Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — 3 John — English → Bengali
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from the full text of 3 John (the entire book is contained within the core passage, 3 John 1:1–14; see that document’s Part 2 for the explicit single-chapter coverage note).
Reuse rule: Terms marked “Reused from Romans TM” MUST use the Bengali rendering exactly as recorded in the baseline translation_memory.json; no deviation is permitted. All other terms below are newly proposed for this curriculum and should be added to translation memory with the risk tier and notes shown.
| # | English Term | Greek Original | Transliteration | Bengali Rendering | Bengali Transliteration | Risk Tier | Doctrine(s) | Baseline Status | Notes / Rejected Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elder | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | প্রাচীন | prachin | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | New | Functional church office, not merely “old person.” Risk of being read as age-descriptor rather than title. |
| 2 | Beloved | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | প্রিয় | priyo | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Stable affectionate address term; no significant collision risk. |
| 3 | Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | সত্য | shotyo | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality; Commendation of Demetrius | New | No viable alternative exists in Bengali. Risk: collision with the Vedantic/Vaishnava philosophical category of Satya/Sat (impersonal Absolute). Must be anchored to the specific apostolic gospel content about Christ and to lived conduct (“walking in truth”), never left as an abstract metaphysical category. Governs vv.1,3(×2),4,8,12. |
| 4 | Love (verb/noun) | ἀγαπῶ / ἀγάπη | agapō / agapē | ভালোবাসা (verb) / প্রেম (noun) | bhalobasha / prem | High | Truth and Christian Fellowship; Hospitality | New | Established Bengali Bible rendering for the noun is প্রেম. Major collision risk: Bengal is the historic center of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, where prema is a technical term for romantically-figured Radha-Krishna devotional love. Must always be anchored to concrete, verifiable action (as v.6 itself does: love “testified to… before the church”), never left as an unqualified devotional-emotional term. |
| 5 | Soul | ψυχή | psychē | প্রাণ | pran | Medium | (supports Truth/Fellowship framing of v.2) | New | Distinguish from Hindu জীবাত্মা (the individual soul bound to the rebirth cycle); here, this-life spiritual condition before God. |
| 6 | Prosper / go well | εὐοδοῦσθαι | euodousthai | সমৃদ্ধ হওয়া | shomriddho howa | Medium | (supports v.2) | New | Guard against a prosperity-gospel reading; must stay paired with health/soul context. |
| 7 | Health (be in good health) | ὑγιαίνειν | hygiainein | সুস্থ থাকা | sustho thaka | Low | — | New | Standard; note word-family also covers “sound doctrine” elsewhere in NT (translator awareness only). |
| 8 | Joy | χαρά / χαίρω | chara / chairō | আনন্দ / আনন্দিত হওয়া | anondo / anondito howa | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Standard, relational joy at another’s faithfulness. |
| 9 | Brother(s) | ἀδελφός | adelphos | ভাই | bhai | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Chosen, faith-based kinship language, not inherited communal/religious identity — significant given regional norms of inherited religious community. |
| 10 | Children (spiritual) | τέκνον | teknon | সন্তান | sontan | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Figurative spiritual parentage (pastoral, not biological); needs contextual framing for readers unfamiliar with the convention. |
| 11 | Walk (conduct of life) | περιπατέω | peripateō | চলা / জীবনযাপন করা | chola / jibonjapon kora | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Whole-life pattern shaped by the gospel; avoid an over-literal “walking” image. |
| 12 | Faithful | πιστός | pistos | বিশ্বস্ত | bishwasto | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Adjective for reliable character/action; keep distinct from the noun বিশ্বাস (“faith,” already High-risk in Romans TM). |
| 13 | Stranger / Guest | ξένος | xenos | অতিথি | otithi | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Collision risk with the Hindu Atithi Devo Bhava maxim (“the guest is God”), which frames hospitality as guest-deification. 3 John’s doctrine is gospel-partnership hospitality toward itinerant ministers, not veneration of any guest as divine. Requires a translator note wherever this doctrine is taught. |
