There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
Parallel Translations
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There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
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nether is there eny creature invisible in the sight of it. For all thynges are naked and bare vnto the eyes of him of whom we speake.
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Neither is there any creature, which is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and open vnto his eyes, with whome we haue to doe.
Cross-references (29)
Passages linked to Hebrews 4:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
- Psalms 33:13-15 Yahweh looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works.
- Proverbs 15:3 Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
- Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.
- 1 Samuel 16:7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
- Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- Job 34:21 “For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.
- Proverbs 15:11 Sheol and Abaddon are before Yahweh— how much more then the hearts of the children of men!
- Psalms 44:21 won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
- Romans 2:16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
- Job 26:6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- 2 Chronicles 6:30 then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men)
- Revelation 2:23 I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- Psalms 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.
- Psalms 90:8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
- 1 Chronicles 28:9 You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
- Matthew 25:31-32 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
- Romans 14:9-12 For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, “ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to God.’ ” So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.
- 2 Chronicles 16:9 For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.”
- John 2:24 But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone,
- John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
- Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
- Jeremiah 17:23-24 But they didn’t listen. They didn’t turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction. It will happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;
- John 5:22-29 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him. “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
- Acts 17:31 because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
- Revelation 20:11-15 I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
- Psalms 139:11-12 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,” even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
- Matthew 7:21-22 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 13. Neither is there any creature, etc. The conjunction…
13. Neither is there any creature, etc. The conjunction here, as I think, is causal, and may be rendered for; for in order to confirm this truth, that whatever is hid in man is discerned and judged by God’s word, he draws an argument from the nature of God himself. There is no creature, he says, which is hid from the eyes of God; there is, therefore, nothing so deep in man’s soul, which cannot be drawn forth into light by that word that resembles its own author, for as it is God’s office to search the heart, so he performs this examination by his word.
Interpreters, without considering that God’s word is like a long staff by which he examines and searches what lies deep in our hearts, have strangely perverted this passage; and yet they have not relieved themselves. But all difficulty disappears when we take this view, — that we ought to obey God’s word in sincerity and with cordial affection, because God, who knows our hearts, has assigned to his word the office of penetrating even into our inmost thoughts. The ambiguous meaning of the last words has also led interpreters astray, which they have rendered, “Of whom we speak;” but they ought, on the contrary, to be rendered, With whom we have to do. The meaning is, that it is God who deals with us, or with whom we have a concern; and that, therefore, we ought not to trifle with him as with a mortal man, but that whenever his word is set before us, we ought to tremble, for nothing is hid from him.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain In God’s sight.
In God’s sight.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 13 Neither is there any creature that is not…
13 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.
Ver. 13. Neither is there any creature] No, not the creature of the heart, the most secret thoughts and intentions.
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That is not manifest in his sight] Or in the sight of it, that is, of the word preached; but every the least fibre, the smallest string in the heart, that would escape the sight of the most exact anatomist, is hereby cut up. See 1Co 14:24.
But all things are naked and open] Naked, for the outside, and opened, dissected, quartered, cleft in the back bone (as the word τετραχηλισμενα here signifies), for the inside. Erasmus rendereth it, resupinata, making it a metaphor from those that lie with their faces upwards, that all passengers may see who they are. Theodoret readeth it, Hath the throat cut. So opened (say some others) as the entrails of a man that is anatomized, or of a beast that is cut np and quartered; and not only naked, as when the skin is pulled off. He useth a metaphor (saith an interpreter) taken from a sheep whose skin is taken off, and he hanged up by the neck with his back toward the wall, and all his entrails laid bare, and exposed to open view.
Unto the eyes of him] Or rather, of it, of the word, wherewith we have to do. The word, like a sacrificing sword, slits open, and as it were unridgeth the conscience.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Neither is there any creature that is not manifest…
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: και is not only copulative, but rational, showing the ground of the former efficacy of the gospel word, because its Author seeth and knoweth all persons and things, and filleth it with this power and force. For every creature which God the Son created, angel, or man, or any other, from the greatest to the least, from the leviathan to a mite, and all parts of every creature, especially of every creature to whom the gospel is preached, Mar 16:15; not any one is αφανης, without light, invisible, unapparent, obscure, or possible to be covered, or hid, or concealed from his view or face: where the relative αυτου agreeth with θεου, God in Christ, and not with λογος, or the word, Heb 4:12, as the following relative evinceth. To this God-man no spirit nor thought can be hid; it shall not be so from the efficacious power of his word; much less shall infidelity or hypocrisy be hid from it, or his most piercing eye.
