Strong’s G3700 · Greek

ὀπτάνομαι
optánomai

Definition

to gaze (i.e. with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable; and thus differing from G991 (βλέπω), which denotes simply voluntary observation; and from G1492 (εἴδω), which expresses merely mechanical, passive or casual vision; while G2300 (θεάομαι), and still more emphatically its intensive G2334 (θεωρέω), signifies an earnest but more continued inspection; and G4648 (σκοπέω) a watching from a distance)

Etymology

a (middle voice) prolonged form of the primary (middle voice) ; which is used for it in certain tenses; and both as alternate of G3708 (ὁράω);

Where the KJV renders it

  • appear
  • look
  • see
  • shew self

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.