TR: ets → xylon (Tree/Wood)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
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עֵץ (ets) → ξύλον (xylon) → ξύλον (xylon)
H6086, 288x LXX co-occ: 219x 17x in NT
"tree, wood" primary rendering "tree, wood, cross"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H6086 | עֵץ (ets) | 288 | tree (living), wood (material), timber, gallows/stake |
The Hebrew word covers the entire range from living tree to hewn timber to execution stake. Key senses include: Eden's trees of life and knowledge, sacrificial firewood, temple construction timber, the "wood and stone" idol formula, and the Deuteronomic curse of hanging on a tree.
Key OT passages: - Gen 2:9 — "the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil" - Deut 21:22-23 — "hang him on a tree... he that is hanged is accursed of God" - Prov 3:18 — "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her"
Library entry: H6086-ets.md
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ets (H6086) | ξύλον (xylon) G3586 | 219x | 33.69 | Primary equivalent — covers all senses |
| ets (H6086) | δένδρον (dendron) G1186 | 14x | 14.67 | Living tree emphasis |
| ets (H6086) | ξύλινος (xylinos) G3585 | 10x | 14.10 | Adjective "wooden" |
Reverse bridge — G3586 xylon translates these Hebrew words:
| Hebrew Source | Strong's | Co-occ | PMI Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| עֵץ (ets) | H6086 | 219x | 33.69 |
| אֶרֶז (erez) | H730 | 23x | 16.13 |
| שִׁטָּה (shittah) | H7848 | 13x | 15.35 |
| אֶבֶן (even) | H68 | 37x | 14.21 |
| תָּלָה (talah) | H8518 | 11x | 13.25 |
The LXX renders ets as xylon with near-total consistency. Critically, the execution sense in Deut 21:22-23 uses xylon, creating the linguistic bridge for NT authors to apply the Deuteronomic curse formula to crucifixion.
Semantic continuity in translation: The Greek xylon preserves the Hebrew ambiguity between "tree" and "wood" — both living plant and dead material. The LXX does not distinguish these senses with different words. This one-word rendering is what makes the NT tree-of-life and tree-of-the-curse connections possible in a single vocabulary item.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3586 | ξύλον (xylon) | 17 | wood, tree, stocks (instrument of punishment), the cross |
NT distribution by Louw-Nida domain: Wood and Wood Products (3.6), Trees (3.2), Instruments Used in Punishment and Execution (6.6), Instruments Used in Binding and Fastening (6.4).
Key NT passages: - Acts 5:30 — "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree [xylon]" - Gal 3:13 — "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree [xylon]" (quoting Deut 21:23 LXX) - 1 Pet 2:24 — "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree [xylon]" - Rev 2:7 — "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree [xylon] of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" - Rev 22:2 — "the tree [xylon] of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits"
Library entry: G3586-xylon.md
Direct OT-NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gal 3:13 | Deut 21:23 | ets → xylon | "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" — Paul explicitly cites the Deuteronomic curse to explain Christ's atoning death |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The material sense (wood, timber) carries through unchanged (1 Cor 3:12 "wood, hay, stubble") - The "staves/clubs" sense (wooden weapons) appears in the Synoptic arrest scenes (Matt 26:47, Mark 14:43, Luke 22:52) - The tree of life reappears in Revelation using the same word (Rev 2:7, 22:2,14) that the LXX used for Gen 2:9 and 3:22
What shifts: - The execution-display sense undergoes the most significant theological development. In the OT, hanging on the ets marks the criminal as cursed by God (Deut 21:23). The NT takes this curse theology and applies it to the crucifixion — Christ bore the curse on behalf of others (Gal 3:13). The NT deliberately uses xylon rather than stauros in these theologically loaded passages to invoke the Deuteronomic curse via the LXX vocabulary. - The tree of life, absent from the prophetic corpus, returns in Revelation as an eschatological restoration of Eden — the curse of Gen 3:24 (barring access to the tree of life) is reversed in Rev 22:2-3 where the xylon of life stands in the new Jerusalem and "there shall be no more curse."
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source) Last updated: 2026-05-03