Eye – Ayin

Since I’ve been writing about eyes and sight lately, I thought I’d share the Hebrew word for eye, which is עין (pronounced AH-yeen).

Matthew 6:22-23 literally reads: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is good, your whole body is full of light; but if your eye is evil your whole body is full of darkness…”

“If your eye is good” is a Hebrew saying that means, “if you are generous.” If a “good eye” speaks to generosity, what is an evil eye? Someone not knowing the Jewish background might suppose it is speaking of casting spells. But in Hebrew culture, having an “evil eye,” means being stingy – just like having a “good eye,” means being generous. Yeshua (Jesus) is warning against lack of generosity and nothing else. This fits the context perfectly: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also….You cannot serve both God and money.”