THE PUPIL OF THE EYE — literally uncertain. Bavat occurs in the Hebrew Bible exactly once, and its own root is disputed: some derive it from a word for 'gate' or 'opening' (so, 'the gate of the eye'), others hear an imitative word for a tiny reflected image, the same idea behind Latin pupilla and English 'pupil' — a person's own small reflection seen in another's eye. ⚠ This is NOT the more common Old Testament idiom for the same body part — ishon, 'the little man of the eye' (e.g. Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8, not yet on these pages) — a different word doing similar work. Both are usually flattened in English into the same borrowed idiom, 'the apple of the eye' (itself an old, unrelated figure of English speech — apples have nothing to do with either Hebrew word), which is why this translation reads the plainer, more defensible 'pupil' instead. → first discussed at Zechariah 2:12