TR: nāśāʾ → aírō (Lift / Bear / Take Away)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
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נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ) → αἴρω (aírō) → αἴρω (aírō)
H5375, 607x in OT LXX co-occ: 164x 98x in NT
"lift, carry, bear" PMI score: 24.47 "lift up, take away"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H5375 | נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ) | 607 | lift, carry, bear, take, forgive |
| H4853 | מַשָּׂא (maśśāʾ) | ~66 | burden, oracle, tribute (derived noun) |
| H5381 | נָשַׂג (nāśag) | ~50 | reach, attain (Strong's-adjacent) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 4:13 — "My punishment [is] greater than I can bear" — earliest instance; nāśāʾ as bearing consequence - Isa 53:12 — "he bare the sin of many" — the Servant bears guilt on behalf of others; same verb as "carry a load" - Mic 7:18 — "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?" — nāśāʾ as divine forgiveness
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| נָשָׂא H5375 | αἴρω (G142) | 164x | Primary equivalent — general lifting/taking |
| נָשָׂא H5375 | ἀναλαμβάνω (G353) | 45x | Take up, receive up — transport/ascent context |
| נָשָׂא H5375 | ἐπαίρω (G1869) | 31x | Raise up — often figurative exaltation |
| נָשָׂא H5375 | ἀναβλέπω (G308) | 20x | Look up — captures "lift eyes" idiom specifically |
| נָשָׂא H5375 | λαμβάνω (G2983) | 153x | Take, receive — broader overlap, lower PMI |
Hebrew sources of αἴρω in LXX:
| Hebrew | Strong's | Co-occ | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ) | H5375 | 164x | Primary Hebrew source |
| אָרוֹן (ʾārôn) | H727 | 31x | Ark — often "lift/carry the ark" context |
| מַשָּׂא (maśśāʾ) | H4853 | 13x | Burden/oracle (derived from H5375) |
| נֵס (nēs) | H5251 | 8x | Standard/banner — "lift up a banner" |
Semantic shift in translation: αἴρω captures nāśāʾ's two dominant meanings — physically lifting/carrying AND removing/taking away. In the NT, αἴρω's "take away" sense (Jn 1:29: "taketh away the sin of the world") reflects the same idiom behind Hebrew nāśāʾ ʿāwōn (bearing/removing sin).
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G142 | αἴρω (aírō) | 98 | lift up, take away, remove |
| G353 | ἀναλαμβάνω (analambánō) | 13 | take up, assume (used of the ascension) |
| G1869 | ἐπαίρω (epaírō) | 11 | raise up, lift up (voice, eyes, hand) |
Key NT passages: - John 1:29 — "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away (aírō) the sin of the world" — theological climax of the nāśāʾ ḥēṭ ("bear/remove sin") chain - Matt 4:6 / Luke 4:11 — "He shall give his angels charge... they shall bear (aírō) thee up" (Ps 91:12 quoted) — physical carrying/protecting - Col 2:14 — "took it out of the way (aírō)" — document/debt removed; the "taking away" sense
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt 4:6 / Luke 4:11 | Ps 91:12 | nāśāʾ → aírō | "bear thee up" — angelic carrying; Satan cites exact LXX rendering |
| John 1:29 | Isa 53:12 (allusion) | nāśāʾ → aírō | "taketh away the sin" = "bare the sin of many" — same verb chain |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - The core physical sense of lifting/carrying transfers intact: OT Levites carry the ark (nāśāʾ); NT disciples lift the lame (aírō). - The idiom "lift the eyes" appears in both testaments using the corresponding word in each language. - The bearing-of-sin motif carries directly into NT theology (Isa 53 → John 1:29; Heb 9:28).
What shifts: - NT αἴρω strongly favors the "take away" direction over the "bear/endure" direction — 17 of 98 NT uses are explicitly about removal or elimination. - The forgiveness dimension (nāśāʾ ʿāwōn = God lifts off guilt) in the OT is expressed in NT through compound words like ἀφίημι (aphíēmi, G863) rather than bare αἴρω, though John 1:29 uses aírō for the Lamb's sin-removal. - The census idiom ("lift the head") has no NT equivalent — αἴρω never functions that way in the NT.
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py H5375 Last updated: 2026-04-02