τυφλός

Matthew 9:27 τυφλοὶ blind [men]

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Here: Physically blind men. In that society this usually meant poverty, begging and dependence on others. In Israel's prophets, sight given to the blind was a sign that God's new age had come (Isa 35:5).

Matthew 9:28 τυφλοί, blind [men],

After Jesus had entered the house, the blind men came to Him. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” He asked. “Yes, Lord,” they answered.

Here: An adjective used as a noun: “the blind ones.” Here it means physical blindness. In that world it usually also meant poverty and begging, and it was one of the conditions the prophets said God would reverse.

Matthew 11:5 τυφλοὶ Blind

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

Here: Blind people. There is no article ("the") in Greek, so the word names a kind of person, not a particular group. It opens the list with a direct echo of Isaiah 35:5, "the eyes of the blind shall be opened."

Matthew 12:22 τυφλὸς blind

Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see.

Here: Physically blind. Matthew's parallel story in 9:32–33 and Luke's in 11:14 mention only muteness. Matthew adds blindness here, which makes the man completely shut off from the world.

Matthew 15:14 τυφλοί τυφλῶν. τυφλὸς τυφλὸν Blind, of the blind., blind

Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Here: Placed first for emphasis: 'Blind is what they are.' Used figuratively for being unable to see what God is actually asking, while claiming to see clearly.

Matthew 15:30 τυφλούς, blind

Large crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at His feet, and He healed them.

Here: People without sight. Blindness was common in the ancient Mediterranean, and blind people often depended on family or begging.

Matthew 15:31 τυφλοὺς blind

The crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Here: People without sight. Opening blind eyes was one of the clearest signs of the age to come in Isaiah (29:18; 35:5; 42:7).

Matthew 20:30 τυφλοὶ blind [men]

And there were two blind men sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Here: Used as a noun: "blind men". In that world blindness usually meant poverty and dependence on others, and it kept a man from serving as a priest (Leviticus 21:18). Matthew also uses "blind" as a picture for leaders who cannot see (15:14; 23:16–26).

Matthew 21:14 τυφλοὶ blind

The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

Here: 'Blind people.' The adjective is used as a noun, with no article, so it means 'blind people came,' some actual individuals, not 'the blind' as a whole category.

Matthew 23:16 τυφλοὶ blind

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’

Here: The insult lies in putting it next to 'guides'. A guide who cannot see is worse than no guide at all. It echoes Matthew 15:14, 'blind guides of the blind'.

Matthew 23:17 τυφλοί, blind!

You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?

Matthew 23:19 τυφλοί, You blind men!

You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?

Here: A plural address: "Blind ones!" Here it means people who cannot see the plain point, not people who are physically blind. It repeats the charge of "blind guides" from verse 16. These are teachers who claim to guide others but cannot see what is in front of them.

Matthew 23:24 τυφλοί, blind!

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Matthew 23:26 τυφλέ, blind!

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

Here: This picks up the refrain of the chapter: "blind guides" (23:16, 24), "blind fools" (23:17), "blind men" (23:19). The charge is that someone who claims to guide others in purity cannot see where impurity actually sits.

Mark 8:22 τυφλὸν a blind [man]

When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.

Here: An adjective used as a noun: "a blind one", a blind man. He has no name and says nothing. He is defined by his condition and by the people who bring him.

Mark 8:23 τυφλοῦ blind [man]

So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked.

Here: An adjective used as a noun: "the blind one." He is the man the crowd brought in 8:22, and Mark gives him no name.

Mark 10:46 τυφλὸς blind

Next, they came to Jericho. And as Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho with a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road.

Here: Physically blind. In Mark the word also echoes the disciples' failure to see what Jesus is (8:18), and the promise in Isaiah that the blind will see.

Mark 10:49 τυφλὸν blind [man]

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man. “Take courage!” they said. “Get up! He is calling for you.”

Mark 10:51 τυφλὸς the blind [man]

“What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “Rabboni,” said the blind man, “let me see again.”

Here: Mark calls him 'the blind man' here even though he has already given his name, Bartimaeus (10:46). The label keeps attention on what he is about to ask for. In Mark, blindness also stands for the disciples' failure to understand (8:18).

Luke 4:18 τυφλοῖς to [the] blind

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,

Here: Blind people. Luke has Jesus literally heal the blind (7:21–22; 18:35–43), and also uses light and sight as images of salvation (1:79; 2:30–32).

Luke 6:39 τυφλὸς τυφλὸν a blind [man]

Jesus also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

Here: The would-be guide. The picture is literal blindness, which was common in the ancient world, but the saying uses it as an image for someone who cannot see the way himself.

Luke 7:21 τυφλοῖς to blind

At that very hour Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and He gave sight to many who were blind.

