Job 24:15
in Job 24The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Saying, No eye shall see me: And he disguiseth his face.
KJV
The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me. And disguiseth his face. There is nothing to hinder but that this may be understood even after the latter, seeing that he who desires to commit adultery, seeks out the dark. But whereas it is a sentence uttered against Heretics, it is meet that this thing which is declared be understood in a mystical sense. Thus Paul says, For we are not as many that adulterate the word of God. For the adulterer seeks not offspring, but pleasure in the act of carnal copulation.
This site's exposition
those who rebel against the light
on Job 24:13-17
A second group joins the list, "those who rebel against the light". The murderer rises when "daylight is gone", and housebreakers "dig through houses" and "shut themselves in" by day. Clarke notes the reversal these men live by, since for them "deep darkness is their morning" and daylight threatens exposure.
This site's exposition
The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight
The adulterer joins the murderer among those who hide from the light. Barnes compares Proverbs 7:8-9, where a man goes the way to her house at twilight, and reads the covered face as a mask. Henry notes that even bold sinners hide their sin.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows the same thing to be true for the adulterer saying, "The eye of the adulterer," who spies on the bed of another, "watches for the darkness," so that he cannot be caught, and so he says, "saying: No one will see me," that …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), were under his eye and will be called over again. Here is no mention of the punishment of these sinners in the other world, but it is intimated in the particular notice taken of the consequences of their death. The consumption of the body in the grave, though common to all, yet to them is in the nature of a punishment for their sin.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,....
The sinners themselves, even the most impudent, do what they can to hide their sin: si non caste, tamen caute--if not chastely, yet cautiously; and after all the wretched endeavours of the factors for hell to take away the reproach of it, it is and ever will be a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret, Eph. v. 12 .
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight; - compare the description in Pro 7:8-9, “He went the way to her house; in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” And disguiseth his face - Margin, “setteth his face in secret.” The meaning is, that he put a mask on his face, lest he should be recognized. So Juvenal, Sat. viii. 144, as quoted by Noyes: - si nocturnus adulter Tempora Santonico velas adoperta cucullo.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The eye also of the adulterer - This is another sin particularly of the city. The adulterer has made his assignation; he has marked the house of her into whose good graces he has insinuated himself, called digging through the house; he waits impatiently for the dusk; and then goes forth, having muffled or disguised his face, and spends a criminal night with the faithless wife of another man. The morning dawns: but it is to him as the shadow of death, lest he should be detected before he can reach his own home. And if one know him - if he happen to be recognized in coming out of the forbidden house; the terrors of death seize upon him, being afraid that the thing shall be brought to light, or that he shall be called to account, a sanguinary account, by the injured husband. This seems to be the general sense of the very natural picture which Job draws in the Job 24:15, Job 24:16, and Job 24:17.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Should one rise in daylight If they would rise by day, they would slay the wayfarers.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעֵ֤ין | veein | and [the] eye of | H5869 → | 887 times |
| נֹאֵ֨ף׀ | noef | an adulterer | H5003 → | |
| שָׁ֤מְרָֽה | shamerah | it watches for | H8104 → | 468 times |
| נֶ֣שֶׁף | neshef | twilight | H5399 → | 12 times |
| לֵ֭אמֹר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְשׁוּרֵ֣נִי | teshureni | it will observe me | H7789 → | 15 times |
| עָ֑יִן | ʾayin | an eye | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וְסֵ֖תֶר | veseter | and covering of | H5643 → | 36 times |
| פָּנִ֣ים | panim | face | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| יָשִֽׂים׃ | yasim | he puts | H7760 → | 584 times |
וְעֵ֤יןand [the] eye of
veeinH5869 →887 times
נֹאֵ֨ף׀an adulterer
noefH5003 →
שָׁ֤מְרָֽהit watches for
shamerahH8104 →468 times
נֶ֣שֶׁףtwilight
neshefH5399 →12 times
לֵ֭אמֹר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תְשׁוּרֵ֣נִיit will observe me
teshureniH7789 →15 times
עָ֑יִןan eye
ʾayinH5869 →887 times
וְסֵ֖תֶרand covering of
veseterH5643 →36 times
פָּנִ֣יםface
panimH6440 →2123 times
יָשִֽׂים׃he puts
yasimH7760 →584 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Ezekiel 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…
it leads to
- Isaiah 29:15
Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 9:9
He 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 8:15
“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”
- Isaiah 29:15
Through
Psalms 10:11He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 94:7
They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
- Psalms 73:11
The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”
- Ezekiel 8:12
Through
Psalms 94:7They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
it leads to
- Luke 18:3–4
And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
- Psalms 10:11–13
He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Luke 18:3–4
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.