| 14 | Church | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | মণ্ডলী | mondoli | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride; Hospitality | Reused from Romans TM | No deviation permitted. Never মন্দির or গির্জা (except গির্জা for the physical building only, per baseline). |
| 15 | God | θεός | theos | ঈশ্বর | Ishshor | Critical | Church Leadership and Pride (v.11); Hospitality (v.6) | Reused from Romans TM | No deviation permitted. Never ভগবান or আল্লাহ. |
| 16 | Send on one’s journey (help onward) | προπέμπω | propempō | যাত্রার জন্য সাহায্য করে পাঠানো | jatrar jonno shahajyo kore pathano | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Compound phrase required; must retain the material/logistical-support sense, not merely “farewell.” |
| 17 | Worthily (of God) | ἀξίως (τοῦ θεοῦ) | axiōs (tou theou) | ঈশ্বরের যোগ্যরূপে | Ishshorer joggoruupe | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Conveys “in a manner that befits/honors God,” not mere competence. |
| 18 | The Name (Christ, absolute idiom) | τὸ ὄνομα | to onoma | নাম (নামের জন্য) | naam (namer jonno) | High | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Idiomatic reference to Christ himself and his cause/authority (v.7); risk of being read as a vague, generic phrase. A clarifying supplied phrase (যীশুর নামের জন্য) is recommended. NOTE: contrast the Low-risk literal “name” sense at v.14 (“greet the friends by name”) — same Greek word, different sense; disambiguate per occurrence. |
| 19 | Gentiles / unbelieving outsiders | ἐθνικός | ethnikos | পরজাতি | porojati | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | Reused from Romans TM (adjacent sense) | Same Bengali term as Romans’ ἔθνη, but here denotes unbelieving outsiders from whom support was declined for integrity’s sake — a distinct nuance from the Romans Jew/Gentile-believer-unity doctrine. Flag the distinction in teaching notes. |
| 20 | Ought / duty | ὀφείλω | opheilō | উচিত / কর্তব্য | uchit / kortobbo | Low-Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Glad debt of love, not legalistic merit-earning; keep consistent with the Romans grace-versus-merit framework. |
| 21 | Support / receive (hospitality) | ὑπολαμβάνω | hypolambanō | গ্রহণ করে সাহায্য করা | grohon kore shahajyo kora | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers | New | Compound needed to retain the material-support sense. |
| 22 | Fellow worker | συνεργός | synergos | সহকর্মী | shohokormi | Medium | Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Hospitality = active partnership in gospel work, not passive charity — key term linking hospitality and fellowship doctrines. |
| 23 | Love preeminence (love to be first) | φιλοπρωτεύω | philoprōteuō | প্রাধান্য কামনা করা / নিজেকে প্রধান করতে চাওয়া | pradhanyo kamona kora / nijeke prodhan korte chaoa | High | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | New | Hapax legomenon; no single Bengali word suffices. Must distinguish condemned self-serving status-craving from legitimate leadership authority (cf. প্রাচীন, #1). Sensitive given Bengali social honor/status (izzat) dynamics. |
| 24 | Receive / accept (welcome) | ἐπιδέχομαι | epidechomai | গ্রহণ করা | grohon kora | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | New | Refusal = rejection of legitimate apostolic authority/messengers. |
| 25 | Speak false/slanderous nonsense against | φλυαρέω | phlyareō | মিথ্যা অপবাদ দেওয়া | mittha opobad deoa | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | New | Must not be softened to neutral “criticism”; conveys baseless slander. |
| 26 | Hinder / forbid | κωλύω | kōlyō | বাধা দেওয়া | badha deoa | Medium | Church Leadership and Pride | New | Abuse of positional power to obstruct others’ hospitality. |
| 27 | Cast out / expel | ἐκβάλλω | ekballō | বহিষ্কার করা | bohishkar kora | High | Church Leadership and Pride (Diotrephes) | New | Depicts a condemned abuse of church authority, not a model for legitimate discipline (contrast Matt 18; 1 Cor 5). Sensitive given real communal/caste-based social-expulsion practices in Bengali Hindu and Muslim contexts; requires explicit translator/teaching note. |
| 28 | Imitate | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | অনুকরণ করা | anukoron kora | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | Distinguish from guru-imitation/sunnah-following models; standard here is God’s own moral character (impersonal good/evil categories), illustrated by Demetrius’s example. |
| 29 | Evil / bad | κακός | kakos | মন্দ | mondo | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | General moral-evil category; keep distinct from পাপ (sin, already fixed in Romans TM for personal transgression before God) while recognizing conceptual overlap. |
