TR: barak → eulogeo (Blessing)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)             Greek NT
───────────            ───────────────             ────────
בָּרַךְ (barak)     →  εὐλογέω (eulogeo)       →  εὐλογέω (eulogeo)
H1288, 289x            230x as translation         41x in NT
"to bless, kneel"      of barak                    "to bless, speak well of"

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H1288	בָּרַךְ (barak)	289v	to bless (Piel 70%), be blessed (Qal ptcp baruk 22%)
H1293	בְּרָכָה (berakah)	64v	blessing, benediction, gift
H1290	בֶּרֶךְ (berek)	25v	knee (etymological root — kneeling posture)

Key OT passages: - Gen 12:2-3 — "I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" - Num 6:23-24 — "On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel... The LORD bless thee, and keep thee" - Deut 28:3-6 — "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field" - Psalm 103:1 — "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name"

H1288-barak.md | H1293-brakah.md

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
barak (H1288)	εὐλογέω (G2127)	230x	33.44	Overwhelmingly dominant — one of the strongest LXX bridges
barak (H1288)	εὐλογητός (G2128)	41x	23.02	Adjectival "blessed" for baruk Qal ptcp formula
barak (H1288)	ἐνευλογέω (G1757)	6x	11.81	"Be blessed in" — patriarchal Niphal/Hithpael texts
barak (H1288)	εὐλογία (G2129)	14x	11.17	Noun "blessing" — overlaps with berakah translation
barak (H1288)	καταράομαι (G2672)	11x	10.43	For euphemistic "curse" passages (Job, 1 Kings)

Reverse bridge (what Hebrew words does G2127 translate):

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score
barak	H1288	230x	33.44
berakah	H1293	15x	12.15
tsayid	H6718	7x	11.18
berak (Aramaic)	H1289	3x	7.95

Semantic continuity in translation: The LXX rendering is remarkably stable. The Greek εὐλογέω (from εὖ "well" + λόγος "word" = "to speak well of") captures the Hebrew verbal blessing concept precisely. The bridge is near-total: 230 of 289 OT uses (80%) map to this single Greek verb. The Greek compound preserves the verbal/speech dimension of Hebrew blessing.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G2127	εὐλογέω (eulogeo)	41v	bless, speak well of, praise
G2128	εὐλογητός (eulogetos)	8v	blessed, praised (of God only)
G2129	εὐλογία (eulogia)	16v	blessing, praise, bounty
G1757	ἐνευλογέω (eneulogeo)	2v	bless in (Acts 3:25, Gal 3:8)

Key NT passages: - Matt 5:44 — "Love your enemies, bless [eulogeo] them that curse you" - Luke 1:42 — "Blessed [eulogeo] art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" - Acts 3:25-26 — "In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed... God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you" - Gal 3:8-9 — "The scripture... preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed... they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham" - Rom 12:14 — "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not"

G2127

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word	Significance
Acts 3:25	Gen 22:18 / 26:4	barak → eneulogeo	Patriarchal promise applied to Christ: "in thy seed shall all kindreds be blessed"
Gal 3:8	Gen 12:3 / 18:18	barak → eneulogeo	Paul reads the Abrahamic blessing as the gospel preached beforehand
Matt 21:9 / John 12:13	Psalm 118:26	barak → eulogeo	"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" — messianic entry
Matt 25:34	Deut 28:3-6 (echo)	barak → eulogeo	"Come, ye blessed of my Father" — eschatological blessing
Rom 12:14	(alludes to Gen 12:3 pattern)	barak → eulogeo	Blessing-over-cursing ethic extends to persecutors

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - God as the primary source of blessing, humans as recipients and mediators - The bidirectional nature: humans bless God (praise) and God blesses humans (bestows favor) - The baruk / εὐλογητός formula for praising God persists (Luke 1:68, Eph 1:3, 1 Pet 1:3) - The Abrahamic promise framework is explicitly quoted and applied (Acts 3:25, Gal 3:8) - The blessing-curse antithesis continues (Rom 12:14, James 3:9-10)

What shifts: - The NT universalizes the Abrahamic blessing through Christ — "all nations" fulfilled through the gospel rather than through physical descent - The imperative to bless enemies (Matt 5:44, Rom 12:14, 1 Cor 4:12) extends the blessing ethic beyond covenant community - εὐλογητός (G2128) becomes exclusively reserved for God in the NT (never applied to humans), while εὐλογημένος (perfect participle) is used for blessed humans — a distinction not present in Hebrew - The meal-blessing usage (Mark 6:41, 14:22 — eucharistic blessing) develops a liturgical specificity beyond the OT priestly blessing