TR: bad → monos (Alone / Only)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
בַּד (bad) → μόνος (mónos) → μόνος (mónos)
H905, 178x 72x as translation 46x in NT
"separation" of bad "alone, only"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H905 | בַּד (bad) | 178v | separation; alone, only, beside, staves, branches |
| H909 | בָּדַד (badad) | 4v | verb: to divide, separate |
| H910 | בָּדָד (badad) | 6v | separate, alone, desolate |
Key OT passages: - Gen 2:18 — "It is not good that the man should be alone (bad)" - Isa 2:11 — "The LORD alone (bad) shall be exalted in that day" - Psalm 86:10 — "Thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone (bad)"
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bad H905 | μόνος (monos) G3441 | 72x | 28.47 | Primary equivalent — alone/only senses |
| bad H905 | πλήν (plen) G4133 | 31x | 15.47 | "beside/except" senses |
| bad H905 | χωρίς (choris) G5565 | 11x | 17.32 | "apart from" sense |
| bad H905 | μόνον (monon) G3440 | 9x | 14.22 | Adverbial "only/merely" |
Reverse — other Hebrew words also rendered monos:
| Hebrew | Strong's | Co-occ | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּד (bad) | H905 | 72x | 28.47 | Dominant source |
| בָּדָד (badad) | H910 | 8x | 16.52 | Cognate adjective/adverb |
| רַק (raq) | H7535 | 7x | 8.15 | Restrictive particle "merely/only" |
Semantic narrowing in translation: Hebrew bad has a wide semantic range (separation → isolation, exclusivity, addition, physical poles/branches, strength). The LXX splits this across multiple Greek words. Monos captures only the "alone/only" senses — the "beside/apart from" (millibad) sense goes to plen and choris, and the concrete "staves/branches" sense is rendered by entirely different vocabulary. The NT inherits the narrower monos meaning.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3441 | μόνος (monos) | 46v | alone, only, sole, single |
| G3440 | μόνον (monon) | 60v | merely, only (adverb form) |
| G3439 | μονογενής (monogenes) | 9v | only-begotten, one-of-a-kind |
| G3443 | μονόω (monoo) | 1v | to be left alone (1 Tim 5:5) |
Key NT passages: - Matt 4:4 — "Man shall not live by bread alone (monos), but by every word..." (quoting Deut 8:3, where OT uses bad) - Rom 11:3 — "I am left alone (monos), and they seek my life" (quoting 1 Ki 19:10/14, where OT uses bad) - John 5:44 — "seek not the honour that cometh from God only (monos)" - Mark 6:47 — "he alone (monos) on the land"
TODO(need G3441 study)
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt 4:4 / Luke 4:4 | Deut 8:3 | bad → monos | "not by bread alone" — Jesus cites Moses' wilderness lesson; both use the "only/exclusively" sense |
| Rom 11:3 | 1 Ki 19:10 | bad → monos | "I am left alone" — Paul cites Elijah's isolation; physical aloneness carries through |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The core sense of isolation/aloneness transfers directly: Gen 2:18 "not good to be alone" → Mark 6:47 "he alone on the land" - The exclusivity sense ("only God") transfers directly: Psalm 86:10 "thou art God alone" → John 5:44 "the only God" - Direct quotations (Deut 8:3 → Matt 4:4; 1 Ki 19 → Rom 11:3) preserve the identical meaning
What shifts: - The "beside/in addition to" (millibad) sense of bad has no counterpart in monos — the NT uses choris or other prepositions for "apart from" - The concrete senses (staves, branches, bars, strength) disappear entirely from the monos word family - Monos in the NT picks up theological weight in christological contexts (John 17:3 "the only true God") that goes beyond bad's OT usage
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup, --lexicon) Last updated: 2026-05-09