| 30 | Good | ἀγαθός | agathos | ভাল / উত্তম | bhalo / uttam | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | Guard against a karma-merit reading; goodness here marks relational identity (“from God”), not an earned merit ledger. |
| 31 | Do good / do evil | ἀγαθοποιέω / κακοποιέω | agathopoieō / kakopoieō | ভাল কাজ করা / মন্দ কাজ করা | bhalo kaj kora / mondo kaj kora | Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | Fruit of a God-given identity/nature, not a means of self-justification — must not contradict the Romans grace-versus-works framework. |
| 32 | See / know (God) | ὁράω | horaō | দেখা | dekha | Low-Medium | Imitating Good rather than Evil | New | Spiritual perception/knowledge of God, not literal eyesight. |
| 33 | Testify / bear witness | μαρτυρέω | martyreō | সাক্ষ্য দেওয়া | sakkhyo deoa | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Hospitality (v.3,6) | New | Established Bengali term for formal testimony (also used in legal/court contexts); reinforces validity of the claim. Low syncretism risk but high doctrinal weight. |
| 34 | Testimony (noun) | μαρτυρία | martyria | সাক্ষ্য | sakkhyo | Medium | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius) | New | Noun form; consistent with #33. |
| 35 | True | ἀληθής | alēthēs | সত্য | shotyo | High | Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Same root/risk as ἀλήθεια (#3); v.12 concentrates noun, personification, and adjective forms together — the letter’s doctrinal high point for both Truth and Demetrius doctrines. |
| 36 | Ink | μέλαν | melan | কালি | kali | Low | — | New | Literal, no doctrinal risk. |
| 37 | Pen / reed | κάλαμος | kalamos | কলম | kolom | Low | — | New | Literal, no doctrinal risk. |
| 38 | Hope | ἐλπίζω | elpizō | আশা করা | asha kora | Low-Medium | — | New | Confident personal expectation here (travel plans); no confusion risk in this context. |
| 39 | Peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | শান্তি | shanti | Medium | — | Reused from Romans TM | No deviation permitted; relational/covenantal peace, here as epistolary blessing. |
| 40 | Greet | ἀσπάζομαι | aspazomai | শুভেচ্ছা জানানো | shubhessha janano | Low | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Standard epistolary convention. |
| 41 | Friend | φίλος | philos | বন্ধু | bondhu | Medium | Truth and Christian Fellowship | New | Deliberate letter-closing shift from ভাই (kinship-in-faith) to বন্ধু (chosen intimacy), echoing John 15:14–15. Guard against ordinary-register flattening of this theological nuance. |
Summary of New High-Risk Terms Requiring Human Theologian Review
| Term | Bengali | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Truth (ἀλήθεια / ἀληθής) | সত্য | Collision with Vedantic/Vaishnava Satya/Sat as impersonal Absolute; must anchor to Christ and lived conduct. |
| Love (ἀγάπη) | প্রেম | Collision with Gaudiya Vaishnava prema-bhakti romantic-devotional love tradition, centered historically in Bengal. |
| Stranger/Guest (ξένος) | অতিথি | Collision with the Hindu Atithi Devo Bhava guest-deification maxim. |
| The Name (τὸ ὄνομα, v.7) | নাম | Absolute Christological idiom easily flattened to a generic phrase. |
| Love preeminence (φιλοπρωτεύω) | প্রাধান্য কামনা করা | No single-word Bengali equivalent; must distinguish condemned status-craving from legitimate leadership authority. |
| Cast out / expel (ἐκβάλλω) | বহিষ্কার করা | Depicts a condemned abuse of church power; risk of conflation with real communal/caste-based expulsion practices in Bengali society. |
Summary of Reused Baseline (Romans TM) Terms
| Term | Bengali | Romans TM Risk Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Church (ἐκκλησία) | মণ্ডলী | Medium |
| God (θεός) | ঈশ্বর | Critical |
| Peace (εἰρήνη) | শান্তি | Medium |
| Gentiles (ἐθνικός, adjacent to ἔθνη) | পরজাতি | Medium (distinct nuance flagged) |
This glossary must be merged into an updated translation_memory.json (version increment required) and a corresponding bible_term_registry.json / doctrine_risk_registry.json entry set before Phase 2 segment translation of 3 John begins.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: Ishshor
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ভগবান, আল্লাহ
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation permitted. ঈশ্বর is the settled Bengali Christian standard; never ভগবান (Hindu devotional address) or আল্লাহ (Islamic-idiom term). In 3 John, God is the standard for worthy hospitality (v.6, ‘in a manner worthy of God’) and the one truly known, relationally, by those who habitually do good (v.11).
