UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: eye

Semantic entry: 8.23

Semantic domains: Body, Body Parts, and Body Products

Subdomains: Parts of the Body

Definition: eye, normally including the eyelids

Notes: In a number of languages an important distinction is made between the eyes consisting of the eyeballs and the eyes covered or partially covered by the eyelids. In RV MAT 9:29 · LV MAT 9:29 · Read together MAT 9:29 and RV MAT 20:34 · LV MAT 20:34 · Read together MAT 20:34, Jesus apparently touched the eyelids, not the eyeballs.

Sense 2: seeing, sight

Semantic entry: 24.16

Semantic domains: Sensory Events and States

Subdomains: See

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of ὀφθαλμός[a] ‘eye,’ 8.23: ὄμμα / 8.23: ὀφθαλμός) the capacity to see

Sense 3: to be able to understand, to come to perceive, understanding

Semantic entry: 32.24

Semantic domains: Understand

Subdomains: Capacity for Understanding

Definition: (a figurative extension of meaning of ὀφθαλμός[a] ‘eye,’ 8.23: ὄμμα / 8.23: ὀφθαλμός) capacity to understand as the result of perception

Notes: In both RV LUK 19:42 · LV LUK 19:42 · Read together LUK 19:42 and RV EPH 1:18 · LV EPH 1:18 · Read together EPH 1:18 ὀφθαλμός designates a faculty of understanding and is not a reference merely to perception. In RV EPH 1:18 · LV EPH 1:18 · Read together EPH 1:18 καρδία denotes the mind (see 26.3: καρδία), so that the phrase ‘the eyes of the mind’ really means ‘the capacity for understanding which the mind has.’

Sense 4: jealous(y)

Semantic entry: 88.165

Semantic domains: Moral and Ethical Qualities and Related Behavior

Subdomains: Envy, Jealousy

Definition: (an idiom, literally: evil eye) a feeling of jealousy and resentment because of what someone else has or does

Notes: It is also possible to understand ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός in RV MAT 20:15 · LV MAT 20:15 · Read together MAT 20:15 as meaning ‘stinginess’ (see 57.108: ὀφθαλμός / 57.108: πονηρός). See also 23.149: πονηρός.

Collocations: ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός

Sense 5: stingy, miserly

Semantic entry: 57.108

Semantic domains: Possess, Transfer, Exchange

Subdomains: Give

Definition: (an idiom, literally: evil eye) to be stingy

Notes: It is also possible that ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός in RV MAT 20:15 · LV MAT 20:15 · Read together MAT 20:15 is to be understood in the sense of ‘jealous’ (see 88.165: ὀφθαλμός / 88.165: πονηρός). See also 23.149: πονηρός.

Collocations: ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός

Sense 6: to have become very sleepy, to be very sleepy

Semantic entry: 23.69

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Sleep, Waking

Definition: (idioms, literally: their eyes were weighed down) to become excessively or exceedingly sleepy

Notes: In some languages the equivalent of ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ βεβαρημένοι (or καταβαρυνόμενοι) would be ‘they could no longer keep their eyes open’ or ‘they could not drive sleep away.’

Collocations: ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ βεβαρημένοι; ἦσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ καταβαρυνόμενοι

Sense 7: to refuse to learn, to refuse to recognize

Semantic entry: 27.50

Semantic domains: Learn

Subdomains: Be Willing To Learn

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to close the eyes) to be unwilling to learn and to evaluate something fairly

Notes: In a number of languages there is a problem involved in a literal rendering of ‘to close the eyes,’ since this may be understood in a strictly literal sense or as denoting death.

Collocations: καμμύω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς

Sense 8: to cause to not understand, to make unable to comprehend

Semantic entry: 32.25

Semantic domains: Understand

Subdomains: Capacity for Understanding

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to blind the eyes) to cause someone to no longer have the capacity for understanding

Notes: Though in some languages there is a close relationship between the eyes and comprehension, in many languages it is simply impossible to use the idiom ‘to blind the eyes’ in speaking of ‘causing someone not to understand.’ The problem becomes particularly difficult in speaking of ‘darkness blinding the eyes’ as in RV JN1 2:11 · LV JN1 2:11 · Read together JN1 2:11. People can understand how ‘bright light would blind the eyes,’ but it would be strange indeed to think of ‘darkness’ having such an effect. In the context of RV JN1 2:11 · LV JN1 2:11 · Read together JN1 2:11, the darkness is, of course, not literal darkness but a state of sinfulness. Therefore, in some languages it may be necessary to translate ‘their sinfulness has made it impossible for them to understand’ or ‘because they sin, they cannot understand.’

Collocations: τυφλόω τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς