A common misinterpretation views this as God merely questioning His accessibility, suggesting He might be distant or aloof rather than affirming absolute nearness and transcendence simultaneously, which diminishes His sovereignty; others wrongly apply it to deny God's transcendence by implying He is only immanent and limited like human proximity, ignoring the context of confronting deceptive prophets who thought their secret sins escaped a supposedly remote deity.
Jeremiah 23:23
King James Version (1769)
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?
God asserts His omnipresence and omniscience, emphasizing that He is not confined to a local presence like pagan idols but is the sovereign Lord who is intimately near to every individual while also filling all places with His infinite knowledge and power, ensuring no one can hide their deeds or words from Him, as part of His rebuke to false prophets who presumed upon His distance.