Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Exodus
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across Exodus 1–40, with its Hebrew original, transliteration, established Arabic rendering, risk tier, and doctrinal rationale. Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE REUSE] and their recorded Arabic rendering is reused exactly, with no deviation. New terms specific to the Exodus curriculum are marked [NEW] and are proposed here for addition to translation memory under the same versioning discipline described in the baseline 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Risk tiers and review routing follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions exactly:
- Critical — human theologian review required for every occurrence
- High — human theologian review required
- Medium — native speaker review recommended
- Low — automated review sufficient
Master Glossary Table
| Term (English) | Hebrew (Transliteration) | Arabic Rendering | Risk | Status | Chapters | Doctrine | Rationale Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LORD / YHWH | יְהוָה (YHWH) | الرب | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | 1–40 (throughout) | Character and Name of God | Reuse baseline lord. Al-Rabb is a defining Quranic title of Allah; exclusivity/personal-covenant sense must be preserved. |
| God | אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) | الله | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | 1–40 (throughout) | Character and Name of God | Reuse baseline god. No viable alternative; risk is content (Trinitarian vs. strict unitarian conception), not vocabulary. |
| I AM WHO I AM | אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (‘Ehyeh ‘Asher ‘Ehyeh) | أنا الذي أنا / أهيه الذي أهيه | Critical | [NEW] | 3, 6 | Character and Name of God (I AM) | Genuine bridge with Al-Qayyum (self-subsistence) but risks false equivalence — must clarify this is a personal, relationally-invoked covenant name, not merely one descriptive attribute among 99. |
| Angel of the LORD | מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה (mal’akh YHWH) | ملاك الرب | Critical | [NEW] | 3, 23 | Mediator / Deity of Christ (typological) | Speaks in first person as God (unlike any created angel, e.g., Jibril); risk of default reading as merely a created messenger, erasing implicit deity claim. |
| Moses | מֹשֶׁה (Mosheh) | موسى (Mūsā) | High | [BASELINE REUSE — proper name convention] | 2–40 (throughout) | Moses as Mediator and Deliverer | Established Arabic Bible form; note per baseline transliteration standards. Distinguish NT/OT mediator office from Islamic prophetic finality claims already flagged for apostle/prophet. |
| Aaron | אַהֲרֹן (‘Aharon) | هارون (Hārūn) | Medium | [NEW] | 4–40 (throughout) | Mosaic Covenant and Law / Priesthood | Shared, positively-regarded Quranic prophet-figure (Harun); note Quran does not attach the priestly/mediatorial system developed in Exodus to this figure. |
| Pharaoh | פַּרְעֹה (Par’oh) | فرعون (Fir’aun) | Low | [NEW] | 1–15 | The Exodus as Redemption | Standard proper noun/title; low collision risk. |
| bondage / slavery | עֲבֹדָה / עַבְדוּת (‘avodah / ‘avdut) | العبودية | High | [NEW] | 1, 5–6, 20 | Deliverance from Bondage to Sin | Shares root ع-ب-د with ‘ibādah (worship of Allah, positive in Islam); Exodus’s own wordplay (Pharaoh’s service vs. God’s service) must be taught explicitly, not assumed obvious. |
| fear of the LORD / fear God | יִרְאַת יְהוָה / יִרְאֵי אֱלֹהִים (yir’at YHWH / yir’ei Elohim) | خوف الرب / مخافة الرب | High | [NEW] | 1, 14, 18 | Holiness and the Fear of the Lord | Do not render as تقوى (taqwā) — the central positive Islamic piety/works term; use خوف الرب / مخافة الرب to preserve reverential-awe-within-covenant sense rather than piety-as-ground-of-standing. |
| congregation | עֵדָה (‘edah) | الجماعة | Medium | [NEW] | 12, 16, 19 | The Exodus as Redemption | Do not render as الكنيسة (anachronistic NT loanword) or الأمة (Ummah, rejected per baseline church rationale). |
| lamb / flock animal | שֶׂה (seh) | خروف / شاة | High | [NEW] | 12 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Lexically simple; risk is under-teaching forward Lamb-of-God typology (John 1:29) if left unglossed. |
| without blemish | תָּמִים (tamim) | بلا عيب | High | [NEW] | 12 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Must be taught as seed of sinless-substitute doctrine (1 Peter 1:19), not mere ritual technicality. |
| slaughter / ritual slaughter | שָׂחַט (shachat) | ذبح | Medium | [NEW] | 12, 27 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Shared vocabulary with Islamic dhabīḥah/qurbani; theological substance (substitutionary, judgment-averting) differs sharply and must be glossed. |
| blood | דָּם (dam) | الدم | Critical | [NEW] | 7, 12, 24 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Islamic ritual slaughter blood carries no atoning/salvific function (Qur’an 22:37); Exodus blood is applied as a judgment-averting substitutionary sign — teach deliberately, per same logic as baseline salvation. |
| Passover | פֶּסַח (pesach) | الفصح | Critical | [NEW] | 12 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Established Christian Arabic term (LXX πάσχα); core doctrinal risk is content — no Islamic analogue to substitutionary-ransom judgment-averting death (cf. Qur’an 6:164, already flagged under baseline salvation). Directly ties forward to 1 Cor 5:7. |
| unleavened bread | מַצּוֹת (matzot) | فطير | Medium | [NEW] | 12–13, 23 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Established term; teach symbolic freight (purity/urgency; cf. 1 Cor 5:6-8), not mere recipe detail. |
| firstborn | בְּכוֹר (bekhor) | البِكْر / الأبكار | High | [NEW] | 4, 11–13 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement / Adoption (typology) | Ties to baseline adoption Critical entry: representative substitutionary standing before judgment, the negative mirror of full sonship granted without a substitute needed by the adopted believer. |
| gods of Egypt | אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם (‘elohei Mitzrayim) | آلهة مصر | Medium | [NEW] | 12 | The Exodus as Redemption | Compatible polemical-monotheism motif; teach as an act of covenant-lawsuit judgment via Passover specifically, not detached general apologetics. |
| sign | אוֹת (‘ot) | علامة | High | [NEW] | 4, 12–13, 31 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Must be taught as an appointed covenant sign of substitutionary protection — avoid both a magical misreading and a merely decorative-symbolic misreading. |
| pass over (verb) | פָּסַח (pasach) | يعفو عنكم / يتجاوز | Critical | [NEW] | 12 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Same critical weight as noun Passover; ensure divine sparing/protection sense, not mere physical passing-by. |
| plague | נֶגֶף (negef) | ضربة / وباء | Medium | [NEW] | 12 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Standard term; reinforce judgment-vs-shelter-under-blood contrast in context. |
| memorial | זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron) | تذكار | Medium | [NEW] | 12–13 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Forward bridge to the Lord’s Supper (“do this in remembrance,” Luke 22:19). |
| feast | חַג (chag) | عيد | Medium | [NEW] | 12, 23 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Unavoidable shared vocabulary with the two Islamic Eids; risk is entirely content — must anchor explicitly to the redemption event each time, not read as generic “religious holiday.” |
| statute forever | חֻקַּת עוֹלָם (chukkat ‘olam) | فريضة أبدية | High | [NEW] | 12 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Must be taught as “abidingly significant, fulfilled in Christ” (Luke 22, 1 Cor 5:7), not read through an Islamic naskh (abrogation) lens of wholesale cancellation. |