But all things are naked and opened; but all things in general and particular, not any one excepted, are bare, naked, unclothed, the covering is removed, all secrets are open and manifest to view, God the Son seeth within and without, all are unveiled to him, and laid open as by dissection, τετραχηλισμενα a metaphor taken from the sacrificed beasts, which being skinned, were cut open from the neck, and so divided by the chine to the rump, or by the throat downward embowelled by the priests, so as every part within may be clearly seen whether clean or unclean. The truth of which is, the every thing in the world, even the most secret and inward thoughts of the heart of a sinner, which is a great deep, is opened and laid forth to every scruple unto God in Christ; every secret unbelief, apostatizing principle, or hypocrisy, he discerneth clearly and fully, Jer 17:9,10; he that made the eye, must see best.
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Unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do; his eyes who pierceth beyond the vulture’s, into things and places that no eye can discern, the souls of men, Job 28:7,10; Psa 94:9; Pro 20:12. All this is asserted concerning the person of whom Paul writes, Christ, God-man, the great gospel Minister, whose word is so powerfully piercing: of him and his word is all this speech and discourse; he it is who is the all-knowing and impartial Judge, and makes his gospel word of counsel, promise, and threatenings to cut so deeply, and search the secrets of the hearts of all.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain There is not any one place of scripture, I…
There is not any one place of scripture, I think, which more fully informs us of the perfect and exact knowledge of Almighty God, as to all persons and things, than this before us.
Observe, 1. The object, all and everything, our persons, our actions, the manner of our actions, the design and end of our actions: he knows what we have been and done, and what we will be and do.
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Observe, 2. The full manifestation and clear representation of all persons and things unto God.
1. All things are here said to be naked, unclothed, their dress and paint taken off: These words are and allusion to bodies, which being stripped and unclothed, all see what they are; there may be many deformities, blemishes, yea, ulcers, upon a body undiscerned, while it is clothed and covered; but when naked, every scar appears, and nothing is hid; all things are naked in his sight; that is, he as plainly discerns what they are, as we discern what a body is that stands naked before us. The knowledge which God has of persons and things, is a clear and distinct knowledge.
2. All things are here said to be open as well as naked, unto God; a metaphor taken, says St. Chrysostom, from the sacrificed beasts, which being excoriated, their skins plucked off, they were cut down from the neck to the rump, so that all the inwards of the best lay bare, and every part might be clearly seen; it is one thing to see a sheep alive, with its skin and fleece on, and another thing to see it naked and flayed; but a farther thing to see it opened and emboweled, with all its intestines and inwards exposed to the eye.
Others think there is in the original word an allusion to anatomists, who open and dissect human bodies, the heart, the liver, the lungs, the bowels, all exactly appear whether sound or decayed: Such a kind of anatomy doth God make upon man’s heart; his piercing eye sees and discerns what is flesh, and what is spirit in us, what is faith, what is fancy, what is grace in reality, and what in appearance only.
