“Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 94:7 Mean?
The wicked speak with stunning arrogance: "The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it." Their confidence in their invisibility is total. God isn't watching. God doesn't care. God won't notice. The crimes they commit are hidden from divine observation — or so they believe.
The two verbs — see (ra'ah) and regard (bin — understand, discern) — cover both observation and comprehension. The wicked claim God doesn't see AND doesn't understand. He's both blind and ignorant. The double denial removes God entirely from their calculations. They operate as functional atheists: God exists but He's irrelevant.
The psalmist will dismantle this in verse 9: "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?" The logic is devastating: the God who invented hearing can hear. The God who designed the eye can see. The arrogance of assuming God is blind collapses under the weight of His own creation.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where do you act as if God isn't watching — operating as a functional atheist despite your stated beliefs?
- 2.Does the logic (God made the ear, so He hears; God made the eye, so He sees) make divine observation feel more rational?
- 3.How does the assumption 'God doesn't see' enable behavior that 'God is watching' would prevent?
- 4.Is there something you've been doing under the assumption of invisibility that verse 9 exposes?
Devotional
God doesn't see. God doesn't care. That's what the wicked say. And it's what makes their wickedness possible.
The assumption is the enabler: God isn't watching. God won't notice. God is blind and ignorant and irrelevant. Once you've decided that — once you've convinced yourself that divine surveillance is off — everything becomes permissible. If God doesn't see, nothing is prohibited. If God doesn't understand, nothing has consequences.
"The LORD shall not see" — the claim is about observation. God's eyes are closed. The crimes you commit happen in an unwatched universe. No camera. No witness. No omniscient eye tracking your movements.
"Neither shall the God of Jacob regard it" — the claim is about comprehension. Even if God somehow noticed, He wouldn't understand. He wouldn't care. He wouldn't process it into judgment. The God of Jacob is both blind and indifferent.
The psalmist crushes this with the simplest logic available (verse 9): the God who made ears can hear. The God who made eyes can see. The God who taught humanity knowledge isn't ignorant. The designer of every sensory organ has better versions of every sense. The one who invented observation is the ultimate observer.
The wicked's confidence in God's blindness is the foundation of their wickedness. Remove it, and the whole structure collapses. Every crime committed under the assumption "God doesn't see" loses its confidence the moment you realize: He sees everything. Always has. Always will.
The one who planted the ear is listening right now. The one who formed the eye is watching right now. And the God of Jacob regards — with perfect understanding — everything the wicked said He wouldn't notice.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Yet they say, the Lord shall not see,.... The blood they shed, the murders they commit, the mischief they do, the…
Yet they say - By their conduct; or, they seem to say. The Lord shall not see - In the original, יה Yâhh. This is an…
In these verses we have,
I. A solemn appeal to God against the cruel oppressors of his people, Psa 94:1, Psa 94:2. This…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture