Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Esther
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions exactly: Critical (human theologian review, every occurrence), High (human theologian review), Medium (native speaker review), Low (automated review sufficient).
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (No Deviation Permitted)
| English | Bengali (exact baseline form) | Risk | Doctrine (Esther) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | ঈশ্বর | Critical | Hidden Providence | Doctrinal commentary layer only (God unnamed in narrative ch. 1–10) | Never introduced into the narrative text itself; used only when teaching material draws the providence doctrine explicitly. |
| Lord | প্রভু | Critical | Hidden Providence | Doctrinal commentary layer only | Same caution as above; not present in the Hebrew narrative text. |
| Providence | ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা | High | Hidden Providence | 4, 6, 9 (thematic throughout) | Baseline term for πρόνοια-pattern content; Esther is this curriculum’s paradigm case. |
| Salvation | পরিত্রাণ | Critical | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 4 (typological use only), 9 | Reserved strictly for explicit typological/doctrinal cross-references to the gospel; NOT used for the book’s narrative-level physical rescue (see উদ্ধার below). |
| Grace | অনুগ্রহ | High | Hidden Providence / Faithfulness | 2 (doctrinal commentary) | Used only when commentary names God’s unmerited favor toward Esther/the Jews; not for ordinary human court favor (see কৃপা below). |
| Israel | ইস্রায়েল | Medium | Deliverance / Faithfulness | Background/doctrinal | Names the covenant-nation entity theologically; distinct from ইহুদি (see below), which names the ethnic/people-group identity active in the narrative. |
| Gentiles | পরজাতি | Medium | (contrast term) | Background | NOT used for Esther’s “peoples of the empire” (see জাতি/জাতিসমূহ below) — baseline’s পরজাতি is a Pauline redemptive-historical technical term, a different referent from Esther’s generic imperial ethnic groups. |
| Kingdom of God | ঈশ্বরের রাজ্য | Medium | (contrast term) | Background | NOT used for Ahasuerus’s earthly empire; use plain রাজ্য/রাজত্ব for the Persian kingdom throughout. |
| Holy | পবিত্র | High | Faithfulness (background) | Background | Available for doctrinal commentary on the Jews as a people set apart; not heavily load-bearing in the narrative text itself. |
B. New Terms Proposed for This Curriculum
| English | Bengali | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pur / the lot | পূর | pur | Critical | Hidden Providence | 3, 9 | ভাগ্য, নিয়তি | Pagan divinatory chance-mechanism; must never be rendered as if it possessed real determinative power. God, not the lot, determines the outcome. |
| Purim (festival) | পূরীম | purim | Critical | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 9 | (transliteration only; no viable native alternative) | Name means “lots”; etymological irony (named for chance, actually about providence) must be explained in teaching material. |
| Reversal (venahafoch hu) | উলটে যাওয়া / সম্পূর্ণ বিপরীত হয়ে যাওয়া | ulṭe jaoya | High | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 6, 7, 9 | কাকতালীয়ভাবে ঘটা (“happened coincidentally”) | Must convey decisive divine overturning, not luck or mere plot irony. Render consistently wherever the doctrine is taught. |
| Appointed time / “such a time as this” | নিরূপিত সময় / এই বিশেষ সময়ের জন্য | nirupito shômoy | High | Hidden Providence | 4 (core) | ভাগ্য, নিয়তি, এলোমেলো সময় | Preserve the source’s theological reticence — design implied, Designer unnamed. |
| ”Who knows” (idiom) | কে জানে | ke jane | Medium | Hidden Providence | 4 (core) | ঈশ্বর জানেন (too explicit) | Do not resolve the source’s deliberate ambiguity by naming God directly. |
| ”If I perish, I perish” | যদি আমি মরি, তবে মরবই | jodi ami mori, tôbe morôbo-i | High | Courage and Risk | 4 (core) | (must preserve doubled clause; no single-clause shortcut) | Chosen courageous resolve, not fatalistic resignation. Render identically at every recurrence. |
| Courage | সাহস | shahosh | Medium | Courage and Risk | 4, 5, 7 | বীরত্ব | বীরত্ব carries martial-heroism/epic-valor connotations (cf. Hindu warrior epics); this book’s courage is self-sacrificial for others’ sake, not glory-seeking. |
| Deliverance (physical rescue) | উদ্ধার | uddhar | High | Deliverance from Annihilation | 4 (core), 7, 8, 9 | পরিত্রাণ (reserved for typology only) | Narrative-level physical rescue from genocide; keep distinct from baseline’s soteriological পরিত্রাণ except in explicit typological commentary. |
| Annihilate / destroy | বিনাশ করা / সমূলে ধ্বংস করা / নির্মূল করা | binash kora | High | Deliverance from Annihilation | 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 | (stack synonyms to preserve source’s rhetorical intensity) | Genocidal decree language; preserve the stacked-synonym intensity of the source at 3:13. |