| harden (heart) | חִזֵּק / הִכְבִּיד לֵב (chizzek / hikhbid lev) | يُقسّي القلب | High | [NEW] | 4, 7–11, 14 | Character and Name of God / Election (typology) | Directly feeds baseline election Critical entry (Romans 9 cites this narrative). Preserve dual-agency (God’s action and Pharaoh’s own self-hardening) — avoid collapsing into folk qadar fatalism or into pure human-only causation. |
| signs and wonders | אֹתוֹת וּמֹפְתִים (‘otot u-moftim) | آيات وعجائب | Medium | [NEW] | 7–11 | The Exodus as Redemption | Genuine positive bridge — Qur’an narrates several of these plagues as āyāt; Exodus frames them additionally as covenant-lawsuit judgment on Egypt’s gods, a nuance to add rather than a contradiction to resolve. |
| covenant | בְּרִית (berit) | العهد | Medium | [BASELINE REUSE] | 2, 6, 19, 21, 24, 34 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Reuse baseline covenant. Note Exodus develops both unilateral-promise (pre-Sinai) and bilateral-stipulation (Sinai) senses; keep both traceable. |
| holy / holy ground | קָדוֹשׁ / אַדְמַת־קֹדֶשׁ (qadosh / admat-qodesh) | مقدس / أرض مقدسة | High | [BASELINE REUSE] | 3, 19, 26 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Reuse baseline holy. Shared ق-د-س root with al-Quds/al-Quddus remains safe. |
| sanctification / consecration | קִדֵּשׁ (qiddesh) | التقديس / تقديس | High | [BASELINE REUSE] | 13, 19, 29, 40 | Holiness and the Fear of the Lord | Reuse baseline sanctification. Distinguish from ritual purification (wudu/ghusl); this is relational/moral set-apartness plus, in Exodus, redemption-creates-ownership logic (13:2; 1 Cor 6:19-20). |
| law / Ten Commandments | תּוֹרָה / עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים (torah / ‘aseret ha-devarim) | الناموس / الوصايا العشر | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | 20–24, 31, 34 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Reuse baseline law (never الشريعة/الشرع). Fullest instance of the term in the whole Bible; the grace-before-law sequence (20:2) must never be lost. |
| commandment | מִצְוָה (mitzvah) | وصية / أمر | Low | [NEW] | 20 (and throughout law sections) | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | General legal vocabulary; no independent risk beyond law doctrine already flagged. |
| no other gods / graven image | לֹא יִהְיֶה־לְךָ / פֶּסֶל (lo yihyeh lekha / pesel) | لا آلهة أخرى / تمثال منحوت | Medium | [NEW] | 20 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Compatible with Islamic tawhid/aniconism; do not extend the argument to condemn all religious imagery across Christian traditions — outside Exodus’s scope. |
| Book of the Covenant | סֵפֶר הַבְּרִית (sefer ha-berit) | سفر العهد | Medium | [NEW] | 21–24 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Reuse covenant; tied directly to blood-ratification (24:7-8). |
| servant (Hebrew, bond-) | עֶבֶד עִבְרִי (‘eved ‘ivri) | عبد عبراني | Medium | [NEW] | 21 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Distinct, regulated status contrasted deliberately with ch. 1’s unregulated Egyptian bondage — avoid flattening both into a single undifferentiated “slavery” concept. |
| sojourner / stranger | גֵּר (ger) | الغريب | Medium | [NEW] | 12, 22 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (typology) | Ethical treatment of outsiders grounded in Israel’s own redemption memory; early anticipation of baseline gentiles/unity_of_jews_and_gentiles themes. |
| treasured possession | עַם סְגֻלָּה (‘am segullah) | شعب خاص / شعب مختار | Medium | [NEW] | 19 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Reinforce sequence: election/identity follows grace already received, not prior merit. |
| kingdom of priests | מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים (mamlekhet kohanim) | مملكة كهنة | Medium | [NEW] | 19 | Tabernacle and God’s Presence / Priesthood | Keep مملكة (a body/realm) distinct from baseline kingdom_of_god’s ملكوت (God’s reign) to avoid cross-Testament terminological confusion. |
| holy nation | גּוֹי קָדוֹשׁ (goy qadosh) | شعب مقدس (NOT أمة مقدسة) | High | [NEW] | 19 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Never render גּוֹי here as أمة — the specific pan-Islamic community term, already rejected for church in baseline for the identical reason. |
| trembling (theophanic) | חָרַד (charad) | ارتجفوا / ارتعبوا | Medium | [NEW] | 19–20 | Holiness and the Fear of the Lord | Grounds the necessity of a mediator (Moses; ultimately Christ) — unmediated divine holiness provokes terror. |
| blood of the covenant | דַּם־הַבְּרִית (dam ha-berit) | دم العهد | Critical | [NEW] | 24 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement / Mosaic Covenant | Directly quoted by Christ (Matthew 26:28); requires exact cross-Testament consistency with this Exodus phrase. |
| Ark of the Covenant | אֲרוֹן הַבְּרִית (‘aron ha-berit) | تابوت العهد | Medium | [NEW] | 25, 37, 40 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Note positive but partial overlap with Qur’an 2:248’s tābūt/sakīnah reference; Christian meaning (mercy seat, atoning blood) exceeds it and must be taught fully. |
| mercy seat / atonement cover | כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet) | غطاء الكفّارة | Critical | [NEW] | 25 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Root of Paul’s ἱλαστήριον (Romans 3:25). Never collapse into Islamic kaffārah’s human-performed remedial-deed sense — this is a God-provided, blood-based covering God himself applies. |
| cherubim | כְּרוּבִים (keruvim) | الكاروبيم | Low | [NEW] | 25 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Informational; no direct Islamic doctrinal collision. |
| tabernacle | מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan) | المسكن | High | [NEW] | 25–40 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Direct OT root of incarnation typology (John 1:14, ἐσκήνωσεν). Do not conflate with مسجد (mosque), which carries no indwelling-presence theology. |
| veil | פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) | الحجاب | High | [NEW] | 26, 34 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Established historical Bible term; requires a clarifying note against the dominant modern association with Islamic women’s head covering. |
| altar | מִזְבֵּח (mizbeach) | مذبح | Medium | [NEW] | 27, 29–30 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Shares root with ذبح (ritual slaughter, ch. 12); site of ongoing enactment of substitutionary logic. |
| high priest | כֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל (kohen ha-gadol) | رئيس الكهنة | High | [NEW] | 28–29 | Moses as Mediator / Priesthood | Provisional mediatorial office fulfilled in Christ (Hebrews 4:14); avoid conflation with imam/ulema ongoing-authority framing. |
| Urim and Thummim | אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים (‘urim ve-tummim) | الأوريم والتُّميم | Low | [NEW] | 28 | Moses as Mediator / Priesthood | God-ordained guidance instrument, distinct from prohibited divination — a point of agreement with Islamic tradition, not tension. |
| sin offering | חַטָּאת (chattat) | ذبيحة الخطية | High | [BASELINE REUSE root] | 29 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Reuse baseline sin (الخطية). Remedy is substitutionary blood sacrifice, not self-purification (opposing baseline-rejected التزكية). |
| atone / atonement | כִּפֶּר (kipper) | كفّر / يكفّر | Critical | [NEW] | 25, 29–30 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Islamic kaffārah = human remedial deed for a specific violation; Exodus’s כפר = God-provided, blood-based substitutionary covering. Never conflate. |
| ransom | כֹּפֶר (kopher) | فدية | Critical | [NEW] | 30 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Direct linguistic/conceptual ancestor of Mark 10:45’s “ransom for many” (λύτρον); tie tightly to baseline salvation. |
