TR: emunah → pistis (Faithfulness/Faith)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)           Greek NT
───────────           ───────────────           ────────
אֱמוּנָה (emunah)  →  πίστις (pistis)       →  πίστις (pistis)
H530, 49x              LXX co-occ: 18x          228x in NT
"faithfulness"         PMI: 24.22               "faith"

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H530	אֱמוּנָה (emunah)	49	faithfulness, fidelity, truth, steadiness
H539	אָמַן (aman)	108	be firm, be faithful, believe (root verb)
H571	אֶמֶת (emeth)	125	truth, stability, faithfulness (sibling noun)

Key OT passages: - Hab 2:4 — "The just shall live by his faith (emunah)" — the pivotal verse quoted three times in the NT - Psa 89:1-2 — "I will make known thy faithfulness (emunah) to all generations... thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens" - Lam 3:23 — "Great is thy faithfulness (emunah)"

Library: H530-emuwnah.md

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
emunah (H530)	πίστις (G4102)	18x	24.22	Primary bridge — faithfulness/fidelity sense
emunah (H530)	ἀλήθεια (G225)	22x	20.06	Secondary — truth/reliability sense
emunah (H530)	ἔλεος (G1656)	11x	11.32	Tertiary — in chesed-emunah pairs
emunah (H530)	δικαιοσύνη (G1343)	8x	8.68	When emunah parallels tsedeq

Reverse: what Hebrew words map to G4102 pistis in the LXX?

Hebrew	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI
אֱמוּנָה (emunah)	H530	18x	24.22
אֶמֶת (emeth)	H571	5x	8.98
שֶׁקֶר (sheqer)	H8267	3x	6.21

H530 emunah is by far the dominant Hebrew source for pistis in the LXX. The ʼ-m-n root family (H530 + H571) accounts for 23 of the LXX's pistis renderings.

Semantic shift in translation: The LXX translators split emunah's range across two Greek words: pistis for the faithfulness/fidelity sense and aletheia for the truth/certainty sense. This division means pistis in the LXX carries a strongly relational, covenant-fidelity meaning that maps cleanly onto the NT concept of trust in God. The key moment is Hab 2:4, where the LXX renders "by his emunah" as ek pisteōs mou ("by my faithfulness"), shifting the possessive from the righteous person to God — Paul then reads ek pisteōs as "by faith" without the possessive, universalizing the principle.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G4102	πίστις (pistis)	228	faith, belief, trust, faithfulness
G4100	πιστεύω (pisteuo)	248	to believe, trust
G4103	πιστός (pistos)	67	faithful, trustworthy

Key NT passages: - Rom 1:17 — "The just shall live by faith" (quoting Hab 2:4) - Gal 3:11 — "The just shall live by faith" (quoting Hab 2:4) - Heb 10:38 — "Now the just shall live by faith" (quoting Hab 2:4) - Heb 11:1 — "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for"

Library: G4102-pistis.md

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word	Significance
Rom 1:17	Hab 2:4	emunah → pistis	Paul's thesis: justification by faith; the emunah-pistis bridge carries the entire argument
Gal 3:11	Hab 2:4	emunah → pistis	Faith vs. law: "no man is justified by the law... the just shall live by faith"
Heb 10:38	Hab 2:4	emunah → pistis	Perseverance of faith: introduced before the Heb 11 faith catalogue

This is the most theologically consequential single-verse LXX bridge in the Bible. Habakkuk's declaration about the faithful person's steadfast reliance on God becomes Paul's foundational proof-text for justification by faith.

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - The core idea of trusting reliance on God as the basis for righteous living - The pairing of faithfulness with covenant relationship (emunah + chesed in OT; pistis + agape in NT) - The contrast between faithfulness and falsehood/unbelief

What shifts: - OT emunah primarily describes God's faithfulness (22 of 49 Psalms uses are "thy/my faithfulness" spoken of God); NT pistis primarily describes human faith directed toward God - OT emunah includes a concrete "steadiness" sense (Exo 17:12) and an administrative "set office" sense (1 Chr 9:22, 26, 31) that pistis does not carry - The LXX possessive shift at Hab 2:4 (from "his emunah" to "my pistis") opens the door to Paul's reading of faith as a universal principle rather than an individual's personal faithfulness