| Law (Persian royal statute) | আইন | ain | Medium | Deliverance / Courage | 1, 4 (core), 8 | ব্যবস্থা (forbidden here), শরিয়ত | ব্যবস্থা is baseline’s Mosaic-Torah term (High risk) — reusing it for Persian court law would falsely imply covenant-law weight. আইন is the correct secular term. |
| Decree / royal letters | রাজপত্র / আজ্ঞাপত্র | rajpotro | Medium | Deliverance from Annihilation | 1, 3, 8 | চুক্তি | Bureaucratic instrument of both threat (ch. 3) and rescue (ch. 8); keep terminology parallel across both chapters. |
| Jews (people group) | ইহুদি | ihudi | Medium | Deliverance / Faithfulness | 2–10 (throughout) | (none) | Standard Bengali Bible term; keep strictly historical-narrative in framing, distinct from ইস্রায়েল’s covenant-theological sense. |
| Peoples / nations (generic, imperial) | জাতি / জাতিসমূহ | jati / jatishomuho | Medium | Deliverance from Annihilation | 1, 3, 8 | পরজাতি (reserved for Pauline technical sense) | Refers to the many ethnic groups of the Persian empire generally, not the New Testament’s redemptive-historical “Gentile” category. |
| Faithfulness / loyalty | বিশ্বস্ততা | bishwastota | High | Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture | 2, 4, 6 | বিশ্বাস (reserved for saving trust in Christ) | Shares a root with baseline’s বিশ্বাস but denotes ethical reliability/loyalty, not soteriological faith. Footnote at first occurrence recommended. |
| Bowing / homage (court gesture) | প্রণাম করা | pronam kora | High | Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture | 3 | (contrast with উপাসনা below) | Ordinary court obeisance to a human official. |
| Worship (reserved for God) | উপাসনা করা | upashona kora | High | Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture | 3 | প্রণাম (for the human-court sense) | Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman raises the bowing/worship distinction sharply; keep the two Bengali terms clearly separated in teaching material. |
| Diaspora / life in exile | প্রবাস | probash | Medium | Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture | 1–10 (background) | ছিন্নবিক্ষিপ্ত অবস্থা | প্রবাসী is an everyday, positively-resonant Bengali word (used for Bengalis living abroad today), giving this term unusually good natural relatability. |
| Fasting | উপবাস | uposhash | High | Courage and Risk / Faithfulness | 4 (core) | রোজা/সিয়াম (Islamic-idiom), simple ব্রত (Hindu vrata-idiom) | Distinguish from Hindu merit-seeking vrata-fasting and Islamic calendrical roja; this is free, corporate, urgent petition, not merit transaction or fixed obligation. |
| Favor (human court favor) | কৃপা / দয়া | kripa / doya | High | Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture | 2, 5 | অনুগ্রহ (reserved for God’s grace in commentary) | Baseline explicitly permits কৃপা for non-soteriological compassion/favor — the correct register for human court favor in Esther. |
| Mourning / lament | শোক / বিলাপ | shok / bilap | Medium | Courage and Risk (context) | 4 | (none) | Standard vocabulary; low collision risk. |
| Sackcloth and ashes | চটের বস্ত্র ও ছাই | choṭer bostro o chhai | Medium | Courage and Risk (context) | 4 | (none) | Bengali mourning custom differs visually (white clothing); brief cultural-bridging note recommended. |
| Gallows / exaltation wordplay | ফাঁসিকাঠ / উচ্চীকৃত করা | fansikaṭh / uchchikrito kora | High | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 5, 7 | (no single Bengali verb spans both senses) | Preserve the promote/hang irony explicitly via translator note; Haman is “lifted up” on his own gallows. |
| Human greatness / glory (of a king or official) | মহত্ত্ব / প্রতাপ / ঐশ্বর্য | mohotto / protap / oishorjo | Critical | (contrast with Deity of Christ doctrine) | 1, 10 | মহিমা (forbidden — baseline reserves this for God) | Direct collision guard: baseline’s মহিমা is Critical/High-risk and reserved exclusively for God’s radiant glory; never use it for a human ruler’s pomp or political greatness. |
| Honor | সম্মান | shomman | Low | Reversal (context) | 6 | মহিমা (forbidden, see above) | Ordinary human recognition/reward. |
| Joy / gladness | আনন্দ | anondo | Low | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 8, 9 | (none) | Broadly safe term across religious traditions; no significant collision. |
| Gifts to the poor / generosity | দান / মুক্তহস্তে দেওয়া | dan / mukto-hôste deoya | Medium | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 9 | (none rejected; caution on framing) | দান carries Hindu/Buddhist merit-dāna associations; frame as joyful response to grace received, not merit accumulation. |
| Self-defense | আত্মরক্ষা করা | attarôkkha kora | Medium | Deliverance from Annihilation | 8, 9 | প্রতিশোধ (“revenge”) | Frame ch. 9’s battles as defensive rescue, not triumphalist vengeance. |
| Signet ring / delegated authority | সীলমোহর আংটি / ক্ষমতা | silmohor angṭi / kṣômôta | Medium | Deliverance / Reversal | 3, 8 | (none) | Track consistently between ch. 3 (to Haman) and ch. 8 (to Mordecai) to visualize the reversal. |
