TR: shabbath → sabbaton (Sabbath)

The Chain

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)          Greek NT
──────────────         ─────────────────        ────────────────
שַׁבָּת (shabbâth)  →  σάββατον (sábbaton)  →  σάββατον (sábbaton)
H7676, 89 verses       84x as translation       62 verses in NT
"the Sabbath"          of shabbath              "sabbath / week"

G4521 is the most direct Hebrew loanword in the Greek NT — a transliteration, not a translation.

OT Usage (Hebrew)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H7676	שַׁבָּת (shabbâth)	89 verses	the Sabbath; day of rest/cessation
H7677	שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbâthôwn)	11	a sabbath rest; special holiday
H7673	שָׁבַת (shâbath)	~70	root verb: to rest, cease, desist

Key OT passages: - Exo 20:8, 10 — "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy... the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God" - Exo 31:13 — "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations" - Lev 23:3 — "the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein" - Isa 58:13 — "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day..." - Neh 13:15–19 — Nehemiah enforcing sabbath gates against commerce

Word study: H7676-shabbath

LXX Bridge

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Count	Notes
shabbâth (H7676)	σάββατον (G4521)	84x	Near-exclusive; a transliteration
shabbâth (H7676)	σαββάτοις / σαββάτων forms	—	Same lexeme, varied case
shabbâthôwn (H7677)	σαββατισμός (G4520)	7x	The "rest-ness" of sabbath

Semantic shift in translation: None — the LXX transliterates rather than translates, preserving the Hebrew sound. This is unusual among LXX renderings. It shows the LXX translators regarded the Sabbath as a proper institution with an untranslatable name, not merely a "day of rest" (which might have been ἀνάπαυσις or ἀργία).

NT Usage (Greek)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G4521	σάββατον (sábbaton)	62 verses	the sabbath; by extension the week
G4520	σαββατισμός (sabbatismós)	1	a sabbath-rest (Heb 4:9)

Key NT passages: - Mark 2:27–28 — "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath" - Luke 13:16 — "ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham... be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" - Acts 13:14 — Paul "went into the synagogue on the sabbath day" — continuing OT synagogue pattern - Col 2:16 — "Let no man therefore judge you... in respect of... the sabbath days" — sabbath in the eschatological shadow

Word study: G4521

Direct OT→NT Quotations

NT Verse	OT Reference	Connection
Mat 12:5	Num 28:9–10	"how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath" — direct appeal to Sabbath law
Mat 12:7	Hos 6:6	"I will have mercy and not sacrifice" — applied to Sabbath controversy
Luke 4:16	(Isa 61:1–2)	Jesus reads sabbath text in sabbath setting at Nazareth
Luke 23:56	Exo 20:8	women "rested the sabbath day according to the commandment" — explicit appeal to Decalogue

Continuity and Shifts

What stays the same: - The word itself: σάββατον IS שַׁבָּת, phonologically preserved - Seventh-day timing: NT consistently treats the sabbath as the seventh day - Synagogue worship pattern: OT establishment → NT continuation (Acts 13, 15, 17, 18) - Holiness framing: both OT and NT treat it as a marked day requiring intentional observance

What shifts: - OT: sabbath defined primarily by prohibition (no work, no commerce, no fire) - NT: Jesus reframes sabbath around purpose — human flourishing, mercy, healing - OT: sabbath as covenant sign between Israel and YHWH (Exo 31:13) - NT: sabbath as arena for eschatological controversy — who is Lord of the day? - H7676 in OT: frequently plural ("my sabbaths," "your sabbaths") — covenant obligation to a nation - G4521 in NT: mostly singular — the specific day encountered week by week

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Generated from: gather_word_data.py H7676, gather_word_data.py G4521 Last updated: 2026-04-01