TR: mar'eh → opsis (Appearance / How a Thing Looks)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
────────── ────────────── ────────
מַרְאֶה (mar'eh) → ὄψις (opsis) → ὄψις (opsis)
H4758, 82v 23x as LXX translation 3x in NT
"appearance / sight" highest PMI (7.63) "appearance / face / countenance"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H4758 | מַרְאֶה (mar'eh) | 82 verses | appearance, sight, vision, countenance |
| H4759 | מַרְאָה (mar'ah) | 12 verses | vision, mirror (feminine form) |
| H7200 | רָאָה (ra'ah) | 1,300+ | to see (root verb) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 12:11 — "Behold... thou [art] a fair woman to look upon (mar'eh)" - 1 Sam 16:7 — "Look not on his countenance (mar'eh)... the LORD looketh on the heart" - Ezek 1:26–28 — "the appearance (mar'eh) of the brightness round about... as the appearance of the bow"
[Canonical word study: H4758-mareh.md]
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | LXX Count | PMI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H4758 mar'eh | G3799 opsis | 23x | 7.63 | Primary — appearance/face/visage |
| H4758 mar'eh | G3706 horasis | 24x | 6.40 | Vision-focused rendering |
| H4758 mar'eh | G1491 eidos | 16x | 6.88 | Form/appearance (abstract) |
Semantic notes: The LXX splits H4758's two senses. Opsis (G3799) renders the physical appearance / countenance uses (Genesis beauty language, 1 Samuel, Ezekiel). Horasis (G3706) renders the prophetic vision uses (Daniel, Ezekiel). The Hebrew word holds both senses as one lexeme; Greek separates them.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | NT Occurrences | Primary KJV |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3799 | ὄψις (opsis) | 3 verses | appearance, face, countenance |
| G3706 | ὅρασις (horasis) | 3 verses | vision, to look upon |
G3799 opsis — NT verses: - John 7:24 — "Judge not according to the appearance (opsis), but judge righteous judgment" - John 11:44 — "his face (opsis) was bound about with a napkin" (Lazarus raised) - Rev 1:16 — "his countenance (opsis) was as the sun shineth in his strength" (glorified Christ)
G3706 horasis — NT verses: - Acts 2:17 — "your young men shall see visions (horasis)" (quoting Joel 2:28) - Rev 4:3 — "like a jasper and a sardine stone in appearance (horasis)"
Direct OT → NT Connections¶
| NT Verse | OT Echo | Shared Concept |
|---|---|---|
| John 7:24 | 1 Sam 16:7 | "judge not by appearance" — 1 Sam warns against assessing by mar'eh; Jesus uses opsis for the same principle |
| Rev 1:16 | Ezek 1:26–28 | Christ's countenance (opsis) echoes Ezekiel's "appearance of the brightness" (mar'eh) of divine glory |
| Acts 2:17 | Joel 2:28 | "see visions" — Joel uses mar'eh → LXX horasis → NT horasis (unbroken chain) |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same: - The theological warning against judging by outward mar'eh/opsis runs from 1 Sam 16:7 through John 7:24 — same principle, same vocabulary chain - Divine glory described with visual appearance language in both Ezekiel (mar'eh) and Revelation (opsis)
What shifts: - Hebrew mar'eh unifies physical beauty, clinical appearance, theophanic vision, and prophetic revelation into one word - Greek splits these into opsis (outward appearance/face) and horasis (prophetic vision) — a semantic specialization - NT uses of opsis are all in John and Revelation; the ordinary "beauty" and "skin inspection" senses (Genesis, Leviticus) are absent from NT usage
Generated from: gather_word_data.py (H4758, G3799, G3706), search_strongs.py --lxx-map Last updated: 2026-04-01