TR: ʻôlâh → holokaútōma (Whole Burnt Offering)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT                 LXX (Greek OT)              Greek NT
───────────               ───────────────             ────────
עֹלָה (ʻôlâh)          →  ὁλοκαύτωμα (holokaútōma) →  ὁλοκαύτωμα (holokaútōma)
H5930, 262 verses         163x translating ʻôlâh       G3646, 3 verses
"burnt offering"          PMI score 32.23              "whole burnt offering"
                          (the dominant equivalent)

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H5930	עֹלָה (ʻôlâh)	262	burnt offering — sacrifice wholly consumed, "going up" in smoke
H5927	עָלָה (ʻâlâh)	889	root verb: to go up, ascend, offer up
H3632	כָּלִיל (kâlîl)	15	"whole" — poetic/parallel term for whole burnt offering
H801	אִשֶּׁה (ʼishsheh)	~65	"offering made by fire" (superordinate category)

Key OT passages: - Gen 8:20 — Noah's post-flood ʻôlâh, first occurrence. - Gen 22:2, 13 — Abraham's ʻôlâh of Isaac; ram substituted. - Lev 1:3–17 — founding torah of the burnt offering. - 1 Sam 15:22 — "to obey is better than sacrifice." - Psa 40:6; 51:16–17 — "burnt offering thou didst not require." - Hos 6:6 — "mercy, and not sacrifice."

Canonical study: H5930-olah.md

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ʻôlâh (H5930)	ὁλοκαύτωμα (G3646)	163x	32.23	Primary equivalent — overwhelmingly dominant
ʻôlâh (H5930)	θυσία (G2378)	77x	19.75	Generic "sacrifice" — used in lists/summaries
ʻôlâh (H5930)	ἀναφέρω (G399)	57x	21.26	Verb of offering (action, not substance)
ʻôlâh (H5930)	θυσιαστήριον (G2379)	65x	17.53	"altar" (collocation, not gloss)

Reverse direction — what ὁλοκαύτωμα translates in LXX:

Greek → Hebrew	Co-occ	PMI
holokaútōma ← ʻôlâh (H5930)	163	32.23
holokaútōma ← par (H6499, "bullock")	34	18.44
holokaútōma ← kebes (H3532, "lamb")	30	18.10
holokaútōma ← ʼayil (H352, "ram")	35	16.89

Semantic shift in translation: Minimal. The LXX coins ὁλοκαύτωμα ("whole-burnt [thing]," from ὅλος "whole" + καίω "burn") to capture precisely the distinctive feature of ʻôlâh — total consumption on the altar. The Greek gloss is a near-calque; the semantic field transfers almost intact. Where ʻôlâh's root nuance "ascent, going up" is faintly audible in Hebrew, the Greek foregrounds the "wholly burned" aspect instead.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	NT Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G3646	ὁλοκαύτωμα (holokaútōma)	3	whole burnt offering
G2378	θυσία (thysía)	28	sacrifice (generic)
G4376	προσφορά (prosphorá)	9	offering
G286	ἀμνός (amnós)	4	lamb (esp. Christological)

Key NT passages (all 3 occurrences of G3646): - Mark 12:33 — the scribe's confession: "to love him with all the heart... is more than all whole burnt offerings (ὁλοκαυτωμάτων) and sacrifices." (Echoing 1 Sam 15:22; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6–8.) - Heb 10:6 — "In burnt offerings (ὁλοκαυτώματα) and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure." (Quoting Psa 40:6.) - Heb 10:8 — repeats the same Psa 40 citation: "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings (ὁλοκαυτώματα)... thou wouldest not."

Canonical study: TODO(need G3646 study)

Word family of G3646 (holo- cluster)¶

Strong's	Word	POS	Meaning
G3647	ὁλοκληρία (holoklēría)	noun	soundness, wholeness
G3648	ὁλόκληρος (holóklēros)	adj.	entire, complete
G3650	ὅλος (hólos)	adj.	whole, entire
G3651	ὁλοτελής (holotelḗs)	adj.	wholly, through-and-through

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word	Significance
Heb 10:6, 8	Psa 40:6 [LXX 39:7]	ʻôlâh → ὁλοκαύτωμα	Christ's self-offering supersedes the ʻôlâh system
Mark 12:33	Deut 6:4–5 + 1 Sam 15:22 / Hos 6:6 echoes	ʻôlâh → ὁλοκαύτωμα	Love of God/neighbor outranks whole burnt offerings

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - The referent: a sacrifice entirely burned, retaining no portion for priest or offerer. - The rhetorical function in prophetic/didactic critique: ʻôlâh / ὁλοκαύτωμα names the ritual that, though commanded, is repeatedly subordinated to obedience, mercy, knowledge of God, and love. - The LXX→NT pipeline is tight: every NT use of G3646 either quotes an OT ʻôlâh text (Heb 10:6, 8 < Psa 40:6) or echoes the prophetic-critique trajectory (Mark 12:33 < 1 Sam 15:22; Hos 6:6; Mic 6:6–8).

What shifts: - Frequency collapse: 262 OT occurrences compress to just 3 NT occurrences. The ritual institution itself recedes from view as the NT writers address a post-temple (or soon-post-temple) community. - Function: In the OT, ʻôlâh is primarily prescriptive (most uses are in legal/cultic instruction). In the NT, all three occurrences are evaluative — cited to show the ritual's relative inadequacy and its fulfillment/transcendence (Hebrews) or its subordination to the love-command (Mark). - Semantic accent: Hebrew ʻôlâh whispers "ascent/rising-up" (via root עלה); Greek ὁλοκαύτωμα accents "whole/entirely burned." The LXX shift centers attention on totality of consumption rather than directionality of ascent. - Christological re-reading: Hebrews 10 deploys ὁλοκαύτωμα precisely to contrast with Christ's "body thou hast prepared me" — the whole-burnt victim is displaced by the whole-given person.