| Eunuch / palace official | রাজদরবারের কর্মকর্তা | rajdorbarer kormokorta | Low | (background) | 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 | নপুংসক | নপুংসক is accurate but carries a derogatory register in contemporary Bengali; prefer the functional descriptive title. |
| King | রাজা | raja | Low | (background) | 1–10 | (none) | Human Persian king throughout; no relation to baseline’s ঈশ্বরের রাজ্য. |
| Queen | রানী | rani | Low | (background) | 1–10 | (none) | Standard term. |
| Anger / wrath (human) | রাগ | rag | Medium | (background) | 1, 3, 7 | ক্রোধ | ক্রোধ carries heavier classical-ethical/Sanskritic weight (traditional “six enemies” ethical category); রাগ is the safer neutral register for ordinary narrative anger. |
| Banquet / feast (meal) | ভোজ | bhoj | Low | (background/structural) | 1, 2, 5, 7 | (none) | Distinguish from উৎসব/পর্ব (institutionalized festival, ch. 9). |
| Festival (Purim, institutionalized) | উৎসব / পর্ব | utshob / porbo | Medium | Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation | 9 | (none) | পর্ব has some Hindu-festival (পার্বণ) resonance; generally acceptable but worth noting for translators. |
C. Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference Summary
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Terms | Highest Risk Tier |
|---|---|---|
| The Hidden Providence of God | ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা (baseline reuse), পূর, পূরীম, নিরূপিত সময়, কে জানে | Critical |
| Courage and Risk for God’s People | যদি আমি মরি তবে মরবই, সাহস, উপবাস | High |
| Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation | উদ্ধার, বিনাশ করা, আইন, রাজপত্র, ইহুদি, আত্মরক্ষা | High |
| Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation | পূরীম, উলটে যাওয়া, ফাঁসিকাঠ/উচ্চীকৃত করা, দান, পরিত্রাণ (typological use) | Critical |
| Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture | বিশ্বস্ততা, প্রণাম করা / উপাসনা করা, প্রবাস, কৃপা | High |
D. Explicit Forbidden Substitutions (Esther-Specific, in addition to Baseline List)
- Pur/Purim: NEVER ভাগ্য or নিয়তি — the lot has no real determinative power; God does.
- Deliverance (physical, narrative-level): NEVER default to পরিত্রাণ outside explicit typological commentary — this collapses Esther’s historical rescue into the cross itself.
- Human royal/political greatness (Ahasuerus’s splendor, Mordecai’s greatness): NEVER মহিমা — reserved exclusively for God per baseline.
- Persian royal law: NEVER ব্যবস্থা — reserved for the Mosaic Torah per baseline.
- Fasting: do not silently assimilate to রোজা/সিয়াম (Islamic-idiom obligation) or an unqualified ব্রত (Hindu-idiom merit vow) without a distinguishing note.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: Ishshor
Doctrine: Hidden Providence of God / Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ভগবান, আল্লাহ
Original: ὁ θεός / יהוה (unnamed in MT Esther 1-10; named in LXX Additions A-F)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. ESTHER-SPECIFIC RESTRICTION: the Hebrew narrative text of Esther 1-10 never names God explicitly. NEVER insert ঈশ্বর into the narrative-register text (e.g. do not ‘clarify’ 4:14’s কে জানে idiom by naming God). Reserve strictly for the doctrinal commentary layer that draws out Hidden Providence; the LXX Additions A-F, where God is named explicitly, may be cited in commentary as contrast material.
Lord
Approved rendering: প্রভু
Transliteration: provu
Doctrine: Hidden Providence of God / Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: মালিক, ঈশ্বর
Original: κύριος (LXX Additions only)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Not present anywhere in the Hebrew-based canonical narrative of Esther; restrict to doctrinal commentary layer only, parallel to the ‘god’ entry above.
Salvation
Approved rendering: পরিত্রাণ
Transliteration: poritran
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: মুক্তি, মোক্ষ, নাজাত
Original: σωτηρία (Esther 4:14, paired with ἀνάψυξις)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. HARD PARTITION for Esther: use ONLY in explicit typological/doctrinal commentary drawing the Esther-to-gospel parallel. NEVER for the book’s narrative-level physical rescue from genocide — use উদ্ধার (see Section B) for all narrative occurrences (4:14, 7:3-4, 8:11, 9:1, etc.).
Pur Lot
Approved rendering: পূর
Transliteration: pur
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God / Pagan Divination Overruled by God’s Sovereignty
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি
Original: פּוּר (pur, Hebrew) / κλῆρος (klēros, Greek descriptive)
Category: Hidden Providence
Transliteration of Hebrew פּוּר; no native Bengali equivalent. Haman casts lots to select a day for the Jews’ destruction (3:7), later shown to have been under God’s sovereign control (9:24-26). MUST NEVER be rendered or explained using ভাগ্য/নিয়তি as though the lot itself had real determinative power. Requires a one-time explanatory gloss on first use (a form of dice/lot-casting to select a day).