Jesus
Approved rendering: যীশু
Transliteration: Jishu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ঈসা
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation permitted. যীশু is the established Bengali Christian form; never ঈসা (Qur’anic/Muslim-idiom name). 3 John never mentions ‘Jesus’ or ‘Christ’ directly in its Greek text; this term is retained in this curriculum’s translation memory solely to supply the clarifying phrase যীশুর নামের জন্য when rendering the absolute Christological idiom ‘the Name’ (τὸ ὄνομα, v.7) for readers who would otherwise find a bare নাম opaque.
High Risk Terms
Cast Out Expel
Approved rendering: বহিষ্কার করা
Transliteration: bohishkar kora
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: ἐκβάλλω
Category: Church Leadership
New to this curriculum. ἐκβάλλω (v.10) — no viable lexical alternative exists. HIGH RISK: depicts a condemned abuse of church power (expelling faithful believers for practicing hospitality), not a model for legitimate discipline (contrast Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5). Especially sensitive given real, painful communal/caste-based social-expulsion practices in Bengali Hindu and Muslim contexts. Mandatory translator/teaching note clarifying both (a) this is a condemned abuse of authority, and (b) the passage does not endorse or normalize religious-community expulsion practices.
Love Preeminence
Approved rendering: প্রাধান্য কামনা করা / নিজেকে প্রধান করতে চাওয়া
Transliteration: pradhanyo kamona kora / nijeke prodhan korte chaoa
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: অহংকার (too general), নেতৃত্ব (wrongly indicts the office itself)
Original: φιλοπρωτεύων
Category: Church Leadership
New to this curriculum. φιλοπρωτεύων (v.9), a New Testament hapax legomenon describing Diotrephes; no single Bengali word suffices. HIGH RISK: must be sharply distinguished from legitimate leadership authority (cf. প্রাচীন) — the sin condemned is status-craving for its own sake, not holding church office. Sensitive given Bengali honor/status culture (izzat) and, specifically, the Bengali Vaishnava guru-shishya tradition’s high, often unquestioned deference to religious authority.
Love
Approved rendering: ভালোবাসা / প্রেম
Transliteration: bhalobasha / prem
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπῶ / ἀγάπη
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. ἀγαπῶ (verb, v.1) / ἀγάπη (noun, v.6) — প্রেম is the established Bengali Bible rendering for the noun; no viable alternative exists. HIGH RISK: collides with Gaudiya Vaishnavism’s technical term prema for romantically-figured Radha-Krishna devotional love, a tradition historically centered in Bengal (Nabadwip/West Bengal). Must always be anchored to concrete, verifiable action, following v.6’s own pattern (love ‘testified to before the church’); never left as an unqualified devotional-emotional term.
