Core Glossary
Nahum — Core Glossary (Phase 1, Step 8)
Curriculum: Nahum
Destination language: Bengali (বাংলা)
Scope: Full-book coverage, Nahum 1–3, anchored on the core passage Nahum 1:1–8
Authority: This glossary extends, and must never contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. Where a term already exists in the baseline, the recorded Bengali rendering is reused exactly and marked “REUSED (baseline)” below. All other entries are new to this curriculum and must be added to the language package’s term registry before Phase 2 translation.
Risk tiers follow the baseline definitions exactly:
- Critical — mistranslation destroys essential doctrine; human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or syncretism risk; human theologian review required.
- Medium — mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning; native speaker review recommended.
- Low — minor imprecision risk; automated review sufficient.
Glossary Table
| English Term | Original (Hebrew) | Transliteration | Bengali Rendering | Bengali Transliteration | Doctrine | Risk | Chapters | Status / Notes / Rejected Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LORD (YHWH, the covenant name) | יהוה | YHWH | সদাপ্রভু | Sadaprobhu | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Critical | 1, 2, 3 (throughout) | NEW. Rejected: প্রভু (baseline term, reserved for NT κύριος/Christological confession, Romans 10:9); using প্রভু for the Tetragrammaton would blur the baseline’s own protected distinction. Established BBS/BSI Old Testament convention. |
| God | אֵל / אֱלֹהִים | El / Elohim | ঈশ্বর | Ishshor | God’s Sovereignty; Justice and Wrath of God | Critical | 1:2 (אֵל קַנּוֹא) | REUSED (baseline). No change; consistent with Romans usage. |
| jealous (of God) | קַנּוֹא | qanno | অনন্য দাবিদার / আপন গৌরবের জন্য উদ্যোগী | ononyo dabidar / apon gourober jonyo udyogi | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | High | 1:2 | NEW. Rejected: ঈর্ষাপরায়ণ alone (carries petty-envy connotation in everyday Bengali). Requires translator note distinguishing covenant zeal from human jealousy. |
| avenging / vengeance | נָקַם / נֹקֵם | naqam / noqem | প্রতিফলদাতা | protipholdata | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | High | 1:2 | NEW. Rejected: প্রতিশোধ গ্রহণকারী (“revenge-taker” — implies personal vendetta rather than judicial retribution). |
| wrath / anger (of God) | חֵמָה / אַף / זַעַם / חֲרוֹן אַף | chemah / af / za’am / charon af | কোপ (formal); প্রচণ্ড ক্রোধ / জ্বলন্ত ক্রোধ (intensified forms) | kop; prochondo krodh / jolonto krodh | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors; God as Slow to Anger yet Just | High | 1:2, 1:6 | NEW. Flagged High specifically because of Bengal’s Shakta-Hindu (Kali/Durga) fierce-wrath devotional imagery; must always be framed as moral/judicial (against specific oppression), never as raw or capricious cosmic power. Rejected: ক্রোধ as the primary/default term (acceptable only in intensified compound forms, not as the base register for divine wrath). |
| slow to anger | אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם | erek appayim | ক্রোধে ধীর | krodhe dhir | God as Slow to Anger yet Just | High | 1:3 | NEW. Doctrinal fulcrum term; must always appear paired with the certainty-of-judgment clause (নির্দোষ গণ্য করবেন না) to preserve doctrinal balance. |
| great in power / power of God | גְּדוֹל־כֹּחַ | gadol koach | সামর্থ্যে মহান | shamorthye mohan | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | High | 1:3 | REUSED (baseline root term সামর্থ্য). Rejected: শক্তি (forbidden per baseline; heightened risk here due to surrounding storm/earthquake/fire imagery). |
| will not acquit / will by no means clear the guilty | נַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה | naqqeh lo yenaqqeh | তিনি দোষীকে নির্দোষ গণ্য করবেন না | tini doshike nirdosh gonyo korben na | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Critical | 1:3 | NEW. Must remain lexically and structurally distinct from the baseline’s ধার্মিক বলে গণ্য হওয়া (justification — “declared righteous”), to avoid confusing this forensic-guilt declaration with the gospel’s forensic-righteousness declaration. |