| anointing oil | שֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה (shemen ha-mishchah) | زيت المسحة | High | [NEW] | 30 | Character and Name of God / Messianic typology | Root מָשַׁח is the direct etymological ancestor of the baseline messiah term (المسيح); flag explicitly so the connection is not lost. |
| filled with the Spirit of God | מָלֵא רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים (male ru’ach Elohim) | امتلأ من روح الله | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE root] | 31, 35 | Holiness and the Fear of the Lord (typology) | Reuse baseline holy_spirit caution: mainstream tafsir identifies Qur’anic “spirit” language with the created angel Jibril; this personal-empowerment sense must be distinguished. |
| tablets of the testimony | לֻחוֹת הָעֵדֻת (luchot ha-‘edut) | لوحا الشهادة | Medium | [NEW] | 31, 34, 40 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Reuse of established law/covenant doctrine categories; no independent lexical risk. |
| golden calf / idolatry | עֵגֶל זָהָב (egel zahav) | العجل الذهبي / عبادة الأوثان | Medium | [NEW] | 32 | Holiness and the Fear of the Lord | Compatible condemnation with Islamic anti-shirk conviction; useful shared ground, but real narrative weight is on the mediator’s necessity. |
| intercession | וַיְחַל מֹשֶׁה (vayechal Mosheh) | الشفاعة | High | [BASELINE REUSE] | 32 | Moses as Mediator and Deliverer | Reuse baseline intercession. Teach as typological, pointing to Christ’s unique, final intercession (Hebrews 7:25), not one intercessor among several — same caution as baseline shafā’ah note. |
| blot out of the book | מְחֵנִי מִסִּפְרְךָ (mecheni mi-sifrekha) | يمحوني من كتابك | Medium | [NEW] | 32 | Character and Name of God | Forward-typological seed of the Book of Life motif (Rev 20:12). |
| face / presence of God | פָּנִים (panim) | وجه / حضور | High | [NEW] | 33 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Establishes relational nearness as the goal of redemption; tension with 33:20 resolved only in Christ (Colossians 1:15). |
| merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love | רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן… רַב־חֶסֶד (rachum ve-chanun… rav-chesed) | الرب رحيم ورؤوف، طويل الروح وكثير النعمة | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE for חֶסֶד/grace component] | 34 | Character and Name of God | Parallels Qur’an’s Ar-Rahmān/Ar-Rahīm — real bridge, but must anchor this mercy explicitly to the atonement-secured covenant (ch. 12, 24, 29-30), not an abstracted general disposition. Reuses baseline grace (النعمة) for the חֶסֶד component. |
| veiled face (Moses) | פָּנָיו מָסוּ (panav masu) | برقع / حجاب على وجه موسى | High | [NEW] | 34 | Moses as Mediator and Deliverer | Shares the ch. 26 حجاب modern-connotation caution; Paul develops this image directly in 2 Cor 3:7-18. |
| freewill offering | תְּרוּמָה (terumah) | تقدمة / تبرع | Medium | [NEW] | 35 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Voluntary giving, distinct from a compulsory religious-tax framework. |
| as the LORD commanded | כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה (ka’asher tsivvah YHWH) | كما أمر الرب | High | [NEW] | 36–39 (recurring refrain) | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Ceremonial covenant-maintenance obedience within an already-established grace relationship — must not be conflated with baseline obedience_of_faith Critical doctrine, a distinct NT category. |
| glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle | כְּבוֹד־יְהוָה מָלֵא אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן (kevod-YHWH male et ha-mishkan) | مجد الرب / امتلأ المسكن من مجد الرب | High | [BASELINE REUSE root] | 40 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Reuse baseline glory (المجد). The book’s true climax; direct forward link to John 1:14’s incarnation typology — God’s dwelling presence made permanent and personal in Christ. |
| salvation / deliverance | תְּשׁוּעָה (teshu’ah) | الخلاص | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | 14 | The Exodus as Redemption | Reuse baseline salvation. Historical/physical deliverance is the OT type; clarify explicit typological (not yet identical) relationship to the NT antitype. |
| the rock (typological) | הַצּוּר (ha-tsur) | الصخرة | High | [NEW] | 17 | Passover and Substitutionary Atonement (typology) | Paul identifies this rock with Christ (1 Cor 10:4); simple Arabic term, but doctrinal payload must not be lost in notes. |
| manna | מָן (man) | المّن | Medium | [NEW] | 16 | Deliverance from Bondage to Sin (provision typology) | Positive bridge — Qur’an 2:57 names the same provision; forward-typological note to John 6:32-35 needed. |
| Sabbath | שַׁבָּת (shabbat) | السبت | Medium | [NEW] | 16, 20, 31, 35 | The Mosaic Covenant and Law | Distinct from Islamic Friday congregational prayer (no comparable rest-from-labor commandment); a sign specifically of the Sinai covenant. |
| sanctuary (anticipated) | מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash) | مقدس / بيت مقدس | Medium | [NEW] | 15 | The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | Shares ق-د-س root, safe per baseline holy; the Exodus’s goal is God’s presence, not merely Israel’s liberty. |
Terms Reused Exactly from Baseline translation_memory.json
The following terms occur in Exodus and must use the baseline Arabic rendering with no deviation, per the hard rule that established term renderings are reused exactly:
| Term | Arabic (baseline) | Baseline Risk |
|---|---|---|
| lord / LORD | الرب | Critical |
| god | الله | Critical |
| grace (as applied to חֶסֶד context) | النعمة | High |
| covenant | العهد | Medium |
| law | الناموس | Critical |
| holy | مقدس | High |
| sanctification | التقديس | High |
| glory | المجد | High |
| sin | الخطية | High |
| salvation | الخلاص | Critical |
| intercession | الشفاعة | High |
| holy_spirit | الروح القدس | Critical |
| messiah (etymological root only; term itself does not occur as a title in Exodus but its root מָשַׁח does) | المسيح | Critical |
| israel | إسرائيل | High |
| moses (proper name convention) | موسى | — |
Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference
| Curriculum Doctrine | Key Terms (this glossary) |
|---|---|
| The Exodus as Redemption | bondage/slavery, salvation/deliverance, gods of Egypt, signs and wonders, congregation |
| Passover and Substitutionary Atonement | Passover, blood, lamb, without blemish, sign, pass over, plague, firstborn, blood of the covenant, mercy seat, atone/atonement, ransom, sin offering, altar, the rock |
| The Character and Name of God (I AM) | I AM WHO I AM, LORD/YHWH, God, harden (heart), merciful and gracious formula, Angel of the LORD, finger of God |
| The Mosaic Covenant and Law | law/Ten Commandments, commandment, Book of the Covenant, treasured possession, kingdom of priests, holy nation, servant (Hebrew bond-), tablets of the testimony, Sabbath, as the LORD commanded |
| The Tabernacle and God’s Presence | tabernacle, veil, Ark of the Covenant, cherubim, mercy seat, glory filled the tabernacle, face/presence of God, sanctuary (anticipated) |
| Deliverance from Bondage to Sin | bondage/slavery, manna, freewill offering |
| Moses as Mediator and Deliverer | Moses, Angel of the LORD, intercession, blot out of the book, face/presence, veiled face, friend of God (implicit) |
| Holiness and the Fear of the Lord | fear of the LORD, holy/holy ground, sanctification/consecration, trembling (theophanic), golden calf/idolatry |
This glossary supplements, and does not override, translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. All new terms marked [NEW] above are proposed for formal addition to translation memory under Phase 1 Step 8 (Core Glossary) governance, with risk tiers pre-assigned per the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json framework for downstream Phase 2 routing.
