The Meaning Of The Evil Eye In The Bible

Is the evil eye in the Bible? Yes, it is. The phrase appears in the Gospels, and if you were to read a Bible with black and red-lettered texts, you would find it in red. That means the phrase “evil eye” appears as part of Jesus’ statements in the Christian Bible.

The Bible verse where you’ll find the evil eye is Mark 7:22, and in this discussion, we will look at the meaning of the evil eye in the Bible, considering the verse along with other verses of scripture, including the Old Testament narrative.

Meanwhile, in our previous discussion, we looked at what the evil eye means in a general sense, considered the origin of the evil eye, whether it is good or bad, and how to protect yourself from it. How about you give it a read?

The Meaning Of The Evil Eye In The Bible

Mark 7:22 KJV says, “Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness…”

That quote doesn’t look good without the context, or does it? We sure will look at the context to make sense of it, but for now, let’s focus on the phrase, “An evil eye.” The reason being that our concern at the moment is knowing the meaning of the evil eye in the Bible.

The words translated as an evil eye are ponēros and ophthalmos, accordingly. Other translations present them as a single word: envy. Yes, I had a problem with that and was trying to fathom why that was. Why translate two words that represent two different things as one thing? Poneros means evil or bad, while ophthalmos refers to the eye. Oh, I see! It seems the words were used to describe something, and the term envy appears to be a perfect depiction of what’s being described.

So, the evil eye in the Bible means an act of envy or jealousy, which can be observed based on how a person glares at another person. But what is envy? It is the feeling of unhappiness towards the success of another, considering that one desires to achieve the same. The word can be viewed in different ways: positively as well as negatively, but usually, it is used in the negative to show resentment and hatred for another’s achievement.

While it might be exciting to know that the evil eye is featured in the Bible in a saying from Jesus, it seems that it appears rather figurative than superstitious. It refers to a kind of glare that comes from perhaps a bad or bitter mindset towards another person. Whether or not that look has some kind of direct, active, but negative effect on the other person was not indicated, as the focus was on where the evil eye originates.

Recommended Read: When God Messed Up As Me.

Where Does The Evil Eye Come From?

Where does the evil eye come from? While the origin of it can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, the idea of the evil eye comes from within. Sounds like what I said in our previous conversation, except that I used the word mind.

Now, if you consider what Jesus said in Mark 7:22 within its context, I think you might agree with me on this one. But wait a minute. What religion is the evil eye? Is it Christian? Well, without complicating things, the belief in the evil eye is common among religious groups, including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, but it is not unique to a particular religion.

In Mark 7, where we read, the setting was a religious one. There was a problem with defilement and what one had to do to be defiled. The Pharisees supposed that one needed to wash their hands before eating to avoid defiling themselves, while Jesus argued that it wasn’t what entered the mouth that defiled a man because it had no effect on the heart. He posited that it was that which came out of the mouth, because it proceeded from the heart.

Mark 7:21 KJV For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Mark 7:22 KJV Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

Mark 7:23 KJV All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Now, this heart of men doesn’t seem to be the one that pumps blood in the human body; it would rather be referring to the mind, or should I say our mental faculties? So, according to Jesus in the Bible, all that he listed, including an evil eye, are evil things from within, and those things defile men.

In other words, those things he mentioned make people unholy before God and perhaps other people. But one would wonder if it is the all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving God that created man with the possibility of those things, or perhaps it is the opposite. Well, I guess we’ll take it further until some other time. Here we rest.