Here: "To blind people." Luke places it first in its clause for emphasis, and it prepares for the first item in Jesus' answer in verse 22, "the blind see again."

Luke 7:22 τυφλοὶ Blind

So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

Here: First in the list, like Isaiah's 'the eyes of the blind will be opened' (Isa 35:5). It also picks up 'recovery of sight to the blind' from Jesus' Nazareth reading in Luke 4:18.

Luke 14:13 τυφλούς. [the] blind.

But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind,

Here: People without sight. The list ends here with no 'and'. The four groups come one after another as a block of people a respectable host would never put on a guest list.

Luke 14:21 τυφλοὺς blind

The servant returned and reported all this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

Here: The blind, who were usually beggars (compare Luke 18:35) and who could not work.

Luke 18:35 τυφλός a blind [man]

As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.

John 5:3 τυφλῶν, blind,

On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.

John 9:1 τυφλὸν blind

Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth,

Here: Physically unable to see. In this chapter the word also builds toward a figurative use: by the end, the question is who is "blind" in the sense that matters (9:39–41).

John 9:2 τυφλὸς blind

and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Here: Physically blind. Placed before the verb for emphasis: 'blind he was born.' John later uses the same word for spiritual blindness (9:39–41).

John 9:13 τυφλόν· blind;

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.

Here: Physically blind. The word also carries the chapter's main theme: in verses 39–41 the blind come to see and those who claim to see are shown to be blind.

John 9:17 τυφλῷ blind [man]

So once again they asked the man who had been blind, “What do you say about Him, since it was your eyes He opened?” “He is a prophet,” the man replied.

Here: He can now see, but the narrator still calls him "the blind man." The old label sticks to him, as it does in the minds of those questioning him. It also sets up the closing irony of the chapter (9:39–41), where the sighted turn out to be the blind ones.

John 9:18 τυφλὸς blind

The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they summoned his parents

Here: Literally blind. In John 9 the word also carries a second meaning: the chapter ends by turning 'blindness' back on the questioners (9:39–41).

John 9:19 τυφλὸς blind

and asked, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he can now see?”

Here: Placed before the verb for emphasis: born blind. This is the key fact, since the case rests on the blindness being from birth (v1, v32).

John 9:20 τυφλὸς blind

His parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind.

Here: "Blind." It comes first in its clause for emphasis: blind is what he was when he was born.

John 9:24 τυφλὸς blind

So a second time they called for the man who had been blind and said, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”

Here: Physically blind from birth (v. 1). In this chapter blindness also becomes a picture of not being able to see the truth (vv. 39–41).

John 9:25 τυφλὸς blind

He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. There is one thing I do know: I was blind, but now I see!”

Here: Literally blind. In this man's case he was blind from birth (v.1), a condition everyone in the story treats as permanent and unheard of to cure (v.32).

John 9:32 τυφλοῦ of [one] blind

Never before has anyone heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.

John 9:39 τυφλοὶ blind

Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”

Here: The same word used for the man 'blind from birth' (9:1). It now turns back on the people who looked down on him.

John 9:40 τυφλοί blind

Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?”

Here: The same word used for the man born blind (9:1). They know Jesus means it as a picture of failing to see what God is doing, and they find the idea outrageous.

John 9:41 τυφλοὶ blind

“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

Here: 'Blind' in a spiritual sense. It picks up the man born blind and Jesus' saying in 9:39. Here it means having no sight and knowing it, the position of the healed man before he saw.

John 10:21 τυφλῶν of [the] blind

But others replied, “These are not the words of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Here: Plural and general ('of the blind'), but the crowd clearly has in mind the man born blind whom Jesus healed in chapter 9.

John 11:37 τυφλοῦ blind

But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Here: Singular: the man born blind of John 9. That healing happened in Jerusalem a few months earlier and caused a public stir. Some of these Jerusalem mourners may have seen it argued over (9:13–34; 10:21).

Acts 13:11 τυφλὸς blind

Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

Here: Physically blind. Coming straight after the charge that he 'twists the straight ways of the Lord' (v.10), the man who blocked others' sight is now made unable to see.

Romans 2:19 τυφλῶν, of [the] blind,

if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness,

Here: 'Of blind people.' Here it is a picture of people who do not know God or his will, in Jewish usage above all the non-Jewish nations, using Isaiah's language (Isa 42:7).

2 Peter 1:9 τυφλός blind

But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Here: Blindness here is a picture of the mind and of moral life. The person cannot see what is real and what really matters, even though they once came to know Christ (v. 8).

Revelation 3:17 τυφλὸς blind

You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

Here: Unable to see. This explains the earlier 'you do not know', because blind people cannot see their own condition. It is answered in v.18 by eye-salve 'so that you may see'.