TR: raab → limos (Famine / Hunger)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
─────────── ─────────────── ────────
רָעָב (raab) → λιμός (limos) → λιμός (limos)
H7458, 88x 83x as translation 12x in NT
"famine, hunger" of raab "famine, hunger"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H7458 | רָעָב (raab) | 88 | famine, hunger, dearth |
| H7456 | רָעֵב (raeb) | 13 | to hunger (root verb) |
| H7457 | רָעֵב (raeb) | 20 | hungry (adjective) |
| H7459 | רְעָבוֹן (reabown) | 3 | famine (rare synonym) |
Key OT passages: - Gen 12:10 — "And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt" (first occurrence — famine as narrative catalyst) - Jer 14:12 — "I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence" (prophetic judgment triad) - Eze 5:12 — "with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee" (threefold division of judgment)
Library: H7458-raab.md
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occ | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| raab (H7458) | λιμός (G3042) | 83x | 35.26 | Primary — near-exclusive mapping |
| raab (H7458) | θάνατος (G2288) | 25x | 15.73 | Contextual co-occurrence (judgment passages) |
| raab (H7458) | μάχαιρα (G3162) | 20x | 15.43 | Contextual co-occurrence (sword in triad) |
Reverse — other Hebrew words mapped to limos (G3042):
| Hebrew Source | Strong's | Co-occ | PMI Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| רָעָב (raab) | H7458 | 83x | 35.26 |
| דֶּבֶר (deber) | H1698 | 24x | 22.81 |
| חֶרֶב (chereb) | H2719 | 38x | 17.36 |
| צָמָא (tsama) | H6772 | 4x | 9.51 |
| לֶחֶם (lechem) | H3899 | 11x | 8.39 |
Semantic shift in translation: Minimal. The Hebrew raab and Greek limos have virtually identical semantic ranges — both cover national famine and personal hunger. The mapping is near-univocal (83/88 verses). The reverse direction shows that limos occasionally appears in LXX verses containing deber (pestilence) and chereb (sword), but only as contextual co-occurrence in the judgment triad, not as a translation of those words.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G3042 | λιμός (limos) | 12 | famine, hunger, dearth |
Key NT passages: - Matt 24:7 — "there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes" (Olivet Discourse — eschatological sign) - Luke 4:25 — "great famine was throughout all the land" (Jesus references Elijah-era famine) - Rev 6:8 — "to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death" (Fourth Seal — echoes OT triad) - Rom 8:35 — "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine... separate us from the love of Christ?" - Acts 7:11 — "there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt" (Stephen references Genesis famine)
Library: TODO(need G3042 study)
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
No direct quotations of H7458 verses in the NT. However, clear conceptual continuity exists:
| NT Verse | Echoes OT | Shared Concept | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt 24:7 | Jer 14:12; Eze 5:12 | sword-famine-pestilence triad | Jesus uses the OT judgment formula as eschatological sign |
| Rev 6:8 | Eze 14:21 | "four sore judgments" | Fourth Seal replicates Ezekiel's fourfold judgment pattern |
| Luke 4:25 | 1 Ki 18:2; 2 Ki 8:1 | Elijah-era famine | Jesus explicitly references OT famine narrative |
| Acts 7:11 | Gen 41:54-57 | Joseph famine | Stephen retells patriarchal famine history |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - Famine as divine judgment instrument — both OT prophets and NT apocalyptic (Revelation) present famine as sent or permitted by God - The triad pattern — sword, famine, pestilence in OT becomes sword, hunger, death in Rev 6:8 - Famine as eschatological sign — prophetic warnings in Jeremiah/Ezekiel parallel Jesus's end-time discourse in Matt 24
What shifts: - Scale of usage drops sharply: 88 OT verses to 12 NT verses — famine is primarily an OT concept - NT adds personal-suffering dimension: Rom 8:35 and 2 Cor 11:27 use limos for individual hunger/deprivation, not national calamity - The metaphorical "famine of the word" (Amos 8:11) has no explicit NT parallel, though the concept informs Jesus's "man shall not live by bread alone" (Matt 4:4)
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup, --lexicon) Last updated: 2026-04-15