TR: ʻasah → poieō (Do / Make / Perform)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
עָשָׂה (ʻasah) → ποιέω (poieō) → ποιέω (poieō)
H6213, 2,283x 2,022x as translation 518x in NT
"do, make" PMI score: 23.97 "do, make"
This is one of the tightest Hebrew-to-Greek lexical bridges in the entire Bible. Roughly 88% of LXX renderings of ʻasah use ποιέω, and ποιέω is itself the dominant NT action verb. The semantic continuity is near-total: both words function as the catch-all "do/make" verb whose meaning is determined almost entirely by object and context.
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H6213 | עָשָׂה (ʻasah) | 2,283 | do, make, perform, accomplish |
| H4639 | מַעֲשֶׂה (maʻaseh) | 235 | deed, work, act (noun from this root) |
| H4566 | מַעֲבָד (maʻabad) | 3 | work, act (rare cognate) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 1:7 — "And God made the firmament" (inaugural divine action) - Deu 6:18 — "thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD" (covenant ethics) - 1 Kgs 11:6 — "Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD" (royal evaluation formula)
See canonical study: H6213-asah.md
LXX Bridge¶
H6213 ʻasah → Greek (what Greek words translate ʻasah in LXX):
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ʻasah (H6213) | ποιέω (G4160) | 2,022x | Primary equivalent — near-total coverage |
| ʻasah (H6213) | ἔργον (G2041) | 150x | Noun-form rendering (participle/inf. construct → "the work done") |
| ʻasah (H6213) | οὕτω (G3779) | 181x | "Thus [he did]" — adverbial reflex of formulaic usage |
| ʻasah (H6213) | πονηρός (G4190) | 101x | "Evil" — from idiom asah ra ("do evil") → nominalized |
| ʻasah (H6213) | ἀρεστός (G701) | 14x | "Pleasing/right" — from "do what is right" idiom |
| ʻasah (H6213) | κρίμα (G2917) | 68x | "Judgment" — from idiom asah mishpat ("execute judgment") |
G4160 poieō ← Hebrew (what Hebrew words poieō translates in LXX):
| Hebrew | Strong's | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| עָשָׂה (ʻasah) | H6213 | 2,022x | Primary source — dominant Hebrew base |
| מְלָאכָה (melaʼkah) | H4399 | 77x | "Work, labor" (noun) — rendered verbally in LXX |
| מַעֲשֶׂה (maʻaseh) | H4639 | 77x | "Deed, work" (cognate noun of ʻasah) |
| מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) | H4941 | 126x | "Judgment" — rendered "do judgment" in LXX |
| חֻקָּה (chuqqah) | H2708 | 44x | "Statute, ordinance" — "do/keep a statute" |
| עֲבַד (ʻabad, Aram.) | H5648 | 16x | Aramaic cognate "do, make" from Daniel/Ezra |
| מַסֵּכָה (massekah) | H4541 | 19x | "Molten image" — from "make a molten image" |
Semantic shift in translation: Essentially none at the lexical core. Both ʻasah and poieō are general-purpose action verbs that take on meaning from their object. The LXX translators found a remarkably exact Greek equivalent.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G4160 | ποιέω (poieō) | 518 | do, make, perform |
| G4161 | ποίημα (poiēma) | 2 | that which is made, workmanship |
| G4163 | ποιητής (poiētēs) | 6 | doer, performer; maker |
Key NT passages: - Mat 1:24 — Joseph "did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him" (obedience — covenant-action continuity) - Jhn 2:5 — "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do [it]" (imperative of obedience) - 2Co 5:21 — God "made him [to be] sin for us" (divine creative-judicial action)
See canonical study: G4160-poieo.md
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
The chain is so lexically tight that many NT citations of the OT carry the ʻasah → poieō bridge:
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rom 2:13 | Deut 28:1 (echo) | ποιητής / ʻasah | "doers of the law shall be justified" |
| Jas 1:22 | Deut echo | ποιητής / ʻasah | "be ye doers of the word" — preserves the Hebrew imperative of covenant action |
| Matt 7:21 | — | ποιέω + OT idiom | "he that doeth the will of my Father" — direct extension of OT covenant-action language |
| Gal 3:12 | Lev 18:5 | ποιέω / ʻasah | "The man that doeth them shall live in them" (quoting LXX) |
| Rom 10:5 | Lev 18:5 | ποιέω / ʻasah | Same citation — "that the man which doeth those things shall live" |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - Both ʻasah and poieō function as the default, context-determined "do/make" verb. - The "doer of [the law/the word]" nominal construction carries unchanged: Hebrew ʻoseh ha-torah → Greek poiētēs tou nomou. - The moral idioms "do good/evil," "do what is right," "do judgment," and "do a feast/sacrifice" transfer with their idiomatic weight intact. - Both words describe divine creation (Gen 1:7; John 1:3) and human covenant response (Deut 6:18; Jas 1:22) without semantic loss.
What shifts: - The OT's dense stock of idiomatic expressions ("do kindness," "do a covenant," "do judgment") are sometimes flattened in NT Greek, which prefers more specific verbs (δίδωμι, ποιέω + object, κρίνω). - In the NT, ποιέω picks up a Christological dimension not native to ʻasah alone — Jesus as both the one who "does the works of the Father" (John 5:36) and the one through whom God "has made" everything (Heb 1:2, using ποιέω for cosmic creation that in OT Hebrew would use בָּרָא). - The cognate noun ποίημα (G4161) in Eph 2:10 ("we are his workmanship") imports ʻasah's productive sense into a distinctly NT theology of new creation.
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