Critical Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb (Arabic) / YHWH (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Character and Name of God / Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (baseline lord entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: this is the personal covenant name YHWH, disclosed climactically at the burning bush (3:14-15) and invoked in the ‘I am the LORD’ formula throughout (6:2-8; 12:12; 20:2). Al-Rabb is a defining Quranic title of Allah (Rabb al-‘Alamin); the personal, self-disclosing, covenantally-named sense of YHWH must be reinforced against a purely generic-title reading.
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh (Arabic) / Elohim (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Character and Name of God / Deity of Christ
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (baseline god entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: no viable alternative exists; risk is entirely in content. Exodus’s incarnational trajectory (theophanies, ch. 3, 19, 33-34; the tabernacle, ch. 25-40) must be distinguished in teaching from strict Islamic tawhid’s non-incarnate conception of Allah.
Law
Approved rendering: الناموس
Transliteration: al-nāmūs (Arabic) / torah / ‘aseret ha-devarim (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Mosaic Covenant and Law
Rejected alternatives: الشريعة, الشرع
Original: תּוֹרָה / עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (baseline law entry), reused exactly — NEVER الشريعة or الشرع. Exodus extension: this is the fullest biblical concentration of the term (ch. 20-24, 31, 34). The preamble’s grace-before-law sequence (‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out,’ 20:2) must be foregrounded every time الناموس appears in Exodus, since losing this sequence collapses the Law into exactly the works-based righteousness pattern the baseline warns against.
Salvation
Approved rendering: الخلاص
Transliteration: al-khalāṣ (Arabic) / teshu’ah (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: The Exodus as Redemption
Rejected alternatives: النجاة, الفوز بالجنة
Original: תְּשׁוּעָה
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (baseline salvation entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: at 14:13-31 this is historical/physical deliverance from Egypt’s army — the OT type. Must clarify the explicit typological (not-yet-identical) relationship to the fuller spiritual salvation the baseline doctrine describes.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: الروح القدس
Transliteration: al-Rūḥ al-Qudus (Arabic) / ru’ach Elohim (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Spirit-Empowerment for Sacred Service
Inherited from Romans package (baseline holy_spirit entry). Exodus extension: Bezalel’s Spirit-filling for tabernacle craftsmanship (31:1-6; 35:30-35) is an early seed of the fuller Trinitarian doctrine; mainstream tafsir identifies Qur’anic ‘spirit’ language with the created angel Jibril, a distinction that must be made explicit at first mention (see also filled_with_the_spirit below for the specific compound phrase).
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh (Arabic) / mashach root (Hebrew, ‘to anoint’)
Doctrine: Anointing and Messianic Typology
Inherited from Romans package (baseline messiah entry). Exodus extension: the title itself does not occur in Exodus, but its etymological root (מָשַׁח, mashach, ‘to anoint’) underlies every anointing act in the book (ch. 29-30, 40) — see anointing_oil below. This etymological bridge is easily lost and must be flagged explicitly so later curriculum teaching on Christ as المسيح is felt as the climax of a thread beginning here.
I Am Who I Am
Approved rendering: أنا الذي أنا / أهيه الذي أهيه
Transliteration: ‘Ehyeh ‘Asher ‘Ehyeh
Doctrine: The Character and Name of God (I AM)
Rejected alternatives: القيوم وحده (Al-Qayyum alone, without personal-name framing)
Original: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה
Category: God
God’s self-disclosed name of self-existence and covenantal presence (Exodus 3:14, expounded 6:2-8). Genuine bridge with Al-Qayyum (‘The Self-Subsisting’), one of Allah’s 99 names, but risk runs opposite most Exodus terms: false equivalence, not collision. Al-Qayyum is one descriptive attribute among 99; YHWH here discloses a personal, relationally-invoked covenant name (‘this is my name forever,’ v.15). Use the hybrid strategy: transliterate as the name proper at first occurrence with the paraphrase as explanatory gloss, then default to الرب per the text’s own move at v.15.
Angel Of The Lord
Approved rendering: ملاك الرب
Transliteration: mal’akh YHWH
Doctrine: Theophany and the Angel of the LORD (Christophany)
Original: מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה
Category: God
A figure who appears in angelic form yet speaks and acts with the full identity and authority of God himself (3:2-6; 23:20-23). Malak is standard Islamic vocabulary for a created being (parallel to the baseline holy_spirit/Jibril collision), but this figure speaks in the first person as God (3:6) and holds authority to forgive sin (23:21) that no created angel possesses in Islamic theology. Must be glossed at every occurrence or readers default to a merely-created-messenger reading.
Merciful And Gracious Formula
Approved rendering: الرب رحيم ورؤوف، طويل الروح وكثير النعمة
Transliteration: rachum ve-chanun, erekh apayim, ve-rav-chesed
Doctrine: Divine Mercy and Compassion
Original: רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד
Category: God
God’s self-disclosed character formula (34:6-7). Closely parallels the Qur’an’s Ar-Rahman/Ar-Rahim, invoked at the head of nearly every surah — a real, textually grounded bridge, but readers risk assuming total equivalence and missing what is distinctive: this mercy is disclosed within a covenant secured by blood-atonement (ch. 12, 24, 29-30), not an abstracted general disposition. Reuses baseline grace (النعمة) for the chesed component; anchor to the atonement-grounding at every recurrence (also Numbers 14:18, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13).
Blood
Approved rendering: الدم
Transliteration: dam
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: דָּם
Category: Salvation
The life-substance of the Passover lamb, applied to the doorposts as the substitutionary, judgment-averting sign (12:7,13). In mainstream Islamic ritual slaughter, blood is drained and discarded, carrying no salvific function (Qur’an 22:37, ‘it is not their meat or blood that reaches Allah, but your piety’). Exodus 12’s blood is applied, not disposed of, as a substitutionary sign — must be taught deliberately, exactly as the baseline salvation entry requires.
Passover
Approved rendering: الفصح
Transliteration: pesach
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Rejected alternatives: عيد الاجتياز (a modern paraphrase-style deviation, rejected)
Original: פֶּסַח
Category: Salvation
Established Arabic Christian term (LXX pascha, retained in Van Dyck and all major Arabic versions) — do not re-transliterate or paraphrase afresh. Core doctrinal risk is content, not word choice: Islamic theology has no analogous substitutionary-ransom framework averting divine judgment through a bloody death in the guilty party’s place (cf. Qur’an 6:164, already flagged under the baseline salvation entry). Every occurrence must be taught with this substitutionary weight intact and tied forward to 1 Corinthians 5:7, ‘Christ our Passover Lamb.‘
Pass Over Verb
Approved rendering: يعفو عنكم / يتجاوز
Transliteration: pasach
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: פָּסַח
Category: Salvation
The verbal root of ‘Passover’ itself — God’s own action of sparing those marked by the substitute’s blood (12:13,23,27). Must be distinguished in Arabic from the separate verb ‘avar (עָבַר, to pass through and strike, 12:12); collapsing both into one Arabic verb erases the substitutionary logic of judgment-falls-on-all-except-where-blood-is-applied.
Blood Of The Covenant
Approved rendering: دم العهد
Transliteration: dam ha-berit
Doctrine: Covenant Ratification by Blood
Original: דַּם־הַבְּרִית
Category: Covenant
Sacrificial blood sprinkled on the people to ratify the Sinai covenant (24:8). Directly quoted by Jesus at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:28, ‘this is my blood of the covenant’). Must be rendered with exact cross-Testament consistency with the blood entry (12:7) so the later Gospel citation is recognized as a deliberate reference — a load-bearing cross-Testament consistency requirement, not a local choice.