Purim
Approved rendering: পূরীম
Transliteration: Purim
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation / Institution of the Purim Festival
Rejected alternatives: লটারির পর্ব
Original: פּוּרִים (purim, Hebrew plural of pur) / Φρουραι (Phrourai, Greek)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
Transliteration of Hebrew פּוּרִים, plural of pur (“lots”). NEVER paraphrase as লটারির পর্ব (“lottery festival”) — লটারি carries modern gambling/chance connotations that would actively undermine the Hidden Providence doctrine. Any teaching material MUST explain the etymological irony (named for chance, actually about providence) at every occurrence, since the bare transliteration carries no inherent meaning for a Bengali reader without it.
Human Greatness Glory
Approved rendering: মহত্ত্ব / প্রতাপ / ঐশ্বর্য
Transliteration: mohotto / protap / oishorjo
Doctrine: Human Royal Greatness Distinguished from Divine Glory
Rejected alternatives: মহিমা (forbidden — reserved exclusively for God per baseline)
Original: δόξα / μεγαλωσύνη (1:4, 10:2-3 — human royal/political splendor)
Category: Deity of Christ (contrast/collision guard)
Ahasuerus’s imperial pomp (δόξα, 1:4) and Mordecai’s rising political stature (μεγαλωσύνη, 10:2-3) — purely human reputation and wealth-display. This is the single sharpest cross-book vocabulary collision risk in the whole curriculum library: using মহিমা here would train Bengali learners to associate the word reserved for God’s glory with worldly royal ostentation.
High Risk Terms
Providence
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা
Transliteration: Ishshorer porichalona
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি, তকদির
Original: implicit throughout (cf. πρόνοια-pattern; explicit in LXX Additions)
Category: Hidden Providence
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Esther is this curriculum’s paradigm case for the term. NEVER used in the narrative text itself; reserved exclusively for commentary. Every commentary unit using this term must explicitly name and reject the ভাগ্য/নিয়তি (Hindu fate) and তকদির (Islamic decree) readings that Bengali readers will otherwise default to.
Grace
Approved rendering: অনুগ্রহ
Transliteration: anugroho
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture / Hidden Providence of God
Rejected alternatives: কৃপা, পুণ্য, ভাগ্য
Original: χάρις (Esther 2:9, 2:17 — human court favor)
Category: Hidden Providence / Faithfulness
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Reserve strictly for commentary explicitly naming God’s unmerited favor toward Esther/the Jewish people as a whole. For ordinary human court favor (Esther 2:9, 2:17, 5:2, 5:8, 7:3, 8:5), use কৃপা/দয়া (Section B), consistent with baseline’s own allowance of কৃপা for non-soteriological compassion.
Holy
Approved rendering: পবিত্র
Transliteration: pobitro
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Rejected alternatives: শুচি, নির্মল
Original: ἅγιος (implicit; the Jews as a people set apart)
Category: Faithfulness (background)
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Available for doctrinal commentary on the Jewish community as a people set apart within a pagan empire; not heavily load-bearing in Esther’s narrative text itself, which never uses explicitly religious vocabulary for the community’s distinctiveness.
Law
Approved rendering: ব্যবস্থা
Transliteration: bebostha
Doctrine: (contrast/fence term — Mosaic Law only)
Rejected alternatives: ধর্ম, শরিয়ত, নিয়ম
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. NEVER used anywhere in Esther material — Persian royal statute/court protocol must use আইন (Section B) exclusively. Reusing ব্যবস্থা for Esther 1:8, 1:19, 4:11, 8:8 would falsely import Sinai covenant weight onto a pagan king’s secular court law.
Glory
Approved rendering: মহিমা
Transliteration: mohima
Doctrine: (contrast/fence term — reserved exclusively for God)
Rejected alternatives: জ্যোতি, তেজ
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. CRITICAL CROSS-BOOK FENCE: never applied to any human ruler in Esther. Esther 1:4 (Ahasuerus’s imperial splendor) and 10:2-3 (Mordecai’s greatness) are the two passages in the whole curriculum library most likely to attract this substitution error by default; use মহত্ত্ব/প্রতাপ/ঐশ্বর্য (Section B) for human royal/political greatness instead.
Faith
Approved rendering: বিশ্বাস
Transliteration: bishwas
Doctrine: (contrast/fence term — saving trust in Christ only)
Rejected alternatives: ঈমান, শ্রদ্ধা
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. NEVER used for Mordecai’s civic loyalty or the Jewish community’s steadfastness under threat — use বিশ্বস্ততা (Section B) for ethical reliability/loyalty. A footnote distinguishing the two shared-root terms is required at first occurrence in any Esther teaching material.
Election
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের মনোনয়ন
Transliteration: Ishshorer monownoyon
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God (contrast material)
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি, কর্মফল
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Not a narrative-level term in Esther, but useful in commentary contrasting God’s sovereign, personal choice with পূর’s pagan chance-mechanism (3:7) — reinforcing that the lot itself never possessed determinative power.
