What does ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós) mean in the Bible?
Ophthalmos is the ordinary Greek word for eye, but in the New Testament it rarely remains merely anatomical. The eye is the organ of perception, witness, and spiritual orientation.
Greek · G3788
ὀφθαλμός
Eye
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ὀφθαλμός G3788
Pronunciation ophthalmós
What does ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós) mean in the Bible?
Ophthalmos is the ordinary Greek word for eye, but in the New Testament it rarely remains merely anatomical. The eye is the organ of perception, witness, and spiritual orientation.
Reader summary
Full entry for ὀφθαλμός (G3788) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3788?
The BSB source-word alignment has 100 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include eyes (63), eye (22), . . . (5), [the] eyes (3), an eye (2).
Where does ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 5:29. Its strongest book concentrations include Matthew (24), John (18), Luke (17), Revelation (10).
Are there verse guides for ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós)?
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
What This Word Actually Means
Ophthalmos is the ordinary Greek word for eye, but in the New Testament it rarely remains merely anatomical. The eye is the organ of perception, witness, and spiritual orientation. Jesus uses it in the Sermon on the Mount to address desire (if your eye causes you to sin, Matt. 5. 29), spiritual clarity (the lamp of the body is the eye, Matt. 6. 22-23), and the inner disposition that shapes what we see and how we evaluate.
Healing the blind is among the most repeated miracle signs in the Synoptics, and John's Gospel makes blindness and sight into the central metaphor of its ninth chapter, where the man born blind receives physical sight while the Pharisees who can see show themselves spiritually blind. The word carries all of this: it can mean the literal organ of vision (Jesus opens blind eyes), the organ of covetous desire (the evil eye, Matt.
20. 15), The organ of witness (those who were eyewitnesses, Luke 1:2), and the inner organ of spiritual perception (to the pure all things are pure, but to the corrupt everything is defiled — their eyes show what is in them).
Canonical parallel
How the Bible Uses It
Ophthalmos is currently counted about 100 times in the local NT index, widely distributed across the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles. The Synoptic Gospels concentrate on Jesus healing blind eyes and on the lamp-of-the-body teaching. John develops the blindness-and-sight metaphor extensively in chapter 9. Paul and the rest of the Epistles use the word both for physical sight and for the spiritual dimension of desire, perception, and covetousness.
- Matt.6.22
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
The lamp-of-the-body saying uses ophthalmos as the organ of the soul's orientation. A 'good' (haplous, single or generous) eye means an undivided orientation toward God and generosity toward others. An 'evil' (ponēros) eye means covetousness, divided loyalty, spiritual darkness. The eye is not merely perceptual but dispositional — it reveals what the person is oriented toward.
- John.9.39
Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”
The climax of the chapter-9 healing account. Physical sight restored to the man born blind is paired with the diagnosis of spiritual blindness in those who claimed to see. The Pharisees' refusal to recognize Jesus is what makes them truly blind. Ophthalmos here operates entirely on the metaphorical level — the healing has done its work; now the question is what those with working eyes actually perceive.
- Matt.5.29
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
The hyperbolic instruction addresses desire that begins in the ophthalmos. The eye is the entry point of temptation toward lust (v.28: 'looks at a woman with lust'). Jesus does not require self-mutilation; the hyperbole makes the point that radical measures against sin are proportionate to the stakes. The eye as the organ of desire connects to the lamp-of-the-body teaching in 6.22-23.
- 1John.2.16
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
John identifies the lust of the ophthalmos (eyes) as one of the three primary orientations of the world-system opposed to the Father. This connects to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6 — the covetous or evil eye as the mark of a worldly orientation. The eye that desires and grasps what the world offers is the eye that has not been oriented toward God.
- Luke.24.31
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.
