15:3

The parallelism in this verse is unusual. The parallel parts are similar in that they both describe the eyes of the LORD.

3a The eyes of the LORD are in every place,

3b
observing the evil and the good.

15:3a

The eyes of the LORD are in every place: This phrase is a figure of speech in which a human attribute (eyes) is used to describe the LORD. It is not meant to be understood literally. It means that the LORD sees/knows what happens in every place. It is possible to translate this meaning without using a figure of speech. For example:

The Lord sees what happens everywhere (Good News Translation)

15:3b

observing the evil and the good: This line describes specifically what the LORD sees. The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as observing means to watch alertly. The LORD carefully observes both the evil and the good.

the evil and the good: This expression focuses mainly on the two classes of people that make up all humanity. It probably does not focus on the individual good and bad deeds that people do. Another way to translate this is:

surveying everyone, good and evil (Revised English Bible)

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