Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Genesis (English → Arabic)
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json. Terms marked [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] already exist in the baseline and must not be altered. Terms marked [NEW] are proposed additions specific to Genesis, to be added to translation memory with the risk tier and notes given here before Phase 2 translation begins. All Arabic renderings follow Van Dyck/NAV Christian Bible tradition per the baseline’s script and register rules.
Section 1 — Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (Genesis Occurrences)
| Term | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Genesis Citations | Genesis-Specific Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | الله | Allāh | Critical | throughout | See baseline “god” entry. First occurrence 1:1. |
| Lord (YHWH) | الرب | al-Rabb | Critical | 2:4 onward | Van Dyck uses الرب for YHWH; same word later applied to Jesus (Rom 10:9) — reinforces cross-Testament deity claim. |
| holy | مقدس | muqaddas | High | 2:3 | Sabbath sanctification; root shared with al-Quds/al-Quddūs. |
| covenant | العهد | al-‘ahd | Medium | 6:18; 9:8-17; 15; 17 | First named covenant is with Noah (universal); later particular covenants with Abraham/Isaac/Jacob follow the same pattern-language. |
| sin | الخطية | al-khaṭīyah | High | 4:7 (first occurrence); 3 (the act, prior to the noun) | Personified as “crouching” — reinforce active, mastering-power sense against fiṭrah’s denial of inherited sin-nature. |
| righteousness | البر | al-birr | Critical | 6:9; 7:1 (Noah); 15:6 (Abraham) | First applications of “righteous” to a person; must be covenantal integrity, not Qur’anic birr-checklist works. |
| imputed_righteousness | البر المحسوب | al-birr al-maḥsūb | Critical | 15:6 | THE root text for Romans 4:3. Never “earned” (البر المكتسب). Maximum-priority cross-reference. |
| faith / believed | الإيمان / آمن | al-īmān / āmana | High | 15:6 | Personal trust in God’s specific promise, not creedal assent. |
| grace | النعمة | al-ni’mah | High | 6:8 (Noah, Hebrew ḥen) | Van Dyck itself renders ḥen with النعمة — valuable OT/NT terminological continuity; still teach as unmerited. |
| election | اختيار الله | ikhtiyār Allāh | High | 25:19-34; 48 (cf. Rom 9:10-13) | Jacob-over-Esau narrative is the OT root of Romans 9’s election argument. |
| gentiles / nations | الأمم | al-umam | Medium | 10 (Table of Nations); 12:3 | Anticipates the universal-blessing scope fulfilled in Romans’ Jew/Gentile unity doctrine. |
| israel | إسرائيل | Isrā’īl | High | 32:28 (naming); throughout | Add etymological content (see Section 3) not covered by the Romans-only baseline note; retain political-sensitivity caution. |
| providence | العناية الإلهية | al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah | Medium→elevate to High within Genesis | 45:5-8; 50:20 | Joseph narrative is the book’s central providence text; cross-reference Romans 8:28 vocabulary for curriculum-wide consistency. |
| seed_of_david (concept: promised offspring) | نسل | nasl | High→Critical at 3:15, 49:10 | 3:15; 22:17-18; 49:10 | Root vocabulary (نسل) reused from “seed_of_david”; 3:15 is the first messianic promise (protoevangelium); 49:10 grounds the Davidic line one generation further back. |
| messiah / messianic_promise | المسيح (concept, not yet the word in Genesis) | al-Masīḥ | Critical | 3:15; 49:10 | No Hebrew equivalent of “Messiah” yet appears in Genesis, but the theological content (promised deliverer/ruler) is present and must be flagged for the same Critical scaffolding as the baseline’s “messiah” entry. |
| intercession | الشفاعة | al-shafā’ah | High | 18:22-33 (Abraham for Sodom) | Distinguish Abraham’s ordinary human intercession from Christ’s unique, exclusive mediatorial intercession. |
| David | داود | Dāwūd | Low (Genesis has no Davidic appearance; anticipatory only) | 49:10 (anticipatory) | Judah’s tribal blessing grounds the future Davidic and messianic line. |
Section 2 — New Terms: Creation Ex Nihilo
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| create | בָּרָא | bara | خَلَقَ | khalaqa | Medium | Safe, shared vocabulary (Allah = al-Khāliq) but doctrine (Triune God creating by His Word, ex nihilo) must be taught explicitly, not assumed. Gen 1:1,21,27; 2:3-4. |
| beginning | בְּרֵאשִׁית | bereshit | في البدء | fī al-bad’ | Low | Established rendering; safe shared temporal-origin concept. Gen 1:1. |
| the heavens and the earth | הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ | hashamayim veha’arets | السماوات والأرض | as-samāwāt wal-arḍ | Low | Merism for the whole created order; positively resonant Quranic phrase. Gen 1:1. |
| formless and void | תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ | tohu vavohu | خربة وخالية | kharibah wa khāliyah | Low-Medium | Teach as a stage within God’s ordering work, not a rival eternal principle. Gen 1:2. |
| Spirit of God | רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים | ruach Elohim | روح الله | rūḥ Allāh | High | Collides with the Muslim personal name “Ruhollah” and the Quran’s “spirit from Him” language re: Jesus; seed of a doctrine unfolded progressively toward the NT’s الروح القدس. Gen 1:2. |
| light | אוֹר | or | نور | nūr | Medium | Correct/unavoidable word; must stay the physical light of Day One, not Sufi Nūr Muḥammadī or Quran 24:35’s divine-light metaphor. Gen 1:3-5. |
| firmament/expanse | רָקִיע | raqia | جَلَد / الفلك | jalad / al-falak | Low-Medium | Ancient phenomenological cosmology; a genre/science-dialogue note, not a religious collision. Gen 1:6-8. |
| according to its kind | לְמִינוֹ | le-minehu | بحسب نوعه | bi-ḥasab naw’ihi | Low | Stable reproducing category, not the modern species concept. Gen 1:11ff. |
| very good | טוֹב מְאֹד | tov me’od | حسن جدا | ḥasan jiddan | Low | Climactic affirmation of the material world’s goodness; foundational to a non-dualistic, non-ascetic worldview. Gen 1:31. |
| rested / Sabbath | שָׁבַת | shabat | استراح | istarāḥa | Medium-High | Anthropopathic accommodation (God does not tire); root of Arabic السبت (Saturday) — useful bridge, but distinguish from the later Mosaic Sabbath commandment and from Islamic Jumu’ah. Gen 2:2-3. |
| formed (potter’s craft) | יָצַר | yatsar | جَبَل / صنع (Van Dyck uses جبل contextually) | jabala | Low-Medium | More intimate crafting verb than bara; distinguishes cosmic origination from humanity’s intimate formation. Gen 2:7,19. |
| breath of life | נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים | nishmat chayyim | نسمة حياة | nasamat ḥayāt | Medium | Positive convergence with Quran 15:29/38:72’s breathing-into-Adam imagery (though wording differs: “My Spirit” vs. “breath of life”). Gen 2:7. |
Section 3 — New Terms: The Image of God