The Emmaus road account uses ophthalmos in a moment of sudden recognition. The two disciples had been walking and talking with the risen Jesus without perceiving who he was — their eyes were 'kept from recognizing him' (v.16). When they are opened, the perception is immediate and then Jesus is gone. Recognition of the risen Christ is a gift of opened eyes, not of human perceptual power.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It eyes 63× Matthew 6:22, Matthew 6:23, Matthew 9:29, Matthew 9:30
eye 22× Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:38, Matthew 6:22, Matthew 7:3
. . . 5× Matthew 17:8, Matthew 20:15, Luke 6:20, Luke 16:23
[the] eyes 3× John 9:32, John 10:21, 1 Peter 3:12
an eye 2× 1 Corinthians 12:16, 1 Corinthians 12:17
[Their] eyes 1× 2 Peter 2:14
envy 1× Mark 7:22
eyes [are] 1× Revelation 2:18
of an eye 1× 1 Corinthians 15:52
sight 1× Acts 1:9
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 5:29 ὀφθαλμός to eye Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 5:38 Ὀφθαλμὸν to Eye Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular Matthew 5:38 ὀφθαλμοῦ to eye Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Matthew 6:22 ὀφθαλμός to eye Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 6:22 ὀφθαλμός to eyes Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 6:23 ὀφθαλμός to eyes Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular Matthew 7:3 ὀφθαλμῷ to eye Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Matthew 7:3 ὀφθαλμῷ to eye Noun - Dative Masculine Singular Matthew 7:4 ὀφθαλμοῦ to eye Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Matthew 7:4 ὀφθαλμῷ to eye Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 5:29
Aligned rows 100
Books represented 14
Matthew 24 Mark 7 Luke 17 John 18 Acts 7 Romans 3 1 Corinthians 5 Galatians 2 Ephesians 1 Hebrews 1 1 Peter 1 2 Peter 1 1 John 3 Revelation 10
Source forms
ὀφθαλμοὺς 29x ophthalmous Matthew 13:15, Matthew 17:8, Matthew 18:9, Mark 8:25
ὀφθαλμοὶ 12x ophthalmoi Matthew 13:16, Matthew 20:33, Matthew 26:43, Mark 14:40
ὀφθαλμός 11x ophthalmos Matthew 5:29, Matthew 6:22, Matthew 6:23, Matthew 18:9
ὀφθαλμῶν 11x ophthalmōn Matthew 9:29, Luke 19:42, Acts 1:9, Acts 9:8
ὀφθαλμῷ 8x ophthalmō Matthew 7:3, Matthew 7:4, Luke 6:41, Luke 6:42
ὀφθαλμοῖς 7x ophthalmois Matthew 13:15, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:11, John 12:40
ὀφθαλμούς 7x ophthalmous John 9:6, John 9:14, John 9:15, John 9:17
ὀφθαλμοῦ 6x ophthalmou Matthew 5:38, Matthew 7:4, Matthew 7:5, Luke 6:42
Parsing patterns
Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural 37x Matthew 13:15, Matthew 17:8, Matthew 18:9, Mark 8:18
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural 15x Matthew 9:30, Matthew 13:16, Matthew 20:33, Matthew 26:43
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular 15x Matthew 5:29, Matthew 6:22, Matthew 6:23, Matthew 18:9
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural 11x Matthew 9:29, Luke 19:42, Acts 1:9, Acts 9:8
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular 8x Matthew 7:3, Matthew 7:4, Luke 6:41, Luke 6:42
Noun - Dative Masculine Plural 7x Matthew 13:15, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:11, John 12:40
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular 6x Matthew 5:38, Matthew 7:4, Matthew 7:5, Luke 6:42
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular 1x Matthew 5:38
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- The 'lamp of the body' teaching in Matthew 6 addresses the orientation of the whole person through the eye's condition. Teachers should present this as a wisdom about how the soul's dominant desire shapes perception, not primarily as a text about what media or visual content Christians should consume — though that may be a legitimate application.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that Jesus' command to gouge out the eye in Matthew 5:29 is a literal instruction or that it establishes a theology of bodily self-denial. The hyperbole addresses the radical seriousness required in dealing with desire's root — not a practice of physical harm as spiritual discipline.
