{
  "id": "dict_003318",
  "term": "Lift Up the Eyes",
  "slug": "lift-up-the-eyes",
  "letter": "L",
  "entry_type": "biblical_idiom",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "A biblical idiom for looking with purpose. Depending on context, it may mean simply to look, or it may carry ideas of attention, expectation, longing, prayerful awareness, or noticing what God is doing.",
  "simple_one_line": "A biblical phrase that can mean more than just looking upward; it often signals attention, expectation, or spiritual awareness.",
  "tooltip_text": "An idiomatic biblical phrase that usually means to look intentionally, often with expectation or awareness.",
  "aliases": [
    "\"Lift up the eyes\""
  ],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "Look",
    "Sight",
    "Watchfulness",
    "Expectation",
    "Prayer",
    "Faith"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Eyes",
    "Lift Up",
    "See",
    "Looking",
    "Awareness"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "“Lift up the eyes” is a recurring biblical expression that normally points to intentional looking. In context it may be literal, but it often carries a fuller sense of attention, anticipation, longing, or spiritual perception.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "A context-shaped biblical idiom for looking deliberately, noticing something important, or turning one’s attention with expectation.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Often literal, but frequently idiomatic",
    "Can express attention, hope, longing, grief, or alertness",
    "Must be interpreted from the immediate context",
    "Not a fixed technical doctrine term"
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "“Lift up the eyes” is a recurring biblical idiom that usually means more than a simple physical motion. In Scripture it can describe looking, noticing, anticipating, longing, or becoming aware of something significant. Its meaning should be determined by context rather than treated as a fixed theological formula.",
  "description_academic_full": "“Lift up the eyes” is a common biblical expression that usually functions as an idiom rather than a technical theological term. In some passages it is straightforwardly literal, describing someone who looks and sees a person, place, or event. In other contexts it carries a broader force, introducing attention, expectation, grief, desire, prayerful awareness, or spiritual perception. Because the phrase appears in varied settings, it should be interpreted from the immediate literary and historical context rather than forced into one narrow definition.",
  "background_biblical_context": "The phrase appears across narrative, poetry, prophecy, and Gospel material. It may introduce a moment of seeing land, people, danger, or provision; it can also frame a posture of hope or watchfulness before God. The range of use shows that Scripture often employs bodily language to express inward attention and response.",
  "background_historical_context": "In the ancient world, looking upward or outward could signal alertness, hope, appeal, or expectation. Biblical authors use that ordinary action in richly contextual ways, so the phrase should be read as a living idiom rather than as a specialized religious formula.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "In Hebrew expression, “lifting the eyes” commonly serves as a vivid way to describe focused seeing. Like many Semitic idioms, it can move beyond the physical act to convey awareness, desire, or emotional response. Later Jewish and Christian readers generally understood such phrases through context rather than as fixed symbols.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "Genesis 13:10-15",
    "Genesis 18:2",
    "Genesis 22:4, 13",
    "Genesis 31:10",
    "Psalm 121:1-2",
    "Isaiah 40:26",
    "John 4:35"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "Genesis 33:1",
    "Numbers 24:2",
    "Matthew 17:8",
    "Luke 16:23"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "The phrase reflects a common Hebrew and Greek way of speaking about intentional seeing. Depending on context, it may describe simple observation or a fuller posture of attention and expectation.",
  "theological_significance": "The phrase itself is not a doctrine, but it often marks moments when God is about to reveal, provide, warn, or invite response. It reminds readers that biblical language can join outward sight to inward attention and faith.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "This idiom shows how ordinary human action can carry layered meaning in language. The same phrase can be literal in one setting and figurative in another, so meaning comes from context, not from the words in isolation.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not assign one fixed meaning to every occurrence. The phrase is often literal, and when it is figurative the specific force must be drawn from the passage. Avoid turning it into a specialized code word for a hidden doctrine.",
  "major_views_note": "Most interpreters treat this as a flexible biblical idiom, not as a technical term. The main question in each passage is whether the wording is merely descriptive or carries a deeper contextual emphasis.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "This entry should not be used to support speculative symbolism. It is a language and interpretation issue, not an independent doctrinal category.",
  "practical_significance": "The phrase encourages readers to pay close attention to what God places before them. In application, it can remind believers to look with faith, discernment, gratitude, and expectancy rather than with indifference.",
  "meta_description": "Biblical idiom meaning to look attentively or with expectation; often expresses notice, longing, prayerful awareness, or spiritual perception.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/lift-up-the-eyes/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/lift-up-the-eyes.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}