Mercy Seat
Approved rendering: غطاء الكفّارة
Transliteration: kapporet
Doctrine: The Mercy Seat and Atonement Typology
Original: כַּפֹּרֶת
Category: Salvation
The gold lid of the Ark where atoning blood was applied (25:17-22; Leviticus 16) — the precise physical location where substitutionary blood met God’s presence, directly informing Paul’s hilasterion for Christ (Romans 3:25). Islamic kaffarah denotes a human-performed remedial act (Qur’an 5:89) with no substitutionary blood component and no bearing on eternal salvation. Never flatten into that legal-remedy sense — this is a God-provided, blood-based covering God himself applies. Pair with a fixed qualifying phrase at every occurrence: a covering provided by God, not a human compensatory deed.
Atonement
Approved rendering: كفّر / يكفّر
Transliteration: kipper
Doctrine: The Mercy Seat and Atonement Typology
Original: כִּפֶּר
Category: Salvation
The priestly act of applying sacrificial blood to remove guilt or consequence of sin (29:33,36-37; 30:10,15-16). Highest-priority false-cognate risk in the curriculum: the shared root ك-ف-ر is entirely occupied by Islamic kaffarah’s human-remedial-deed sense in live religious usage. Every occurrence requires a fixed qualifying phrase: a covering provided by God, not a human compensatory deed — never let this rendering stand unglossed.
Ransom
Approved rendering: فدية
Transliteration: kopher
Doctrine: Redemption of the Firstborn
Original: כֹּפֶר
Category: Salvation
The atonement/census payment described as ‘a ransom for his soul’ (30:12), sharing the root of kipper. A direct linguistic/conceptual ancestor of Christ’s own description of his death as ‘a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). Choose فدية deliberately, since the text is explicit this is God’s own prescribed means, not a human bargaining payment; tie tightly to the baseline salvation doctrine’s ransom themes.
Filled With The Spirit
Approved rendering: امتلأ من روح الله
Transliteration: male ru’ach Elohim
Doctrine: Spirit-Empowerment for Sacred Service
Original: מָלֵא רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Bezalel’s Spirit-given equipping for skilled tabernacle craftsmanship (31:1-6; 35:30-35). Reuses baseline holy_spirit caution: mainstream tafsir identifies Qur’anic ‘spirit’ language with the created angel Jibril, a created being. This personal, indwelling-empowerment sense for an individual’s skilled service must be distinguished from that framework at first mention, since it seeds the fuller Trinitarian doctrine made explicit in the NT.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah (Arabic) / chesed (Hebrew, covenant-loyalty-love component)
Doctrine: Grace / Divine Mercy and Compassion
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Inherited from Romans package (baseline grace entry), reused exactly for the chesed component of Exodus 34:6-7’s merciful-and-gracious formula. Exodus extension: this mercy is disclosed specifically within a covenant relationship secured through blood-atonement (ch. 12, 24, 29-30), not a general divine disposition abstracted from that atoning basis — reinforce every time the formula recurs.
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas (Arabic) / qadosh / admat-qodesh (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Holiness and the Fear of the LORD
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Original: קָדוֹשׁ / אַדְמַת־קֹדֶשׁ
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package (baseline holy entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: first applied to holy ground at the burning bush (3:5-6), then to Sinai (19:23) and the tabernacle (26:33-34). Shares the ق-د-س root safely with al-Quds/al-Quddus; avoid ritual-purity-only (wudu-style) connotations.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: التقديس
Transliteration: al-taqdīs (Arabic) / qiddesh (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Holiness and the Fear of the LORD / Redemption of the Firstborn
Rejected alternatives: التطهير
Original: קִדֵּשׁ
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package (baseline sanctification entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: applied to the firstborn (13:2), the priests (ch. 29), and the tabernacle (ch. 40). Exodus adds the specific logic that redemption creates ownership and obligation (‘you are not your own,’ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 rooted here).
Glory
Approved rendering: المجد
Transliteration: al-majd (Arabic) / kevod YHWH (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: The Glory of God and Incarnation Typology
Rejected alternatives: النور الإلهي
Original: כָּבוֹד יְהוָה
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (baseline glory entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: culminates at 40:34-38, the book’s true climax and the single most important forward link to the baseline Critical incarnation doctrine (John 1:14). Avoid light-metaphor renderings evoking Sufi illumination (ishraq) mysticism.
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah (Arabic) / chattat (Hebrew original, sin/sin-offering)
Doctrine: The Mercy Seat and Atonement Typology
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Inherited from Romans package (baseline sin entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: underlies the sin offering (חַטָּאת, ch. 29) at the priests’ ordination; the remedy prescribed is substitutionary blood sacrifice, not self-purification, directly opposing the baseline justification entry’s rejected term التزكية.
Intercession
Approved rendering: الشفاعة
Transliteration: al-shafā’ah (Arabic) / vayechal Mosheh (Hebrew original, ‘Moses entreated’)
Doctrine: Moses’ Intercession as Typology of Christ
Original: וַיְחַל מֹשֶׁה
Category: Mediator
Inherited from Romans package (baseline intercession entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: Moses’ intercession at the golden calf (32:11-14, 30-32) must be taught as typological, pointing toward Christ’s unique and final intercession (Hebrews 7:25), not one intercessor among an ongoing series — the same caution the baseline records regarding the live, contested Islamic category of shafa’ah (Muhammad’s ‘greater intercession’).
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl (Arabic) / Yisra’el (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Unity of Israel and the Sojourner / Election
Inherited from Romans package (baseline israel entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: the covenant people descended from Jacob, recipients of the Exodus deliverance and the Sinai covenant. In contemporary spoken Arabic, Isra’il is overwhelmingly associated with the modern nation-state; requires deliberate pastoral framing so the ancient covenant-people referent is not read through a present-day political lens.
Harden Heart
Approved rendering: يُقسّي القلب
Transliteration: chizzek / hikhbid lev
Doctrine: Divine Sovereignty and the Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart
Original: חִזֵּק / הִכְבִּיד לֵב
Category: God
God’s active involvement in Pharaoh’s resistance (4:21; 7:3,13-14; 9:12,34-35; 10:1,20,27; 14:4,8,17), presented alongside Pharaoh’s own self-hardening (8:15,32). Directly feeds the baseline election Critical entry (Romans 9 cites this narrative). Preserve dual agency exactly as the Hebrew text presents it in sequence — do not collapse into folk qadar fatalism (‘it is written,’ detached from redemptive purpose) nor into purely human-only causation.
Moses
Approved rendering: موسى
Transliteration: Mosheh
Doctrine: Moses as Mediator and Deliverer
Original: מֹשֶׁה
Category: Mediator
Established Arabic Bible proper-name form (Mūsā), also the Qur’an’s own most-mentioned prophet, honored as Kalim Allah (‘one who spoke with Allah’). The biblical mediator office (representing the people before God and God’s word to the people) must be distinguished from the Islamic prophetic office and its finality claim (khatam an-nabiyyin) — parallel risk to the baseline caution on Paul (apostle) and Jesus (prophet).
Bondage Slavery
Approved rendering: العبودية
Transliteration: ‘avodah / ‘avdut
Doctrine: The Exodus as Redemption / Deliverance from Bondage to Sin
Original: עֲבֹדָה / עַבְדוּת
Category: Sin
Forced, oppressive labor imposed on Israel by Egypt (1:11-14; 5:1-21), the negative pole of the Exodus’s central redemptive metaphor. Shares its root ع-ب-د with ‘ibadah (worship/servitude to Allah), a wholly positive term in Islam. The Hebrew text’s own wordplay (Pharaoh’s ‘service’ vs. the LORD’s ‘service,’ 4:23; 7:16) must be surfaced explicitly, since a reader steeped in ‘ibadah’s positive connotation will not find the negative sense self-evident.
