TR: naphal → pipto (Fall)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
נָפַל (naphal) → πίπτω (pipto) → πίπτω (pipto)
H5307, 403x 239x as translation 85x in NT
"to fall" of naphal "to fall"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H5307 | נָפַל (naphal) | 403 | to fall — physical, in battle, prostration, judgment, lot-casting |
| H5308 | נְפַל (nephal) | 7 (Aramaic) | to fall — Aramaic cognate (Dan 3:6, 23; 4:31; 7:20) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 2:21 — "the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" (first occurrence) - Deu 9:18 — "I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights" (prostration in worship) - Isa 21:9 — "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (judgment on city — echoed verbatim in Rev 14:8; 18:2)
See H5307-naphal.md for the full word study.
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| naphal (H5307) | πίπτω (G4098) | 239x | 30.42 | Primary equivalent — dominant |
| naphal (H5307) | ἐπιπίπτω (G1968) | 30x | 19.40 | "fall upon" — when naphal takes a directional object |
| naphal (H5307) | ἐμπίπτω (G1706) | 20x | 17.13 | "fall into" — naphal with "into" constructions |
| naphal (H5307) | καταβάλλω (G2598) | 22x | 16.72 | "cast down" — when naphal is causative (hiphil) |
| naphal (H5307) | μάχαιρα (G3162) | 31x | 12.03 | "sword" collocate — "fall by the sword" idiom |
| naphal (H5307) | ῥομφαία (G4501) | 30x | 11.08 | "sword" (large) — same idiom, different Greek word |
Other Hebrew words mapped to pipto in LXX:
| Hebrew | Strong's | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חָלָל (chalal) | H2491 | 22x | 13.66 | "pierced, slain" — the fallen dead |
| חֶרֶב (chereb) | H2719 | 50x | 13.48 | "sword" — co-occurs in "fall by the sword" |
| סְגִד (cegid, Aramaic) | H5457 | 6x | 10.54 | "worship" — Aramaic prostration (Dan 3) |
| כָּשַׁל (kashal) | H3782 | 12x | 10.37 | "stumble, totter" — related but distinct: kashal = stumble, naphal = fall |
Semantic alignment: The LXX translators consistently chose pipto as the default rendering for naphal. The mapping is remarkably stable — nearly 60% of naphal's 403 OT occurrences map to pipto (239x). The Greek compounds (epipipto, empipto, katapipto) handle naphal's prepositional constructions, preserving the full semantic range.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G4098 | πίπτω (pipto) | 85 | to fall — physical, prostration, destruction, spiritual |
| G4363 | προσπίπτω (prospipto) | 8 | fall before — prostration toward |
| G1601 | ἐκπίπτω (ekpipto) | 10 | fall away — apostasy/loss of position |
| G1968 | ἐπιπίπτω (epipipto) | 11 | fall upon — embrace or Spirit descending |
| G1706 | ἐμπίπτω (empipto) | 7 | fall into — traps, pits, judgment |
| G2667 | καταπίπτω (katapipto) | 3 | fall down — physical collapse |
Key NT passages: - Rev 14:8 — "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" (direct echo of Isa 21:9 via LXX) - Rev 18:2 — "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen" (expanded echo) - Rev 4:10; 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4 — heavenly worship prostration (elder/angel cycle) - Luk 10:18 — "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven"
Direct OT→NT Echoes¶
| NT Verse | Echoes OT | Shared Concept | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rev 14:8; 18:2 | Isa 21:9 | "Babylon is fallen, is fallen" | Verbatim echo through LXX; naphal (perfect) → pipto (aorist) |
| Rev 6:16; Luk 23:30 | Hos 10:8 | "Fall on us" | Mountains/rocks hiding from judgment |
| 1Co 10:8 | Num 25:9 | "fell in one day" | Israel's wilderness deaths — naphal → pipto |
| Heb 3:17 | Num 14:29 | "carcases fell in the wilderness" | Same wilderness judgment narrative |
| Heb 11:30 | Jos 6:20 | "walls of Jericho fell down" | naphal → pipto in conquest narrative |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The full semantic range transfers intact: physical falling, prostration in worship, destruction of powers, death in judgment, cosmic descent - The "is fallen, is fallen" formula for Babylon passes from Isa 21:9 through LXX into Rev 14:8/18:2 with the same doubled-verb emphasis - Prostration before God as worship (Deu 9:18 → Rev 4:10, 7:11, 11:16) uses the same word across both testaments
What shifts: - The NT concentrates pipto heavily in Revelation (20 of 85 uses = 24%) compared to naphal's broad OT distribution across 37+ books, giving the word a more apocalyptic/liturgical focus - Compounds specialize in NT: ekpipto takes on a distinct "fall away from faith" meaning (Gal 5:4) that naphal's hiphil handled in OT
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup) Last updated: 2026-04-16