By extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear
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ὁράω (horao) is the Greek NT's primary verb for seeing with perception and significance — one of three seeing verbs in the NT (alongside blepo, G991, and theoreo, G2334), with the local NT index currently counting about 476 occurrences. While blepo (blepō) describes the act of physical looking and theoreo (theōreō) describes contemplative gazing, horao (horaō) tends to denote seeing that perceives and registers what.
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Full entry for ὁράω (G3708) · Open the biblical lexicon
ὁράω (horao) is the Greek NT's primary verb for seeing with perception and significance — one of three seeing verbs in the NT (alongside blepo, G991, and theoreo, G2334), with the local NT index currently counting about 476 occurrences. While blepo (blepō) describes the act of physical looking and theoreo (theōreō) describes contemplative gazing, horao.
The BSB source-word alignment has 448 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include saw (58), I saw (36), to see (28), see (20), He saw (19).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 2:2. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (81), Matthew (71), Acts (66), John (63).
This entry includes 23 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
ὁράω (horao) is the Greek NT's primary verb for seeing with perception and significance — one of three seeing verbs in the NT (alongside blepo, G991, and theoreo, G2334), with the local NT index currently counting about 476 occurrences. While blepo (blepō) describes the act of physical looking and theoreo (theōreō) describes contemplative gazing, horao (horaō) tends to denote seeing that perceives and registers what is significant. It is the seeing of revelation, of encounter, of witness — the seeing that changes what you know.
Matthew 5:8 gives horao its most eschatological and theologically laden promise: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see (opsontai) God.' The future passive opsontai (they shall see, from horao) is the eschatological beatitude vision — the direct, face-to-face seeing of God that is the goal and crown of the entire Christian life. The pure heart (katharos kardia) is the condition, and the horao of God is the reward. First John 3:2 makes the connection: 'when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see (opsometha) him as he is.'
John 1:18 sets the NT's horao-theology in its sharpest form: 'No one has ever seen (heoraken) God; the only begotten God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.' The absolute impossibility of horao-ing God ('no one, ever') is the foil against which the incarnation is set. The Son, who is in the Father's bosom (kolpon), makes God known (exegesato, exegeted him, interpreted him). Jesus's 'whoever has seen (heoraken) me has seen (heoraken) the Father' (John 14:9) is the direct reversal of John 1:18's impossibility — in the Son, the unseen God becomes seen.
First Corinthians 15:5-8 uses the passive of horao (ophthe, he appeared, literally 'he was seen') for the resurrection appearances: 'he appeared (ophthe) to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared (ophthe) to more than five hundred brothers at one time... Then he appeared (ophthe) to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared (ophthe) also to me.' The ophthe-passive is technically an aorist passive of horao — 'he was seen by, he appeared to.' The resurrection witnesses are defined by who saw (horan) the risen Christ.
Luke 2:30 gives horao its most tender use: Simeon, holding the infant Jesus, says 'for my eyes have seen (eidon) your salvation.' The seeing (eidon, an aorist of horao) is the literal seeing of the infant — but its content is 'salvation.' Simeon sees what is visible (a baby) and perceives what is theological (the salvation of YHWH). This is horao at its most characteristic: the perception that goes beyond the visual to the significant.
For the preacher, ὁράω (horao) asks: what are we actually seeing when we look? And who will be seen at the last?
The local NT index currently counts about 476 occurrences of ὁράω (horao) across its various tenses and forms. Matthew uses it for the beatitude vision of God (5:8) and for the seeing of the transfiguration (17:8). Luke uses it for Simeon's seeing of salvation and for the disciples' seeing of the risen Christ. John uses it for the impossibility of seeing God (1:18), for Jesus as the one who makes God visible (14:9), and for the seeing of the beloved disciple at the empty tomb (20:8).
Acts uses it for resurrection witness-seeing. First Corinthians 15 uses the passive (ophthe) for the chain of resurrection appearances. Revelation uses the future opsontai for the eschatological vision of God's face. The word's range spans the physical, the revelatory, and the eschatological.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
The eschatological horao beatitude: the pure in heart (katharoi te kardia) shall see (opsontai) God. This is the NT's most direct statement of the beatific vision — the eschatological face-to-face seeing that the entire Christian life is moving toward. The purity of heart is not sinless perfection but the undivided orientation of the inner person toward God (Ps 24:4, 'who shall ascend the hill of YHWH?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart'). The horao of God is the culmination promised. First John 3:2 gives the mechanism: 'we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is' — the seeing transforms into likeness.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
The impossibility that the incarnation answers: 'no one has seen (heoraken) God at any time.' The perfect tense heoraken ('has seen') is a settled verdict — no human horao of God has ever occurred. The 'only begotten God' (monogenes theos) makes him known (exegesato — exegeted, explained, interpreted). The Son is God's self-interpretation for human perception.
John 14:9's 'whoever has seen (heoraken) me has seen (heoraken) the Father' is the direct answer to John 1:18: the impossibility is resolved in the incarnation, where the unseen God becomes see-able in the Son.