Fear Of The Lord
Approved rendering: خوف الرب / مخافة الرب
Transliteration: yir’at YHWH / yir’ei Elohim
Doctrine: Holiness and the Fear of the LORD
Rejected alternatives: تقوى (taqwā)
Original: יִרְאַת יְהוָה / יִרְאֵי אֱלֹהִים
Category: Sanctification
Reverential awe producing right action, a leadership qualification (1:17,21; 18:21). Must NOT be rendered with taqwa — the central positive Islamic piety/works virtue bound to obedience to shari’a as the ground of righteous standing. خوف الرب / مخافة الرب preserves reverential awe rooted in a covenant relationship already secured by grace (ch. 12-15), not piety-as-ground-of-standing.
Lamb
Approved rendering: خروف / شاة
Transliteration: seh
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: שֶׂה
Category: Passover
The household-scale sheep or goat designated to die in place of the household’s firstborn (12:3-5). Lexically simple, but must be taught with forward reference to ‘Lamb of God’ typology (John 1:29); under-glossing loses the thread tying Exodus 12 to the NT sacrificial argument culminating in Christ.
Without Blemish
Approved rendering: بلا عيب
Transliteration: tamim
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: תָּמִים
Category: Passover
The physical soundness required of the Passover sacrifice (12:5). Not a lexical collision risk but an under-teaching risk: if left unglossed, readers may treat this as ritual technicality rather than the seed of substitutionary-sacrifice theology fulfilled in Christ’s sinlessness (1 Peter 1:19).
Firstborn
Approved rendering: البِكْر / الأبكار
Transliteration: bekhor
Doctrine: Redemption of the Firstborn
Original: בְּכוֹר
Category: Passover
The firstborn son (or animal) whose representative liability before God’s judgment is either forfeited or covered by the Passover substitute (4:23; 11:4-5; 12:12-13,29; 13:1-2). Ties directly to the baseline adoption Critical entry: the Islamic legal default grants a firstborn honor/inheritance but no substitutionary death-liability before God’s judgment — this is the negative mirror of the full sonship adoption later grants believers.
Sign
Approved rendering: علامة
Transliteration: ‘ot
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: אוֹת
Category: Passover
A visible marker pointing beyond itself to a divine reality or promise, applied to the Passover blood (12:13) and Moses’ authenticating miracles (ch. 4). Must be taught as an appointed covenant sign of substitutionary protection God himself honors — guarding against both a magical misreading and a merely decorative-symbolic misreading.
Statute Forever
Approved rendering: فريضة أبدية
Transliteration: chukkat ‘olam
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: חֻקַּת עוֹלָם
Category: Passover
A perpetual, binding ordinance across all generations (12:14,17,24). Must be taught as ‘abidingly significant, fulfilled in Christ’ (Luke 22:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:7), not read through an Islamic naskh (abrogation) lens where later revelation simply cancels an earlier one wholesale.
Holy Nation
Approved rendering: شعب مقدس
Transliteration: goy qadosh
Doctrine: Election and Israel’s Identity as a Treasured Possession
Rejected alternatives: أمة مقدسة
Original: גּוֹי קָדוֹשׁ
Category: Sanctification
Israel’s set-apart national identity and covenant vocation (19:6). Do NOT render goy here as أمة. Though lexically plausible for ‘nation,’ أمة is the specific pan-Islamic term for the worldwide community of Muslims, already explicitly rejected for ‘church’ in the baseline for the identical reason.
Tabernacle
Approved rendering: المسكن
Transliteration: mishkan
Doctrine: The Tabernacle and God’s Presence
Rejected alternatives: مسجد
Original: מִשְׁכָּן
Category: Tabernacle
God’s portable dwelling place among his people (root shakhan, related to ‘Shekinah’; ch. 25-40). Direct OT root of the incarnation typology already Critical in the baseline (John 1:14, eskenosen, ‘tabernacled among us’). Must not be conflated with مسجد (‘mosque’), which carries a different theological architecture with no indwelling-presence claim.
Veil
Approved rendering: الحجاب
Transliteration: parokhet
Doctrine: The Veil and Restricted Access to God
Original: פָּרֹכֶת
Category: Tabernacle
The dividing curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (26:31-35). الحجاب is the correct, established, pre-Islamic Arabic Bible term, but in contemporary Arabic it is overwhelmingly associated with the Islamic woman’s head covering. Do not substitute a different word; require a mandatory first-use clarifying note in every document.
High Priest
Approved rendering: رئيس الكهنة
Transliteration: ha-kohen ha-gadol
Doctrine: The Priesthood and the High Priest
Original: הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל
Category: Mediator
The chief mediatorial officer of Israel’s worship system (ch. 28-29), who alone may enter the Holy of Holies. Must be taught as a provisional, mediatorial office fulfilled and superseded in Christ (Hebrews 4:14), not a permanent religious-professional class comparable to an imam/member of the ulema, whose authority is primarily scholarly/teaching rather than sacrificial mediation.
Sin Offering
Approved rendering: ذبيحة الخطية
Transliteration: chattat
Doctrine: The Mercy Seat and Atonement Typology
Original: חַטָּאת
Category: Salvation
A sacrifice specifically addressing sin/guilt, offered at the priests’ ordination (29:14,36). Reuses baseline sin (الخطية); reinforce that the remedy is substitutionary blood sacrifice, not self-purification, directly opposing the baseline justification entry’s rejected التزكية.
Anointing Oil
Approved rendering: زيت المسحة
Transliteration: shemen ha-mishchah
Doctrine: Anointing and Messianic Typology
Original: שֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה
Category: Christology
Sacred oil consecrating priests, the tabernacle, and its furnishings for God’s service (30:22-33; 40:9-15). The root mashach is the direct etymological ancestor of Mashiach/المسيح. Every anointing act quietly anticipates المسيح; this bridge is easily lost in translation and must be flagged explicitly.
Face Presence Of God
Approved rendering: وجه / حضور
Transliteration: panim
Doctrine: The Tabernacle and God’s Presence
Original: פָּנִים
Category: Tabernacle
God’s direct, personal presence, as distinct from his acts or messengers (33:11,14,20). ‘My presence will go with you’ (33:14) establishes relational nearness as the goal of redemption. Retain the tension with 33:20 (‘no one may see my face and live’) rather than resolving it prematurely — it is resolved only in Christ (Colossians 1:15).
Veiled Face Moses
Approved rendering: برقع / حجاب على وجه موسى
Transliteration: panav masu
Doctrine: The Veil and Restricted Access to God
Original: פָּנָיו מָסוּ
Category: Mediator
Moses veils his radiant, glory-reflecting face after speaking with God (34:33-35). Shares the same modern-connotation caution as the architectural veil entry (الحجاب’s dominant contemporary association); Paul develops this image directly in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18.
As The Lord Commanded
Approved rendering: كما أمر الرب
Transliteration: ka’asher tsivvah YHWH
Doctrine: The Mosaic Covenant and Law
Original: כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה
Category: Covenant
The recurring refrain marking precise obedience to revealed tabernacle-construction instructions (ch. 36-39, repeated more than a dozen times). This is ceremonial, covenant-maintenance obedience within an already-established grace relationship — must NOT be conflated with the baseline obedience_of_faith Critical doctrine, a distinct NT category describing obedience flowing from justifying faith in Christ.
