What Does Luke 10:23 Mean?
And he turned around to his disciples and said to them privately, Flourishing are the eyes that see what you see.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:THE KEY
The verse calls the eyes themselves flourishing when they perceive what is before them.
THE MEANING
Your eyes are flourishing when you see what is being disclosed to you. The verb for seeing repeats: first for the eyes, then for the things they see, joining perception and what is perceived in one act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that seeing is merely having your eyes open: perception itself can be a state of flourishing.
THE ROOT
βλέποντες
blepontes
GROWS FROM
βλεπ-
blep-
To look, see, or perceive.
The same verb describes both the eyes that see and the things they see. The verse links flourishing with perception of what is present, not merely with having functioning eyes.
ALSO GROWS
emblepō: Look intently at; gaze upon.
ἐμβλέπω
This compound makes the directed attention within seeing explicit.
anablepō: Look up; regain sight.
ἀναβλέπω
This compound can describe sight returning, showing how seeing can be a restored capacity.
μακάριοι
makarioi
GROWS FROM
μακαρ-
makar-
Flourishing, fortunate, in a state of well-being.
The word places flourishing in the eyes that see. Their perception is named as well-being in itself, not only as a path toward some later reward.
ALSO GROWS
makarizō: Call or count someone flourishing; declare them blessed.
μακαρίζω
The branch turns the state of flourishing into a spoken recognition of it.
makarismos: A declaration or state of blessedness.
μακαρισμός
This related noun names the flourishing that the verse sees in the eyes.
THE PATTERN
Perception becomes flourishing when what is hidden or unseen is opened to view.
Uncover my eyes, that I may gaze upon the wonders from your instruction.But Flourishing are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.He answered, Whether he misses the mark or not, I do not know. One thing I know, that I was blind, and now I see.THE THREAD
But Flourishing are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.Matthew uses the same Greek verb βλέπω (blepō, to see) and directly pairs seeing eyes with flourishing. Its mention of hearing alongside sight opens Luke’s line further: perception is a way of receiving what is being disclosed.
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