TR: châṭâʼ → hamartanō (To Sin / Miss the Mark)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
חָטָא (châṭâʼ) → ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) → ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō)
H2398, 220v 151x as translation 37x in NT
"to sin, miss" of châṭâʼ "to sin"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H2398 | חָטָא (châṭâʼ) | 220v | to sin, miss the mark; Piel: to purify, cleanse |
| H2403 | חַטָּאָה (chaṭṭâʼâh) | 182v | sin, sin offering, purification offering |
| H2399 | חֵטְא (chêṭʼ) | 12v | crime, penalty, fault |
| H2400 | חַטָּא (chaṭṭâʼ) | 19v | sinful, sinner (adjective) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 20:6 — "I also withheld thee from sinning (châṭâʼ) against me" — God preventing sin - 1 Ki 8:46 — "there is no man that sinneth (châṭâʼ) not" — universality of sin - Psa 51:7 — "Purge me (Piel of châṭâʼ) with hyssop, and I shall be clean" — the purification sense - Lev 8:15 — "Moses... purified (Piel of châṭâʼ) the altar" — ritual de-sinning
Canonical study: H2398-chata.md
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| châṭâʼ (H2398) | ἁμαρτάνω (G264) | 151 | 32.39 | Primary equivalent — overwhelmingly dominant |
| châṭâʼ (H2398) | ἁμαρτία (G266) | 62 | 17.15 | Noun used where LXX nominalizes the verb |
| châṭâʼ (H2398) | ἀδικέω (G91) | 10 | 10.30 | For "offend/do wrong" sense |
| châṭâʼ (H2398) | ἀφίστημι (G868) | 13 | 8.75 | For "depart/apostatize" sense |
Semantic shift in translation: The LXX preserves the core "miss the mark" etymology (Greek ἁμαρτάνω also originally meant "miss" in Homer). However, the Piel purification sense of châṭâʼ is NOT carried into the Greek verb hamartanō — the LXX uses other verbs (καθαρίζω, ἁγνίζω) for those contexts. This means the remarkable Hebrew semantic link between sinning and purifying (within the same root) is severed in the Greek translation.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G264 | ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō) | 37v | to sin, miss the mark |
| G266 | ἁμαρτία (hamartia) | 145v | sin (abstract or concrete) |
| G265 | ἁμάρτημα (hamartēma) | 4v | a sinful deed |
| G268 | ἁμαρτωλός (hamartōlos) | 47v | sinful, a sinner |
Key NT passages: - Luk 15:18 — "Father, I have sinned (hēmarton) against heaven, and before thee" — echoes the OT confessional formula - Rom 2:12 — "as many as have sinned (hēmarton) without law shall also perish without law" — universality of sin - 1 Jn 1:10 — "If we say that we have not sinned (hēmartēkamen), we make him a liar" - Eph 4:26 — "Be ye angry, and sin not (hamartanete)" — Psa 4:4 quotation
Library: TODO(need G264 study)
Direct OT-to-NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eph 4:26 | Psa 4:4 (LXX 4:5) | châṭâʼ → hamartanō | "Be angry, and sin not" — imperative form preserved across testaments |
| Luk 15:18, 21 | Echoes Exo 9:27; 10:16; Num 22:34 | châṭâʼtî → hēmarton | "I have sinned" confessional formula — prodigal son uses the same pattern as Pharaoh, Balaam |
| Rom 3:23 | Echoes Ecc 7:20; 1 Ki 8:46 | châṭâʼ → hamartanō | "All have sinned" — universality of sin as OT and NT shared axiom |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The core meaning "to sin against God" carries through unchanged from OT Hebrew to NT Greek - The "I have sinned" confessional formula (Qal perfect → aorist) is preserved verbatim - The universality axiom ("no man that sinneth not") anchors both testamental discussions of human sinfulness - The personal-relational dimension — sinning "against" God or another person — remains central
What shifts: - The Piel/Hithpael purification meaning of the Hebrew root is completely lost in Greek. The LXX translates the Piel of châṭâʼ with katharizō or hagnizō, not hamartanō. This severing means Greek readers cannot see what Hebrew readers saw: that the same root that means "sin" also means "purify from sin" - The Hiphil causative "made [Israel] to sin" (30x in Kings) has no NT structural equivalent — the concept of causing corporate sin through leadership is expressed differently - The literal "miss the mark" sense (Judg 20:16) does not appear in NT usage of hamartanō
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source) Last updated: 2026-05-03