- Do not use John 9's account of the man born blind as a direct statement about sin causing disability. John explicitly records that Jesus denied this interpretation (John 9:3: 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned'). The healing is a sign of God's work, not a comment on the disabled person's spiritual status.
Key Verse and Form Guides
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Beyond physical sight, eye metaphorically denotes moral perception and ethical character, especially regarding envy and spiritual discernment.
Source Gloss
eye
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 102 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 5:29 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμός ofqalmov
the eye
Read verse Matthew 5:38 Noun Accusative Singular Masculine
Ὀφθαλμὸν ofqalmon
the eye
Read verse Matthew 5:38 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμοῦ, ofqalmou
the eye
Read verse Matthew 6:22 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμός· ofqalmov
the eye
Read verse Matthew 6:22 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμός ofqalmov
the eye
Read verse Matthew 6:23 Noun Nominative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμός ofqalmov
the eye
Read verse Matthew 7:3 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμῷ ofqalmw
the eye
Read verse Matthew 7:3 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμῷ ofqalmw
the eye
Read verse Matthew 7:4 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμοῦ ofqalmou
the eye
Read verse Matthew 7:4 Noun Dative Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμῷ ofqalmw
the eye
Read verse Matthew 7:5 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμοῦ ofqalmou
the eye
Read verse Matthew 7:5 Noun Genitive Singular Masculine
ὀφθαλμοῦ ofqalmou
the eye
Read verse Matthew 9:29 Noun Genitive Plural Masculine
ὀφθαλμῶν ofqalmwn
the eye
Read verse Matthew 9:30 Noun Nominative Plural Masculine
ὀφθαλμοί· ofqalmoi
the eye
Read verse Matthew 13:15 Noun Accusative Plural Masculine
ὀφθαλμοὺς ofqalmouv
the eye
Read verse Matthew 13:15 Noun Dative Plural Masculine
ὀφθαλμοῖς, ofqalmoiv
the eye
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.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 8 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns 8 Aligned forms 100 Case pattern Accusative (38) Number pattern Plural (70)
Nominative · Singular · Masculine Matt 5:29 · Matt 6:22 · Matt 6:23 · Matt 18:9 · Matt 20:15 · Mark 7:22 · Mark 9:47 · Luke 11:34 · 1 Cor 2:9 · 1 Cor 12:16 · 1 Cor 12:17 · 1 Cor 12:21 · Rev 1:7 15×
Nominative · Plural · Masculine Matt 9:30 · Matt 13:16 · Matt 20:33 · Matt 26:43 · Mark 14:40 · Luke 2:30 · Luke 4:20 · Luke 10:23 · Luke 24:16 · Luke 24:31 · John 9:10 · Rom 11:10 · 1 Pet 3:12 · Rev 1:14 · Rev 19:12 15×
Genitive · Plural · Masculine Matt 9:29 · Luke 19:42 · Acts 1:9 · Acts 9:8 · Acts 9:18 · Rom 3:18 · 1 John 2:16 · Rev 4:6 · Rev 4:8 · Rev 7:17 · Rev 21:4 11×
Genitive · Singular · Masculine Matt 5:38 · Matt 7:4 · Matt 7:5 · Luke 6:42 · 1 Cor 15:52 6×
Dative · Singular · Masculine Matt 7:3 · Matt 7:4 · Luke 6:41 · Luke 6:42 8×
Dative · Plural · Masculine Matt 13:15 · Matt 21:42 · Mark 12:11 · John 12:40 · Acts 28:27 · Heb 4:13 · 1 John 1:1 7×
Accusative · Plural · Masculine Matt 13:15 · Matt 17:8 · Matt 18:9 · Mark 8:18 · Mark 8:25 · Mark 9:47 · Luke 6:20 · Luke 16:23 · Luke 18:13 · John 4:35 · John 6:5 · John 9:6 · John 9:11 · John 9:14 · John 9:15 · John 9:17 37×
Accusative · Singular · Masculine Matt 5:38 1×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Witnesses
Luke 11:33–36 ὀφθαλμός ophthalmós
Eye
Showing 1 selected witness from 100 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
Ophthalmos gives teachers and preachers a word for the deep question of orientation: what are we actually seeing, and what does what we see reveal about us? Jesus' lamp-of-the-body teaching is one of the most concentrated pieces of pastoral wisdom in the Gospels. The eye is not a neutral organ. It is the window of the soul's orientation. If your eye is healthy — if you are looking at the world with generosity, trust in God, and undivided devotion — your whole body is full of light.