See Know God
Approved rendering: দেখা
Transliteration: dekha
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Rejected alternatives: জানা (defensible only as a clarifying gloss, never as the sole rendering)
Original: ἑώρακεν (ὁράω)
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. ἑώρακεν / ὁράω (v.11) — ‘has not seen God.’ HIGH RISK: collides with the Hindu devotional practice of darshan (দর্শন), visually beholding a deity’s image or a holy person as itself a soteriologically significant act. John’s claim is moral/relational knowledge of God’s character evidenced in habitual conduct, not a ritual visual encounter. Mandatory translator note distinguishing the two.
Stranger Guest
Approved rendering: অতিথি
Transliteration: otithi
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ξένος
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. ξένος (v.5) — no viable lexical alternative exists. HIGH RISK: collides with the widely known Sanskrit devotional maxim Atithi Devo Bhava (‘the guest is God,’ Taittiriya Upanishad), which frames hospitality as venerating the guest as a literal divine manifestation, especially vivid in Bengali Vaishnava seva traditions. 3 John’s doctrine is categorically different: support is given to itinerant gospel workers because they serve the truth of Christ (v.8), not because any guest is inherently divine. Mandatory translator note at every load-bearing occurrence (vv.5,8).
The Name
Approved rendering: নাম (নামের জন্য)
Transliteration: naam (namer jonno)
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: আল্লাহর জন্য
Original: τὸ ὄνομα
Category: Christology
New to this curriculum. τὸ ὄνομα (v.7), an absolute reverent idiom for Christ himself, his authority and cause. A bare নাম is literally correct but easily misread as vague or generic; supply the clarifying phrase যীশুর নামের জন্য where clarity requires it. Mussalmani-idiom editions in circulation render this generically as আল্লাহর জন্য, stripping the specifically Christological force — must not be echoed. CONTRAST: v.14 uses ὄνομα in an unrelated, Low-risk literal ‘personal name’ sense (‘greet the friends by name’); disambiguate per occurrence.
True
Approved rendering: সত্য
Transliteration: shotyo
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀληθής
Category: Truth
New to this curriculum. ἀληθής (v.12), from the same root as ἀλήθεια and sharing its exact collision risk (Vedantic/Vaishnava Satya/Sat). Verse 12 concentrates the noun, the personification (‘the truth itself testifies’), and this adjective together — the letter’s doctrinal high point for both the Truth doctrine and the Demetrius commendation doctrine. Preserve the personification; do not flatten to a generic ‘he lived truthfully.‘
Truth
Approved rendering: সত্য
Transliteration: shotyo
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth
New to this curriculum. ἀλήθεια, governing vv.1, 3 (x2), 4, 8, 12 — no viable Bengali lexical alternative exists. HIGH RISK: collides with the Vedantic/Vaishnava philosophical category of Satya/Sat as an attribute of the impersonal Absolute (cf. Sat-Chit-Ananda; Gandhian Satyagraha). Must be anchored, at every load-bearing occurrence, to the specific person and gospel message of Christ and to lived conduct (‘walking in the truth’); never left as an abstract metaphysical category.
Medium Risk Terms
Brothers
Approved rendering: ভাই
Transliteration: bhai
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Chosen Christian Kinship
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. ἀδελφός (vv.3,5,10). Chosen, faith-based kinship language for fellow believers (the traveling gospel workers), not inherited blood, caste, or communal-religious identity. Theologically significant given regional norms of inherited religious community in both West Bengal and Bangladesh; a translator note is recommended wherever the hospitality or fellowship doctrines are taught from this term.
Church
Approved rendering: মণ্ডলী
Transliteration: mondoli
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: মন্দির, গির্জা
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation permitted. Never মন্দির (Hindu temple); গির্জা is acceptable only for the physical building, per baseline. In 3 John, the মণ্ডলী functions as a witnessing/validating body for a believer’s character (vv.6,9) and is the body from which Diotrephes wrongly expels faithful believers (v.10).
Doer Of Evil
Approved rendering: মন্দ কাজ করে যে
Transliteration: mondo kaj kore je
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακοποιῶν
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. κακοποιῶν (v.11), parallel compound to doer_of_good. The strong Johannine claim that habitual evildoing is incompatible with genuine knowledge of God should be preserved without softening.
