Greek word · G3799

ὄψις

opsis

face

The act or power of seeing. 2) What is seen: appearance, outward aspect. 3) The face (John 11:44, of Lazarus's face wrapped in cloth; Rev 1:16).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Greek New Testament. · Updated October 23, 2026

What it means

ὄψις, -εως, ἡ

[in LXX chiefly for מַרְאֶה ;]

1. the act of seeing, the sense of sight.

2. face, countenance: John 11:44, Revelation 1:16.

3. appearance: κατ᾽ ὄ. κρίνειν (see MM, xviii), John 7:24.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: The act or power of seeing. 2) What is seen: appearance, outward aspect. 3) The face (John 11:44, of Lazarus's face wrapped in cloth; Rev 1:16).
Against the English: English "appearance" tends to suggest someone's looks: clothing, beauty, race, style. Opsis here is the surface view of a case, the first thing that strikes the eye about what happened.
How it drifted: Quoting the verse without its context invites the "don't judge people by their looks" reading. In context the "appearance" is a deed: a healing that, on its surface, broke the Sabbath.
Used elsewhere in the period: 1 Sam 16:7: "man looks on the outward appearance (LXX: eis prosōpon, 'into the face'), but the LORD looks on the heart." Isa 11:3 says the coming king will not judge by what his eyes see. The Torah forbids judges to "recognize faces" (show favoritism) in judgment (Deut 1:17; 16:19). The Latin Vulgate renders kat' opsin as secundum faciem, "according to the face".

Range of meaning: The act of seeing; outward appearance (John 7:24, 'do not judge by appearance'); the face (John 11:44, Lazarus's face wrapped in cloth).
Against the English: 'Face' (BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV) is likely right. The KJV's 'countenance' and the broader 'appearance' both fall within the range. The word can take in the whole look of the figure, not only the features.
Used elsewhere in the period: Used for 'face' in John 11:44 and in the Septuagint. The sunlike face matches Matthew 17:2 (at the Transfiguration 'his face shone like the sun'), Daniel 10:6 ('his face like the appearance of lightning'), and Jewish hopes that the righteous would shine like the sun (Matthew 13:43; 4 Ezra 7:97).

John · 2

John 7:24 ὄψιν, appearance,

Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

Here: What meets the eye: the surface look of the case. Here that surface is "he did work on the Sabbath", taken without asking what the deed was and what the law is for.
John 11:44 ὄψις face

The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.

Here: His face. The same word means 'appearance' in John 7:24, but here it is the physical face.

Revelation · 1

Revelation 1:16 ὄψις face

He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

Here: His face, or more broadly how he looks. It probably focuses on the face but takes in his whole visible presence.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.