A-Z: Common sayings from the Bible: Apple of one's eye

Usage

Something absolutely precious to the one who has it, often used of a person. The 'apple' is the pupil of the eye.

Definition

One instinctively protects one's eyes, and this phrase describes God's protection of and love for his people. He expects his people to hold his law equally precious.

Bible References

Deuteronomy 32:10; Psalms 17:8; Proverbs 7:2

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ²May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb. ³For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! ⁴The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. ⁵They have dealt corruptly with him; they are no longer his children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation. ⁶Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? ⁷Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. ⁸When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. ⁹But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. ¹⁰He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. ¹¹Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, ¹²the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him. ¹³He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock. ¹⁴Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat - and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape. ¹⁵But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. ¹⁷They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. ¹⁸You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. ¹⁹The Lord saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. ²⁰And he said, I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. ²¹They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. ²²For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. ²³And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them; ²⁴they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. ²⁵Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. ²⁶I would have said, I will cut them to pieces; I will wipe them from human memory, ²⁷had I not feared provocation by the enemy, lest their adversaries should misunderstand, lest they should say, Our hand is triumphant, it was not the Lord who did all this. ²⁸For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. ²⁹If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end! ³⁰How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up? ³¹For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves. ³²For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison; their clusters are bitter; ³³their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps. ³⁴Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? ³⁵Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. ³⁶For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. ³⁷Then he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, ³⁸who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you; let them be your protection! ³⁹See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven and swear, As I live forever, ⁴¹if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and will repay those who hate me. ⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh - with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy. ⁴³Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people's land. ⁴⁴Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶he said to them, Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. ⁴⁸That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, ⁴⁹Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. ⁵⁰And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, ⁵¹because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. ⁵²For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.

¹Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. ²My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: ³Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. ⁴He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. ⁵They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. ⁶Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee? ⁷Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. ⁸When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. ⁹For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. ¹⁰He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. ¹¹As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: ¹²So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. ¹³He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; ¹⁴Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape. ¹⁵But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. ¹⁷They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. ¹⁸Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. ¹⁹And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. ²⁰And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith. ²¹They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. ²²For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. ²³I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. ²⁴They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. ²⁵The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. ²⁶I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men: ²⁷Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this. ²⁸For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. ²⁹O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! ³⁰How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? ³¹For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. ³²For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: ³³Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. ³⁴Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? ³⁵To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. ³⁶For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. ³⁷And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, ³⁸Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. ³⁹See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. ⁴¹If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. ⁴²I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. ⁴³Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. ⁴⁴And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. ⁴⁵And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel: ⁴⁶And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. ⁴⁸And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, ⁴⁹Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: ⁵⁰And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: ⁵¹Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of MeribahKadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. ⁵²Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit! ²From your presence let my vindication come! Let your eyes behold the right! ³You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. ⁴With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. ⁵My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped. ⁶I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words. ⁷Wondrously show your steadfast love, O Savior of those who seek refuge from their adversaries at your right hand. ⁸Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, ⁹from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me. ¹⁰They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly. ¹¹They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground. ¹²He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush. ¹³Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, ¹⁴from men by your hand, O Lord, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. ¹⁵As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

¹Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. ²Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. ³Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. ⁴Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. ⁵Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. ⁶I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. ⁷Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. ⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, ⁹From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. ¹⁰They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. ¹¹They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; ¹²Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. ¹³Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: ¹⁴From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. ¹⁵As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; ²keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; ³bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴Say to wisdom, You are my sister, and call insight your intimate friend, ⁵to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words. ⁶For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, ⁷and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, ⁸passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house ⁹in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. ¹⁰And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. ¹¹She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; ¹²now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. ¹³She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, ¹⁴I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; ¹⁵so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. ¹⁶I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; ¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. ¹⁹For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; ²⁰he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home. ²¹With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. ²²All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast ²³till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. ²⁴And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, ²⁶for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. ²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

¹My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. ²Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. ³Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. ⁴Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman: ⁵That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words. ⁶For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, ⁷And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, ⁸Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, ⁹In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: ¹⁰And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. ¹¹(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: ¹²Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) ¹³So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, ¹⁴I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. ¹⁵Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. ¹⁶I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. ¹⁷I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. ¹⁹For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey: ²⁰He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. ²¹With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. ²²He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; ²³Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. ²⁴Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. ²⁶For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. ²⁷Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

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