Doer Of Good
Approved rendering: ভাল কাজ করে যে
Transliteration: bhalo kaj kore je
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθοποιῶν
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. ἀγαθοποιῶν (v.11). Reinforce with a catechetical note that this is fruit of a God-given identity, not a means of self-earned standing before God, so as not to contradict this curriculum family’s established grace-versus-works framework.
Duty Ought
Approved rendering: উচিত / কর্তব্য
Transliteration: uchit / kortobbo
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. ὀφείλομεν (v.8), moral obligation framed as debt-language. Must read as a glad debt of love, not legalistic merit-earning, consistent with the Romans grace-versus-merit framework.
Elder
Approved rendering: প্রাচীন
Transliteration: prachin
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church Leadership
New to this curriculum. πρεσβύτερος (v.1). Functional pastoral-apostolic office-title, not merely ‘an old/ancient person’; the letter’s authority — set against Diotrephes’s illegitimate self-promotion — depends on প্রাচীন being read as a recognized office. Anchor contextually at v.1.
Evil
Approved rendering: মন্দ
Transliteration: mondo
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: κακός
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. κακός (v.11), the general moral-evil category exemplified by Diotrephes’s pride, slander, and abuse of power. Keep distinct from পাপ (sin, already fixed in the Romans translation memory as the specific term for personal transgression before God), though the two overlap conceptually.
Faithful
Approved rendering: বিশ্বস্ত
Transliteration: bishwasto
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: πιστός
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. πιστός (v.5), an adjective for reliable character/action demonstrated through hospitality. Must be kept distinct from the noun বিশ্বাস (‘faith,’ already High-risk in the Romans translation memory), to avoid blurring an adjective-noun distinction Bengali readers need.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: সহকর্মী
Transliteration: shohokormi
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers; Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: শ্রমিক, সাহায্যকারী
Original: συνεργός
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. συνεργός (v.8). Hosting traveling ministers makes the host an active partner in gospel labor, not a passive benefactor; this term links the Hospitality and Truth/Fellowship doctrines and must stay consistent across both.
Friend
Approved rendering: বন্ধু
Transliteration: bondhu
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship; Chosen Christian Kinship
Original: φίλοι
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. φίλοι (v.14). A deliberate letter-closing shift from ভাই (kinship-in-faith) to বন্ধু (chosen, trusted intimacy), echoing John 15:14-15 (‘no longer servants but friends’). Guard against ordinary-register flattening: বন্ধু’s everyday casual register must not reduce this to a mere pleasantry. A teaching note on the ভাই→বন্ধু inclusio is recommended.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: পরজাতি
Transliteration: porojati
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles (Romans); Hospitality to Traveling Ministers (3 John, distinct nuance)
Rejected alternatives: বিদেশী
Original: ἐθνικός
Category: Hospitality
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE (same Bengali term reused for lexical consistency). IMPORTANT NUANCE FLAG: in Romans, পরজাতি names non-Jewish peoples as a missionary category to be included in the gospel’s unity. In 3 John 1:7 (ἐθνικῶν), the same Bengali term instead denotes unbelieving outsiders as a declined source of financial support, for the sake of gospel integrity. Flag this distinction explicitly in teaching notes wherever both curricula are taught to the same learners.
Good
Approved rendering: ভাল / উত্তম
Transliteration: bhalo / uttam
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: ἀγαθός
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. ἀγαθός (v.11, cf. v.12), general moral goodness reflecting God’s own character. Guard against a karma-merit reading (good deeds accumulating merit); here goodness is a relational-identity marker (‘from God’), not an earned merit ledger.
Hinder
Approved rendering: বাধা দেওয়া
Transliteration: badha deoa
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: κωλύω
Category: Church Leadership
New to this curriculum. κωλύω (v.10). Active obstruction of others who wish to extend hospitality — an abuse of positional power; doctrinal weight lies in the context of abused authority, not in the word itself.