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| image (of God) | צֶלֶם | tselem | صورة (الله) | ṣūrah (Allāh) | CRITICAL | Highest-priority new Genesis term. Collides with Islamic tanzīh (God’s incomparability, Quran 42:11, 112:4) and the danger of tashbīh. Must be taught as relational/functional (moral, rational, vice-regal) likeness, never bodily resemblance or shared divine essence. Gen 1:26-27; 5:1,3; 9:6. |
| likeness | דְּמוּת | demut | شبه | shibh | Critical (paired with tselem) | Always taught alongside tselem; same tanzīh caution applies. Gen 1:26; 5:1,3. |
| mankind/humanity (generic) | אָדָם | adam | الإنسان | al-insān | Medium | Use for the generic collective sense (1:26-27); reserve آدم (proper name) from ch. 2 onward, to keep “all humanity bears God’s image” clear. |
| Adam (proper name) | אָדָם | Adam | آدم | Ādam | Low | Rare case of a name shared identically across Christian and Islamic tradition (unlike “Jesus”). Gen 2:19 onward. |
| male and female | זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה | zakhar u-nekevah | ذكرا وأنثى | dhakaran wa-unthā | Low | Positive convergence with Quran 49:13; useful bridge, though joint image-bearing itself has no Islamic equivalent and should be stated positively. Gen 1:27. |
| a helper corresponding to him | עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ | ezer kenegdo | معينا نظيره | mu’īnan naẕīrahu | Medium | ”Helper” must not imply lesser ontological status; pairs with “bone of my bones” full-equality language. Gen 2:18-23. |
| one flesh | בָּשָׂר אֶחָד | basar echad | جسدا واحدا | jasadan wāḥidan | Low-Medium | Marriage-union formula, later cited by Jesus and Paul; monogamous ideal may need pastoral framing in some contexts. Gen 2:24. |
| living soul/being | נֶפֶש חַיָּה | nefesh chayyah | نفس حية | nafs ḥayyah | Medium | Applied to animals (1:20-24) and uniquely, via direct divine in-breathing, to Adam (2:7) — keep the anthropological distinction clear. |
Section 4 — New Terms: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| serpent | נָחָש | nachash | الحية | al-ḥayyah | Medium | Quran’s parallel accounts have Iblis tempt directly, without a serpent intermediary in the Quranic text itself. Gen 3. |
| garden of Eden | עֵדֶן / גַּן | Eden/gan | جنة عدن | jannat ‘Adn | High | جنة is the standard Quranic word for eschatological Paradise; must distinguish the historical, forfeitable earthly Garden from Jannah. Gen 2-3. |
| tree of life | עֵץ הַחַיִּים | etz hachayyim | شجرة الحياة | shajarat al-ḥayāt | Medium-High | Quran merges this with the tree of knowledge into a single “tree of eternity” (20:120); clarify there are two distinct trees in Genesis. Gen 2:9; 3:22-24. |
| tree of the knowledge of good and evil | עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע | etz hada’at tov vara | شجرة معرفة الخير والشر | shajarat ma’rifat al-khayr wal-sharr | Medium-High | See above; distinct theological function (moral testing) from the tree of life. Gen 2:9,17. |
| cursed | אָרוּר | arur | ملعون | mal’ūn | Medium | Threefold curse (3:14-19); foundational to “Sin’s Consequences,” with no fiṭrah equivalent for an inherited creational rupture. |
| seed / offspring (protoevangelium) | זֶרַע | zera | نسل | nasl | Critical | The Bible’s first messianic promise (3:15); reuses the same root as baseline “seed_of_david.” Must retain forward-pointing, victorious sense, not flatten to generic “descendants.” |
| Eve | חַוָּה | Chavvah | حواء | Ḥawwā’ | Low | Shared proper name (though not named in the Quran’s own text, only in tafsir/hadith). Gen 3:20. |
| garments of skin | כְּתֹנוֹת עוֹר | kotnot or | أقمصة من جلد | aqmiṣah min jild | Medium | First substitutionary provision in Scripture; atonement-typology resonance. Gen 3:21. |
| cherubim | כְּרוּבִים | keruvim | الكَروبيم | al-karūbīm | Low-Medium | Unique angelic category without a precise Islamic-angelology equivalent. Gen 3:24. |
Section 5 — New Terms: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cain / Abel | קַיִן / הֶבֶל | Qayin/Hevel | قايين / هابيل | Qāyīn / Hābīl | Medium | Partial naming-form mismatch with Islamic tradition (Habil matches; Qayin ≠ Qabil). Retain established Christian Arabic forms per the baseline’s “Jesus” precedent; flag for a brief clarifying note. Gen 4. |
| offering | מִנְחָה | minchah | تقدمة / قربان | taqdimah/qurbān | Low-Medium | Earliest sacrificial-worship vocabulary, predating the Levitical system. Gen 4:3-5. |
| sin crouching (personified) | חַטָּאָה רֹבֶצֶת | chatta’ah rovetset | الخطية رابضة | al-khaṭīyah rābiḍah | High | First occurrence of the noun “sin”; preserve the active, mastering-predator personification. Gen 4:7. |
| mark/sign of Cain | אוֹת קַיִן | ot Qayin | علامة قايين | ’alāmat Qāyīn | Medium | Early instance of common grace — restraint of full vengeance even under judgment; same root (אוֹת) later used for covenant signs. Gen 4:15. |
| flood | מַבּוּל | mabbul | الطوفان | aṭ-ṭūfān | Low | Positive convergence with Quran 29:14; safe shared vocabulary. Gen 6-9. |
| ark | תֵּבָה | tevah | الفلك | al-fulk | Low | Same word as the Quran’s Noah narrative (11:37); strong safe bridge, note narrative-detail divergences. Gen 6-9. |
| rainbow (covenant sign) | קֶשֶׁת | qeshet | قوس (قزح) | qaws (quzaḥ) | Low | Universal covenant with all creation — paradigm case of common grace, distinct from later particular covenants. Gen 9:12-17. |
| grieved to his heart | וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ | vayit’atsev el-libo | حزن في قلبه | ḥazina fī qalbihi | Medium-High | Anthropopathic language; teach as accommodated relational self-disclosure, in tension with tanzīh. Gen 6:6. |
Section 6 — New Terms: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abram / Abraham | אַבְרָם / אַבְרָהָם | Avram/Avraham | أبرام / إبراهيم | Abrām / Ibrāhīm | Medium | Track the name change (ch. 17) explicitly across all teaching material; Ibrahim is a central, revered Quranic patriarch with a differently-emphasized narrative. |
| all families of the earth blessed through you | וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה | … | تتبارك بك جميع قبائل الأرض | … | Critical | Universal Gentile-inclusion scope; OT root of Romans 4:13-17. Must not be narrowed to an ethnic-Israel-only promise. Gen 12:3. |
| Melchizedek | מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק | Malki-tsedeq | ملكيصادق | Malkīṣādaq | Low (collision) / High (significance) | No Quranic parallel figure; unique king-priest typology requiring background explanation. Gen 14. |
| El Elyon (God Most High) | אֵל עֶלְיוֹן | El Elyon | الله العلي | Allāh al-‘Aliyy | Low | Positive convergence — al-‘Aliyy is one of Allah’s 99 names. Gen 14:18-20. |
| Genesis 15:6 (believed/counted as righteousness) | וְהֶאֱמִן… צְדָקָה | — | آمن… حسبه له بِرًّا | — | Critical | See Section 1 (imputed_righteousness); the direct root-text for Romans 4:3. Maximum-priority. |
| Hagar | הָגָר | Hagar | هاجر | Hājar | Critical | Deeply revered in Islamic tradition (Zamzam, Sa’i); Genesis subordinates Ishmael’s line to Isaac’s covenant line. Requires theologian-level pastoral sensitivity. Gen 16, 21. |
