TR: gârash → ekballō (Driving Out / Casting Out)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)         Greek NT
──────────────────     ──────────────────     ──────────────────
גָּרַשׁ (gârash)    →  ἐκβάλλω (ekbállō)  →  ἐκβάλλω (ekbállō)
H1644, 45x             LXX co-occ: 35x         G1544, 76x in NT
"drive out, expel"     PMI 7.90 / score 28.30  "cast out, eject"

The Hebrew verb for forcible expulsion — of Adam from Eden, Canaanites from the land, wives by divorce, widows from their homes — is rendered in the LXX predominantly by ἐκβάλλω. That same Greek verb becomes the standard NT term for Jesus casting out demons, expelling merchants from the temple, and — in at least one direct OT citation — Paul's argument from Sarah casting out Hagar.

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H1644	גָּרַשׁ (gârash)	45 verses / 60 tokens	drive out, expel, divorce, thrust out
H3423	יָרַשׁ (yârash)	232 verses	dispossess / take possession (companion verb)

Piel dominates the stem distribution (~78%) — the intensive/causative form appropriate for forceful expulsion.

Key OT passages: - Gen 3:24 — "So he drove out (גרשׁ) the man" (first occurrence — the primal expulsion) - Exo 23:28–31 — YHWH will "drive out" (גרשׁ) the Canaanite nations "little by little" - Lev 21:7 — gerushah (Qal passive participle) = "a divorced woman" (legal idiom)

Canonical library: H1644-garash.md

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occ	Score	Notes
H1644 gârash	G1544 ἐκβάλλω	35x	28.30	Primary equivalent — dominant LXX rendering
H1644 gârash	G5503 χήρα ("widow")	4x	8.40	Contextual — from legal clusters (divorcée ↔ widow)
H1644 gârash	G4383 πρόσωπον ("face")	12x	6.76	Renders collocated פָּנִים in "drive out from before"
H1644 gârash	G1821 ἐξαποστέλλω	4x	5.11	Occasional alternative ("send forth")

Reverse direction — what Hebrew words G1544 translates:

Hebrew	Word	Co-occ	Score
H1644	גָּרַשׁ (gârash)	35	28.30
H7993	שָׁלַךְ (shâlak, "cast, hurl")	7	8.68
H2904	טוּל (ṭûl, "cast, hurl")	3	8.52
H3423	יָרַשׁ (yârash, "dispossess")	7	7.07
H5428	נָתַשׁ (nâthash, "pluck up")	3	7.87
H567	אֱמֹרִי (Emorite)	5	7.51

Semantic observation: The LXX funnels several distinct Hebrew expulsion verbs (גרשׁ, שׁלך, טול, נתשׁ) into a single Greek verb ἐκβάλλω. The Hebrew distinguishes how someone is removed (driven, hurled, plucked); the Greek collapses these into a general "eject" that then diversifies in NT usage through prepositions and objects.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G1544	ἐκβάλλω (ekbállō)	76 verses in NT	cast out, drive out, expel, send out, put forth

Key NT passages: - Mat 7:4 — "let me pull out the mote" (remove from eye) - Mar 1:12 — "the Spirit driveth (ekballei) him into the wilderness" (unusual — expels into, not from) - Jhn 2:15 — "he drove them all out of the temple" (echoes Jer/Zech cleansing-of-temple imagery using the verb of national expulsion) - Gal 4:30 — "Cast out (ekbale) the bondwoman and her son" — direct quotation of Gen 21:10 (גרשׁ → ekbale); Paul's argument that flesh must be expelled for promise to inherit - Mat 8:16; 12:24–28; Mar 1:34; Luk 11:14–20 — exorcism language: Jesus "casting out" demons (the semantic center of gravity in the Gospels)

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word	Significance
Gal 4:30	Gen 21:10	גרשׁ → ἐκβάλλω	Sarah's command to "cast out" Hagar — Paul applies the Hebrew conquest/household-expulsion logic to the flesh/spirit antithesis. The son of the bondwoman is not to inherit; he is expelled so the son of promise may possess.
Jhn 2:15 (allusive)	conquest motif	גרשׁ → ἐκβάλλω	Jesus cleansing the temple uses the vocabulary of driving out nations — treating the merchants as He who drives out what defiles the holy place.

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same: - Forceful expulsion is the core sense across both testaments — never gentle removal - Agency by the holy — whether YHWH drives out Canaanites, Sarah expels Hagar, or Jesus casts out demons, the expeller is the one with covenantal right; the expelled is what does not belong - "From before the face of" (מִפְּנֵי → ἀπὸ προσώπου) — the spatial idiom of removing someone from the presence of the rightful occupant survives the translation - Legal/household expulsion carries through: the Hebrew gerushah (divorced woman) and the NT's commands about ekballō of a bondwoman share the same register

What shifts: - From land to persons/demons — OT gârash is overwhelmingly about expelling peoples from territory; NT ekballō is overwhelmingly about expelling unclean spirits from persons. The arena miniaturizes: the land becomes the human body, the Canaanite becomes the demon. Conquest language is internalized as exorcism. - From YHWH's agency to Messiah's authority — in the OT YHWH Himself drives out the nations; in the NT Jesus casts out demons "by the finger of God" (Luk 11:20), claiming that same divine prerogative. The verb carries the messianic claim. - Divorce sense narrows — NT ekballō does not carry the technical divorce idiom the way the Qal passive of גרשׁ does; divorce language in the NT shifts primarily to ἀπολύω. - Collapse of distinctions — Hebrew distinguishes גרשׁ (expel), ירשׁ (dispossess), שׁלך (hurl), שׁלח (send away), נדח (drive off); all route through ἐκβάλλω (and relatives) in the LXX, so NT readers trained on Greek inherit a flatter vocabulary for a richer Hebrew field.