TR: châdâsh → kainos (New / Newness)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
────────────── ────────────────── ────────────────
חָדָשׁ (châdâsh) → καινός (kainós) → καινός (kainós)
H2319, 48x in OT LXX co-occ: 38x 38x in NT (44 tokens)
"new, fresh" PMI score: 32.00 "new (in quality)"
OT Usage (Hebrew: H2319 châdâsh)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2319 | חָדָשׁ (châdâsh) | 48 | new, fresh, a new thing |
Key OT passages: - Exo 1:8 — "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph" — new in time and circumstance - Lev 23:16 — "ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD" — fresh/firstfruits quality - Jer 31:31 — "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel" — qualitative newness: a covenant unlike the Mosaic (quoted in Heb 8:8 with G2537 καινός) - Isa 65:17 — "I create new heavens and a new earth" — eschatological newness (quoted in Rev 21:1 with G2537) - Psa 40:3 — "He hath put a new song in my mouth" — Psalms' "new song" pattern that Revelation takes up (Rev 5:9, 14:3)
Word family: H2318 châdash (verb: renew, repair) | H2323 chădâth (Aramaic cognate: new)
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| châdâsh (H2319) | καινός (G2537) | 38 | 32.00 | Overwhelmingly dominant — near-exclusive pairing |
| châdâsh (H2319) | νέος (G3501) | 3 | 5.88 | Occasional, especially for temporal newness |
| châdâsh (H2319) | ἕτερος (G2087) | 3 | 4.49 | "Other/different" — different nuance |
Semantic continuity: The LXX consistently chooses G2537 καινός over G3501 νέος when rendering H2319, indicating the translators recognized the qualitative dimension of châdâsh. The dominant eschatological passages — new covenant (Jer 31:31), new heavens/earth (Isa 65:17), new song (Psa 40:3) — all use καινός in the LXX. NT writers quoting these texts preserve the same Greek word.
NT Usage (Greek: G2537 kainós)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G2537 | καινός (kainós) | 38 | new in quality/freshness — unprecedented |
| G2538 | καινότης (kainótēs) | 2 | newness (abstract noun form) |
Key NT passages: - Heb 8:8 — "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant" — direct quotation of Jer 31:31; H2319 → G2537 chain explicit - Rev 21:1 — "I saw a new heaven and a new earth" — echoes Isa 65:17; same chain - Rev 5:9 — "they sung a new song" — echoes Psalms' "new song" (Psa 33:3, 40:3, 144:9); same chain - 2Co 5:17 — "he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" - Jhn 13:34 — "A new commandment I give unto you"
Direct OT → NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Hebrew | LXX | NT Greek | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heb 8:8 | Jer 31:31 | H2319 châdâsh | G2537 καινός | G2537 καινός | Chain preserved intact |
| Rev 21:1 | Isa 65:17 | H2319 châdâsh | G2537 καινός | G2537 καινός | New creation language carries through |
| Rev 5:9 | Psa 40:3 / 96:1 | H2319 châdâsh | G2537 καινός | G2537 καινός | "New song" formula preserved |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The qualitative nuance: châdâsh in the key prophetic texts already pointed to something qualitatively unprecedented (Jer 31:31 explicitly contrasts the new covenant with the Sinai covenant: "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers"). The LXX and NT preserve this with καινός. - The "new song" formula (Psalms → Revelation) is a continuous literary chain: Psa 33:3, 40:3, 96:1, 98:1, 144:9 → Rev 5:9, 14:3. - The eschatological scope: both châdâsh and καινός point toward a divinely inaugurated reordering — new covenant, new heavens/earth, new heart (Ezek 36:26).
What shifts: - In the Hebrew OT, châdâsh frequently describes mundane objects (a new cart, new bottles, a new house). In the NT, this ordinary usage still appears (new tomb: Mat 27:60; new garment: Luk 5:36) but the theological weight shifts almost entirely to the eschatological and covenantal uses. - The contrast with παλαιός (old/worn) becomes theologically loaded in the NT: Heb 8:13 explicitly uses καινός to declare the Mosaic covenant παλαιός (obsolete). This deprecation of the old by the new is more explicit than in the OT.
Library Status¶
- H2319 châdâsh: TODO(need H2319 study)
- G2537 kainos: G2537-kainos.md
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup) Last updated: 2026-04-02