TR: yare → phobeo (Fear/Reverence)¶
The Chain¶
Hebrew OT LXX (Greek OT) Greek NT
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יָרֵא (yare) → φοβέω (phobeo) → φοβέω (phobeo)
H3372, 317x 241x as translation 90x in NT
"fear, revere" of yare "fear, be in awe of"
OT Usage (Hebrew)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| H3372 | יָרֵא (yare) | 317 | to fear, to revere; causatively to frighten |
| H3373 | יָרֵא (yare) | ~63 | adjective: fearing, reverent |
| H3374 | יִרְאָה (yirah) | ~45 | noun: fear, reverence, piety |
Key OT passages: - Gen 3:10 — "I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (first occurrence — primal fear after sin) - Exo 1:17 — "the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them" (reverence overcoming human authority) - Deut 6:13 — "Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him" (covenant command) - Psa 111:10 — "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom"
Library: H3372-yare.md
LXX Bridge¶
| Hebrew | Greek Translation | Co-occurrences | PMI Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| yare (H3372) | φοβέω (G5399) | 241 | 31.55 | Dominant equivalent — covers both fear and reverence senses |
| yare (H3372) | φοβερός (G5398) | 22 | 18.28 | Adjective "fearful, terrible" — for yare's "terrible" sense |
| yare (H3372) | θαῤῥέω (G2292) | 9 | 13.88 | "Be bold, confident" — used for negated yare |
| yare (H3372) | πτοέω (G4422) | 9 | 10.23 | "Terrify" — for yare's alarm/startle sense |
| yare (H3372) | εὐλαβέομαι (G2125) | 7 | 9.70 | "Reverence cautiously" — for yare's pious-caution sense |
Semantic preservation in translation: The LXX preserves yare's full semantic range through phobeo, which carries both "terror" and "reverence" just as yare does in Hebrew. The 241 co-occurrences (76% of yare's total) make this one of the strongest verb-to-verb bridges in the LXX. The few alternative renderings capture edge senses: phoberos for "terrible/awesome" descriptions, and eulabeomai for cautious piety.
NT Usage (Greek)¶
| Strong's | Word | Occurrences | Primary Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| G5399 | φοβέω (phobeo) | 90 | fear, be afraid, revere |
| G5401 | φόβος (phobos) | 47 | fear, terror, reverence |
| G5398 | φοβερός (phoberos) | 3 | fearful, terrible |
| G870 | ἀφόβως (aphobos) | 4 | without fear, fearlessly |
Key NT passages: - Rev 14:7 — "Fear God, and give glory to him" (first angel's message — direct echo of OT "fear the LORD" covenant formula) - 1 Pet 2:17 — "Fear God. Honour the king." (pairs with Deut 6:13's "fear the LORD... and serve him") - Acts 10:2 — "one that feared God" (φοβούμενος τὸν θεόν — technical term for Gentile God-fearers, rooted in OT yare-Elohim pattern) - Mat 10:28 — "fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Jesus redirecting fear from men to God)
Library: G5399-phobeo.md
Direct OT→NT Quotations¶
| NT Verse | Quotes OT | Shared Word | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heb 13:6 | Psa 118:6 | yare → phobeo | "I will not fear what man shall do unto me" |
| Rev 15:4 | Psa 86:9; Jer 10:7 | yare → phobeo | "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord" — nations fearing God |
| Luke 1:50 | Psa 103:17 | yare → phobeo | "his mercy is on them that fear him" |
| John 12:15 | Zech 9:9 | yare → phobeo | "Fear not, daughter of Sion" |
Continuity and Shifts¶
What stays the same across testaments: - Both yare and phobeo span the full range from "terror" to "reverence" — the word is not split into separate fear/worship terms - "Fear God" as covenant command: Deut 6:13 → 1 Pet 2:17, Rev 14:7 - "Fear not" as divine reassurance: Gen 15:1, Isa 41:10 → angelic and Jesus' "fear not" formulas in the Gospels - The participle "those who fear God/him" as designation of the faithful: Psa 115:11 → Acts 10:2, 35; 13:16; Rev 11:18; 19:5
What shifts: - The NT develops a technical use absent in the OT: φοβούμενος τὸν θεόν ("God-fearer") becomes a sociological category for Gentile converts in Acts - The NT intensifies the contrast between fear of God and fear of men (Mat 10:28; Luke 12:4-5) more explicitly than OT usage - 1 John 4:18 introduces a distinctive claim — "perfect love casteth out fear" — distinguishing servile fear (punishment-based) from mature reverence, a nuance less developed in OT usage
Generated from: gather_trace_data.py, search_strongs.py (--lxx-map, --hebrew-source, --lookup) Last updated: 2026-04-13