Imitate
Approved rendering: অনুকরণ করা
Transliteration: anukoron kora
Doctrine: Imitating Good rather than Evil
Original: μιμοῦ (μιμέομαι)
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. μιμοῦ / μιμέομαι (v.11). The standard for imitation is God’s own moral character; Demetrius illustrates but does not himself constitute the standard. Distinguish from guru-imitation (Bengali Vaishnava bhakti) and sunnah-imitation (Islamic piety) models that center imitation on a human authority figure as the final standard.
Peace
Approved rendering: শান্তি
Transliteration: shanti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: সুখ, স্বস্তি
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Fellowship
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation permitted. In 3 John, used as a relational, covenantal epistolary blessing at the letter’s close (v.14), consistent with the baseline’s relational (not merely psychological) sense.
Prosper
Approved rendering: সমৃদ্ধ হওয়া
Transliteration: shomriddho howa
Doctrine: Spiritual Well-Being (Soul over Circumstance)
Original: εὐοδοῦσθαι
Category: Wellbeing
New to this curriculum. εὐοδοῦσθαι (v.2). Must remain grammatically paired with health/soul-condition in the same verse to avoid a prosperity-gospel misreading; independent prosperity-tract paraphrases in circulation detach this term from its epistolary-greeting context and must not be echoed.
Receive Accept
Approved rendering: গ্রহণ করা
Transliteration: grohon kora
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Original: ἐπιδέχομαι
Category: Church Leadership
New to this curriculum. ἐπιδέχομαι (v.9). Diotrephes’s refusal is a rejection of apostolic authority/messengers, not mere impoliteness; doctrinal weight lies in context, not lexical choice.
Send On Journey
Approved rendering: যাত্রার জন্য সাহায্য করে পাঠানো
Transliteration: jatrar jonno shahajyo kore pathano
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: বিদায় দেওয়া
Original: προπέμπω
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. προπέμπω (v.6). No single Bengali word captures the practical material-provisioning sense; the compound is required. Never collapse to a bare ‘farewell’ (বিদায় দেওয়া), which loses the material-support dimension central to the hospitality doctrine.
Slander
Approved rendering: মিথ্যা অপবাদ দেওয়া
Transliteration: mittha opobad deoa
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Pride
Rejected alternatives: সমালোচনা
Original: φλυαρέω
Category: Church Leadership
New to this curriculum. φλυαρέω (v.10), baseless malicious chatter against a person’s reputation. Must not be softened into the neutral ‘criticism’ (সমালোচনা), which understates Diotrephes’s wrongdoing; the Bengali Common Language Version’s tendency toward this softening must not be echoed.
Soul
Approved rendering: প্রাণ
Transliteration: pran
Doctrine: Spiritual Well-Being (Soul over Circumstance)
Rejected alternatives: জীবাত্মা
Original: ψυχή
Category: Wellbeing
New to this curriculum. ψυχή (v.2). This-life spiritual condition before a personal God, not the Hindu metaphysical জীবাত্মা (the individual soul bound to the rebirth cycle, samsara). Translator note advised on first use.
Spiritual Children
Approved rendering: সন্তান
Transliteration: sontan
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: τέκνα
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. τέκνα (v.4). Figurative pastoral-spiritual parentage (those brought to faith through the Elder’s ministry), not biological offspring. A translator note distinguishing spiritual fatherhood-in-the-faith from literal parentage is advisable for readers unfamiliar with this NT convention.
Support Receive
Approved rendering: গ্রহণ করে সাহায্য করা
Transliteration: grohon kore shahajyo kora
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: গ্রহণ করা (alone)
Original: ὑπολαμβάνω
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. ὑπολαμβάνω (v.8). A bare ‘receive’ (গ্রহণ করা) reads as mere social welcome; the compound retains the material-support dimension central to the doctrine.
Testify
Approved rendering: সাক্ষ্য দেওয়া
Transliteration: sakkhyo deoa
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius); Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Original: μαρτυρέω
Category: Witness
New to this curriculum. μαρτυρέω (vv.3,6,12). Established Bengali Christian/legal testimony term, low syncretism risk but high doctrinal weight — testimony is the letter’s mechanism for extending trust across a network of churches who have not met one another personally. Render consistently across all three occurrences.
