TR: gadol → megas (Great / Large)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
גָּדוֹל (gadol) → μέγας (megas) → μέγας (megas)
H1419, 499x 415x as translation 200x in NT
"great, large" of gadol "great, loud"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1419 | גָּדוֹל (gadol) | 499 | great (in any sense), older, larger |
| H1431 | גָּדַל (gadal) | 111 | to grow, magnify, become great (root verb) |
| H1420 | גְּדוּלָה (gedullah) | 11 | greatness, great things (abstract noun) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 1:16 — "God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day" - Exo 3:3 — "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight" - Deu 1:7 — "the great river, the river Euphrates"
Library: TODO(need H1419 study)
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Count | PMI Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| gadol (H1419) | μέγας (G3173) | 415x | 30.98 |
| gadol (H1419) | σφόδρα (G4970) | 39x | 10.07 |
| gadol (H1419) | φωνή (G5456) | 48x | 9.17 |
| gadol (H1419) | φοβερός (G5398) | 11x | 10.46 |
Semantic continuity: The gadol → megas bridge is exceptionally strong (415 co-occurrences, PMI 30.98). The LXX translators consistently chose megas for gadol across all its senses — physical size, importance, intensity, and volume ("great voice" → "loud voice"). The φωνή co-occurrence (48x) shows the Hebrew idiom "qol gadol" was rendered "phōnē megalē" and carried directly into the NT.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3173 | μέγας (megas) | 200 | great (size, importance, intensity), loud |
| G3170 | μεγαλύνω (megalynō) | 3 | to magnify, make great |
| G3176 | μέγιστος (megistos) | — | greatest (superlative) |
Key NT passages: - Rev 6:17 — "the great day of his wrath is come" (echoes Joel 2:11, Mal 4:5) - Mat 22:36 — "which is the great commandment in the law?" - Heb 13:20 — "that great shepherd of the sheep"
Library: G3173-megas.md
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Act 2:20 | Joel 2:31 | gadol → megas | "before that great and notable day of the Lord" |
| Heb 8:11 | Jer 31:34 | gadol → megas | "from the least to the greatest" (qatan/gadol → mikros/megas) |
| Rev 6:17 | Joel 2:11 / Mal 4:5 | gadol → megas | "the great day of his wrath" |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The core semantic range transfers intact: physical size, importance/rank, intensity of emotion, loud sound - The "great + voice" collocation (qol gadol → phōnē megalē) is preserved verbatim - "Great day of the LORD" (yom gadol) becomes "that great day" in NT eschatology - The small-great merism (qatan/gadol → mikros/megas) survives unchanged
What shifts: - NT concentrates megas heavily in apocalyptic contexts (75 of 200 verses in Revelation), giving it a stronger eschatological flavor than OT gadol, which distributes more evenly across narrative, poetry, and prophecy - In Revelation, "great" often becomes a fixed epithet: "that great city," "the great dragon," "the great whore" — a formulaic apocalyptic use less prominent in OT
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup) Last updated: 2026-04-08