TR: shaphat → krinō (Judging / Judgment)

The Chain

Hebrew OT               LXX / Greek OT          Greek NT
──────────────          ──────────────────       ──────────────
שָׁפַט (shâphaṭ)    →  κρίνω (krinō)        →  κρίνω (krinō)
H8199, 182x in OT      LXX co-occ: 105x         98x in NT
"to judge, govern,      PMI score: 29.38         "judge, decide,
 pronounce sentence"                              condemn, determine"

OT Usage (Hebrew)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H8199	שָׁפַט (shâphaṭ)	182	to judge, pronounce sentence, govern, plead
H4941	מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat)	421	judgment, justice, ordinance (derived noun)

Key OT passages: - Gen 18:25 — "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" — God as the archetypal shaphat - Ps 96:13 — "He cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness" - Micah 4:3 — "He shall judge among many people... they shall beat their swords into plowshares"

→ H8199-shaphat.md

LXX Bridge

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Count	PMI	Notes
שָׁפַט shâphaṭ (H8199)	κρίνω krinō (G2919)	105x	29.38	Primary equivalent — judicial action
שָׁפַט shâphaṭ (H8199)	κριτής kritēs (G2923)	37x	23.85	Qal participle shophet rendered as noun
שָׁפַט shâphaṭ (H8199)	διακρίνω diakrinō (G1252)	13x	16.20	Deliberative/discerning judgment
שָׁפַט shâphaṭ (H8199)	δικαιόω dikaioō (G1344)	9x	12.26	Vindicating/justifying sense

Reverse: κρίνω (G2919) also translates H1777 דִּין (diyn) 20x, H7378 רִיב (riyb) 23x, and H6664 צֶדֶק (tsedeq) 16x — showing the Greek word absorbs several Hebrew legal-action concepts.

Semantic continuity: The LXX translators chose κρίνω (from PIE *krei-, "to sift/separate") for shaphat's core sense of discerning and pronouncing. Both words cover the full judicial arc: hearing a case, deliberating, and rendering a verdict. The LXX also preserves shaphat's participial form (the judge as civil ruler) via κριτής (37x), keeping the concrete agent separate from the abstract action.

Semantic shift: In the LXX, δικαιόω appears 9x for shaphat when the judicial act produces vindication rather than condemnation. This reflects Hebrew law's understanding that judgment can mean either acquittal or punishment, and the LXX began pulling the vindicating sense toward the separate Greek semantic sphere of δίκη (justice as norm). The NT will sharpen this distinction further.

NT Usage (Greek)

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G2919	κρίνω (krinō)	98	to judge, decide, condemn, determine
G2923	κριτής (kritēs)	17	a judge (person)
G2920	κρίσις (krisis)	47	the act/process of judgment
G2917	κρίμα (krima)	28	the verdict, sentence rendered

Key NT passages: - John 5:22 — "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" — direct continuation of Gen 18:25's "Judge of all the earth" - Acts 17:31 — "he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man" — echoes Ps 9:8 and 96:13 via LXX κρίνω chain - Rev 19:11 — "in righteousness he doth judge and make war" — eschatological climax of the OT shaphat-as-universal-judge theme

→ WG-judgment.md

Direct OT→NT Quotations

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word	Significance
Acts 17:31	Ps 9:8 (LXX)	shâphaṭ → κρίνω	Paul's Areopagus speech: God "will judge the world in righteousness" lifts the LXX rendering of shaphat directly into NT proclamation
Rev 19:2	Ps 19:9 (LXX)	mishpat → κρίματα	"his judgments are true and righteous" — the derived noun mishpat completes the chain

Continuity and Shifts

What stays the same across testaments: - The subject of ultimate judgment is God / Christ — the LXX consistently renders the divine-judgment passages with κρίνω, and the NT adopts this directly - The eschatological scope: "judge the earth/nations" language (Ps 9:8; 96:13; 82:8) passes intact into NT proclamation (Acts 17:31; Rev 19:11) - The participial agent: shophet (judge as ruler/deliverer) appears as κριτής in both the LXX and NT

What shifts: - The NT largely drops shaphat's governing/civil-ruler sense (the "Judges of Israel" strand); κρίνω in the NT is almost exclusively judicial/evaluative, not administrative - The NT introduces κατακρίνω (G2632, condemn) as a sharpened form for the punitive side of judgment, which Hebrew shaphat covered broadly by context - The Niphal "be judged" strand (passive, 17x in Hebrew) is greatly amplified in NT: "do not judge, lest you be judged" (Matt 7:1), "we shall all stand before the judgment seat" (Rom 14:10) — the reflexive/communal implications are foregrounded

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Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, gather_word_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source) Last updated: 2026-04-02