TR: kôwç → potḗrion (The Cup — Blessing and Wrath)

The Chain

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)           Greek NT
──────────             ──────────────           ────────
כּוֹס (kôwç)     →     ποτήριον (potḗrion)   →  ποτήριον (potḗrion)
H3563, 29x             primary LXX               G4221, 30x NT
"a cup"                equivalent (26x)          "cup"

OT Usage (Hebrew)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H3563	כּוֹס (kôwç)	29	cup (as container); figuratively: allotted experience

Key OT passages: - Gen 40:11 — Pharaoh's cup (literal) - Psa 16:5 — "the LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup" - Psa 23:5 — "my cup runneth over" - Psa 75:8 — "a cup, and the wine is red... all the wicked of the earth shall... drink them" - Psa 116:13 — "I will take the cup of salvation" - Isa 51:17, 22 — "the cup of his fury... the cup of trembling... the cup of my fury" - Jer 25:15 — "Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations... to drink it" - Hab 2:16 — "the cup of the LORD's right hand shall be turned unto thee"

Library: H3563-kowc.md

LXX Bridge

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occ	Score
kôwç (H3563)	ποτήριον (G4221)	26x	31.32 (primary)
kôwç (H3563)	πίνω (G4095)	10x	12.51 (governing verb in context)
kôwç (H3563)	οἶνος (G3631)	5x	8.09 (contents of cup)
kôwç (H3563)	μεθύω (G3184)	4x	10.06 ("drunken" from cup of wrath)

Semantic continuity: The LXX consistently renders kôwç with potērion. Both the literal container and every figurative extension — cup of salvation, cup of wrath, cup as allotted portion, cup of reeling — carry straight across. No dilution in translation.

NT Usage (Greek)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G4221	ποτήριον (potḗrion)	30	cup; eucharistic cup; cup of suffering; cup of wrath

Key NT passages: - Mat 26:27 — "he took the cup, and gave thanks" (eucharistic) - Mat 26:39 — "let this cup pass from me" (Gethsemane) - Jhn 18:11 — "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" - 1Co 10:16 — "the cup of blessing which we bless" - 1Co 10:21 — "ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils" - 1Co 11:25 — "this cup is the new testament in my blood" - Rev 14:10 — "the cup of his indignation" - Rev 16:19 — "the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath" - Rev 18:6 — "in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double"

Library: G4221-poterion.md

Direct OT→NT Resonances

NT Verse	Echoes OT	Shared Figure	Significance
Mat 26:27 / 1Co 10:16	Ps 116:13 ("cup of salvation")	eucharistic cup of blessing	Jesus fills the Psalmist's thanksgiving-cup with his own blood
Mat 26:39 / Jhn 18:11	Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17	cup of God's fury	Christ drinks the prophetic cup of wrath the nations were to drink
Rev 14:10	Ps 75:8; Jer 25:15	cup of wrath / undiluted wine	Direct reuse of Jeremiah's oracle imagery
Rev 16:19	Jer 25:15–29; Isa 51	Babylon made to drink	The OT cup-of-wrath oracle returns to Babylon
Rev 17:4 / 18:6	Jer 51:7 ("Babylon hath been a golden cup")	golden cup in the harlot's hand	Jeremiah's Babylon image carried verbatim into Revelation

Continuity and Shifts

What stays the same across testaments: - The figurative sense of "cup as allotted portion" — whether of joy (Ps 16:5; 23:5) or of judgment (Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17) — transfers intact. - The pairing of cup + wine + wrath (Ps 75:8; Jer 25:15) is quoted directly in Rev 14:10. - The Babylon-cup figure of Jer 51:7 reappears as Rev 17:4 / 18:6. - The verb pair "drink the cup" / שׁתה את הכוס (Isa 51:17; Jer 25:28) → πίνω τὸ ποτήριον (Mat 20:22; Mar 10:38; Jhn 18:11) is a direct calque.

What shifts in the NT: - A new figurative use emerges: the eucharistic cup of blessing (Mat 26:27; 1Co 10:16; 11:25). The "cup of salvation" of Ps 116:13 is no mere echo — it is filled with Christ's own blood and becomes the covenant sign. - The same vessel holds both blessing and wrath — this is the theological hinge. At the Last Supper Jesus gives the cup of blessing (Mat 26:27); at Gethsemane he asks the Father to remove the cup of wrath (Mat 26:39). In Revelation the cup of wrath is poured out on Babylon (Rev 14:10; 16:19). The cup Christ drinks is the cup his people are spared. - The "cup and baptism" pairing (Mk 10:38–39) is NT-distinctive — suffering-overwhelm language attached to the Hebrew cup figure.

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Generated from: search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup, --lexicon), gather_trace_data.py Last updated: 2026-04-21