| Ishmael | יִשְׁמָעֵאל | Yishmael | إسماعيل | Ismā’īl | Critical | Central to Islamic patriarchal lineage; paired risk with Hagar entry above. Gen 16, 17, 21, 25. |
| El Shaddai (God Almighty) | אֵל שַׁדַּי | El Shaddai | الله القدير | Allāh al-Qadīr | Low | Positive convergence — al-Qadīr is one of Allah’s 99 names. Gen 17:1. |
| covenant of circumcision | בְּרִית מִילָה | berit milah | ختان العهد | khitān al-‘ahd | Medium-High | Same physical practice as Islamic khitān, but distinct covenant-sign theology; must be taught explicitly. Gen 17:9-14. |
| Isaac | יִצְחָק | Yitschaq | إسحاق | Isḥāq | Medium | ”He laughs”; shared figure but secondary to Ishmael in Islamic salvation-history — supply this background. Gen 17, 21, 22, 24-27. |
| through Isaac shall your offspring be named | כִּי בְיִצְחָק יִקָּרֵא לְךָ זָרַע | — | لأنه بإسحاق يُدعى لك نسل | — | Critical | Quoted in Romans 9:7; directly counters the Ismaili-primacy claim. Requires theologian review. Gen 21:12. |
| the Binding of Isaac / substitutionary ram | וְהַעֲלֵהוּ לְעֹלָה | — | يُقدّم محرقةً… كبش الفداء | — | Critical | The single highest-priority flashpoint chapter; mainstream Sunni tradition identifies the son as Ismail (commemorated in Eid al-Adha). Firm, respectful, undiluted preservation of the biblical text’s own claim required. Gen 22. |
| birthright | בְּכֹרָה | bekorah | البكورية | al-bukūriyyah | High | OT root of Romans 9:10-13’s election argument (Jacob/Esau). Gen 25:29-34. |
Section 7 — New Terms: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is anything too hard for the LORD? | הֲיִפָּלֵא מֵיהוָה דָּבָר | — | هل يستحيل على الرب شيء؟ | — | Low | Statement of divine omnipotence. Gen 18:14. |
| dream | חֲלוֹם | chalom | حلم / رؤيا | ḥulm / ru’yā | Low-Medium | Positive convergence with Islamic ru’yā (“true dream is from Allah,” hadith); valuable teaching bridge. Gen 20, 28, 31, 37, 40-41. |
| interpretation | פִּתְרוֹן | pitron | تفسير | tafsīr | Low-Medium | Must be credited to God, distinguished from occult divination/astrology. Gen 40-41. |
| the LORD was with him | וַיְהִי יְהוָה אֶתּוֹ | vayehi YHWH ito | وكان الرب معه | wa-kāna al-Rabb ma’ahu | Low-Medium | Covenant-presence assurance formula; anticipates Immanuel theology. Gen 39. |
| God sent me before you | הָאֱלֹהִים שְׁלָחַנִי לִפְנֵיכֶם | — | الله أرسلني قبلكم | — | Critical | Central proof-text for “Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering.” Teach as compatibilist providence, not fatalism, and not exculpation of the brothers’ sin. Gen 45:5-8. |
| you meant evil, God meant it for good | וְאַתֶּם חֲשַׁבְתֶּם עָלַי רָעָה אֱלֹהִים חֲשָׁבָהּ לְטֹבָה | — | أنتم قصدتم لي شرا، أما الله فقصد به خيرا | — | Critical | Capstone providence verse of the book; the OT twin of Romans 8:28. Cross-reference vocabulary choice with Romans 8:28 rendering for curriculum-wide consistency (per baseline’s own cross-document rule). Gen 50:20. |
Section 8 — New Terms: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| generations (structural formula) | תּוֹלְדֹת | toledot | مواليد / أصل | mawālīd / aṣl | Low | Recurring book-structuring device (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:12,19; 36:1,9; 37:2). Flag for teachers as a literary marker, not merely a genealogy header. |
| Bethel (house of God) | בֵּית־אֵל | Beit-El | بيت إيل | Bayt Īl | Low | Place-naming tied to covenant-promise renewal to Jacob. Gen 28. |
| Israel (Jacob’s new name) | יִשְׂרָאֵל | Yisra’el | إسرائيل | Isrā’īl | High (etymology gap + political sensitivity) | See Section 1; supply the wrestling-narrative background absent from Quranic “Banī Isrā’īl” usage. Gen 32:28. |
| in his likeness, after his image (transmitted) | בִּדְמוּתוֹ כְּצַלְמוֹ | bidmuto ketsalmo | على شبهه كصورته | ’alā shibhihi ka-ṣūratihi | High | Image of God transmitted through generation despite the Fall; connects to Romans 5’s federal-headship theology, against fiṭrah’s denial of inherited nature. Gen 5:1,3. |
| called upon the name of the LORD | קָרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה | qara beshem YHWH | دعا باسم الرب | da’ā bi-ismi al-Rabb | Low | Establishes the worshiping covenant line (Seth/Enosh) distinct from Cain’s violent line. Gen 4:26. |
Section 9 — New Terms: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
| Term | Hebrew | Translit. | Arabic | Translit. | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph | יוֹסֵף | Yosef | يوسف | Yūsuf | Medium | Shared figure with an entire Quranic sura (Yūsuf, 12) with differing narrative emphases (e.g., the Potiphar’s-wife episode is framed differently); flag content differences for teaching accuracy. Gen 37-50. |
| envy | קִנְאָה | qin’ah | حسد | ḥasad | Low | Driving sin of the narrative; ties to “Sin’s Consequences” doctrine. Gen 37. |
| Judah and Tamar | יְהוּדָה / תָּמָר | Yehudah/Tamar | يهوذا / ثامار | Yahūdhā/Thāmār | Medium (content sensitivity) | Preserves the messianic line despite human moral failure; sensitive content requiring careful pastoral framing. Gen 38. |
| remnant | שְׁאָר / פְּלֵיטָה | she’ar/pleitah | بقية / ناجون | baqiyyah/nājūn | Low | Preservation-of-remnant motif anticipating later biblical remnant theology. Gen 45:7. |
| scepter… until Shiloh comes | לֹא־יָסוּר שֵׁבֶט… עַד כִּי־יָבֹא שִׁילֹה | — | لا يزول قضيب… حتى يأتي شيلون | — | Critical | Major messianic prophecy grounding the Davidic/messianic line; retain the transliterated title “شيلون” with an explanatory gloss rather than a literal (and likely nonsensical) translation attempt. Cross-reference “messianic_promise” and “seed_of_david” baseline entries. Gen 49:10. |
Section 10 — Chapters Reviewed with No New Load-Bearing Vocabulary
For completeness, the following chapters were reviewed in full and introduce no new theological terms beyond those already catalogued above; they reuse vocabulary established in the chapters noted:
- Chapter 10 (Table of Nations) — reuses الأمم (Gentiles/nations, Section 1).
- Chapter 20 (Abimelech) — reuses wife-sister motif and covenant vocabulary from ch. 12.
- Chapter 23 (Machpelah purchase) — reuses land/covenant vocabulary from ch. 12-17.
- Chapter 24 (Isaac’s bride) — reuses providence vocabulary (Section 7).
- Chapter 26 (Isaac, covenant renewed) — reuses covenant/blessing vocabulary from ch. 12-17.
- Chapters 29-31 (Jacob and Laban) — no new theological vocabulary; brief note on תְּרָפִים (household idols) as monotheism-backdrop color only.
- Chapters 33, 35-36 (reconciliation with Esau; Esau’s genealogy) — no new theological vocabulary. (Chapter 34 requires a content-sensitivity flag for its treatment of assault and vengeance, but introduces no new glossary term.)
- Chapters 42-44, 46-47 (Joseph narrative logistics) — reuse providence vocabulary established at 39, 41, 45 (Section 7).
- Chapter 48 — reuses election vocabulary from ch. 25 (Section 1).
