What does 2 Chronicles 16:9 mean, "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro"?

Whosoever Will, Why Would He Look?: We read it as comfort, and it is comforting. But stop on the first image and let it be strange for a moment. God's eyes are running to and fro. Ranging. Roving. Scanning the whole earth. The Hebrew verb is a restless, sweeping motion, back and forth across the entire world, and the sentence tells you what He is doing it for: to find a certain kind of heart and to throw His strength behind it. Here is the question that image forces, and it is the one nobody asks. Why would God search? You do not scan the earth for something you have already fixed in place. You do not rove to and fro looking for names you wrote down yourself before the world began. A search implies the outcome is genuinely open. It implies the thing being looked for is really out there to be found, or not found. The God of this verse is not reviewing a list He drafted in eternity past. He is looking. And you only look for what you have not already predetermined. Scripture, King James Version: 2 Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.".

Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-18.