Doubtless the phrase doth signify a most intimate, full, and thorough knowledge of all persons, and all things, which is found in that God with whom we have to do, and to whom we must give and account for all that we have done.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Seeing then that we have a great high priest,....…
Seeing then that we have a great high priest,.... That Christ is a priest, and an high priest, has been observed already, in Heb 2:1 but here he is called a great one, because of the dignity of his person, as follows, and the virtue of his sacrifice; and because of the place where he now officiates as a priest, heaven and with respect to the continuation of his priesthood; and likewise because he makes others priests unto God; and this great high priest is no other than the Word of God before spoken of: so the divine Logos, or Word, is often called a priest, and an high priest, by Philo the Jew (t). This great high priest believers "have", and have an interest in him; he is called to this office, and invested with it; he has been sent to do his work as a priest; and he has done the greatest part of it, and is now doing the rest; and saints receive Christ as such, and the blessings of grace from him, through his sacrifice and intercession:
that is passed into the heavens; he came down from thence, and offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of his people; and having done this, he ascended thither again, to appear for them, and to make intercession for them; whereby he fully answers to his character as the great high priest: and what makes him more fully to appear so is what follows,
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Jesus, the Son of God: the former of these names signifies a Saviour, and respects his office; the latter is expressive of his dignity, and respects his person; who is the Son of God in such sense as angels and men are not; not by creation, nor adoption; but by nature; not as man and Mediator, but as God, being of the same nature with his Father, and equal to him; and it is this which makes him a great high priest, and gives virtue and efficacy to all he does as such: wherefore,
let us hold fast our profession: of faith, of the grace and doctrine of faith, and of Christ, and salvation by him, and of the hope of eternal life and happiness; which being made both by words and deeds, publicly and sincerely, should be held fast; which supposes something valuable in it, and that there is danger of dropping it; and that it requires strength, courage, and greatness of mind, and an use of all proper means; and it should be held without wavering; for it is good and profitable, it recommends the Gospel; and it has been made publicly before witnesses; and not to hold it fast is displeasing to God, and resented by him: and the priesthood of Christ is an argument to enforce this duty, for he is the high priest of our profession; he has espoused our cause, and abode by it; he has bore witness to the truth of the Gospel himself; he prays for the support of our faith; he pities and succours; and he is passed into the heavens, where he appears for us, owns us, and will own us.
(t) Alleg. 1. 2. p. 76. De Profugis, p. 466. & de Somniis, p. 597.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain In his sight - It is God whose word…
In his sight - It is God whose word is thus "powerful:" it is God in whose sight every creature is manifest; and of this his word, working on the conscience, gives the fullest conviction. 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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Neither is there any creature that is…
Verse 13. 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 fulness 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] πανταδεγυμνακαι 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.
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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 centre, one half lying in the divided cavity of each side of the backbone. This is probably the metaphor in 2Ti 2:15, where see the note.
But there is reason to suspect that this is not the metaphor here. The verb τραχηλιζω, from which the apostle's τετραχηλισμενα comes, signifies to have the neck bent back so as to expose the face to full view, that every feature might be seen; and this was often done with criminals, in order that they might be the better recognized and ascertained. To this custom Pliny refers in the very elegant and important panegyric which he delivered on the Emperor Trajan, about A. D. 103, when the emperor had made him consul; where, speaking of the great attention which Trajan paid to the public morals, and the care he took to extirpate informers, c., he says: Nihil tamen gratius, nihil saeculo dignius, quam quod contigit desuper intueri delatorum supina ora, retortasque cervices. Agnoscebamus et fruebamur, cum velut piaculares publicae sollicitudinis victimae, supra sanguinem noxiorum ad lenta supplicia gravioresque poenas ducerentur. Plin. Paneg., cap. 34. "There is nothing, however, in this age which affects us more pleasingly, nothing more deservedly, than to behold from above the supine faces and reverted necks of the informers. We thus knew them, and were gratified when, as expiatory victims of the public disquietude, they were led away to lingering punishments, and sufferings more terrible than even the blood of the guilty."
The term was also used to describe the action of wrestlers who, when they could, got their hand under the chin of their antagonists, and thus, by bending both the head and neck, could the more easily give them a fall this stratagem is sometimes seen in ancient monuments. But some suppose that it refers to the custom of dragging them by the neck. Diogenes the philosopher, observing one who had been victor in the Olympic games often fixing his eyes upon a courtezan, said, in allusion to this custom: Ιδε κριον αρειμανιον, ὡς ὑπο του τυχοντος κορασιου τραχηλιζεται. "See how this mighty champion (martial ram) is drawn by the neck by a common girl." See Stanley, page 305.
With whom we have to do.] Προς ὁν ἡμιν ὁ λογος. To whom we must give an account. He is our Judge, and is well qualified to be so, as all our hearts and actions are naked and open to him.
