Job 31:4

31:4 Does he not see my ways

and count all my steps?

Psalms 139:3

139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; ¹ 

you are aware of everything I do. ² 

Proverbs 20:24

20:24 The steps of a person ³  are ordained by ⁴  the Lord –

so how can anyone ⁵  understand his own ⁶  way?

Jeremiah 10:23

10:23 Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny. ⁷ 

It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them. ⁸ 

Hebrews 4:13

4:13 And no creature is hidden from God, ⁹  but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

[139:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).

[139:3]  ² tn Heb “all my ways.”

[20:24]  ³ tn Heb “the steps of a man”; but “man” is the noun גֶּבֶר (gever, in pause), indicating an important, powerful person. BDB 149-50 s.v. suggests it is used of men in their role of defending women and children; if that can be validated, then a translation of “man” would be appropriate here. But the line seems to have a wider, more general application. The “steps” represent (by implied comparison) the course of life (cf. NLT “the road we travel”).

[20:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the Lord”; NRSV “ordered by the Lord”; NIV “directed by the Lord.”

[20:24]  ⁵ tn The verse uses an independent nominative absolute to point up the contrast between the mortal and the immortal: “and man, how can he understand his way?” The verb in the sentence would then be classified as a potential imperfect; and the whole question rhetorical. It is affirming that humans cannot understand very much at all about their lives.

[20:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “his way.” The referent of the third masculine singular pronoun is unclear, so the word “own” was supplied in the translation to clarify that the referent is the human individual, not the Lord.

[10:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “Not to the man his way.” For the nuance of “fate, destiny, or the way things turn out” for the Hebrew word “way” see Hag 1:5, Isa 40:27 and probably Ps 49:13 (cf. KBL 218 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 5). For the idea of “control” or “hold in one’s power” for the preposition “to” see Ps 3:8 (cf. BDB 513 s.v. לְ 5.b[a]).

[10:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “Not to a man the walking and the establishing his step.”

[4:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.