Reversal
Approved rendering: উলটে গেল / সম্পূর্ণ বিপরীত হয়ে গেল
Transliteration: ulṭe gelo / shompurno biporito hoye gelo
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: কাকতালীয়ভাবে ঘটে গেল, দৈবক্রমে
Original: וְנֶהְפוֹךְ הוּא (venahafoch hu, Hebrew) / μετεστράφη (Greek)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
Renders Esther 9:1’s וְנֶהְפוֹךְ הוּא / μετεστράφη. Must convey decisive, personal, divine overturning — never mere plot irony (কাকতালীয়ভাবে, “coincidentally”) nor impersonal fated chance (দৈবক্রমে, which reintroduces fate through the back door). Render identically at every recurrence across all teaching materials, parallel to baseline’s mandate for verbatim consistency on Romans 8:28.
Appointed Time
Approved rendering: নিরূপিত সময় / এই বিশেষ সময়ের জন্য
Transliteration: nirupito shômoy
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি, এলোমেলো সময়
Original: καιρός (implicit in ‘for such a time as this,’ 4:14)
Category: Hidden Providence
Renders the kairos-force idiom “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Coined fixed compound phrase, not a lexical equivalent — no single Bengali noun carries a fitting/providentially-loaded moment without tipping into fate-language (ভাগ্য family) or flattening to randomness (এলোমেলো). Must preserve the source’s reticent register: design implied, Designer unnamed.
If I Perish I Perish
Approved rendering: যদি আমি মরি, তবে মরবই
Transliteration: jodi ami mori, tôbe morôbo-i
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Rejected alternatives: যা হবার তাই হবে (fatalistic single-clause shortcut)
Original: κἂν ἀπόλωμαι, ἀπόλωμαι (reflecting Hebrew’s emphatic doubling)
Category: Courage and Risk
Esther 4:16’s emphatic doubled resolve. The doubled clause must be preserved intact, not flattened to a single statement, to retain rhetorical weight. Guard against phrasing that reads as passive fatalistic resignation (ভাগ্য/নিয়তি-flavored) rather than willed, active self-giving. Single most quoted verse of the core passage; render identically at every recurrence.
Deliverance
Approved rendering: উদ্ধার
Transliteration: uddhar
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: পরিত্রাণ (reserved for typology only)
Original: ἀνάψυξις καὶ σωτηρία (Esther 4:14, physical/corporate sense)
Category: Deliverance from Annihilation
Required substitute for baseline’s পরিত্রাণ everywhere in the narrative except explicit typological doctrinal commentary. Covers Esther 4:14 (ἀνάψυξις καὶ σωτηρία), 7:3-4, 8:11, 9:1. Physical, corporate rescue from the genocidal decree — a designed pattern (τύπος) of the New Testament’s fuller σωτηρία, but not to be equated with it in vocabulary.
Annihilate Destroy
Approved rendering: বিনাশ করা / সমূলে ধ্বংস করা / নির্মূল করা
Transliteration: binash kora / shomule dhongsho kora / nirmul kora
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Original: ἀπολέσαι, ἐξολεθρεῦσαι, ἀφανίσαι (stacked in the decree, 3:13)
Category: Deliverance from Annihilation
Renders the stacked Greek synonyms ἀπολέσαι, ἐξολεθρεῦσαι, ἀφανίσαι of Esther 3:13’s genocidal decree. Preserve the source’s stacked-synonym rhetorical intensity with vivid Bengali synonyms; do not flatten to a single mild verb, which would understate the mortal stakes that make the eventual deliverance dramatically proportionate.
Faithfulness Loyalty
Approved rendering: বিশ্বস্ততা
Transliteration: bishwastota
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Rejected alternatives: বিশ্বাস (reserved for saving trust in Christ)
Original: πιστός
Category: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Renders πιστός in its ethical-reliability sense — Mordecai’s loyal reporting of the assassination plot (2:21-23). Shares a root with baseline’s Critical-risk বিশ্বাস but denotes civic loyalty, not soteriological faith. Footnote at first occurrence in every document is required given real potential for learner confusion.
Bowing Homage
Approved rendering: প্রণাম করা
Transliteration: pronam kora
Doctrine: Bowing to Authority vs. Worship Due to God Alone / Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Original: προσκυνέω (court-obeisance sense, 3:2)
Category: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Ordinary court obeisance to a human official (Esther 3:2, before Haman). Maps onto a live Bengali cultural fault line: Hindu practice of প্রণাম spans both elder-honor and deity-worship registers in a single gesture-word; Islamic practice reserves full prostration (সিজদা) exclusively for Allah. Must be sharply distinguished from উপাসনা করা (below) in all teaching material.
Worship
Approved rendering: উপাসনা করা
Transliteration: upashona kora
Doctrine: Bowing to Authority vs. Worship Due to God Alone / Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Rejected alternatives: প্রণাম করা (reserved for the human-court sense)
Original: προσκυνέω (religious-worship sense, contrasted with 3:2’s court gesture)
Category: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Reverence and homage due exclusively to God — the implicit standard against which Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman (3:2-4) is best read. Teaching material must state explicitly that Mordecai’s objection concerns worship owed to God alone, not a blanket refusal of all respectful bowing, to avoid readers supplying either an unexamined Hindu (low-stakes custom) or Muslim (tawhid-parallel, potentially over-read) frame.
