“The apple of His eye”
for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye (Zechariah 2:8 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A sweet phrase for a cherished favorite.
The cultural key
In modern English 'the apple of my eye' just means a cherished person, so the line sounds warm but vague. The Hebrew image is far more visceral: the word points to the pupil of the eye (literally 'the little man' or 'gate' of the eye), the most sensitive, most jealously protected part of the body, the spot we flinch and throw up our hands to shield at the slightest threat. So 'whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye' means that to harm God's people is to poke God in the pupil of His eye, striking the tenderest, most instinctively defended place there is, and provoking a swift, reflexive, ferocious response. It is not a soft endearment but a warning to Israel's oppressors: you are jabbing the eye of God. The same image describes how God kept Israel 'as the apple of His eye' in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 32:10) and the psalmist's plea, 'keep me as the apple of the eye' (Psalm 17:8).
Recovered meaning
'The apple of His eye' is the eye's pupil, the tenderest, most reflexively guarded spot on the body. To touch God's people is to jab the very pupil of His eye, provoking His fiercest, most instinctive protection, a warning to their oppressors, not a soft endearment.