If your eye is evil — if covetousness, anxiety about provision, or divided loyalty shapes what you see — your whole body is in darkness. The teaching does not call for averting the eyes from the world. It calls for the transformation of what the eyes are oriented toward. John 9 is the great parable of ophthalmos theology. The man born blind receives sight and responds with increasing clarity about who Jesus is: first 'the man called Jesus,' then 'a prophet,' then 'the Son of Man.'
The Pharisees begin with physical sight and end with diagnosed spiritual blindness — not because they cannot see, but because they refuse to recognize what they are seeing. The difference is orientation, not anatomy. Communities formed by this word will ask not only whether they can see but whether they are willing to recognize what is in front of them. Spiritual formation changes not just belief but perception.
The pure in heart see God (Matt. 5. 8) — not because they are especially perceptive, but because they have been oriented by the Spirit toward what is true.
Anchor passage
Matt.6.22
Doctrinal connections
- H5869 ʿayin — eye (Hebrew); the OT organ of perception and often of desire; background for the NT's eye theology
- G5457 Phōs — light; the lamp-of-the-body teaching connects ophthalmos directly to light
- G4983 Sōma — body; in Matt.6.22-23, the body's orientation depends on the eye's condition
- G5207 Typhlos — blind; the opposite condition that Jesus heals and that John 9 explores
- G2513 Katharos — pure; Matt.5.8 connects purity of heart with seeing God
- John.9.1-41 — the whole blind man healing account; the canonical exploration of sight and blindness
- 2Cor.4.4 — the god of this age has blinded the minds; spiritual blindness as opposition to the gospel
Ophthalmos is the standard Attic Greek word for eye, related to the verb horaō (to see). The compound ophthalmologia (eye-study, ophthalmology) derives from it. In the New Testament the word appears in two related idiom clusters: the 'evil eye' tradition (ponēros ophthalmos, Matt. 6. 23, 20. 15 — covetousness expressed through the eye) and the 'opening of eyes' tradition (healing of blindness, resurrection recognition in Luke 24).
Both clusters assume that the eye is not merely a sensory organ but the point of contact between the soul's orientation and the external world.
From Old to New Testament
The Old Testament's ʿayin (eye) is the Hebrew background for ophthalmos, and it carries the same double register: physical vision and the organ of desire, perception, and spiritual orientation. Proverbs speaks of the eye that never has enough (Prov. 27. 20) and the eye of the Lord that surveys all the earth (2Chr. 16. 9). Isaiah's vision of the nations streaming to Zion (Isa.
2) Is a vision of opened eyes. The prophetic pattern of God opening blind eyes (Isa. 35. 5, 42. 7) feeds directly into Jesus' healing of the blind as messianic sign. The New Testament's fullest development is in John 9 — physical healing as enacted parable — and in Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of the heart might be opened to know the hope to which God has called his people.
The eschatological promise is that in the new creation the eyes of those made pure will see God face to face (Rev. 22. 4). Ophthalmos traces from creation's seeing ('God saw that it was good') to the final vision of the face of the Lord.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain