Word study
Sight
3 Hebrew and 6 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: sight, sights, sighted, sighting. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “sight” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- עַיִן ayineyetranslated this way 186 times of its 764 uses · Strong’s H5869Noun · Translated: eyes 383, sight 186, eye 38, presence 13Full study and all 731 verses →
Genesis 18:3 “My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.
Exodus 3:21 And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed.
- פָּנִים pânîmface, beforetranslated this way 18 times of its 1,836 uses · Strong’s H6440Noun · Translated: before 448, face 222, presence 147, before you 123Full study and all 1,671 verses →
Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.
Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.
- מַרְאֶה marehsight, appearance, visiontranslated this way 7 times of its 76 uses · Strong’s H4758Noun · Translated: appearance 16, vision 8, appear 6, sight 5Full study and all 63 verses →
Exodus 3:3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”
Deuteronomy 28:34 You will be driven mad by the sights you see.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀναβλέπω anablépōI look up, recover my sighttranslated this way 12 times of its 24 uses · Strong’s G308Verb · Translated: looking 4, looked 4, see 4, received his sight 4Full study and all 23 verses →
Matthew 11:5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
Mark 10:52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
- ἐνώπιον enṓpionbefore the face of, in the presence oftranslated this way 12 times of its 85 uses · Strong’s G1799Preposition · Translated: before 44, sight 11, presence 10, front 5Full study and all 79 verses →
Luke 1:15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
Acts 4:19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.
- βλέπω blépōI look, seetranslated this way 4 times of its 128 uses · Strong’s G991Verb · Translated: see 53, seeing 10, saw 8, sees 6Full study and all 117 verses →
Luke 7:21 At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind.
Acts 9:9 For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.
- ἔμπροσθεν émprosthenin front, before the facetranslated this way 2 times of its 46 uses · Strong’s G1715Preposition · Translated: before 25, ahead 5, front 4, presence 3Full study and all 43 verses →
Matthew 11:26 Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
- ἐναντίον enantíonbefore, in the presence of, in the eyes oftranslated this way 2 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G1726Preposition · Translated: before 3, sight 2, front 1Full study and all 6 verses →
Luke 1:6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
Acts 7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted Joseph favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.
- παρά paráfrom, in the presence oftranslated this way 2 times of its 160 uses · Strong’s G3844Preposition · Translated: from 58, with 25, beside 9, at 9Full study and all 150 verses →
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”
1 Peter 2:4 As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.