TR: bâsâr → sárx (Flesh)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
────────────── ────────────── ────────
בָּשָׂר (bâsâr) → σάρξ (sárx) → σάρξ (sárx)
H1320, 241 verses 126x as primary 130 unique verses
"flesh / body" LXX translation "flesh / sinful nature"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1320 | בָּשָׂר (bâsâr) | 241 | flesh, body, person, kin |
Concentrated in: Leviticus (51v, 5.9/100 — ritual/purity laws), Genesis (31v — creation, kinship), Job (18v — human frailty), Psalms (16v), Isaiah (16v — prophetic "all flesh").
Key OT passages: - Gen 2:23–24 — "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh... they shall be one flesh" — kinship and marital union - Lev 17:14 — "the life of all flesh is the blood thereof" — flesh-blood-life connection - Joel 2:28 — "I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh" — universal scope of bâsâr - Isa 40:6 — "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field" — human transience
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| bâsâr (H1320) | σάρξ (G4561) | 126x | Primary equivalent — personal, relational, existential uses |
| bâsâr (H1320) | κρέας (G2907) | 69x | Butcher's-meat contexts (sacrificial flesh, food) |
| bâsâr (H1320) | σῶμα (G4983) | 21x | Whole-body sense dominates |
Semantic shift in translation: LXX translators divided bâsâr's range: σάρξ received the personal/relational uses ("all flesh," "one flesh," "flesh of my flesh") while κρέας handled purely food/sacrifice contexts. This means NT σάρξ inherits bâsâr's existential range; κρέας (G2907) handles only butcher's meat in the NT and never carries the ethical weight sarx does.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G4561 | σάρξ (sárx) | 130 unique verses | Flesh; human nature; sinful principle |
| G4559 | σαρκικός (sarkikós) | 10 | Carnal, pertaining to flesh |
Key NT passages: - John 1:14 — "the Word was made flesh" — Incarnation language built on bâsâr tradition - Rom 8:5–8 — Paul's developed "flesh vs. Spirit" antithesis - Gal 5:16–24 — "works of the flesh" as ethical catalogue - 1 Pet 1:24 — direct quotation of Isa 40:6 using σάρξ for H1320
See G4561-sarx.md for the full NT word study.
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acts 2:17 | Joel 2:28 | H1320 → G4561 | "pour out my Spirit upon all flesh" — Pentecost universalism |
| Luke 3:6 | Isa 40:5 | H1320 → G4561 | "all flesh shall see the salvation of God" |
| 1 Pet 1:24 | Isa 40:6–8 | H1320 → G4561 | "all flesh is as grass" — human transience |
| Matt 19:5; Eph 5:31 | Gen 2:24 | H1320 → G4561 | "they shall be one flesh" — marriage union |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The "all flesh" (kol bâsâr / pasa sarx) idiom for total humanity carries through intact; OT prophetic quotations are rendered directly into NT Greek with no sense shift - Physical body / literal flesh meaning persists in both testaments - "One flesh" (Gen 2:24) is directly quoted in NT (Matt 19:5; Mark 10:8; Eph 5:31) with full semantic equivalence
What shifts: - Paul develops sarx as a theological ethical category for the sinful nature opposing the Spirit — this has no direct OT bâsâr parallel; bâsâr can express human weakness and mortality but not the moral "old nature" concept Paul builds in Romans 7–8 and Galatians 5 - The "flesh vs. Spirit" antithesis (Gal 5:17; Rom 8:4–9) is a distinctly NT pneumatological development on an OT terminological foundation - LXX effects a conceptual split: σάρξ inherits bâsâr's personal/relational range; κρέας absorbs the food/sacrifice range
Generated from: gather_word_data.py (H1320, G4561), search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source) Last updated: 2026-04-01