This is the true meaning of λογος in this place; and it is used in precisely the same meaning in Mat 12:36; Mat 18:23; Lu 16:2. Ro 14:12: So then every one of us λογοςδωσει, shall give an account of himself to God. And Heb 13:17: They watch for your souls, ὡς λογον αποδωσοντες, as those who must give account. We translate the words, With whom we have to do; of which, though the phraseology is obsolete, yet the meaning is nearly the same. To whom a worde to us, is the rendering of my old MS. and Wiclif. Of whom we speake, is the version of our other early translators.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Heb 4:13. Neither is there any creature — Especially…
Heb 4:13. Neither is there any creature — Especially no human creature; that is not manifest — Αφανης, unapparent; in his sight — Namely, in the sight of God, whose word is thus powerful; for it is God in whose sight, or before whom, Greek ενωπιο, αυτου, every creature is manifest, and of this his word, working on the conscience, gives the fullest conviction; but all things are naked and opened — Γυμνα και τετραχηλισμενα, expressions used with a plain allusion to the state in which the sacrifices called burnt-offerings were laid on the altar. They were stripped of their skins, their breasts were ripped open, their bowels were taken out, and their back-bone was cleft from the neck downward, as the latter word signifies. So that every thing, both within and without them, was exposed to open view, particularly to the eye of the priest, in order to a thorough examination, Lev 1:5-6. And being found without blemish, they were laid in their natural order on the altar, and burned, Heb 4:8. The apostle’s meaning is, that neither infidelity, nor hypocrisy, nor worldly- mindedness; neither covetousness, nor pride, nor ambition, nor any sinful disposition, however secretly it may lurk in the mind, can be concealed from our judge; with whom we have to do — Προς ον ημιν ο λογος, to whom we must give an account. So the word λογος frequently signifies. See Mat 12:36; Mat 18:23; Luk 16:2; and particularly Rom 14:12, where the final judgment is spoken of. So every one of us, λογον δωσει, shall give an account of himself to God; and Heb 13:17, they watch for your souls, ως λογον αποδωσοντες, as those who must give account.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Neither is there any creature that is not manifest…
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. There is nothing that can be concealed from God; Psa 139:11-12.
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“The veil of night is no disguise,
No screen from thy all-searching eyes;
Thy hands can seize thy foes as soon.
Thro’ midnight shades as blazing noon.”
And opened - - τετραχηλισμένα tetrachēlismena. The word used here - Τραχηλίζω Trachēlizō - properly means:
(1)To lay bare the neck, or to bend it back, so as to expose the throat to being cut;
(2)To expose; to lay open in any way.
Why the word is used here has been a matter of inquiry. Some have supposed that the phrase is derived from offering sacrifice, and from the fact that the priest carefully examined the victim to see whether it was sound, before it was offered. But this is manifestly a forced exposition. Others have supposed that it is derived from the custom of bending back the head of a criminal so as to look full in his face, and recognize him so as not to be mistaken; but this is equally forced and unnatural. This opinion was first proposed by Erasmus, and has been adopted by Clarke and others. Bloomfield, following, as he says, the interpretation of Chrysostom, Grotius (though this is not the sentiment of Grotius), Beza, Atling, Hammond, and others, supposes the allusion to be to the custom of cutting the animal down the back bone through the spinal marrow, and thus of laying it open entirely.
This sense would well suit the connection. Grotius supposes that it means to strip off the skin by dividing it at the neck. and then removing it. This view is also adopted substantially by Doddridge. These explanations are forced, and imply a departure more or less from the proper meaning of the Greek word. The most simple and obvious meaning is usually the best in explaining the Bible. The word which the apostle employs relates to “the neck” - τράχηλος trachēlos - and not to the spinal marrow, or the skin. The proper meaning of the verb is “to bend the neck back” so as to expose it in front when an animal is slain - Passow. Then it means to make bare; to remove everything like covering; to expose a thing entirely - as the naked neck is for the knife. The allusion here is undoubtedly to the “sword” which Paul had referred to in the previous verse, as dividing the soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow; and the meaning is, that in the hand of God, who held that sword, everything was exposed.