Fasting
Approved rendering: উপবাস
Transliteration: uposhash
Doctrine: Fasting as Corporate, Urgent Petition / Courage and Risk for God’s People
Rejected alternatives: রোজা/সিয়াম (Islamic-idiom obligation), unqualified ব্রত (Hindu-idiom merit vow)
Original: νηστεύσατε / νηστεία (4:16)
Category: Courage and Risk / Faithfulness
Esther 4:16’s three-day corporate fast — the narrative’s implicit prayer, since God is never directly addressed. উপবাস carries two competing prior Bengali associations that must be actively distinguished: Hindu vrata-fasting (merit/boon transaction) and Islamic siyam/roja (fixed Ramadan-calendar obligation). Esther’s fast is neither; a mandatory teaching note distinguishing all three frameworks is required wherever this verse is taught.
Favor Human Court
Approved rendering: কৃপা / দয়া
Transliteration: kripa / doya
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Rejected alternatives: অনুগ্রহ (reserved for God’s grace in commentary)
Original: χάρις (2:9, 2:17, human court favor sense)
Category: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Esther’s ordinary interpersonal favor with the king and officials (χάρις, 2:9, 2:17, 5:2, 5:8, 7:3, 8:5). Per baseline’s explicit allowance of কৃপা for general, non-soteriological compassion/favor. Must not default to অনুগ্রহ at every occurrence of human favor, which would erase the human/divine-grace distinction baseline itself establishes.
Gallows Exaltation Wordplay
Approved rendering: ফাঁসিকাঠ / উচ্চীকৃত করা
Transliteration: fansikaṭh / uchchikrito kora
Doctrine: Honor Reversal: Haman and Mordecai / Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Original: ξύλον with ὑψόω / κρεμάννυμι (5:14, 7:9-10)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
The gallows Haman builds (ξύλον, 5:14) on which he himself is ‘lifted up’/hanged (ὑψόω/κρεμάννυμι, 7:9-10). No single Bengali verb spans both ‘promote’ and ‘hang’; a mandatory translator note flagging the wordplay explicitly is required — do not attempt a Bengali pun, which risks trivializing Haman’s death into black comedy.
Medium Risk Terms
Israel
Approved rendering: ইস্রায়েল
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation / Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Original: Ἰσραήλ (implicit; the covenant-nation entity behind the diaspora Jews of Susa)
Category: Covenant / People
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Names the covenant-nation entity theologically; use only in doctrinal commentary. The narrative itself speaks of individuals and ethnic identity via ইহুদি (Section B), not this corporate covenant title.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: পরজাতি
Transliteration: porojati
Doctrine: (contrast term — not used in Esther narrative)
Rejected alternatives: বিদেশী
Original: ἔθνη (baseline Pauline technical sense; NOT the term used for Esther’s imperial peoples)
Category: Covenant / People (contrast term, not used in narrative)
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. Documented here specifically to record that this term is NOT used anywhere in this Esther curriculum. Esther’s many ethnic groups of the Persian empire are রাজত the generic imperial referent জাতি/জাতিসমূহ (Section B), not Paul’s redemptive-historical category; conflating the two misapplies a New Testament technical term onto an Old Testament political setting.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের রাজ্য
Transliteration: Ishshorer Rajyo
Doctrine: (contrast term — not used for Ahasuerus’s empire)
Rejected alternatives: ঈশ্বরের দেশ
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ (baseline term; NOT used for Ahasuerus’s empire)
Category: Kingdom (contrast term, not used in narrative)
Inherited from Romans package, term unchanged. NEVER used for the Persian empire of Ahasuerus. Use plain রাজ্য/রাজত্ব (Section B) for the earthly Persian kingdom throughout Esther.
Who Knows
Approved rendering: কে জানে
Transliteration: ke jane
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God
Rejected alternatives: ঈশ্বর জানেন
Original: τίς οἶδεν
Category: Hidden Providence
Renders τίς οἶδεν (Esther 4:14). Resist the temptation to resolve the source’s deliberate ambiguity (e.g. ঈশ্বর জানেন, “God knows”) — doing so erases the very literary feature the Hidden Providence doctrine depends on. A translator note explaining the deliberate reticence is recommended wherever taught.
Courage
Approved rendering: সাহস
Transliteration: shahosh
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Rejected alternatives: বীরত্ব
Original: implicit theme (θάρσος-type quality embodied in 4:16, 5:1-2, 7:1-6)
Category: Courage and Risk
বীরত্ব carries martial-heroism/epic-valor connotations from Hindu warrior-epic literature (vīratva) and is rejected. Esther’s courage is self-sacrificial risk for others’ sake, not glory-seeking valor. Where intensification is needed, use compound description (জীবনের ঝুঁকি নিয়ে সাহস) rather than reaching for heroic-epic vocabulary.
Law Persian
Approved rendering: আইন
Transliteration: ain
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People / Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: ব্যবস্থা (forbidden — reserved for Mosaic Torah), শরিয়ত
Original: νόμος (Persian royal statute, e.g. 4:11)
Category: Deliverance / Courage (background legal term)
Persian royal court protocol law (e.g. Esther 4:11 — unauthorized approach to the king carries a death penalty). Distinct secular referent from baseline’s ব্যবস্থা (Mosaic Law, High risk). Use আইন exclusively throughout Esther (1:8, 1:19, 4:11, 8:8) to avoid falsely importing covenant-law weight onto pagan court statute.