This glossary must be loaded alongside analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md. All Critical and High risk entries require the theologian/native-speaker review routing already defined in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json; new Genesis-specific doctrine categories (Creation Ex Nihilo, Image of God, Fall/Origin of Sin, Abrahamic Covenant, Providence, Common Grace, Covenant Faithfulness, Joseph’s Providence) should be added to a Genesis-specific extension of that registry in a subsequent Phase 1 step.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: الله
Transliteration: Allāh
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘god’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Elohim (grammatically plural, used with singular verbs) denotes the one Creator God, not polytheism. Genesis’s plural counsel language (1:26 ‘let us’) and the Spirit’s presence (1:2) must be read, in later canonical light, as consistent with Trinitarian revelation — but this must be taught explicitly, not assumed recoverable from the word الله alone, since mainstream Islamic tawhid reads the identical word as strictly non-Trinitarian and non-incarnate.
Lord
Approved rendering: الرب
Transliteration: al-Rabb
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: السيد, المولى
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘lord’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Van Dyck uses الرب for the personal covenant name YHWH throughout the Old Testament, first paired with Elohim at Genesis 2:4 (‘the LORD God’). This is the SAME word later applied to Jesus in Romans 10:9 (‘يسوع هو الرب’) — teaching materials must make this cross-Testament continuity explicit, reinforcing the deity claim made for Christ.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر
Transliteration: al-birr
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Rejected alternatives: الصلاح, العدل
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘righteousness’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: the word’s first applications to a person are Noah (6:9; 7:1) and Abraham (15:6) — from these very first occurrences the term must be taught as covenantal integrity and relational faithfulness credited by grace, never a Quranic al-birr works-checklist (charity, honesty, prayer), setting the interpretive pattern for the whole book.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: البر المحسوب
Transliteration: al-birr al-mahsūb
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: البر المكتسب
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘imputed_righteousness’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Genesis 15:6 (‘and he believed the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness’) is the direct Old Testament root-text Paul quotes in Romans 4:3. Maximum-priority cross-reference; never render as ‘earned’ (البر المكتسب, explicitly rejected).
Messiah
Approved rendering: المسيح
Transliteration: al-Masīh
Doctrine: Messianic Promise (Protoevangelium and the Scepter of Judah)
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘messiah’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: the Hebrew word for ‘Messiah’ does not itself appear in Genesis, but the theological content (a promised deliverer/ruler) is present at 3:15 (the protoevangelium) and 49:10 (the scepter of Judah/Shiloh) and must be flagged for the same Critical scaffolding as the baseline entry when this content is taught or cross-referenced.
Image Of God
Approved rendering: صورة
Transliteration: ṣūrah
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: צֶלֶם
Category: Anthropology
The single highest doctrinal-collision term in the entire curriculum. Islamic tanzīh theology (Quran 42:11; 112:4) treats any suggestion that a human resembles God as tashbīh, illicit anthropomorphism bordering on shirk. No safe alternative rendering exists — retain صورة exactly, but mandate explicit relational/functional framing (moral agency, rational capacity, vice-regal dominion, never bodily resemblance or shared essence) at every single occurrence. Functions structurally like the baseline’s ‘son_of_god’ entry. Gen 1:26-27; 5:1,3; 9:6.
Likeness
Approved rendering: شبه
Transliteration: shibh
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: דְּמוּת
Category: Anthropology
Always paired with صورة (tselem/demut formula); the same tanzīh/tashbīh caution applies with equal force at every occurrence. Gen 1:26; 5:1,3.
Seed Offspring Protoevangelium
Approved rendering: نسل
Transliteration: nasl
Doctrine: Messianic Promise (Protoevangelium and the Scepter of Judah)
Original: זֶרַע
Category: Christology
The Bible’s first messianic promise (3:15, ‘he shall bruise/crush your head’). Must retain the SAME root already established in baseline TM as ‘seed_of_david’ (نسل داود), preserving its forward-pointing, adversarial, victorious sense — never flattened into generic ‘descendants’ language. Connects Genesis’s opening promise directly to the messianic-fulfillment chain running through Romans (1:3; 9:5).
Righteous Person
Approved rendering: البر
Transliteration: al-birr
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: צַדִּיק
Category: Salvation
‘Righteous’ first applied to a person — Noah (6:9; 7:1), then Abraham (15:6) — denoting covenantal integrity and relational faithfulness credited by God. Reuses baseline TM ‘righteousness’ (البر) exactly; sets the interpretive pattern for the whole book’s righteousness vocabulary, never a Quranic al-birr works-checklist.
Blessing All Families
Approved rendering: تتبارك بك جميع قبائل الأرض
Transliteration: tatabārak bika jamī’ qabā’il al-arḍ
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה
Category: Covenant
God’s promise that all the families/nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham (12:3; echoed 18:18; 22:18) — the Abrahamic covenant’s universal Gentile-inclusion scope, the OT root of Paul’s argument in Romans 4:13-17 (Abraham as ‘heir of the world,’ apart from the Law). Must be preserved with its full universal force, not narrowed to an ethnic-Israel-only promise.
Genesis 15 6 Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: آمن… حسبه له بِرًّا (البر المحسوب)
Transliteration: āmana… ḥasabahu lahu birran
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: البر المكتسب
Original: וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוָה וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה
Category: Salvation
‘And he believed the LORD, and He counted/reckoned it to him as righteousness’ (15:6) — the direct OT root-text Paul quotes in Romans 4:3. Renders using the SAME inherited baseline term البر المحسوب — never ‘earned’ (البر المكتسب, explicitly rejected). This single verse is the doctrinal anchor linking Genesis to the entire Romans justification argument and must be flagged for theologian-level review at every occurrence.
Hagar
Approved rendering: هاجر
Transliteration: Hājar
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: הָגָר
Category: Covenant
Sarah’s Egyptian servant, mother of Ishmael by Abraham; God personally sees and answers her affliction (16:7-13). Deeply revered in Islamic tradition (Hajar — Zamzam well, the Sa’i ritual of the Hajj). Genesis treats her sympathetically while subordinating Ishmael’s line to the covenant line through Isaac. Must be flagged for human theologian review at every occurrence, with real pastoral sensitivity toward the competing tradition.
Ishmael
Approved rendering: إسماعيل
Transliteration: Ismā’īl
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: יִשְׁמָעֵאל
Category: Covenant
Abraham’s firstborn son by Hagar, blessed by God (17:20) but not the covenant-line heir, who is Isaac. Central to Islamic patriarchal lineage (Ismail); paired risk with ‘hagar.’ Teach God’s genuine, separate blessing on Ishmael (an instance of common grace) as distinct from, not in tension with, the particular covenant promise traced through Isaac.
Through Isaac Named
Approved rendering: لأنه بإسحاق يُدعى لك نسل
Transliteration: li-annahu bi-Isḥāq yud’ā laka nasl
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: כִּי בְיִצְחָק יִקָּרֵא לְךָ זָרַע
Category: Covenant
‘For through Isaac shall your offspring be named/reckoned’ (21:12) — God’s explicit designation of Isaac, not Ishmael, as the covenant-line heir. Quoted directly in Romans 9:7 as Paul’s own proof-text distinguishing true ‘children of promise’ from mere biological descent, directly countering the Islamic salvation-historical claim of Ismaili primacy. Must be flagged for human theologian review at every occurrence.
