Bible Dictionaries
See, Seeing

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

"to have sight," is used of bodily vision, e.g., Matthew 11:4; and mental, e.g., Matthew 13:13,14; it is said of God the Father in Matthew 6:4,6,18; of Christ as "seeing" what the Father doeth, John 5:19 . It especially stresses the thought of the person who "sees." For the various uses see BEHOLD , No. 2; see Note below.

with the form eidon, serving for its aorist tense, and opsomai, for its future tense (Middle Voice), denotes "to see," of bodily vision, e.g., John 6:36; and mental, e.g., Matthew 8:4; it is said of Christ as "seeing" the Father, John 6:46 , and of what He had "seen" with the Father, 8:38. It especially indicates the direction of the thought to the object "seen." See BEHOLD , No. 1.

Note: "Horao and blepo both denote the physical act: horao, in general, blepo, the single look; horao gives prominence to the discerning mind, blepo to the particular mood or point. When the physical side recedes, horao denotes perception in general (as resulting principally from vision) ... Blepo, on the other hand, when its physical side recedes, gets a purely outward sense, look (open, incline) towards [as of a situation]" (Schmidt, Grimm-Thayer).

with apeidon serving as the aorist tense, "to look away from one thing so as to see another" (apo, "from," and No. 2), as in Hebrews 12:2 , simply means "to see" in Philippians 2:23 .

lit., "to look down" (kata, and No.2), denotes "to discern clearly," Romans 1:20 , "are clearly seen." In the Sept., Numbers 24:2; Job 10:4; 39:26 .

"to see clearly" (dia, "through," and No. 1), is used in Matthew 7:5; Luke 6:42; in Mark 8:25 , RV, "he looked steadfastly" (No. 6 is used in the next clause; No. 1 in ver. 24, and No. 2 in the last part).

"to look at" (en, "in," and No. 1), used of earnestly looking, is translated "saw" in Mark 8:25 (last part); "could (not) see" in Acts 22:11 . See BEHOLD , No. 3.

"to look up," is translated "see," of the blind, in Luke 7:22 , AV (RV, "receive their sight"). See SIGHT.

"to view attentively, to see with admiration, desire, or regard," stresses more especially the action of the person beholding, as with No. 1, in contrast to No. 2; it is used in Matthew 11:7 (RV, "to behold"), while idein, the infinitive of eidon (see under No. 2), is used in the questions in the next two verses; in verse 7 the interest in the onlooker is stressed, in vv. 8,9, the attention is especially directed to the object "seen." The verb is translated "to see" in the AV and RV of Matthew 6:1; Mark 16:11,14; John 6:5; Acts 8:18 (in some mss.); 21:27; Romans 15:24; elsewhere, for the AV, "to see," the RV uses the verb "to behold" bringing out its force more suitably, See BEHOLD , No. 8.

denotes "to be a spectator of," indicating the careful perusal of details in the object; it points especially, as in No. 1, to the action of the person beholding, e.g., Matthew 28:1; the RV frequently renders it by "to behold," for the AV, "to see," e.g., John 14:17,19; 16:10,16,17,19 . The difference between this verb and Nos. 1 and 2 is brought out in John 20:5,6,8; in ver. 5 blepo is used of John's sight of the linen cloths in the tomb, without his entering in; he "saw" at a glance the Lord was not there; in ver. 6 the closer contemplation by Peter is expressed in the verb theoreo. But in ver. 8 the grasping by John of the significance of the undisturbed cloths is denoted by eidon (see No. 2, and see WRAP).

"to be short-sighted" (muo, "to shut," ops, "the eye;" cp. Eng., "myopy," "myopic:" the root mu signifies a sound made with closed lips, e.g., in the words "mutter," "mute"), occurs in 2 Peter 1:9 , RV, "seeing only what is near" (AV, "and cannot see afar off"); this does not contradict the preceding word "blind," it qualifies it; he of whom it is true is blind in that he cannot discern spiritual things, he is near-sighted in that he is occupied in regarding worldly affairs.

"to cause to appear," and in the Passive Voice, "to appear, be manifest," is rendered "(that) they may be seen" in Matthew 6:5; "it was (never so) seen," Matthew 9:33 . See APPEAR.

Notes: (1) For ide and idou, regularly rendered "behold" in the RV, see BEHOLD , No. 4. (2) For optano, in Acts 1:3 , AV, "being seen," see APPEAR , A, No. 7. (3) For historeo, in Galatians 1:18 , AV, "to see," see VISIT. (4) For proorao, and proeidon, "to see before," see FORESEE. (5) For "make ... see" see ENLIGHTEN.

primarily, "a look, a glance" (akin to A, No. 1), denotes "sight," 2 Peter 2:8 , rendered "seeing;" some interpret it as meaning "look;" Moulton and Milligan illustrate it thus from the papyri; it seems difficult, however to take the next word "hearing" (in the similar construction) in this way.