| whirlwind and storm | סוּפָה וּשְׂעָרָה | sufah u-se’arah | ঘূর্ণিঝড় ও প্রবল ঝড় | ghurnijhor o probol jhor | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low-Medium | 1:3 | NEW. Culturally resonant (Bay of Bengal cyclone exposure); preserve vividness, no adaptation needed. |
| rebukes (the sea) | גּוֹעֵר | go’er | ধমক দেন / তর্জন করেন | dhomok den / torjon koren | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Medium | 1:4 | NEW. Must convey total sovereign subjugation, not mere verbal scolding; reinforce with study notes. |
| Bashan / Carmel / Lebanon | בָּשָׁן / כַּרְמֶל / לְבָנוֹן | Bashan / Karmel / Levanon | বাশন / কর্মিল / লিবানোন | Bashan / Karmel / Libanon | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low | 1:4 | NEW (proper names). Established Bengali Bible geographic forms; brief cultural/geographic gloss recommended for low-OT-literacy readers. |
| indignation | זַעַם | za’am | প্রচণ্ড ক্রোধ | prochondo krodh | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | High | 1:6 | NEW. See “wrath” entry above for shared risk rationale. |
| good (of the LORD’s character) | טוֹב | tov | মঙ্গলময় | mongolmoy | Comfort for the Oppressed; God as Slow to Anger yet Just | Medium | 1:7 | NEW. Doctrinal hinge term resolving the wrath sequence; must retain covenant-benevolence force, not read as a bland transition word. |
| stronghold / refuge | מָעוֹז | ma’oz | আশ্রয় (primary); আশ্রয়দুর্গ (secondary, poetic contexts only) | ashray; ashraydurgo | Comfort for the Oppressed | High | 1:7 | NEW. Rejected as primary: দুর্গ alone (“fort/fortress” — etymological/phonetic proximity to দুর্গা, the major Bengali goddess, compounded by surrounding fierce-power imagery in ch.1). Flag for joint native-speaker + theologian review. |
| those who take refuge (in him) | חֹסֵי בוֹ | chosei bo | যারা তাঁর মধ্যে আশ্রয় নেয় | jara tar moddhye ashray nei | Comfort for the Oppressed | Medium | 1:7 | NEW. Pairs with আশ্রয় above; relational, not merely structural, refuge — “he knows” must be preserved. |
| overflowing flood | שֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר | shetef over | বন্যা / প্লাবনকারী বন্যা | bonna / plabonkari bonna | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low-Medium | 1:8 | NEW. Culturally resonant (deltaic flood exposure in Bangladesh/West Bengal); preserve totality/finality nuance. |
| make a complete end | כָּלָה יַעֲשֶׂה | kalah ya’aseh | সম্পূর্ণরূপে ধ্বংস করবেন | shompurnorupe dhongsho korben | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | High | 1:8 | NEW. Must convey totality/finality; avoid partial-sounding renderings (“punish,” “trouble”). |
| darkness (as pursuing judgment) | חֹשֶׁךְ | choshekh | অন্ধকার | ondhokar | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low | 1:8 | NEW. Standard term; reinforce judgment sense (not generic evil/ignorance) via context. |
| plots against the LORD | חֹשֵׁב עַל־יהוה | choshev al-YHWH | সদাপ্রভুর বিরুদ্ধে চক্রান্ত করা | Sadaprobhur birudhdhe chokranto kora | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Medium | 1:9-11 | NEW. Must use সদাপ্রভু consistently, not প্রভু. |
| wicked/worthless counselor | יוֹעֵץ בְּלִיָּעַל | yo’etz beliyya’al | দুষ্ট মন্ত্রণাদাতা | dushto montronadata | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Low-Medium | 1:11 | NEW. Standard moral-corruption vocabulary. |
| affliction | עֳנִי | oni | ক্লেশ / দুঃখ-দুর্দশা | klesh / dukkho-durdosha | Comfort for the Oppressed | Low-Medium | 1:12 | NEW. Direct object of the comfort doctrine. |
| yoke / bonds | מוֹטָה / מוֹסֵר | motah / moser | যোয়াল / বন্ধন | joyal / bondhon | Comfort for the Oppressed | Low | 1:13 | NEW. Familiar agrarian imagery in Bengali rural culture. |
| good news (bearer of) | מְבַשֵּׂר | mevasser | সুসংবাদদাতা | susongbadta | Comfort for the Oppressed (typological echo of Gospel doctrine) | High | 1:15 | NEW — deliberately distinct from সুসমাচার. Rejected: reusing সুসমাচার (baseline term reserved for the technical NT proclamation of salvation in Christ per Romans 1:1, 1:16). Isaiah 52:7/Romans 10:15 typological echo must be explained in study notes, not merged lexically. |
