TR: qārab → prosphérō (Bring Near / Offer)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)           Greek NT
───────────            ───────────────           ────────
קָרַב (qārab)       →  προσφέρω (prosphérō)  →  προσφέρω (prosphérō)
H7126, 263x in OT       83x as translation        45x in NT
"approach, bring near"   of qārab                  "bring to, offer"

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H7126	קָרַב (qārab)	263	to approach, bring near, come near; causative: to present/offer
H7133	קׇרְבָּן (qorbān)	80	offering, oblation — "something brought near" (noun from same root)

Key OT passages: - Lev 1:2 — "If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD" — foundational Levitical command using qārab for presenting sacrifices - Exo 3:5 — "Draw not nigh hither" — non-sacrificial: approaching the divine presence - Isa 41:1 — "let us come near together to judgment" — forensic/judicial approach - Mal 1:8 — "offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee?" — prophetic critique of defective offerings

The Hebrew qārab has a broader semantic range than its Greek equivalent. It covers physical approach to a place or person, judicial approach for case resolution, military advance, and the priestly act of presenting offerings. The Hiphil (causative) specifically means "to bring near" — to cause something to approach the altar.

Library: H7126

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew → Greek	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
qārab → προσφέρω (G4374)	83x	26.08	Primary equivalent for sacrificial "bring near/offer"
qārab → προσάγω (G4317)	82x	25.67	Nearly equal; prosagō = "lead toward" (more about leading persons than bearing objects)
qārab → προσέρχομαι (G4334)	38x	19.73	"come to/approach" — the intransitive sense
qārab → ἐγγίζω (G1448)	36x	16.94	"draw near" — spatial proximity without offering connotation

Semantic narrowing in translation: Hebrew qārab covers both "approach" (intransitive) and "bring near/present" (transitive/causative). The LXX splits this into multiple Greek verbs: prosphérō for the transitive sacrificial sense, prosérchomai for the intransitive "come to," and engízō for spatial nearness. In the NT, prosphérō retains the transitive offering sense almost exclusively.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G4374	προσφέρω (prosphérō)	45	to bring to, present, offer
G4376	προσφορά (prosphorá)	9	offering, presentation (cognate noun)

Key NT passages: - Heb 9:28 — "so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" — the once-for-all offering - Heb 5:1 — "every high priest...is ordained...to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins" — priestly mandate - Matt 5:23-24 — "if thou bring thy gift to the altar...first be reconciled to thy brother" — Jesus using the Levitical framework

Library: G4374-prosphero.md

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Alludes to OT	Shared Concept	Significance
Heb 10:8	Ps 40:6	"sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not"	Hebrews applies prosphérō to the same critique of inadequate offerings
Heb 5:1	Lev 1:2ff	Priestly mandate to offer	The Levitical qārab-offering system is restated in NT terms with prosphérō
Acts 7:42	Amos 5:25	"have ye offered to me slain beasts?"	Stephen's quotation uses prosphérō for the wilderness-era failure to truly offer

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - The core meaning of directional presenting — bearing something toward God as an offering — persists from OT qārab through LXX to NT prosphérō - The word retains its priestly/cultic context: both qārab and prosphérō describe what priests do at the altar - The co-occurrence with sacrifice-type nouns (offering, gift, burnt offering) is consistent in both testaments

What shifts: - The broad approach/nearness sense of qārab is dropped in NT prosphérō, which is almost always transitive (bearing something toward someone) - Hebrews narrows the application: prosphérō becomes the key verb for comparing repetitive Levitical offerings with Christ's once-for-all self-offering - The NT adds a non-sacrificial extension: bringing sick persons to Jesus (Matthew), bringing someone before magistrates (Luke), treating/dealing with someone (Heb 12:7)