Glory Filled The Tabernacle
Approved rendering: مجد الرب / امتلأ المسكن من مجد الرب
Transliteration: kevod-YHWH male et ha-mishkan
Doctrine: The Glory of God and Incarnation Typology
Original: כְּבוֹד־יְהוָה מָלֵא אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן
Category: God
The culminating moment of the book — God’s manifest presence fills the completed tabernacle (40:34-35). The single most important forward link to the baseline Critical incarnation doctrine: the trajectory begun at the burning bush (ch. 3) and the tabernacle (ch. 25-40) reaches fulfillment not in a building but in the incarnate Christ himself.
Rock Typological
Approved rendering: الصخرة
Transliteration: ha-tsur
Doctrine: The Rock as Christological Typology
Original: הַצּוּר
Category: Christology
The rock struck to produce water for the people at Rephidim (17:1-7). Paul explicitly identifies this rock with Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4) — a direct NT typological claim; the Arabic term is simple, but this doctrinal payload must be preserved in translator notes and curriculum framing.
Medium Risk Terms
Covenant
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd (Arabic) / berit (Hebrew original)
Doctrine: Mosaic Covenant and Law
Rejected alternatives: الميثاق
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (baseline covenant entry), reused exactly. Exodus extension: the book develops both the unilateral-promise sense (pre-Sinai, 2:24; 6:4-5) and the bilateral-stipulation sense (Sinai, ch. 19-24; renewed ch. 34); keep both traceable rather than flattening into a single generic ‘agreement.‘
Finger Of God
Approved rendering: إصبع الله
Transliteration: etsba’ Elohim
Doctrine: The Character and Name of God (I AM)
Original: אֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Anthropomorphic depiction of direct, effortless divine action (8:19), later echoed by Jesus (Luke 11:20). May sit uneasily against strict Islamic tanzih (transcendence) sensibilities; a brief note that this is figurative, not literal anatomy, suffices.
Aaron
Approved rendering: هارون
Transliteration: ‘Aharon
Doctrine: The Priesthood and the High Priest
Original: אַהֲרֹן
Category: Mediator
Moses’ brother, appointed spokesman and first high priest (ch. 4, 28-29). A shared, positively-regarded Quranic prophet-figure (Harun); the Quran does not attach the developed priestly/sacrificial system of Exodus to this figure, which must be taught as biblically distinctive.
Congregation
Approved rendering: الجماعة
Transliteration: ‘edah
Doctrine: The Exodus as Redemption
Rejected alternatives: الكنيسة, الأمة
Original: עֵדָה
Category: Church
The whole gathered covenant community of Israel (12:3; 16:1-2; 19:7). Do not render as الكنيسة (anachronistic NT loanword) or الأمة (Ummah, the pan-Islamic community term already rejected for ‘church’ in the baseline).
Ritual Slaughter
Approved rendering: ذبح
Transliteration: shachat
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: שָׂחַט
Category: Passover
The prescribed ritual killing of the Passover lamb (12:6). Also the standard term for Islamic ritual slaughter (dhabihah, including Eid al-Adha) — a genuine shared-vocabulary bridge. Theological substance differs sharply: Exodus 12’s slaughter is substitutionary and averts God’s own judgment; Islamic qurbani is meritorious obedience/thanksgiving with no atoning or guilt-transferring function. Must be glossed explicitly, never assumed equivalent.
Unleavened Bread
Approved rendering: فطير
Transliteration: matzot
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: מַצּוֹת
Category: Passover
Bread baked without leaven, eaten in haste (12:8,15-20). Established term with low lexical risk, but must be taught with its symbolic freight — urgency and purity purged of corrupting influence (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8’s leaven-as-sin typology) — not treated as mere recipe detail.
Gods Of Egypt
Approved rendering: آلهة مصر
Transliteration: ‘elohei Mitzrayim
Doctrine: The Gods of Egypt Judged
Original: אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם
Category: Exodus/Redemption
The Egyptian pantheon, treated in Exodus as real spiritual powers brought under God’s judgment (12:12; 15:11; 18:11). A genuinely compatible polemical-monotheism motif with Islamic tawhid, but must be taught as covenant-lawsuit judgment executed specifically through the Passover/plague events, not detached general apologetics against polytheism.
Plague
Approved rendering: ضربة / وباء
Transliteration: negef
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: נֶגֶף
Category: Passover
The destroying judgment sent by God against Egypt’s firstborn, averted from marked houses (12:13,23). Standard term with low independent collision risk; reinforce the judgment-vs-shelter-under-blood contrast in context.
Memorial
Approved rendering: تذكار
Transliteration: zikkaron
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: זִכָּרוֹן
Category: Passover
An institution designed to keep an act of God perpetually before the community’s memory (12:14). A good forward-typological bridge to the Lord’s Supper (‘do this in remembrance of me,’ Luke 22:19).
Feast
Approved rendering: عيد
Transliteration: chag
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: חַג
Category: Passover
A joyful, appointed, recurring celebration before the LORD (12:14; 23:14-17). Also the standard term for the two major Islamic festivals (Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha) — an unavoidable, natural shared-vocabulary term with no better alternative. Risk is entirely content: must be anchored explicitly to the Passover/redemption event each occurrence, not read as a generic ‘religious holiday.‘
Signs And Wonders
Approved rendering: آيات وعجائب
Transliteration: ‘otot u-moftim
Doctrine: The Gods of Egypt Judged
Original: אֹתוֹת וּמֹפְתִים
Category: Exodus/Redemption
The paired formula for the plagues (ch. 7-11), framing them as a covenant lawsuit and revelation of God’s supremacy. Ayah is also the Qur’an’s own term for its verses and for Moses’ miracles specifically — a genuine positive bridge; ensure the covenant-lawsuit framing (12:12) is taught, since the Qur’anic emphasis is primarily proof-of-prophethood.
No Other Gods
Approved rendering: لا آلهة أخرى / تمثال منحوت
Transliteration: lo yihyeh lekha / pesel
Doctrine: The Mosaic Covenant and Law
Original: לֹא יִהְיֶה־לְךָ / פֶּסֶל
Category: Covenant
The prohibition of other deities and carved images (20:3-5). A genuine positive bridge with Islamic aniconism/tawhid; should not be leveraged to suggest all religious imagery in every Christian tradition is equally condemned — a separate question outside Exodus’s scope.
Book Of The Covenant
Approved rendering: سفر العهد
Transliteration: sefer ha-berit
Doctrine: The Mosaic Covenant and Law
Original: סֵפֶר הַבְּרִית
Category: Covenant
The case-law collection (ch. 21-23) given as covenant stipulation and later ratified with blood (24:7-8). Reuses baseline covenant (العهد) as root; this collection’s blood-ratification ties law directly back to the atonement theme, not an abstract legal code.
Hebrew Servant
Approved rendering: عبد عبراني
Transliteration: ‘eved ‘ivri
Doctrine: The Mosaic Covenant and Law
Original: עֶבֶד עִבְרִי
Category: Covenant
A distinct, legally regulated, time-limited servitude status among Israelites (21:2-11). Note the deliberate literary contrast with ch. 1’s unregulated Egyptian bondage (العبودية) — this is not an endorsement of that earlier brutality but a legally constrained institution distinct from it.
Sojourner
Approved rendering: الغريب
Transliteration: ger
Doctrine: Unity of Israel and the Sojourner
Original: גֵּר
Category: Church
A non-Israelite resident under covenant protection, whose fair treatment is grounded in Israel’s own memory of being sojourners in Egypt (22:21; 23:9; 12:48-49). An early, conditioned anticipation of the baseline gentiles/unity_of_jews_and_gentiles themes.
