TR: gadal to megaluno (Greatness / Magnification)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
────────────── ───────────────── ────────────
gadal (H1431) → megaluno (G3170) → megaluno (G3170)
111 unique verses 56x as translation 8x in NT
"grow / make great" of gadal "magnify, make great"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1431 | gadal | 111 | grow, become great, make great, magnify |
| H1419 | gadowl | 330 | great (adjective) — derived from H1431 |
| H1420 | geduwlah | ~12 | greatness, majesty (abstract noun) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 12:2 — "I will bless thee, and make thy name great" (Hiphil: God as agent) - Ps 34:3 — "O magnify the LORD with me" (Piel: liturgical call to worship) - Dan 8:4 — "the ram... magnified himself" (Hiphil reflexive: arrogant self-exaltation)
See canonical word study: H1431-gadal
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gadal (H1431) | megaluno (G3170) | 56x | 7.20 | Primary equivalent; dominant translation |
| gadal (H1431) | hupsoo (G5312) | 16x | 4.41 | When sense = exalt/elevate |
| gadal (H1431) | ektrepho (G1625) | 11x | 6.89 | When sense = nourish/bring up |
Semantic continuity: The LXX translators recognized that gadal spans size, stature, honor, and pride. megaluno captures the magnification/greatness cluster directly. For the physical growth and child-rearing senses they selected ektrepho and auxano, distributing the Hebrew's semantic breadth across multiple Greek words.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3170 | megaluno | 8 | magnify, make great, declare great |
| G3173 | megas | 243 | great (adjective) — same root |
| G3172 | megalosune | 3 | majesty, greatness |
Key NT passages: - Lk 1:46 — "My soul doth magnify the Lord" (Mary's Magnificat — direct doxological use matching Ps 34:3) - Acts 5:13 — "the people magnified them" (communal honor given to apostles) - Acts 19:17 — "the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified" (spontaneous public acclaim) - Phil 1:20 — "Christ shall be magnified in my body" (Paul: his life as a vehicle for God's greatness)
Direct OT Connection¶
| NT Passage | OT Echo | Shared Concept |
|---|---|---|
| Lk 1:46 Magnificat | Ps 34:3 / 69:30 | "magnify the LORD" — same liturgical verb |
| Acts 10:46 "magnify God" | Ps 35:27 "magnify the LORD" | Gentiles and Jews use the same doxology |
The Magnificat (Lk 1:46–55) is the densest NT concentration of gadal/megaluno theology: Mary's soul "magnifies" (megalunei) the Lord in direct echo of the Psalms' call to magnify YHWH.
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same: - The doxological use (magnifying God/YHWH) carries straight through from Psalms into Luke-Acts - The verb is always transitive in the "making great" sense — there is always an agent and an object - The honorific/promotional sense (raising status before others) persists in Acts 5:13, 19:17
What shifts: - The physical growth and child-rearing senses of gadal (Qal: "the child grew") do not appear in NT megaluno — those are rendered by auxano and trephoo in the NT - The self-magnification / arrogant pride sense (Dan 8:4; Jer 48:26) is absent in NT megaluno; the NT authors reserve megaluno entirely for legitimate magnification of God or persons of God - Daniel's "magnify himself" language (Dan 8:4, 11, 25; 11:36) feeds into NT antichrist typology but through different Greek vocabulary (huperairetai, G5229, in 2 Thess 2:4)
Generated from: gather_word_data.py (H1431, G3170) Last updated: 2026-04-01