TR: mâlêʼ → plēróō (Filling / Fulfillment)

The Chain

Hebrew OT             LXX (Greek OT)          Greek NT
──────────────        ──────────────────       ────────────────
מָלֵא (mâlêʼ)    →   πληρόω (plēróō)    →    πληρόω (plēróō)
H4390, 242 vv         62x as translation        90 vv in NT
"fill, be full"        of mâlêʼ                  "fill, fulfill"

OT Usage (Hebrew)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H4390	מָלֵא (mâlêʼ)	242	fill, be full, accomplish, consecrate
H4392	מָלֵא (mâlêʼ adj.)	64	full (adjective form)
H4393	מְלֹא (mᵉlôʼ)	38	fullness, that which fills

H4390 spans a wide range: physical filling (waters, vessels), the glory-cloud filling the tabernacle/temple, temporal completion (days "being full"), and the priestly idiom "fill the hand" (consecrate).

Key OT passages: - Gen 1:22 — "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas" (creation mandate; H4390 as foundational command) - Exo 40:34 — "The glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle" (Shekinah glory; divine filling as presence) - Num 14:21 — "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD" (prophetic eschatological promise) - 1 Kgs 8:10 — "The cloud filled the house of the LORD" (temple dedication; pattern for NT) - Isa 6:3 — "The whole earth is full of his glory" (seraphic vision; fullness as divine attribute) - Isa 11:9 — "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (messianic kingdom) - Jer 29:10 — "After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you" (temporal fulfillment; H4390 for prophetic time)

LXX Bridge

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Count	Notes
mâlêʼ (H4390)	πληρόω (G4137)	62x	Primary equivalent — fill, fulfill
mâlêʼ (H4390)	πίμπλημι (G4130a)	secondary	Alternative for sudden/literal filling
mᵉlôʼ (H4393)	πλήρωμα (G4138)	occasional	Fullness / that which fills

Semantic continuity in translation: The LXX largely preserves both senses of H4390 — physical filling and temporal/prophetic fulfillment — under a single Greek word (πληρόω). This sets up the NT usage where plēróō carries both: "filled with the Spirit" (from divine-glory-filling tradition) and "that the scripture might be fulfilled" (from prophetic-time-filling tradition).

NT Usage (Greek)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G4137	πληρόω (plēróō)	90	fill, fulfill, complete
G4138	πλήρωμα (plērōma)	17	fullness, sum total
G4134	πλήρης (plērēs)	17	full (adjective)

Key NT passages: - Mat 1:22 — "That it might be fulfilled (πληρωθῇ) which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet" (the fulfillment formula, repeated 10x in Matthew alone) - Eph 1:23 — "The fulness (πλήρωμα) of him that filleth (πληρόω) all in all" (Christ as cosmic fulfiller of the Shekinah-glory pattern) - Eph 4:10 — "He that descended is the same also that ascended...that he might fill (πληρόω) all things" (intentional echo of Isa 11:9 and the Shekinah) - Eph 5:18 — "Be filled (πληρόω) with the Spirit" (personal appropriation of the temple-filling pattern)

Direct OT→NT Quotations

NT Verse	References OT	Shared Concept	Significance
Mat 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23 etc.	Various prophets	plēróō = fulfillment of prediction	Matthew uses πληρωθῇ as standard formula for prophetic completion
Eph 4:10	Isa 11:9; Ps 68:18	divine filling of all things	Paul explicitly links Christ's ascension to the OT "fullness of the earth" theme
Luk 4:21	Isa 61:1–2	"fulfilled in your ears"	Jesus reads Isaiah and announces the text is now enacted — πεπλήρωται

Continuity and Shifts

What stays the same across testaments: - The verb carries both "fill a container" (physical) and "bring to intended completion" (purposive) in both OT and NT - The divine-glory-filling pattern (tabernacle / temple / earth) continues in Paul's "fill all things" theology - Temporal completion ("days being full") is consistent from OT (Jer 29:10) through NT (Mark 1:15; Acts 7:23)

What shifts: - In the OT, the physical sense (fill nets, fill hands, fill pots) is common; in the NT this nearly disappears in favor of the purposive and prophetic senses - The NT develops a new dominant use: the fulfillment formula (πληρωθῇ ἵνα) applied to specific OT texts — this is NT-specific and has no exact OT parallel - Paul expands the Shekinah-glory theme cosmically: Christ does not merely fill the temple but "fills all things" (Eph 4:10; 1:23), applying H4390's eschatological promise (Isa 11:9) to the ascended Christ

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See H4390-male.md for the canonical word study, and G4137-pleroo.md for the Greek counterpart.

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Generated from: gather_word_data.py (H4390, G4137), kjv.txt Last updated: 2026-04-01