We are in relation to that, like an animal whose neck is bent back, and laid bare, and ready for the slaughter. Nothing “hinders” God from striking; there is nothing that can prevent that sword from penetrating the heart - any more than when the neck of the animal is bent back and laid bare, there is anything that can hinder the sacrificing priest from thrusting the knife into the throat of the victim. If this be the true interpretation, then what an affecting view does it give of the power of God, and of the exposedness of man to destruction! All is bare, naked, open. There is no concealment; no hindrance; no power of resistance. In a moment God can strike, and his dreadful sentence shall fall on the sinner like the knife on the exposed throat of the victim. What emotions should the sinner have who feels that he is exposed each moment to the sentence of eternal justice - to the sword of God - as the animal with bent-back neck is exposed to the knife! And what solemn feelings should all have who remember that all is naked and open before God! Were we “transparent” so that the world could see all we are, who would dare go abroad?
Who would wish the world to read all his thoughts and feelings for a single day? Who would wish his best friends to look in upon his naked soul as we can look into a room through a window? O what blushes and confusion; what a hanging down of the head, and what an effort to escape from the gaze of people would there be, if every one knew that all his secret feelings were seen by every person whom he met! Social enjoyment would end; and the now frivolous and blithe multitudes in the streets would become processions of downcast and blushing convicts. And yet all these are known to God. He reads every thought; sees every feeling; looks through the whole soul. How careful should we be to keep our hearts pure; how anxious that there should be nothing in the soul that we are not willing to have known!
With whom we have to do - Literally, “with whom is our account.” Our account; our reckoning is to be with him before whom all is naked and open. We cannot, therefore, impose on him. We cannot pass off hypocrisy for sincerity. He will judge us according to truth, not according to appearances; and his sentence, therefore, will be just. A man who is to be tried by one “who knows all about him,” should be a pure and holy man.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain In his sight, or to the eyes, must signify…
In his sight, or to the eyes, must signify in the sight of God. (Witham) --- If the word of God in Jesus Christ be so terrible, what will Jesus Christ be himself, when he comes to judge us according to the severity of his justice?
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain creature--visible or invisible.
creature--visible or invisible.
in his sight--in God's sight (Heb 4:12). "God's wisdom, simply manifold, and uniformly multiform, with incomprehensible comprehension, comprehends all things incomprehensible."
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opened--literally, "thrown on the back so as to have the neck laid bare," as a victim with neck exposed for sacrifice. 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). Let us, therefore, earnestly labor to enter the rest lest any fall through practical unbelief (Heb 4:11).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. Thus far is described the searching action of…
13. Thus far is described the searching action of the word upon our inmost being; now is correspondently described the complete passive subjection of our being to the scrutiny of the same word.
Creature—Of any nature, but especially human. From the fact that sight and eyes are affirmed, Lunemann, Alford, and Moll tell us that it is no longer the word, but God, that is described. But: 1. That forgets that nearly every term so far gives personality to this word. Living, energizing, going through, discerning, are its attributes. Now what are sight and eyes other than powers of discerning; powers which are attributed to the word in a very intense degree? 2. The word is the sole subject thus far, and it is a violation of grammar to suppose a change without an indication of change. 3. All the commentators we know overlook the correspondence above mentioned between Heb_4:12-13. Heb_4:12 describes the active scrutiny of the word upon us; Heb_4:13 antithetically describes our absolute nakedness beneath that same scrutiny, namely, of the word.
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Opened—The Greek word literally signifies throated. It is used of a wrestler grasped by the throat, and prostrated by his antagonist, and so Alford renders it, “prostrate.” By Roman custom, a criminal’s face and throat were exposed to public gaze by a dagger placed under his chin. But the real allusion is to the exposure of the throat of an animal to the knife of the slaughterer, produced by the drawing back of his head for that purpose. Hence the true meaning is, that we are as exposed to the view of the word as the victim’s throat to the eye of his sacrificer.
Have to do—Literal Greek, him to whom is to us the word. To this divine word there is incumbent upon us an answering human word. From this stern apostle and word turn we now to our gracious High-Priest.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. in his sight] i.e. in the Sight of…
13. in his sight] i.e. in the Sight of God, not of “the Word of God.” “He seeth all man’s goings,” Job_34:21. “Thou hast set … our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance,” Psa_90:8; comp. Psa_139:1-12.
