Proverbs 5:21

Revised Standard Version

For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he watches all his paths.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For a man’s ways are before the Lord’s eyes,and he considers all his paths.

Hebrew Names Version
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD. He examines all his paths.

King James Version
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord , and he pondereth all his goings.

English Standard Version
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord , and he ponders all his paths.

New Century Version
The Lord sees everything you do, and he watches where you go.

New English Translation
For the ways of a person are in front of the Lord 's eyes, and the Lord weighs all that person's paths.

Amplified Bible
For the ways of man are directly before the eyes of the LORD, And He carefully watches all of his paths [all of his comings and goings].

New American Standard Bible
For the ways of everyone are before the eyes of the LORD, And He observes all his paths.

World English Bible
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh. He examines all his paths.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For the waies of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his pathes.

Legacy Standard Bible
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of Yahweh,And He watches all his tracks.

Berean Standard Bible
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and the Lord watches all his paths.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord sees everything, and he watches us closely.

Complete Jewish Bible
For Adonai is watching a man's ways; he surveys all his paths.

Darby Translation
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he pondereth all his paths.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord clearly sees everything you do. He watches where you go.

George Lamsa Translation
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and all his paths lie open in his presence.

Good News Translation
The Lord sees everything you do. Wherever you go, he is watching.

Lexham English Bible
For before the eyes of Yahweh are human ways, and all his paths he examines.

Literal Translation
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and He ponders all his tracks.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For euery mas wayes are open in the sight of the LORDE, and he podereth all their goinges.

American Standard Version
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah; And he maketh level all his paths.

Bible in Basic English
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and He maketh even all his paths.

King James Version (1611)
For the wayes of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For euery mans wayes are open in the sight of the Lord, and he pondereth all their goynges.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths.

English Revised Version
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he maketh level all his paths.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord seeth the weie of a man; and biholdith alle hise steppis.

Update Bible Version
For the ways of man are before the eyes of Yahweh; And he makes level all his paths.

Webster's Bible Translation
For the ways of man [are] before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

New King James Version
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths.

New Living Translation
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes.

New Life Bible
For the ways of a man are seen by the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths.

New Revised Standard
For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord , and he examines all their paths.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, before the eyes of Yahweh, are the ways of a man, - and, all his tracks, doth he consider:

Douay-Rheims Bible
The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.

Young's Literal Translation
For over-against the eyes of Jehovah are the ways of each, And all his paths He is pondering.

THE MESSAGE
Mark well that God doesn't miss a move you make; he's aware of every step you take. The shadow of your sin will overtake you; you'll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark. Death is the reward of an undisciplined life; your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He watches all his paths.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. ¹⁶ Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? ¹⁷ Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. ¹⁸ Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, ¹⁹ a lovely hind, a graceful doe. Let her affection fill you at all times with delight, be infatuated always with her love. ²⁰ Why should you be infatuated, my son, with a loose woman and embrace the bosom of an adventuress? ²¹ For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he watches all his paths. ²² The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is caught in the toils of his sin. ²³ He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is lost.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Proverbs 15:3, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Job 31:4, Job 34:21, Psalms 11:4, Psalms 17:3, Psalms 139:1-12, Jeremiah 16:17, Jeremiah 17:10, Jeremiah 23:24, Jeremiah 32:19, Hosea 7:2, Hebrews 4:13, Revelation 2:18, Revelation 2:23

Reciprocal: Genesis 16:13 - Thou 2 Samuel 22:25 - in his eye sight Job 14:16 - thou numberest Job 24:23 - yet his eyes Job 33:27 - I have sinned Psalms 90:8 - our Psalms 119:168 - for all my Psalms 139:3 - and art acquainted Proverbs 16:2 - but Proverbs 24:12 - doth not he that Isaiah 37:28 - I know Jeremiah 29:23 - even I Amos 9:8 - the eyes

Cross-References

Luke 3:37
the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Maha'lale-el, the son of Ca-i'nan,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the ways of a man [are] before the eyes of the Lord,.... Both good and bad; the ways of a chaste and virtuous man, who cleaves to his own wife and shuns the harlot, which are approved of by the Lord; and the ways of a lewd man, all the impure thoughts, desires, and contrivances of his mind, and all the steps he takes to commit lewdness, and all the filthy actions he is guilty of, these are all open and naked to the omniscient God: the adulterer seeks the twilight, and flatters himself with secrecy, not considering that the eye of God is upon him; there are many, that, were their filthy actions known to men, they would be ashamed of them; and this consideration greatly deters from them, and puts them upon secret ways of committing them; much more should the consideration of the divine omniscience weigh with them to avoid them; which is the argument here made use of;

and he pondereth all his goings; he not only sees them, but takes notice of them, and observes them, and ponders them in his mind, and lays them up there, in order to bring to an account for them hereafter; yea, he weighs them in the balance of justice, and will proportion the punishment unto them, according to the rules of it; when it must go ill with those that follow such lewd practices, Hebrews 13:4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

One more warning. The sin is not against man, nor dependent on man’s detection only. The secret sin is open before the eyes of Yahweh. In the balance of His righteous judgment are weighed all human acts.

Pondereth - Note the recurrence of the word used of the harlot herself (see Proverbs 1:6 note): she ponders not, God does.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 5:21. For the ways of a man — Whether they are public or private, God sees all the steps thou takest in life.