Binding Of Isaac
Approved rendering: يُقدّم محرقةً… كبش الفداء
Transliteration: yuqaddim maḥraqatan… kabsh al-fidā’
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: וְהַעֲלֵהוּ לְעֹלָה
Category: Christology
God’s command that Abraham ‘offer him [Isaac] as a burnt offering’ (22:2), with a substitutionary ram provided in Isaac’s place (22:13). Mainstream Sunni tradition widely identifies the near-sacrificed son as Ismail (though unnamed in the Quran’s own text, 37:100-113), commemorated annually at Eid al-Adha. The single highest-priority flashpoint chapter in Genesis; requires mandatory human theologian review, with explicit, respectful acknowledgment of the competing tradition alongside firm, undiluted preservation of the biblical text’s own claim and its typological, substitutionary, atonement-foreshadowing significance.
God Sent Me
Approved rendering: الله أرسلني قبلكم
Transliteration: Allāh arsalanī qablakum
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Original: הָאֱלֹהִים שְׁלָחַנִי לִפְנֵיכֶם
Category: Providence
Joseph’s declaration that ‘it was not you who sent me here, but God’ (45:5-8) — central proof-text for the doctrine. Must be taught as compatibilist providence — God’s sovereign purpose working through, without excusing, the brothers’ real sin — not folk qadar fatalism nor exculpation of moral responsibility.
Meant Evil God Meant Good
Approved rendering: أنتم قصدتم لي شرا، أما الله فقصد به خيرا
Transliteration: antum qaṣadtum lī sharran, ammā Allāh fa-qaṣada bihi khayran
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Original: וְאַתֶּם חֲשַׁבְתֶּם עָלַי רָעָה אֱלֹהִים חֲשָׁבָהּ לְטֹבָה
Category: Providence
Joseph’s capstone providence statement (50:20) — the OT theological twin of Romans 8:28, which the baseline already flags as requiring identical cross-document rendering for pastoral consistency. Van Dyck renders the underlying Hebrew with قصد (‘intended/purposed’); use قصد consistently here and cross-reference explicitly with whatever vocabulary is used for Romans 8:28, so Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28 read as one unified providence doctrine across the whole curriculum.
Shiloh Scepter
Approved rendering: شيلون
Transliteration: Shīlūn
Doctrine: Messianic Promise (Protoevangelium and the Scepter of Judah)
Rejected alternatives: a literal semantic translation attempt (rejected — exegetically obscure, risks nonsense)
Original: לֹא־יָסוּר שֵׁבֶט מִיהוּדָה עַד כִּי־יָבֹא שִׁילֹה
Category: Christology
‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah… until Shiloh comes’ (49:10) — a major messianic prophecy grounding the later Davidic promise, one generation further back than ‘seed of David.’ ‘Shiloh’ is exegetically obscure; Van Dyck transliterates it as a proper name/title rather than attempting a literal translation. Retain this transliteration with a mandatory explanatory gloss identifying it as a messianic title; flag for theologian review as part of the messianic-promise doctrine chain.
High Risk Terms
Sin
Approved rendering: الخطية
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Rejected alternatives: الذنب, الإثم
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘sin’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: the noun’s first occurrence (4:7) personifies sin as a predator ‘crouching’ at the door, ready to master Cain — this active, mastering-power sense must be preserved, not smoothed into a flatter ‘wrongdoing’ sense, and must be taught deliberately against fiṭrah doctrine’s denial of inherited/systemic sin.
Faith
Approved rendering: الإيمان
Transliteration: al-īmān
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: الاعتقاد, الثقة
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘faith’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Genesis 15:6’s ‘believed’ (آمن) is personal trust in God’s specific promise of an heir against biological impossibility, not creedal assent to a list of propositions — reinforce the relational-trust sense at this OT root text exactly as at its NT occurrences.
Grace
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Rejected alternatives: الفضل, الرحمة
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘grace’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Van Dyck renders the Hebrew חֵן (chen, Noah ‘found favor/grace,’ 6:8) — the Bible’s first occurrence of a grace-word — with النعمة, the same word used for Greek charis in Romans. Valuable cross-Testament continuity showing unmerited favor is present from Genesis onward; must still be taught, per the baseline’s full caution, as favor apart from merit.
Election
Approved rendering: اختيار الله
Transliteration: ikhtiyār Allāh
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: cf. Genesis 25:23, ‘the elder shall serve the younger’ (no single fixed Hebrew term equivalent to Greek eklogē)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘election’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: God’s sovereign, pre-birth choice of Jacob over Esau (25:23) and the crossed-hands blessing of Ephraim over Manasseh (ch. 48) are the OT root of Romans 9:10-13’s election argument. Must not collapse into folk qadar; Genesis roots election in a specific, personal divine choice, not generic fatalism.
Israel
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘israel’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: an additional risk layer beyond the baseline’s political-sensitivity caution — the wrestling and renaming narrative at Peniel (32:28) that gives Isra’il its meaning (‘he who strives with God’) is entirely absent from the Quran’s own usage of ‘Banī Isrā’īl’ as a bare collective ethnonym. This etymological/narrative background cannot be assumed known and must be supplied explicitly.
Providence
Approved rendering: العناية الإلهية
Transliteration: al-‘ināyah al-ilāhiyyah
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Rejected alternatives: القدر
Original: cf. Genesis 45:5-8; 50:20 (no single fixed Hebrew lexical term; the theological name for God’s purposive governance displayed throughout the Joseph narrative)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘providence’ entry; risk tier elevated from the baseline’s Medium to High specifically within this Genesis package, per analysis/08_core_glossary.md Section 1). Genesis note: the Joseph narrative (37-50) is the book’s central and most extensive providence text; must avoid folk qadar fatalism and be cross-referenced explicitly with Romans 8:28 vocabulary for curriculum-wide consistency. This elevation extends, and does not contradict, the baseline entry.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: نسل داود
Transliteration: nasl Dāwūd
Doctrine: Messianic Promise (Protoevangelium and the Scepter of Judah)
Original: cf. Genesis 49:8-12 (‘scepter… from Judah’), anticipatory of the Davidic royal line
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘seed_of_david’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Judah’s tribal blessing (49:8-12) grounds this messianic-royal lineage promise one generation further back than David’s own historical appearance; cross-reference with ‘shiloh_scepter’ and ‘seed_offspring_protoevangelium’ below.
Intercession
Approved rendering: الشفاعة
Transliteration: al-shafā’ah
Doctrine: Intercessory Prayer (Abraham for Sodom)
Original: cf. Genesis 18:22-33 (no single fixed Hebrew term equivalent to NT hyperentynchanei)
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘intercession’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: Abraham’s bargaining prayer for Sodom (18:22-33) is ordinary human intercession for others, a real but different category from Christ’s unique, exclusive mediatorial intercession already Critical in the Romans baseline (8:26-27, 34); the distinction must be made explicit so readers do not conflate the two.
Spirit Of God
Approved rendering: روح الله
Transliteration: rūḥ Allāh
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
The earliest scriptural hint of the Spirit’s active presence in creation. Collides with the Muslim personal-name pattern ‘Ruhollah’ and the Quran’s ‘a spirit from Him’ (4:171) applied to Jesus, risking a creaturely or honorific reading. Because mainstream tafsir identifies the Holy Spirit elsewhere with the created angel Jibril (per the baseline’s Critical caution on الروح القدس), this occurrence must be taught as the seed of a doctrine unfolded progressively across the canon, not over-explained at this stage. Gen 1:2.
Sabbath Rest
Approved rendering: استراح
Transliteration: istarāḥa
Doctrine: The Sabbath and Creation Rest
Original: שָׁבַת
Category: Creation
Anthropopathic accommodation (God does not tire, cf. Isa 40:28); the direct etymological ancestor of Arabic السبت (Saturday) — a genuine cultural bridge. Must not be collapsed into the later, formal Mosaic Sabbath commandment (introduced only at Sinai/الناموس) nor assimilated to the unrelated Islamic Friday congregational prayer (Jumu’ah). Gen 2:2-3.
