TR: kallâh → nýmphē (Bride / Daughter-in-Law)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
כַּלָּה (kallâh) → νύμφη (nýmphē) → νύμφη (nýmphē)
H3618, 34x in OT 28x as translation 7v / 8x in NT
"bride, daughter-in-law" of kallâh (PMI 32.04) "bride, daughter-in-law"
Both words independently carry the same dual sense ("young married woman in her husband's household" — either bride or daughter-in-law). The semantic field transfers almost one-to-one from Hebrew into Greek.
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H3618 | כַּלָּה (kallâh) | 34 | bride; daughter-in-law |
| H2860 | חָתָן (châthân) | 21 | bridegroom; son-in-law / father-in-law |
| H1330 | בְּתוּלָה (bᵉthûlâh) | 50 | virgin, maiden |
KJV distribution of kallâh: "spouse" (6v), "his daughter in law" (5v), "of the bride" (4v), "daughters in law" (2v), plus other forms — again split roughly between the two senses.
Key OT passages: - Gen 11:31 — "Sarai his daughter in law" (first occurrence; household/genealogical sense) - Lev 18:15 — "the nakedness of thy daughter in law... she is thy son's wife" (legal/kinship sense) - Isa 49:18 — "thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth" (bridal imagery) - Jer 2:32 — "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?" - Jer 7:34 / 16:9 / 25:10 — the recurring "voice of the bridegroom and voice of the bride" wedding-joy formula paired with châthân
G3565-nymphe.md · H3618 kallâh: TODO(need H3618 study)
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| kallâh (H3618) | νύμφη (G3565) | 28 | 32.04 | Dominant equivalent — both senses carry over |
| kallâh (H3618) | νυμφίος (G3566) | 7 | 19.34 | Nearby in contexts where bridegroom dominates the verse |
| kallâh (H3618) | Θάμαρ (G2283) | 3 | 11.70 | Name "Tamar" — Judah's daughter-in-law (Gen 38) |
| kallâh (H3618) | εὐφροσύνη (G2167) | 4 | 8.05 | "Joy" — bridge via the wedding-joy formula (Jer 7:34 etc.) |
| kallâh (H3618) | θυγάτηρ (G2364) | 5 | 5.71 | "Daughter" — overlap in kinship language |
Reverse view — what Hebrew words G3565 nýmphē translates:
| Hebrew | Strong's | Co-occ | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| kallâh | H3618 | 28 | 32.04 |
| châthân | H2860 | 7 | 16.95 |
| Tâmâr (name) | H8559 | 4 | 11.36 |
| sâsôwn ("joy") | H8342 | 4 | 11.36 |
| simchâh ("gladness") | H8057 | 4 | 8.16 |
| bᵉthûlâh ("virgin") | H1330 | 3 | 7.56 |
Semantic shift: Minimal. The dual "bride / daughter-in-law" sense is native to both Hebrew kallâh and Greek nýmphē, so the translators did not need to disambiguate. The one notable widening is via the "joy" vocabulary (sâsôwn, simchâh → euphrosýnē, euphraínō), which follows the set wedding-joy formula rather than the core lexeme.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3565 | νύμφη (nýmphē) | 7v / 8x | bride; daughter-in-law |
| G3566 | νυμφίος (nymphíos) | 16v | bridegroom |
| G3567 | νυμφών (nymphṓn) | 3v | bridechamber / bridal party |
Key NT passages: - Mat 10:35 / Luk 12:53 — "daughter in law" sense in household-division sayings (synoptic parallel) - Jhn 3:29 — "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom" (John the Baptist applies the figure to Christ) - Rev 18:23 — "the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee" (direct echo of Jer 7:34 / 16:9 / 25:10) - Rev 21:2, 21:9, 22:17 — eschatological bride = New Jerusalem / the Lamb's wife / the Spirit-and-bride voice
G3565-nymphe.md · G3566 nymphíos
Direct OT→NT Echoes¶
| NT Verse | Echoes OT | Shared Formula | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rev 18:23 | Jer 7:34, 16:9, 25:10, 33:11 | "voice of the bridegroom and voice of the bride" | Reversal: Jeremiah's judgment oracle against Jerusalem is redeployed against Babylon |
| Rev 21:2 | Isa 61:10; 49:18 | bride adorned with ornaments | Zion-as-bride imagery carried into eschatology |
| Rev 21:9 | Isa 54:5-6; Hos 2:19-20 | covenant-marriage figure | God's people = the Lamb's wife |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - Dual "bride / daughter-in-law" semantic range carries cleanly from Hebrew kallâh into Greek nýmphē. - The paired formula "bride and bridegroom" (kallâh + châthân → nýmphē + nymphíos) survives intact; Rev 18:23 quotes Jeremiah almost word-for-word. - The covenant-marriage figure (God / Zion / people) is already present in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea; Revelation extends it to Christ and the church.
What shifts: - NT usage drops the literal "daughter-in-law" / kinship-law contexts that dominate the Pentateuch and historical books; only the synoptic division sayings preserve that sense. - Revelation narrows nýmphē to one referent: the eschatological people of God presented to the Lamb. The OT bride imagery was applied to Zion / Israel; Revelation applies it to New Jerusalem / the church. - The bridegroom identity shifts: in the OT, YHWH is the husband of Israel; in the NT, the Lamb (Christ) is the bridegroom.
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup, --lexicon) Last updated: 2026-04-21