killed them, and has drawn aside the skin from the flesh, he lays open all the inward parts, and makes them manifest to our eyes; so also do all things lie open before God. And observe, I pray thee, how he constantly needs bodily images; which arose from the weakness of the hearers. For that they were weak, he made plain, when he said that they were "dull," and "had need of milk, not of strong meat." "All things are naked," he says, "and opened unto the eyes of Him, with whom we have to do." (c. v. 11, v. 12.) Next he discourses of the Son, "with whom we have to do," he says. What is "with whom we have to do"? To Him (he would say) we have to render account for the things we have done? Even so. How then must we act that we fall not, nor be faint-hearted?

A commentator

Severian of Gabala

FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 4.12 · Written before 425.

proposed

He says, "division of soul and spirit." The soul has a special feeling for the body, but the grace of the Holy Spirit draws against the body to the heavenly things.

The Medieval Church4 voices

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Hebrews · Written before 1107.

proposed

Not only, he says, does He search and know the hearts of men, but even if you were to point to angels and archangels, to cherubim and seraphim, all things are open before Him. Nothing can be hidden from His eyes. To illustrate more vividly …

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

It was necessary that our Hierarch be endowed with awareness, in regard to the threefold wisdom within Him: the innate, that is, the wisdom of angels and of the first man, the infused, and the eternal. Through the first, He knows all things which we …

A commentator

Symeon the New Theologian

DISCOURSE 3.6 · Written before 1022.

proposed

Do you not shudder when you hear God each day saying to you through the whole of the divine Scripture, "Let no evil speech come out of your mouth"? For truly I say to you for any idle word you will give an account, and …

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Hebrews · Written before 1274.

proposed

Then when he says, before him no creature is hidden, he shows that anything invisible according to its nature is not hidden from God. For if something is not seen by us, it is because it is more simple and more subtle than our bodily …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

But all things are naked and opened - Plainly alluding to the sacrifices under the law which were first flayed, and then (as the Greek word literally means) cleft asunder through the neck and backbone; so that everything both without and within was exposed to open view.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

None of the creatures can be concealed from Christ; none of the creatures of God, for Christ is the Creator of them all; and there are none of the motions and workings of our heads and hearts (which may be called creatures of our own) but what are open and manifest to him with whom we have to do as the object of our worship, and the high priest of our profession.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight - There is no being who is not wholly known to God. All his thoughts, feelings, plans, are distinctly understood. Of the truth of this there can be no doubt. The “design” of the remark here is, to guard those to whom the apostle was writing from self-deception - since they could conceal nothing from God. All things are naked - Exposed; uncovered.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The Greek perfect tense implies that this is our continuous state in relation to God. "Show, O man, shame and fear towards thy God, for no veil, no twisting, bending, coloring, or disguise, can cover unbelief" (Greek, 'disobedience,' Heb 4:11).

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest - God, from whom this word comes, and by whom it has all its efficacy, is infinitely wise. He well knew how to construct his word, so as to suit it to the state of all hearts; and he has given it that infinite fullness of meaning, so as to suit it to all cases. And so infinite is he in his knowledge, and so omnipresent is he, that the whole creation is constantly exposed to his view; nor is there a creature of the affections, mind, or imagination, that is not constantly under his eye. He marks every rising thought, every budding desire; and such as these are supposed to be the creatures to which the apostle particularly refers, and which are called, in the preceding verse, the propensities and suggestions of the heart. But all things are naked and opened - Παντα δε γυμνα και τετραχηλισμενα. It has been supposed that the phraseology here is sacrificial, the apostle referring to the case, of slaying and preparing a victim to be offered to God. 1. It is slain; 2. It is flayed, so it is naked; 3. It is cut open, so that all the intestines are exposed to view; 4. It is carefully inspected by the priest, to see that all is sound before any part is offered to him who has prohibited all imperfect and diseased offerings; and, 5. It is divided exactly into two equal parts, by being split down the chine from the nose to the rump; and so exactly was this performed, that the spinal marrow was cloven down the center, one half lying in the divided cavity of each side of the backbone. This is probably the metaphor in 2Ti 2:15 (note). But there is reason to suspect that this is not the metaphor here. […]

The words behind it

20 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 12:14

    For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

    it leads to

    • 2 Corinthians 5:10

      For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Romans 2:16

      on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 17:10

    I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 16:7

      But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the…

    • Romans 8:27

      And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

    • Jeremiah 11:20

      O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.

    • Revelation 2:23

      Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

  • Through

    Proverbs 15:3

    The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 16:17

      For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.

    • Jeremiah 23:24

      “Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

Where this verse is studied

About Hebrews

The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, Dieric Bouts, 1464 to 1467. Public domain.
The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, Dieric Bouts, 1464 to 1467. Public domain.
This page draws on 22 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On Paradise 14.68, 70; Basil of Caesarea, LETTER 260; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS, PREFACE 15; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Hebrews 7; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews; Severian of Gabala, FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 4.12; Symeon the New Theologian, DISCOURSE 3.6; Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews; Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 4; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Hebrews and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews.