TR: ʼāman → pistós (Faithfulness / Trustworthiness)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
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אָמַן (ʼāman) → πιστός (pistós) → πιστός (pistós)
H539, 102x in OT 28x as translation 62x in NT
"believe, be firm" of ʼāman "faithful, believing"
PMI score: 24.22
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H539 | אָמַן (ʼāman) | 102 | believe, trust, be firm/established, be faithful |
| H529 | אֵמוּן (ʼêmûwn) | ~3 | faithfulness, trustworthiness (nominal) |
| H530 | אֱמוּנָה (ʼĕmûnāh) | ~50 | faithfulness, steadfastness, fidelity |
| H571 | אֶמֶת (ʼemeth) | ~127 | truth, stability, firmness |
Key OT passages: - Gen 15:6 — "And he believed (ʼāman) in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (the foundational OT faith text, quoted by Paul) - Deut 1:32 — "Yet in this thing ye did not believe (ʼāman) the LORD your God" - 1 Sam 2:35 — "I will raise me up a faithful (ʼāman) priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart"
Hebrew ʼāman spans both believing/trusting (subjective) and being established/reliable (objective) — the same dual sense that πιστός carries in Greek.
→ See H539 word study
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Equivalent | Co-occurrences | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ʼāman (H539) | πιστεύω (G4100) | 43x | Primary: ʼāman as believing |
| ʼāman (H539) | πιστός (G4103) | 28x | Secondary: ʼāman as faithful/trustworthy |
| ʼāman (H539) | πιστόω (G4104) | 8x | Less common: ʼāman as confirming/establishing |
| ʼāman (H539) | μάρτυς (G3144) | 4x | Witness/testimony nuance |
Semantic continuity in translation: The LXX translators distributed the two English senses of ʼāman across the πιστ- word family — πιστεύω (believing/trusting) and πιστός (faithful/trustworthy). This is not a shift but a differentiation: the LXX resolves the Hebrew ambiguity into distinct Greek forms while keeping both within the same root family.
Reverse mapping — what Hebrew words πιστός translates: The LXX also uses πιστός for H529 ʼêmûwn (trusty), H8549 tāmîm (blameless/whole), H6662 tsaddîq (righteous), and H2617 chesed (steadfast love) — showing that πιστός absorbed the semantic cluster around OT covenant faithfulness.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G4103 | πιστός (pistós) | 62 | faithful, trustworthy; (also) believing |
| G4102 | πίστις (pistis) | 201 | faith, belief, trust |
| G4100 | πιστεύω (pisteuō) | 119 | to believe, to trust |
Key NT passages: - Gal 3:9 — "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham" (directly links NT pistós to Gen 15:6's ʼāman) - Rev 1:5 — "From Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness" (Christ bears the divine attribute of ʼāman — reliability, covenant-keeping) - Heb 3:2 — "Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house" (echoes Num 12:7, where Moses is called ʼāman — faithful in all God's house)
→ See G4103 word study → See G4102 word study
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes/Alludes to OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gal 3:6 | Gen 15:6 | ʼāman → pisteuō/pistis | Paul explicitly cites Abraham's ʼāman as the model of NT faith |
| Rom 4:3 | Gen 15:6 | ʼāman → pisteuō | Same quote; Abraham "believed" = the OT root of NT faith |
| Heb 3:2 | Num 12:7 | ʼāman → pistós | Moses "faithful in all his house" uses exact pistós language |
| Rom 3:3 | Deut/Psalms | ʼemûnāh → pistis | God's faithfulness (ʼemûnāh) → "faithfulness of God" (pistis Theou) |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The core meaning: being established, firm, reliable — worthy of trust - The dual semantic range: both trusting (active/subjective) and trustworthy (passive/objective) - Application to God's own character: ʼāman and πιστός both describe divine reliability in keeping covenant - The Abraham paradigm: Gen 15:6's ʼāman becomes the explicit OT anchor for NT πίστις/πιστός (Rom 4, Gal 3)
What shifts: - In the NT, πιστός gains a specifically ecclesial sense: "the faithful" = believers/Christians as a community (Eph 1:1, 1 Tim 4:12) - The "faithful saying" (πιστὸς ὁ λόγος) formula is unique to the Pastoral Epistles — no Hebrew equivalent - Christ himself becomes the subject of πιστός as the Faithful Witness (Rev 1:5, 3:14, 19:11) — a title drawn from OT covenant-faithfulness language applied to Messiah
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup, --lexicon) Last updated: 2026-04-02