Garden Of Eden
Approved rendering: جنة عدن
Transliteration: jannat ‘Adn
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: עֵדֶן / גַּן
Category: Sin
جنة is the standard Quranic word for the eschatological Paradise (Jannah). Using it for the historical, earthly, forfeitable Garden of Eden — an established, unavoidable Van Dyck rendering — risks readers conflating a real geographic location lost through sin with the Quranic afterlife reward. Must be explicitly distinguished from Jannah in every teaching context, or the Fall narrative’s stakes are lost. Gen 2-3.
Tree Of Life
Approved rendering: شجرة الحياة
Transliteration: shajarat al-ḥayāt
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: עֵץ הַחַיִּים
Category: Sin
The Quran (20:120) merges what Genesis presents as two distinct trees into a single ‘tree of eternity’ (shajarat al-khuld). Translators must clarify there are two trees in the biblical account, each with a distinct theological function, or the Fall narrative’s logic collapses. Gen 2:9; 3:22-24.
Tree Of Knowledge
Approved rendering: شجرة معرفة الخير والشر
Transliteration: shajarat ma’rifat al-khayr wal-sharr
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע
Category: Sin
See ‘tree_of_life’ — the Quran’s single merged ‘tree of eternity’ must not collapse Genesis’s two distinct trees and their distinct functions (moral testing vs. unending life) into one. Gen 2:9,17.
Sin Crouching
Approved rendering: الخطية رابضة
Transliteration: al-khaṭīyah rābiḍah
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: חַטָּאָה רֹבֶצֶת
Category: Sin
Reuses baseline TM ‘sin’ (الخطية) exactly, personified as a predator ‘crouching at the door’ (4:7) — the Bible’s first occurrence of the noun ‘sin.’ This active, mastering-power personification must be preserved in teaching, not smoothed into a flatter ‘wrongdoing’ sense, against fiṭrah doctrine’s denial of an inherited/systemic sin-nature.
Grieved To His Heart
Approved rendering: حزن في قلبه
Transliteration: ḥazina fī qalbihi
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל־לִבּוֹ
Category: God
God’s grief ‘to his heart’ over humanity’s pervasive wickedness before the Flood (6:6) — anthropopathic language in the same risk category as 3:8’s theophany and 32:30’s ‘face of God.’ Islamic tanzīh resists attributing emotion or change to Allah; teach as accommodated relational self-disclosure of a personal God, not literal divine mutability.
Grace Favor
Approved rendering: النعمة
Transliteration: al-ni’mah
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: חֵן
Category: Salvation
‘Noah found favor/grace in the eyes of the LORD’ (6:8) — the Bible’s first occurrence of a grace-word (Hebrew חֵן). Van Dyck itself renders this with النعمة, the same word as the inherited baseline ‘grace’ entry — valuable cross-Testament terminological continuity. Must still be taught, per the baseline’s full caution, as favor apart from merit, against Islamic faḍl/raḥmah as favor responsive to obedience.
Covenant Noahic
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
The Bible’s first explicitly named covenant (6:18; 9:8-17), reusing baseline TM ‘covenant’ (العهد) exactly. This universal covenant, extended to all creation rather than a chosen people specifically, is the Bible’s paradigm case of common grace, distinct from the later particular covenants with Abraham and Moses — this distinction must be taught explicitly.
Covenant Of Circumcision
Approved rendering: ختان العهد
Transliteration: khitān al-‘ahd
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: בְּרִית מִילָה
Category: Covenant
The physical sign and seal of God’s covenant with Abraham’s line, commanded for every male, including Ishmael (17:9-14,23-27). Same physical practice as Islamic khitān, but different theological freight entirely — here it is the specific covenant sign of promise; in Islamic practice it is sunnah/hygienic-purity custom without covenant-sign theology. Shared practice, non-transferable meaning; teach explicitly.
Birthright
Approved rendering: البكورية
Transliteration: al-bukūriyyah
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: בְּכֹרָה
Category: Salvation
The firstborn’s material inheritance and covenant-line privilege, which Esau sold to Jacob (25:29-34). Directly quoted in Romans 9:10-13 (‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’) — this narrative is the OT root of Paul’s election argument; connects directly to the inherited baseline ‘election’ entry.
Likeness Transmitted
Approved rendering: على شبهه كصورته
Transliteration: ‘alā shibhihi ka-ṣūratihi
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: בִּדְמוּתוֹ כְּצַלְמוֹ
Category: Anthropology
Adam fathering Seth ‘in his own likeness, after his image’ (5:1,3), deliberately echoing 1:26-27. Establishes that the image of God, though marred, is neither erased by the Fall nor confined to Adam personally but transmitted through ordinary human generation alongside a fallen nature — directly connecting to later federal-headship theology (Romans 5:12-19). This stands against fiṭrah doctrine’s denial of inherited nature and must be flagged for careful, deliberate teaching.
Israel Naming
Approved rendering: إسرائيل
Transliteration: Isrā’īl
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Covenant
The new name given to Jacob after wrestling with God at Peniel (32:28), ‘he who strives with God’ (etymology debated). Same Arabic word as the inherited baseline ‘israel’ entry; this occurrence carries the additional narrative-background burden that the Quran’s ‘Banī Isrā’īl’ never narrates this episode, using the name only as a bare collective ethnonym — supply the background explicitly alongside the political-sensitivity framing.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: muqaddas
Doctrine: The Sabbath and Creation Rest
Rejected alternatives: طاهر
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘holy’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: first applied to time itself rather than a person or object — God ‘made holy’ the seventh day (2:3). Shares the ق-د-س root with al-Quds/al-Quddūs, safe resonant vocabulary; retain the relational, set-apart sense rather than ritual-purity connotation.
Covenant
Approved rendering: العهد
Transliteration: al-‘ahd
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: الميثاق
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘covenant’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: the Bible’s first explicitly named covenant is God’s unilateral, universal promise to Noah (6:18; 9:8-17), establishing the pattern-language reused for the later particular covenants with Abraham (15, 17), Isaac, and Jacob. العهد is semantically thin in everyday Arabic (also generic pledge/treaty); reinforce the unilateral, relational, promise-based sense at every occurrence rather than a mutual-contract reading.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: الأمم
Transliteration: al-umam
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: الكفار
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘gentiles’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: the Table of Nations (ch. 10) already frames all humanity as ‘the nations,’ who will be blessed through Abraham (12:3) — anticipating Romans’ Jew/Gentile unity doctrine from the book’s earliest chapters.
Create
Approved rendering: خَلَقَ
Transliteration: khalaqa
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: בָּרָא
Category: Creation
Safe, shared vocabulary — Allah is al-Khāliq, and classical Islamic kalam affirms creation from non-being — but the doctrine (the Triune God creating by his own Word and Spirit, ex nihilo) must be taught explicitly, not assumed from the vocabulary alone. Gen 1:1,21,27; 2:3-4.
Formless And Void
Approved rendering: خَرِبَة وخالية
Transliteration: kharibah wa khāliyah
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ
Category: Creation
A rhyming hendiadys for unshaped, uninhabitable chaos, not evil or eternal matter. Must be taught as a stage within God’s ordering work, not a rival co-eternal principle, guarding against dualistic readings. Gen 1:2.
