TR: mirmah → dolos (Deceit/Guile)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
מִרְמָה (mirmah) → δόλος (dolos) → δόλος (dolos)
H4820, 38x 21x as translation 12x in NT
"deceit, fraud" of mirmah "guile, deceit"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H4820 | מִרְמָה (mirmah) | 38 | deceit, fraud, treachery |
Key OT passages: - Gen 27:35 — "Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing." - Isa 53:9 — "because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" - Dan 8:25 — "through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand"
Library: H4820-mirmah.md
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occurrences | PMI Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| mirmah (H4820) | δόλος (G1388) | 21x | 26.35 |
| mirmah (H4820) | δόλιος (G1386) | 10x | 19.54 |
| mirmah (H4820) | ζυγός (G2218) | 6x | 12.05 |
Reverse bridge — other Hebrew words rendered as dolos in LXX:
| Hebrew | Strong's | Co-occurrences | PMI Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| מִרְמָה (mirmah) | H4820 | 21x | 26.35 |
| רְמִיָּה (remiyyah) | H7423 | 3x | 9.79 |
| שָׂפָה (saphah) | H8193 | 4x | 6.62 |
| אָוֶן (aven) | H205 | 3x | 6.46 |
Mirmah is the dominant Hebrew source for dolos by a wide margin (21 of ~35 Hebrew co-occurrences). The connection is strong and consistent.
Semantic alignment in translation: The Hebrew mirmah and Greek dolos are near-exact semantic equivalents — both denote calculated, deliberate deception (as opposed to simple error or ignorance). The LXX translators found dolos a natural fit, preserving the nuance of intentional fraud/guile without significant semantic shift. The only notable difference is that mirmah has a stronger commercial-fraud pole (false balances) not present in NT dolos usage.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G1388 | δόλος (dolos) | 12 | guile, deceit, craft, subtlety |
| G1386 | δόλιος (dolios) | 1 | deceitful, guileful |
| G1389 | δολόω (doloo) | 1 | to ensnare, adulterate |
Key NT passages: - John 1:47 — "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" - 1 Pet 2:22 — "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" - Rev 14:5 — "And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God."
Library: TODO(need G1388 study)
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Pet 2:22 | Isa 53:9 | mirmah → dolos | "neither was deceit/guile found in his mouth" — applied to Christ's sinlessness |
| 1 Pet 3:10 | Psa 34:13 | mirmah → dolos | "let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile" |
| Rom 3:13 | Psa 5:9 (LXX) | mirmah context → dolos | "with their tongues they have used deceit" — speech-deceit chain |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The core meaning (deliberate, calculated deception) remains stable from OT mirmah through LXX dolos to NT dolos - The tongue/mouth/speech association persists: Psa 34:13 → 1 Pet 3:10; Isa 53:9 → 1 Pet 2:22 - The "absence of deceit" as a mark of the righteous continues: Psa 24:4, Isa 53:9 → John 1:47, 1 Pet 2:22, Rev 14:5
What shifts: - The OT commercial-fraud pole (false balances in Proverbs, Hosea, Amos, Micah) has no NT counterpart in dolos usage - The OT political-treachery sense (Dan 8:25, 11:23, 2 Ki 9:23) narrows in the NT to plotting against Jesus (Matt 26:4, Mark 14:1) - NT dolos appears more frequently in vice lists (Mark 7:22, Rom 1:29, 1 Pet 2:1) than OT mirmah does
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup) Last updated: 2026-05-12