Testimony
Approved rendering: সাক্ষ্য
Transliteration: sakkhyo
Doctrine: Commendation of Faithful Witness (Demetrius)
Original: μαρτυρία
Category: Witness
New to this curriculum. μαρτυρία (v.12), noun-form counterpart to testify. Keep the two forms consistent throughout the letter.
Walk Conduct
Approved rendering: চলা / জীবনযাপন করা
Transliteration: chola / jibonjapon kora
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: সত্যপথে চলা
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
New to this curriculum. περιπατέω (vv.3-4), a Hebraic idiom for one’s whole manner of life. Keep the verb চলা grammatically tied to সত্যে (locative, ‘in the truth’), reinforced as needed by জীবনযাপন করা; avoid the paraphrase সত্যপথে চলা (‘walking the path of truth’), which in Bengali religious idiom can echo generic dharmic ‘path’ (পথ/মার্গ) language shared across Hindu and Buddhist ethical traditions.
Worthy Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের যোগ্যরূপে
Transliteration: Ishshorer joggoruupe
Doctrine: Hospitality to Traveling Ministers
Rejected alternatives: যোগ্যভাবে (alone)
Original: ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Hospitality
New to this curriculum. ἀξίως τοῦ θεοῦ (v.6). Conveys conduct ‘befitting/honoring God,’ not merely competence; the standard is God’s own character, not social custom or the host’s ability.
Low Risk Terms
Beloved
Approved rendering: প্রিয়
Transliteration: priyo
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. ἀγαπητός, an affectionate address term for Gaius (vv.1,2,5,11). Stable, no significant collision risk.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: সহভাগিতা
Transliteration: shohobhagita
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: বন্ধুত্ব
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, no deviation permitted. Retained in this curriculum as the doctrine-label header term for teaching materials on ‘Truth and Christian Fellowship’; individual verses of 3 John use সাক্ষ্য (testify/testimony), প্রেম (love), and ভাই/বন্ধু (brother/friend) as the concrete lexical carriers of the doctrine, not সহভাগিতা itself.
Greet
Approved rendering: শুভেচ্ছা জানানো
Transliteration: shubhessha janano
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. ἀσπάζομαι (v.14), a formal epistolary expression of goodwill conveying ongoing relational bonds across a network of churches.
Health
Approved rendering: সুস্থ থাকা
Transliteration: sustho thaka
Doctrine: Spiritual Well-Being (Soul over Circumstance)
Original: ὑγιαίνειν
Category: Wellbeing
New to this curriculum. ὑγιαίνειν (v.2). Standard, safe rendering. Translator awareness only: the same Greek root elsewhere in the NT covers doctrinal soundness (‘sound doctrine’); no bearing on this occurrence.
Hope
Approved rendering: আশা করা
Transliteration: asha kora
Doctrine: (Epistolary detail, no doctrine)
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. ἐλπίζω (v.14). Confident personal expectation of a face-to-face reunion, not mere wishful uncertainty; no confusion risk in this occurrence (travel plans, not eschatological hope).
Ink
Approved rendering: কালি
Transliteration: kali
Doctrine: (Epistolary detail, no doctrine)
Original: μέλαν
Category: Epistolary
New to this curriculum. μέλαν (v.13). Literal, concrete detail with no doctrinal weight.
Joy
Approved rendering: আনন্দ / আনন্দিত হওয়া
Transliteration: anondo / anondito howa
Doctrine: Truth and Christian Fellowship
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Fellowship
New to this curriculum. χαρά / χαίρω (vv.3-4). Relational joy rooted in another believer’s faithfulness; standard, no significant collision risk.
Pen
Approved rendering: কলম
Transliteration: kolom
Doctrine: (Epistolary detail, no doctrine)
Original: κάλαμος
Category: Epistolary
New to this curriculum. κάλαμος (v.13). Literal, concrete detail with no doctrinal weight.