Treasured Possession
Approved rendering: شعب خاص / شعب مختار
Transliteration: ‘am segullah
Doctrine: Election and Israel’s Identity as a Treasured Possession
Original: עַם סְגֻלָּה
Category: Covenant
Israel’s unique, chosen relationship to God, given after — not before — redemption (19:5). Reinforce the sequence explicitly: election/identity flows from grace already received (ch. 12-15), not from prior merit, echoing the baseline grace doctrine.
Kingdom Of Priests
Approved rendering: مملكة كهنة
Transliteration: mamlekhet kohanim
Doctrine: Election and Israel’s Identity as a Treasured Possession
Original: מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים
Category: Covenant
Israel’s corporate priestly vocation of mediating God to the nations (19:6). Distinct from the baseline kingdom_of_god term (ملكوت الله, God’s own cosmic reign); keep مملكة (a specific realm/body) distinct from ملكوت to avoid terminological confusion across the two Testaments.
Trembling Theophanic
Approved rendering: ارتجفوا / ارتعبوا
Transliteration: charad
Doctrine: Holiness and the Fear of the LORD
Original: חָרַד
Category: Sanctification
The people’s physical trembling before God’s manifest presence at Sinai (19:16; 20:18). Reinforces the mediator doctrine (Moses; ultimately Christ) — direct, unmediated approach to God’s holiness provokes terror, establishing the necessity of a mediator.
Ark Of The Covenant
Approved rendering: تابوت العهد
Transliteration: ‘aron ha-berit
Doctrine: The Tabernacle and God’s Presence
Original: אֲרוֹן הַבְּרִית
Category: Tabernacle
The sacred chest housing the covenant tablets, functioning as God’s earthly throne-footstool (25:10-22). Note the partial, positive overlap with Qur’an 2:248’s tabut/sakinah reference (cognate with Hebrew Shekinah); the Christian meaning (mercy seat, atoning blood, 25:17-22) exceeds it and must be taught in full.
Altar
Approved rendering: مذبح
Transliteration: mizbeach
Doctrine: Passover and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: מִזְבֵּח
Category: Passover
The site of ongoing sacrificial worship (27:1-8; 29-30), from the root zavach, ‘to slaughter/sacrifice.’ Standard term; shares its root with ذبح (ritual slaughter, 12:6) — the place where Passover’s substitutionary logic is enacted continually.
Tablets Of The Testimony
Approved rendering: لوحا الشهادة
Transliteration: luchot ha-‘edut
Doctrine: The Mosaic Covenant and Law
Original: לֻחוֹת הָעֵדֻת
Category: Covenant
The stone tablets inscribed with the covenant terms (31:18; 34:1,28-29; 40:20). Reuse of established law/covenant doctrine categories; no independent lexical risk.
Golden Calf
Approved rendering: العجل الذهبي / عبادة الأوثان
Transliteration: ‘egel zahav
Doctrine: The Golden Calf and Idolatry
Original: עֵגֶל זָהָב
Category: Sin
Israel’s catastrophic covenant breach and idolatry at Sinai (ch. 32). A compatible condemnation with Islamic anti-shirk conviction; low collision risk on its own terms, but the narrative’s real theological weight is the resulting demonstrated need for a mediator (Moses’ intercession), a category Islamic theology treats very differently.
Blot Out Of The Book
Approved rendering: يمحوني من كتابك
Transliteration: mecheni mi-sifrekha
Doctrine: Moses’ Intercession as Typology of Christ
Original: מְחֵנִי מִסִּפְרְךָ
Category: God
Moses’ willingness to be erased from God’s record rather than see the people destroyed (32:32). Early seed of the ‘Book of Life’ motif developed through the rest of Scripture (Revelation 20:12).
Friend Of God
Approved rendering: صديق الله
Transliteration: ka’asher yedabber ish el-re’ehu
Doctrine: Moses as Mediator and Deliverer
Original: כַּאֲשֶׁר יְדַבֵּר אִישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵהוּ
Category: Mediator
The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, ‘as a man speaks to his friend’ (33:11). Note the parallel with Abraham’s Islamic title Khalil Allah, but clarify Moses’ role here is an ongoing mediatorial office (representing, relaying, interceding), not chiefly a static badge of honor.
Freewill Offering
Approved rendering: تقدمة / تبرع
Transliteration: terumah
Doctrine: The Tabernacle and God’s Presence
Original: תְּרוּמָה
Category: Tabernacle
Voluntary gifts from the people for tabernacle construction (35:4-29). No independent doctrinal collision; note the voluntary character, distinct from a compulsory religious-tax/tithe framework such as zakat.
Manna
Approved rendering: المّن
Transliteration: man
Doctrine: God’s Provision and Daily Dependence
Original: מָן
Category: Exodus/Redemption
The miraculous daily bread from heaven requiring daily trust (ch. 16). A genuine positive bridge — the Qur’an names this same provision (2:57, ‘al-mann wa’s-salwa’). Low collision risk; needed note is forward-typological (John 6:32-35, ‘the true bread from heaven’).
Sabbath
Approved rendering: السبت
Transliteration: shabbat
Doctrine: The Sabbath as Covenant Sign
Original: שַׁבָּת
Category: Covenant
A weekly, God-ordained pattern of rest first formally regulated in Exodus (16:23-30; 20:8-11; 31:12-17). Shares vocabulary with the Arabic weekday name (Saturday) but is distinct from the Islamic Friday congregational prayer (Jumu’ah), which carries no comparable rest-from-labor commandment; teach as a sign specifically of the Sinai covenant.
Sanctuary Anticipated
Approved rendering: مقدس / بيت مقدس
Transliteration: miqdash
Doctrine: The Tabernacle and God’s Presence
Original: מִקְדָּשׁ
Category: Tabernacle
Prophetic anticipation, in the Song of Moses, of the place where God will dwell (15:17), fulfilled in the tabernacle (ch. 25-40). Shares the ق-د-س root safely with baseline holy; reinforces that the Exodus narrative’s climax is God’s presence, not merely Israel’s political liberty.
Low Risk Terms
Pharaoh
Approved rendering: فرعون
Transliteration: Par’oh
Doctrine: The Exodus as Redemption
Original: פַּרְעֹה
Category: Exodus/Redemption
Standard proper noun/title with an established Arabic form; low collision risk beyond consistency.
Commandment
Approved rendering: وصية / أمر
Transliteration: mitzvah
Doctrine: The Mosaic Covenant and Law
Original: מִצְוָה
Category: Covenant
A general term for an individual divine stipulation within the broader Law (ch. 20 and throughout). General legal vocabulary; no independent risk beyond the law doctrine already flagged.
Cherubim
Approved rendering: الكاروبيم
Transliteration: keruvim
Doctrine: The Tabernacle and God’s Presence
Rejected alternatives: الملائكة المجنّحة (generic ‘winged angels,’ rejected as flattening the specific iconographic detail)
Original: כְּרוּבִים
Category: Tabernacle
Winged guardian figures atop the mercy seat, echoing Eden’s cherubim (Genesis 3:24) but now facing inward toward the atonement site (25:18-20). Informational; no direct Islamic doctrinal collision.
Urim And Thummim
Approved rendering: الأوريم والتُّميم
Transliteration: ‘urim ve-tummim
Doctrine: The Priesthood and the High Priest
Original: אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים
Category: Mediator
God-ordained objects used for divine guidance carried by the high priest (28:30). Informational; clarify this is a God-ordained instrument of revelation, not comparable to prohibited divination practices condemned in both biblical and Islamic tradition — a point of agreement, not tension.
Referenced passages