Light
Approved rendering: نور
Transliteration: nūr
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: אוֹר
Category: Creation
Correct, unavoidable word, but carries heavy independent freight — Quran 24:35’s ‘Allah is the Light…’ and the Sufi doctrine of Nūr Muhammadī. Must stay the first created, physical light of Day One, not a metaphysical divine-light emanation, paralleling the baseline’s caution against light-based renderings of ‘glory’ (المجد). Gen 1:3-5.
Breath Of Life
Approved rendering: نسمة حياة
Transliteration: nasamat ḥayāt
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים
Category: Anthropology
God’s personal in-breathing of life into formed dust (2:7). A genuine positive convergence with Quran 15:29/38:72’s breathing-into-Adam imagery, though wording differs (Quran: ‘My Spirit’; Genesis: ‘breath of life’) — foundational to humanity’s unique, direct animation by God, distinct from the merely-spoken creation of animals.
Mankind Generic
Approved rendering: الإنسان
Transliteration: al-insān
Doctrine: The Image of God
Rejected alternatives: آدم (reserved for the proper name from ch. 2 onward)
Original: אָדָם
Category: Anthropology
Reserve الإنسان for the generic, collective sense of 1:26-27 and آدم for the proper name beginning in ch. 2. If translators default too early to the proper name, the doctrine that ALL humanity — not one individual — bears God’s image can be obscured; make this distinction explicit in every teaching document.
Helper Corresponding
Approved rendering: معينا نظيره
Transliteration: mu’īnan naẕīrahu
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ
Category: Anthropology
‘Helper’ must not be read as implying lesser ontological status; 2:23’s ‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ establishes full equality of nature alongside distinct roles, relevant background given gender-hierarchy assumptions common in the destination culture. Gen 2:18-23.
One Flesh
Approved rendering: جسدا واحدا
Transliteration: jasadan wāḥidan
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: בָּשָׂר אֶחָד
Category: Anthropology
Marriage-union formula later cited by Jesus (Matt 19:5) and Paul (Eph 5:31); the monogamous ideal implicit here may require careful pastoral framing given polygamous practice in some regional contexts. Gen 2:24.
Living Soul
Approved rendering: نفس حية
Transliteration: nafs ḥayyah
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: נֶפֶש חַיָּה
Category: Anthropology
Applied first to animals (1:20-24) and then, via direct divine in-breathing, uniquely to Adam (2:7). Must not be over-read in its animal occurrences as implying the fuller anthropology later applied uniquely to humanity; keep functionally equivalent to ‘living being/creature’ except where 2:7’s unique divine in-breathing is specifically in view.
Serpent
Approved rendering: الحية
Transliteration: al-ḥayyah
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: נָחָש
Category: Sin
The Quran’s parallel accounts (2:35-36; 7:19-25; 20:120) have Iblis tempt Adam directly, without a serpent intermediary in the Quranic text itself (a snake appears only in later tafsir/hadith material). This background gap must be supplied explicitly, not assumed known. Gen 3.
Cursed
Approved rendering: ملعون
Transliteration: mal’ūn
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: אָרוּר
Category: Sin
The threefold curse on serpent, woman, and man (3:14-19). Central to Sin’s Consequences; Islamic fiṭrah doctrine (innate purity, no inherited guilt) offers no equivalent category for an inherited creational rupture — must be taught explicitly, not assumed shared.
Garments Of Skin
Approved rendering: أقمصة من جلد
Transliteration: aqmiṣah min jild
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: כְּתֹנוֹת עוֹר
Category: Sin
The garments God himself provided for Adam and Eve after their inadequate self-covering (3:21) — the first substitutionary provision in Scripture, carrying atonement-typology significance worth surfacing in teaching, though not itself a collision-risk term.
Cain And Abel
Approved rendering: قايين / هابيل
Transliteration: Qāyīn / Hābīl
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Rejected alternatives: قابيل (Islamic-tradition form for Cain — rejected)
Original: קַיִן / הֶבֶל
Category: Sin
Naming-form partial mismatch with Islamic tradition — Abel/هابيل matches the commonly used Islamic form (Habil), but Cain/قايين differs from the Islamic Qabil. Per the baseline’s established principle for ‘Jesus’ (retain the historic Christian Arabic form, never substitute the Islamic-tradition form), retain قايين; flag for a brief clarifying note at first use since a Muslim-background reader may expect قابيل. Gen 4.
Mark Of Cain
Approved rendering: علامة قايين
Transliteration: ‘alāmat Qāyīn
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: אוֹת קַיִן
Category: Common Grace
The protective sign God gave Cain, restraining others from vengeance despite his guilt (4:15) — an early instance of common grace: God restrains full judgment even toward the guilty. The same word (אוֹת/علامة) is later used for covenant signs (e.g. the rainbow), worth noting as a structural echo.
Abram Abraham
Approved rendering: أبرام / إبراهيم
Transliteration: Abrām / Ibrāhīm
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: אַבְרָם / אַבְרָהָם
Category: Covenant
Track the name change (ch. 17) explicitly and consistently across chapters 12-17; Ibrahim is a central, revered Quranic patriarch with a differently-emphasized narrative — shared reverence does not guarantee shared narrative content.
Melchizedek
Approved rendering: ملكيصادق
Transliteration: Malkīṣādaq
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק
Category: Covenant
King of Salem, priest of God Most High, who blesses Abram and receives a tithe (ch. 14); his name shares the root family of tsadiq/tsedeq (‘righteousness’). No Quranic parallel figure exists; this unique king-priest typology (later developed in Psalm 110 and Hebrews) requires explanatory background, not vocabulary caution.
Isaac
Approved rendering: إسحاق
Transliteration: Isḥāq
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: יִצְחָק
Category: Covenant
‘He laughs’ — Abraham and Sarah’s promised covenant-line son (17, 21, 22). A shared figure but secondary to Ishmael in popular Islamic salvation-history; this background must be supplied at first introduction, not assumed known.
Dream
Approved rendering: حلم
Transliteration: ḥulm
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Original: חֲלוֹם
Category: Providence
God’s communication through dreams to Abimelech, Jacob, and especially Joseph. A positive convergence with Islamic ru’yā (‘the true dream is from Allah,’ hadith) — a valuable teaching bridge, provided interpretation is consistently credited to God rather than occult skill.
Interpretation
Approved rendering: تفسير
Transliteration: tafsīr
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Original: פִּתְרוֹן
Category: Providence
Joseph’s God-given ability to interpret dreams, explicitly credited to God rather than himself (41:16, ‘It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer’). Must not be read as divination or astrology, condemned in both traditions.
Lord Was With Him
Approved rendering: وكان الرب معه
Transliteration: wa-kāna al-Rabb ma’ahu
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Original: וַיְהִי יְהוָה אֶתּוֹ
Category: Providence
The covenant-presence assurance formula applied to Joseph in Egypt (39:2,21,23), later echoed with Moses and Joshua. Anticipates, beyond Genesis’s own scope, Immanuel theology; Joseph’s moral integrity under unjust suffering flows from this abiding divine presence, not mere personal virtue.
Face Of God Peniel
Approved rendering: فنيئيل
Transliteration: Fanī’īl
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: פְּנִיאֵל
Category: God
‘Face of God’ — the place Jacob named after wrestling, ‘I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved’ (32:30). Anthropomorphic theophany language in the same risk category as 3:8 and 6:6 — tension with tanzīh; teach as accommodated relational self-disclosure.
El Roi
Approved rendering: الله الذي يراني
Transliteration: Allāh alladhī yarānī
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Original: אֵל רֳאִי
Category: Providence
‘The God who sees’ — Hagar’s name for God after he sees and answers her affliction (16:13). Ties directly to the Providence doctrine: God personally sees and answers the afflicted, regardless of their status in the covenant line.