opened] The Greek word τετραχηλισμένα must have some such meaning, but it is uncertain what is the exact force of the metaphor from which it is derived. It comes from τράχηλος, “the neck,” and has been explained to mean: (1) “seized by the throat and thrown on the back”; or (2) “with the neck forced back like that of a malefactor compelled to shew his face” (Sueton. Vitell. 17); or (3) “with the neck held back like that of animals in order that the Priest may cut their throats”; or (4) “flayed”; or (5) “anatomised” (comp. Lev_1:6; Lev_1:9). This anatomic examination of victims by the Priests was called momoskopia since it was necessary that every victim should be “without blemish” (amomos), and Maimonides says that there were no less than 73 kinds of blemishes. Hence Polycarp (ad Phil, iv.) says that “all things are rigidly examined (πάντα μωμοσκοπεῖται) by God.” The usage of Philo, however, decisively shews that the word means “laid prostrate.” For the truth suggested see Pro_15:11; “I try the reins,” Jer_17:10; Psa_51:6; Pro_20:27, “the candle of the Lord searching all the inner parts of the belly.”
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unto the eyes] “The Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire.” Rev_2:18.
with whom we have to do] This might be rendered, “to whom our account must be given.” Thus in Luk_16:2, “render thy account” (τὸν λόγον). Perhaps, however, our A. V. correctly represents it “Him with whom our concern is.” Comp. 1Ki_2:14; 2Ki_9:5 (LXX.), where a similar phrase occurs in this sense.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) In his sight.—Still the proper subject is “the…
(13) In his sight.—Still the proper subject is “the word of God”; but, as explained above, it has assumed the meaning, God speaking and present in His word. Touched by this word, every creature “returns of force to its own likeness”—shows itself as it is.
Opened.—Better, exposed, laid bare. The Greek word is peculiar (literally meaning, to take by the neck), and it seems impossible to determine with certainty the exact metaphor which it here presents. It is usually applied to a wrestler who by dragging back the neck overthrows his adversary: and “prostrate” has been suggested as the meaning here. Another explanation refers the word to the drawing back of a criminal’s head, so as to expose his face to public gaze; but, though we read of such a custom in Latin authors, we have no proof that the Greek word was used in this sense. There seems no good reason for supposing any allusion to a sacrificial victim with head thrown back (slain, or ready to be slain).
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Unto the eyes of him . . .—Rather, unto His eyes: with Whom (or, and with Him) we have to do. The last solemn words recall the connection of the whole passage. No thought of unbelief or disobedience escapes His eye: the first beginnings of apostasy are manifest before Him.
Heb_4:14-16 are the link connecting all the preceding part of the Epistle with the next great section, . Heb_5:1 to Heb_10:18. Following the example of Luther, Tyndale and Coverdale begin the fifth chapter here; but the connection of the three verses with what precedes is too close to justify this.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Neither is there any creature that is not manifest…
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and laid open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. The main difficulty in this verse is as to the meaning of the word tetrachlismena (translated laid open"). The verb trachlizw (which occurs nowhere else in the New Testament or LXX, but is, with its compound ektrachlizw , not uncommon in Philo and Josephus) has in classical Greek the sense of "seizing by the throat," or "bending back the neck," as in wrestling. And this, with the further idea of "overthrowing" or "laying prostrate," is the prevailing sense in Philo, from whom Wetstein quotes many passages in illustration. Taking, then, with most modern commentators, the sense of bending back the neck as the primary one, we have only to consider what secondary meaning is here to be attached to it. Some take the idea to be that of being thrown on the ground supine, so as to be thoroughly exposed to view. So Bengel: Trachlizw , resupino, Graece et Latine dicitur pro patefacio. Corpora quae prona jacent vix nuda censentur; nam se ipsa tegunt: resupinata, secundum partes nobilissimas quasque et distinctissimas visui patent." Many (Eisner, Wolf, Baumgarten, Kuinoel, Bretschneider, Block, De Wette, etc., following Perizonius, on Aelian, "Vat. Hist.," 12:58) see an allusion to the Roman custom of exposing criminals reducto capite," retortis cervieibus," so that all might see their faces (see Suetonius, Vitel., 17; Pliny, "Panegyr.," 34. 3). There is, however, no other known instance of the Greek verb being used with this reference, which there seems to be no necessity for assuming. The idea may be simply the general one thus expressed by Delitzsch, "that whatever shamefaced creature bows its head, and would fain withdraw and cloak itself from the eyes of God, has indeed the throat, as it were, bent back before those eyes, with no possibility of escape, exposed and naked to their view." Many of the ancients (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Ecumenius, Theophylact) saw in tetrachlismena a reference to the treatment of sacrificial victims, as being smitten on the neck or hung by the neck for the purpose of being flayed kern the neck downwards, or cut open thence, so as to expose rite entrails to view. But no instance is known of such use of the word trachlizw , the idea of which may have been suggested to commentators by the figure of the sword in the verse preceding; which figure, however, there is no reason to suppose continued in ver. 13, the idea of which is simply complete exposure, introduced by ouk afanhv . The ancients take the concluding expression, progov , as meaning to whom our account must be given," i.e. to whom we are responsible as our judge in the sense of logon didonai . The A.V seems better to give the general idea of relation by the apt phrase, with whom we have to do." Of course, logav here has no reference to the Word of God, the recurrence of the word, in a subordinate sense, being merely accidental.