Decree Letters
Approved rendering: রাজপত্র / আজ্ঞাপত্র
Transliteration: rajpotro / ajnapotro
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: চুক্তি
Original: γράμματα / ἐπιστολαί
Category: Deliverance from Annihilation
Official written royal correspondence (γράμματα/ἐπιστολαί), the bureaucratic mechanism of both the threatened genocide (ch. 3) and its reversal (ch. 8). Keep terminology consistent across chapters 3 and 8 for maximum narrative-parallel clarity — illustrating God’s providence working through ordinary political process.
Jews
Approved rendering: ইহুদি
Transliteration: ihudi
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation / Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Original: Ἰουδαῖος
Category: Deliverance / Faithfulness
Standard Bengali Bible term (Ἰουδαῖος); new TM entry, not present in the Romans baseline. Keep strictly historical-narrative throughout; contemporary geopolitical associations in South Asian public discourse must not color the historical reading. Distinct from ইস্রায়েল, which names the covenant-nation entity theologically.
Peoples Nations
Approved rendering: জাতি / জাতিসমূহ
Transliteration: jati / jatishomuho
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation (background)
Rejected alternatives: পরজাতি (reserved for Pauline technical sense)
Original: λαοί / ἔθνη (generic imperial usage, e.g. 1:22, 3:8, 8:9)
Category: Deliverance from Annihilation (background)
The many ethnic peoples of the Persian empire generally (1:22, 3:8, 8:9, 8:13), addressed in the king’s decrees. Deliberately distinct from baseline’s পরজাতি (Paul’s redemptive-historical Gentile category); using পরজাতি here would misapply a New Testament technical term onto Esther’s generic Old Testament imperial setting.
Diaspora
Approved rendering: প্রবাস
Transliteration: probash
Doctrine: Faithful Cultural Engagement in Exile/Diaspora
Rejected alternatives: ছিন্নবিক্ষিপ্ত অবস্থা
Original: implicit background condition (the Jewish community’s life in Persian exile)
Category: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Life as an ethnic-religious minority within a foreign empire, the setting for the entire book (2:5-11). প্রবাসী is an everyday, positively-resonant modern Bengali word (Bengalis living/working abroad today), giving unusually good natural relatability without importing a competing religious framework.
Mourning Lament
Approved rendering: শোক / বিলাপ
Transliteration: shok / bilap
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People (context)
Original: πένθος / κοπετός (4:1-3)
Category: Courage and Risk (context)
Communal, vocal expression of grief across every Jewish province upon hearing of the decree (4:1-3, πένθος/κοπετός). Standard vocabulary, low collision risk; underlines the corporate scale of the crisis.
Sackcloth Ashes
Approved rendering: চটের বস্ত্র ও ছাই
Transliteration: choṭer bostro o chhai
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People (context)
Original: σάκκος καὶ σποδός (4:1)
Category: Courage and Risk (context)
The standard ancient Near Eastern mourning gesture (σάκκος καὶ σποδός, 4:1). Bengali mourning custom traditionally uses white clothing rather than sackcloth/ashes; a brief cultural-bridging note helps readers grasp the gesture’s intensity without assuming direct cultural equivalence.
Gifts To Poor
Approved rendering: দান / মুক্তহস্তে দেওয়া
Transliteration: dan / mukto-hôste deoya
Doctrine: Generosity as Grateful Response to Deliverance (Not Merit)
Original: ἀποστολαὶ δώρων τοῖς πτωχοῖς (9:22)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
Joyful, spontaneous almsgiving as part of Purim (ἀποστολαὶ δώρων τοῖς πτωχοῖς, 9:22). দান carries strong Hindu/Buddhist dāna-dharma merit-generating associations; teaching material must frame Purim giving as a joyful response to deliverance already accomplished, not merit accumulation.
Self Defense
Approved rendering: আত্মরক্ষা করা
Transliteration: attarôkkha kora
Doctrine: Self-Defense, Not Vengeance
Rejected alternatives: প্রতিশোধ (“revenge”)
Original: ἀμύνεσθαι / ἀντιστῆναι (8:11)
Category: Deliverance from Annihilation
The permitted, defensive right of Jews to resist an attack already set in motion (ἀμύνεσθαι/ἀντιστῆναι, 8:11). Teaching material must consistently frame chapter 9’s battles as defensive rescue, not triumphalist vengeance, given real regional communal-violence sensitivities.
Signet Ring
Approved rendering: সীলমোহর আংটি
Transliteration: silmohor angṭi
Doctrine: Honor Reversal: Haman and Mordecai / Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Original: δακτύλιος (3:10, 8:2)
Category: Deliverance / Reversal
The king’s seal-ring (δακτύλιος), symbol of delegated royal authority, passed from Haman (3:10, authority to destroy) to Mordecai (8:2, authority to save). Track consistently between chapters 3 and 8 in teaching commentary so the reversal is visually traceable.
