Bible Strands
Psalms 119:18
Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses YHWH directly, sandwiched between a plea for life to keep the word (v. 17) and a confession of alienation on the earth (v. 19). He is asking God to remove an obstacle to perception, not to supply new information.
The words — גָּל (gal-) is the root of "revelation" (gilluy); its literal sense is "uncover," as in pulling back a covering, which the BSB softens to "open." The verb אַבִּיטָה (ʾabbiṭāh) is Hiphil of בָּטַה, meaning "to direct one's gaze intently," not passive sight but sustained, active attention.
The thread — The same "open the eyes" pattern recurs in Acts 26:18 (Paul's commission to open eyes from darkness to light) and Ephesians 1:17 (Paul's prayer for a "spirit of wisdom and revelation"). Isaiah 32:3 reverses the image: eyes that were closed are no longer closed.
Why it lands — The verse locates the barrier to understanding on the side of God's action, not the reader's effort. It asks the reader to stop treating clarity as a skill to be developed and treat it as a covering to be removed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
- Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’
- Isaiah 32:3 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
- Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
- Matthew 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- Isaiah 29:18 On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
- Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.
- 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.”
- 2 Corinthians 3:13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.