The omniscience of God. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest, etc.
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I THE UNIVERSALITY OF GOD"S KNOWLEDGE, "There is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things," etc. All created things, high and low, great and small, visible and invisible, are comprehended in this word "creature." "His understanding is infinite." Nothing is too great for his comprehension; nothing too small for his notice; (Ps 1) nothing too hidden for his penetration. (Psa_139:11, Psa_139:12)
II THE MINUTENESS AND EXHAUSTIVENESS OF GOD"S KNOWLEDGE. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him," etc.
1. He sees all things as they really are. "All things are naked unto" his eyes. He beholds them without any covering or disguise. Things and persons are cloaked, concealed, and made to appear other than they are amongst men; but none of these things can impose upon him.
2. He sees all things thoroughly, completely. "All things are naked and opened unto," etc.; Revised Version, "laid open before the eyes," etc. The word rendered "opened" is a difficult one. Alford adopts the meaning "to lay prostrate." He says, "This is the simplest and most frequent sense in the classical writers. I regard the word as signifying entire prostration and subjugation under the eye of God; not only naked, stripped of all covering and concealment, but also laid prostrate in their exposure before his eye." He translates, "lying open unto." Ebrard adopts the interpretation, "to bend any one"s neck backwards, and thereby to lay bare the throat; hence in general, to lay bare." Others interpret it to lay open, as a body, by an anatomist, or as an animal by a sacrificing priest. But whatever may be the exact figure, the meaning conveyed by the figure is quite clear, viz. that God knows all things thoroughly. (cf. Job_31:4 Job_34:21 Psa_56:8 Psa_139:1-5 Pro_5:21 Pro_15:11 Jer_17:10)
III THE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF GOD"S KNOWLEDGE TO MAN. He is the God "with whom we have to do." Not "unto whom we must render our account." The clause expresses a more comprehensive relation than that. It expresses our whole concern and relation with God." The Divine omniscience has very important practical bearings upon us.
1. As an effectual rebuke to the pride which springs from knowledge or from intellectual attainments. Compared with the knowledge of him with whom we have to do," what does the most intelligent man know? "We are but of yesterday, and know nothing.
2. As a check upon sin, whether in thought and feeling, or in word and action. (See Job_34:21, 22 Psa_90:8 Ecc_12:14)
3. As an encouragement to trust in him. (See 2Ch_16:9 Mat_6:32 Mat_10:29-31)
4. As a great consolation when misinterpreted or slandered. (See Job_16:19 Job_23:10 Psa_37:5, Psa_37:6)
5. As a great comfort and support in affliction and trial. (See Psa_78:39 Psa_103:13, Psa_103:14)
6. As a guarantee of the triumph of his cause. His plans were formed with a full knowledge of every possible obstacle or opposition; and they anticipate and provide for the utilization of such opposition for their own furtherance and realization. W.J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 13. Neither is there any creature. In Christ appears…
13. Neither is there any creature. In Christ appears the Word in personal form, while in the gospel we have his spoken word. Here the reference is to the personal Word. Every creature is manifest before him, and all our deeds and thoughts are open to his eyes.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:13 To be naked and exposed speaks figuratively of…
4:13 To be naked and exposed speaks figuratively of being vulnerable, helpless, or unprotected. The guilty are not able to hide from God’s penetrating word of judgment (cp. Rev 3:17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.