Anger Wrath Human
Approved rendering: রাগ
Transliteration: rag
Doctrine: (background)
Rejected alternatives: ক্রোধ
Original: ὀργή (1:12, 3:5, 7:7)
Category: Background
Purely human, often impulsive political anger (ὀργή; Ahasuerus at Vashti 1:12, Haman at Mordecai 3:5, 7:7), distinct from divine righteous wrath. ক্রোধ carries heavier Sanskritic/classical-ethical weight (traditional “six enemies,” ষড়রিপু) and risks reading as a quasi-cosmic vice category; রাগ is the safer, neutral narrative register.
Festival Purim Institutionalized
Approved rendering: উৎসব / পর্ব
Transliteration: utshob / porbo
Doctrine: Institution of the Purim Festival as Perpetual Memorial
Original: ἡμέραι εὐφροσύνης καὶ χαρᾶς (9:20-32)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
The annually repeated, institutionalized festival of deliverance (ἡμέραι εὐφροσύνης καὶ χαρᾶς, 9:20-32), distinct from a one-time spontaneous celebration. পর্ব carries some Hindu-festival (পার্বণ) resonance but is generally acceptable; the key teaching point is the institutionalization of joy, echoing the Lord’s Supper’s “do this in remembrance” logic.
Authority Delegated
Approved rendering: ক্ষমতা / অধিকার
Transliteration: kṣômôta / odhikar
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation (background)
Original: ἐξουσία (implicit in the transfer of the signet ring and administrative power, ch. 8)
Category: Deliverance / Reversal (background)
Delegated governmental authority (ἐξουσία, implicit in the transfer of the signet ring and administrative power, ch. 8), exercised on behalf of and under the king. Loosely echoes baseline’s প্রেরিত/apostleship structural pattern (sent, delegated authority), though entirely political, not ecclesial — note as structural parallel only, not doctrinal equivalence.
Accusation Exposure
Approved rendering: প্রকাশ করা / অভিযুক্ত করা
Transliteration: prokash kora / obhijukto kora
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Original: κατηγορέω / ἔλεγχος (ch. 7)
Category: Courage and Risk
Esther’s formal, public naming of Haman’s plot before the king (κατηγορέω/ἔλεγχος, ch. 7) — the culmination of her courageous risk. Ensure the Bengali verb choice conveys formal legal accusation in a court setting, not casual complaint.
Low Risk Terms
Honor
Approved rendering: সম্মান
Transliteration: shomman
Doctrine: Honor Reversal: Haman and Mordecai
Rejected alternatives: মহিমা (forbidden, see human_greatness_glory)
Original: τιμή (ch. 6)
Category: Reversal (context)
Public recognition/reward, here royal honor bestowed on Mordecai for past loyal service (τιμή, ch. 6). Keep distinct from মহিমা — Mordecai’s honor is human, situational reward, not theological glory.
Joy Gladness
Approved rendering: আনন্দ
Transliteration: anondo
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Original: εὐφροσύνη καὶ χαρά (8:15-17, 9:17-19)
Category: Reversal as a Pattern of Salvation
Public, communal celebration following deliverance (εὐφροσύνη καὶ χαρά, 8:15-17, 9:17-19) — grief visibly turned to joy. Broadly safe term across Bengali religious traditions.
Eunuch Palace Official
Approved rendering: রাজদরবারের কর্মকর্তা
Transliteration: rajdorbarer kormokorta
Doctrine: (background/court)
Rejected alternatives: নপুংসক
Original: εὐνοῦχος
Category: Background/Court
A royal chamberlain/attendant with trusted palace access (εὐνοῦχος), e.g. Hathach (4:5-10). নপুংসক is technically accurate but carries a derogatory register in contemporary Bengali; the functional descriptive title preserves dignity without doctrinal loss.
Banquet Feast
Approved rendering: ভোজ
Transliteration: bhoj
Doctrine: (background/structural)
Original: πότος / δοχή
Category: Background/Structural
Royal drinking-feasts and banquets (πότος/δοχή) structuring the narrative (ch. 1, 2, 5, 7). Kept distinct from উৎসব/পর্ব, the institutionalized Purim festival of ch. 9.
Book Of Records
Approved rendering: ইতিহাস গ্রন্থ / স্মরণপুস্তক
Transliteration: itihash grontho / shôrônpustôk
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God / Providence Working Through Ordinary Means
Original: βιβλίον (τῶν) ὑπομνηματισμῶν (2:23, 6:1-2)
Category: Hidden Providence
The official court annals (βιβλίον (τῶν) ὑπομνηματισμῶν, 2:23, 6:1-2) whose mundane record of Mordecai’s earlier loyal act becomes the providential trigger for the entire reversal. Useful teaching point: God’s means are frequently mundane administrative memory, not miracle.
King
Approved rendering: রাজা
Transliteration: raja
Doctrine: (background)
The human Persian king (Ahasuerus) throughout Esther 1-10. No relation to baseline’s ঈশ্বরের রাজ্য.
Queen
Approved rendering: রানী
Transliteration: rani
Doctrine: (background)
Standard term for Vashti and Esther’s royal office throughout the narrative.
Referenced passages