Joseph Name
Approved rendering: يوسف
Transliteration: Yūsuf
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Original: יוֹסֵף
Category: Providence
Jacob’s eleventh son, sold into slavery by his brothers, later exalted in Egypt through God’s providential purpose. A shared figure with an entire Quranic sura (Yusuf, 12) with differing narrative emphases (e.g., the Potiphar’s-wife episode is framed differently); flag content differences for teaching accuracy.
Dominion Subdue
Approved rendering: اخضعوها / تسلطوا
Transliteration: ikhḍa’ūhā / tasalṭū
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: כִּבְשֻׁהָ / רְדוּ
Category: Anthropology
Humanity’s mandate to ‘subdue’ the earth and ‘have dominion’ over its creatures (1:28), as God’s accountable representatives. Doctrinally this is stewardship, not license for exploitation — less an Islamic-collision risk than an ethical-application risk common to many destination cultures; a brief interpretive gloss is recommended in teaching materials.
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: داود
Transliteration: Dāwūd
Doctrine: Messianic Promise (Protoevangelium and the Scepter of Judah)
Original: n/a — anticipatory only; David himself does not appear in Genesis
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘david’ entry, unaltered). Genesis note: David himself does not appear in Genesis; this entry is anticipatory only, grounding the future Davidic and messianic line via Judah’s tribal blessing (49:8-12).
Beginning
Approved rendering: في البدء
Transliteration: fī al-bad’
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: בְּרֵאשִׁית
Category: Creation
Established Van Dyck rendering; safe, shared temporal-origin vocabulary paralleling Quran 7:54’s own creation-narrative openings. Gen 1:1.
Heavens And Earth
Approved rendering: السماوات والأرض
Transliteration: as-samāwāt wal-arḍ
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ
Category: Creation
Merism for the entire created order; identical phrase is extremely common and positively resonant in the Quran. Gen 1:1.
Firmament
Approved rendering: جَلَد
Transliteration: jalad
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Rejected alternatives: الفلك
Original: רָקִיע
Category: Creation
Ancient Near Eastern phenomenological cosmology (the visible sky). Not an Islamic-collision risk but a genre risk — frame as ancient observer-language, not a modern cosmological claim, for readers who may raise scientific objections. Gen 1:6-8.
Very Good
Approved rendering: حسن جدا
Transliteration: ḥasan jiddan
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: טוֹב מְאֹד
Category: Creation
Climactic intensification of the refrain حسن (1:4,10,12,18,21,25); foundational to a non-dualistic, non-ascetic view of the physical world, later strained but not annulled by the Fall. Use consistently, not alternated with جيد. Gen 1:31.
Formed Potter
Approved rendering: جَبَل
Transliteration: jabala
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: יָצַר
Category: Anthropology
A more intimate crafting verb than bara/خلق, used specifically of humanity’s and animals’ formation from existing material. Useful for teaching that cosmic origination (خلق) and humanity’s intimate personal formation (جبل) both matter together within the Creation doctrine. Gen 2:7,19.
Adam Proper Name
Approved rendering: آدم
Transliteration: Ādam
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: אָדָם
Category: Anthropology
A rare case of a proper name shared identically across Christian and Islamic tradition (unlike ‘Jesus’); minimal collision risk. Used from Gen 2:19 onward.
Male And Female
Approved rendering: ذكرا وأنثى
Transliteration: dhakaran wa-unthā
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה
Category: Anthropology
A genuine bridge term — near-identical phrasing occurs in Quran 49:13 — but the specific claim that both sexes together, equally, bear God’s image has no direct Islamic anthropological equivalent and should be stated positively, not merely translated. Gen 1:27.
Eve
Approved rendering: حواء
Transliteration: Ḥawwā’
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: חַוָּה
Category: Anthropology
The name given to the first woman, meaning ‘life-giver/living’ (3:20). A rare shared proper name across traditions, though Hawwa’ is not named in the Quran’s own text (only in later tafsir/hadith) — minor background note, not a collision.
Cherubim
Approved rendering: الكَروبيم
Transliteration: al-karūbīm
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Original: כְּרוּבִים
Category: Angelology
The angelic beings guarding the way to the tree of life after the expulsion (3:24); a distinct angelic category without a precise equivalent slot in Islamic angelology — note as unique rather than force an equivalence.
Offering Minchah
Approved rendering: تقدمة
Transliteration: taqdimah
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Rejected alternatives: قربان
Original: מִנְחָה
Category: Worship
The earliest sacrificial-worship vocabulary in Scripture, predating the Levitical system; introduces the theme of acceptable vs. unacceptable worship. Gen 4:3-5.
Called Upon Name Of Lord
Approved rendering: دعا باسم الرب
Transliteration: da’ā bi-ismi al-Rabb
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: קָרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה
Category: Worship
Describes Seth’s line (through Enosh) beginning formal worship of YHWH, distinct from Cain’s violent line — an early seed of covenant faithfulness transmitted across generations. Gen 4:26.
Ark
Approved rendering: الفلك
Transliteration: al-fulk
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: תֵּבָה
Category: Common Grace
A genuinely positive convergence — the Quran (11:37; 23:27) uses the SAME word, الفلك, for Noah’s ark, a strong, safe teaching bridge, though the Quranic account differs in narrative detail (e.g. a disbelieving son who refuses to board, 11:42-43, absent from Genesis). Gen 6-9.
Flood
Approved rendering: الطوفان
Transliteration: aṭ-ṭūfān
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: מַבּוּל
Category: Common Grace
Shared with Quran 29:14; safe, common vocabulary with a strongly parallel narrative. Gen 6-9.
Rainbow Covenant Sign
Approved rendering: قوس
Transliteration: qaws
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Original: קֶשֶׁת
Category: Common Grace
The rainbow given as the visible sign of God’s universal covenant with Noah and all creation (9:12-17). Low independent collision risk; theologically significant as the sign of a genuinely universal, non-particular covenant.
El Elyon
Approved rendering: الله العلي
Transliteration: Allāh al-‘Aliyy
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: אֵל עֶלְיוֹן
Category: God
‘God Most High,’ the divine title used by Melchizedek and Abram (14:18-22). A genuine positive convergence — al-‘Aliyy (‘The Most High’) is one of Allah’s 99 names in Islam; safe, resonant shared divine-title vocabulary.
El Shaddai
Approved rendering: الله القدير
Transliteration: Allāh al-Qadīr
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: אֵל שַׁדַּי
Category: God
‘God Almighty,’ the divine title under which God establishes the covenant of circumcision with Abraham (17:1). A positive convergence — al-Qadīr (‘The All-Powerful’) is one of Allah’s 99 names.
Toledot Generations
Approved rendering: مواليد
Transliteration: mawālīd
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Rejected alternatives: أصل
Original: תּוֹלְדֹת
Category: Covenant
The recurring structural formula (‘these are the generations/account of…’) organizing Genesis’s major sections (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10,27; 25:12,19; 36:1,9; 37:2). Flag for teachers as a literary book-structuring device to recognize across chapters, not merely a genealogy header.
Envy Qinah
Approved rendering: حسد
Transliteration: ḥasad
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Original: קִנְאָה
Category: Sin
The jealousy of Joseph’s brothers that drives them to sell him into slavery (37:11) — the narrative’s driving sin, tying directly to Sin’s Consequences doctrine.
Remnant
Approved rendering: بقية
Transliteration: baqiyyah
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Original: שְׁאָר / פְּלֵיטָה
Category: Providence
The preserved survivors of Jacob’s family through Joseph’s providential rise (45:7); anticipates later biblical remnant theology.
Referenced passages