And that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve.
The resurrection ophthe chain: 'he appeared (ophthe)' — the Greek aorist passive of horao, woodenly, 'he was seen by.' The passive is significant: the risen Christ was the agent of appearing; the witnesses were the recipients of the seeing. Paul's chain of ophthe witnesses (Cephas, the twelve, five hundred, James, all the apostles, Paul) is structured to establish the width and consistency of the resurrection horao.
Paul's own ophthe ('he appeared to me also,' v. 8) is the last link in the chain and the ground of his apostleship. The apostolic witness is fundamentally horao-based: 'I have seen the Lord' (John 20:18, Mary Magdalene) is the earliest form.
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
Simeon's horao of salvation: 'my eyes have seen (eidon) your salvation (to soterion sou).' Simeon holds the infant Jesus and sees — with literal eyes — what he perceives as the salvation of YHWH. This is horao in its characteristic mode: the physical seeing (an infant) yields the theological perception (salvation). The content of what Simeon sees is 'prepared before the face of all peoples' (v.
31) — Universal in scope, yet present in a baby. The horao of salvation requires the eyes to perceive beyond the visible. Simeon's eyes see what many eyes would see without perceiving.
They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
The eschatological horao of the face of God: 'they will see (opsontai) his face.' The opsontai of Revelation 22:4 fulfills the opsontai of Matthew 5:8. The servants of God see his face — the face that no one has ever seen (John 1:18), the face that Moses was not allowed to see (Exod 33:20), the face that the pure in heart are promised. The name on the forehead (v.
4B) is the mark of belonging — they bear the name of the one whose face they see. The horao of God's face in the new creation is the endpoint of the whole biblical story of divine-human relationship.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
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Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear
:--behold, perceive, see, take heed.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 701 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I see, look upon, experience
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
How this verb appears across 464 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
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Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 476 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
ὁράω (horao) gives the preacher access to Scripture's central vision-promise: the pure in heart will see God (Matt 5:8). This is not peripheral to the Christian life — it is its culmination, its crown, its eschatological orientation. The preacher who teaches horao gives the congregation a horizon: everything we do now is preparation for a seeing. John 1:18's 'no one has seen God at any time' is the honest starting point — the natural human condition is not seeing God.
What the Son does is make the Father visible, exegeted, interpretable. The incarnation is the great horao-event: God becomes see-able in Jesus. And the resurrection ophthe-chain of 1 Corinthians 15 makes the apostolic witness a horao-witness — they saw the risen Christ, which is why they can testify. For the congregation anxious about doubt, the horao-structure is instructive: seeing is not the entry point of faith (Thomas needed to see before believing, John 20:25-29) but the arrival point of faith (Matt 5:8, they shall see God).
The beatitude does not say 'blessed are the pure in heart, for they believed hard enough' — it says they will see. The seeing is promised. Luke 2:30's Simeon models the horao the congregation needs: eyes that see the historical and perceive the theological, that look at what is visible and discern what is salvific.
Matt.5.8
ὁράω (horao) is a defective verb in Greek — its present and imperfect tenses use horao, but its aorist uses eidon (I saw), its future uses opsomai (I shall see), and its perfect uses heoraka (I have seen). The passive aorist ophthe (he appeared, he was seen) is the standard NT formula for resurrection appearances. Abbott-Smith distinguishes horao from blepo (G991) and theoreo (G2334): blepo is the act of looking (directed attention), theoreo is contemplative beholding (prolonged, studied observation), horao is perception-seeing (what is apprehended and its significance).
In John's Gospel, the disciples 'saw (eidon) the linen cloths lying there' (John 20:5, blepo) and then the beloved disciple 'saw (eidon) and believed' (John 20:8, horao) — the same scene, but horao is used when the perception yields faith. The Hebrew equivalent ra'ah (H7200, to see) is the OT's primary seeing verb; chazah (H2372, prophetic seeing) is the visionary counterpart.
The NT's horao-theology fulfills and transcends the OT's ra'ah (H7200, to see) and chazah (H2372, to see visions) by locating the ultimate seeing in the person of Christ. The OT's repeated 'you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live' (Exod 33:20) and the prophets' vision-encounters (Isa 6:1, 'I saw the Lord'; Ezek 1:1, 'the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God') are the partial seeings that the incarnation fulfills.
John 12:41 — 'Isaiah said these things because he saw (eidon) his glory' — applies the Isaianic horao of glory (Isa 6:1-3) directly to the pre-incarnate Christ. The transfiguration (Matt 17:2-9) is the disciples' partial horao of the divine glory that they cannot yet bear fully ('they fell on their faces' v. 6). The NT's eschatological horao (Matt 5:8, Rev 22:4, 1 John 3:2) is the promised completion of every partial OT horao: what the prophets saw in fragments and in vision, the redeemed will see face to face.
First Corinthians 13:12 bridges both: 'For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.'
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