TR: ʻâbad → douleúō (Serve/Be Enslaved)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
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עָבַד (ʻâbad) → δουλεύω (douleúō) → δουλεύω (douleúō)
H5647, 261x 98x as translation 23x in NT
"work, serve, till" of ʻâbad "be a slave to, serve"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H5647 | עָבַד (ʻâbad) | 261v | work, serve, till, worship |
| H5650 | עֶבֶד (ʻebed) | 728v | servant, slave (cognate noun) |
| H5656 | עֲבֹדָה (ʻăbôdâh) | 136v | service, labor, bondage (cognate noun) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 2:5 — "not a man to till (ʻâbad) the ground" — original agricultural sense - Exo 3:12 — "ye shall serve (ʻâbad) God upon this mountain" — covenant worship - Jos 24:15 — "choose you this day whom ye will serve (ʻâbad)" — the allegiance choice
See H5647-abad.md
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ʻâbad (H5647) | δουλεύω (G1398) | 98x | 28.80 | Primary — servitude and allegiance senses |
| ʻâbad (H5647) | λατρεύω (G3000) | 73x | 27.12 | Religious/cultic service to God |
| ʻâbad (H5647) | ἐργάζομαι (G2038) | 39x | 19.36 | Manual labor/agricultural senses |
| ʻâbad (H5647) | προσκυνέω (G4352) | 31x | 13.91 | Worship/prostration (idolatry contexts) |
| ʻâbad (H5647) | λειτουργέω (G3008) | 14x | 10.56 | Levitical liturgical service |
Semantic differentiation in translation: The LXX translators systematically split ʻâbad's unified semantic field into distinct Greek verbs: - douleúō — chosen when the relational subjection is dominant (serving a master, political servitude, serving God as covenant Lord) - latreúō — chosen when cultic/religious service is in view (temple worship, sacrifice, priestly duties) - ergázomai — chosen when physical labor is primary (tilling, manual work) - proskynéō — chosen when the physical act of worship/bowing is emphasized
This split is itself theologically significant: Hebrew holds together the concept that working, serving, and worshipping are facets of a single relationship, while Greek separates these into conceptually distinct activities.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G1398 | δουλεύω (douleúō) | 23v | be a slave to, serve, be in bondage |
| G1401 | δοῦλος (doûlos) | 126v | slave, servant, bondman (cognate noun) |
| G1397 | δουλεία (douleía) | 5v | slavery, bondage (cognate noun) |
| G1402 | δουλόω (doulóō) | 8v | enslave, bring into bondage (cognate verb) |
Key NT passages: - Matt 6:24 — "No man can serve (douleúō) two masters" — exclusive allegiance demand - Rom 6:6 — "that we should not serve (douleúō) sin" — spiritual slavery metaphor - Gal 4:8 — "ye did service (douleúō) unto them which by nature are no gods" — echoes OT "served other gods" - Col 3:24 — "ye serve (douleúō) the Lord Christ" — christological transfer of ʻâbad-YHWH formula
G1398 library: TODO(need G1398 study)
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 7:7 | Gen 15:13–14 | ʻâbad → douleúō | Stephen quotes the Egypt bondage prophecy: "the nation to whom they shall be in bondage (douleúō) will I judge" |
| Gal 4:8–9 | Deut pattern | ʻâbad → douleúō | Paul echoes the Deuteronomic "served other gods" charge, applying it to pre-conversion Gentile idolatry |
Word Families¶
Hebrew ʻ-b-d family: - H5647 ʻâbad (verb: work, serve) - H5648 ʻăbad (Aramaic verb: serve) - H5649 ʻăbad (Aramaic noun: servant) - H5650 ʻebed (noun: servant, slave) - H5652 ʻăbâd (noun: work, deed) - H5656 ʻăbôdâh (noun: service, labor)
Greek doul- family: - G1396 δουλαγωγέω (doulagōgéō) — bring into subjection - G1397 δουλεία (douleía) — bondage, slavery - G1398 δουλεύω (douleúō) — serve as a slave - G1399 δούλη (doúlē) — female slave - G1401 δοῦλος (doûlos) — slave, servant - G1402 δουλόω (doulóō) — enslave
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The exclusive-allegiance demand: "serve the LORD" (OT) becomes "serve the Lord Christ" (NT) — Matt 6:24, Col 3:24 - The idolatry accusation: "served other gods" (Deut/Judg/Jer) echoes in "ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods" (Gal 4:8) - The slavery-to-freedom narrative: Egyptian bondage (Exo 1:13) parallels bondage to sin (Rom 6:6) and to the law (Gal 4:25)
What shifts: - The agricultural sense of ʻâbad (tilling, plowing) does not carry into douleúō; that domain was captured by ergázomai instead - douleúō in the NT narrows to the master-slave relationship more consistently than ʻâbad, which had a broader range - Paul develops a paradox absent from the OT: the Christian is simultaneously a doûlos of Christ (willing slavery) and freed from douleía to sin — a dialectic foreign to the Hebrew ʻâbad, which simply posed the choice of which master to serve
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup, --lexicon) Last updated: 2026-05-01