| peace | שָׁלוֹם | shalom | শান্তি | shanti | Comfort for the Oppressed | Medium | 1:15 | REUSED (baseline). Contextual note: here, national/political peace/deliverance from oppression, distinct from Romans 5:1’s relational peace with God through justification — both senses legitimately share শান্তি, but study notes should distinguish the referents. |
| vow | נֵדֶר | neder | মানত | manot | Comfort for the Oppressed (response of thanksgiving) | Low-Medium | 1:15 | NEW. Broadly cross-religious Bengali vocabulary; anchor explicitly to সদাপ্রভু as the vow’s object. |
| the scatterer / destroyer | מֵפִיץ | mefits | বিধ্বংসকারী | bidhwongshokari | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low-Medium | 2:1 | NEW. Standard military vocabulary; God sovereignly directs even pagan armies. |
| lion / lion’s den | אַרְיֵה / כְּפִיר / מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת | aryeh / kefir / me’on arayot | সিংহ / সিংহের গুহা | shingho / shinghyer guha | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Medium | 2:11-12 | NEW. Flag: lion is also Durga’s iconographic mount in Bengali tradition; keep firmly anchored to Assyria (the judged party), never the divine. |
| plunder / spoil | בַּז / שָׁלָל | baz / shalal | লুটের মাল | luter mal | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Low | 2:9 | NEW. Concrete evidence of Nineveh’s oppression. |
| melting heart (fear) | נָמֵס לֵב | names lev | ভয়ে বুক কাঁপা / হৃদয় ভেঙে পড়া | bhoye buk kapa / hridoy bhenge pora | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low | 2:10 | NEW. Idiomatic rendering preferred over literal calque, per idiom-handling rule. |
| ”I am against you” (judgment formula) | הִנְנִי אֵלַיִךְ | hineni elayikh | দেখো, আমি তোমার বিরুদ্ধে | dekho, ami tomar birudhdhe | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | High | 2:13; 3:5 | NEW. Must remain first-person divine direct speech; never softened to third-person description. |
| LORD of hosts | יהוה צְבָאוֹת | YHWH tseva’ot | বাহিনীগণের সদাপ্রভু | bahinigoner Sadaprobhu | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | High | 2:13; 3:5 | NEW. Both elements (সদাপ্রভু + বাহিনীগণের) must appear together consistently; do not substitute a generic military title. |
| Woe (judgment-oracle formula) | הוֹי | hoy | দুর্ভোগ | durbhog | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Medium | 3:1 | NEW. Formal prophetic lawsuit/judgment marker, matching established use in other Bengali prophetic-book translations. |
| bloody city | עִיר הַדָּמִים | ir ha-damim | রক্তপাতী নগর | roktopati nogor | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Low | 3:1 | NEW. Direct, vivid; no significant collision. |
| harlotries (political metaphor) | זְנוּנִים | zenunim | ব্যভিচার | bebhichar | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Medium-High | 3:4 | NEW. Must be marked figurative (corporate-national imperial deception), not a literal individual-morality indictment; risk of moralistic misapplication if unmarked. |
| sorceries | כְּשָׁפִים | keshafim | জাদুবিদ্যা / মায়াবিদ্যা | jadubidya / mayabidya | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Medium | 3:4 | NEW. Intersects with living Bengali folk-occult vocabulary (tantra, folk exorcism); keep explicitly metaphorical/historical via study notes. |
| no healing for the wound | אֵין כֵּהָה לְשִׁבְרֵךְ | ein kehah le-shivrekh | তোমার ক্ষতের কোনো আরোগ্য নেই | tomar khoter kono arogyo nei | Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | Low | 3:19 | NEW. Confirms finality of judgment established at 1:8-9. |
| thanksgiving | (implicit; cf. שַׁלְּמִי נְדָרָיִךְ) | — | ধন্যবাদ | dhonnobad | Comfort for the Oppressed | Low | 1:15 | REUSED (baseline). No change. |
| vision | חָזוֹן | chazon | দর্শন | dorshon | Inspiration/authority of the oracle (supports God’s Sovereignty doctrine) | Medium | 1:1 | NEW. Established Bengali prophetic-superscription term; flag Hindu darshan-devotional collision risk, mitigate with contextual framing. |
| oracle / burden (against a nation) | מַשָּׂא | massa | ভাববাণী (নীনবির বিরুদ্ধে) | bhabbani (Ninobir birudhdhe) | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low-Medium | 1:1 | NEW, built on REUSED (baseline) root ভাববাণী (prophecy). |
| Nahum (proper name, meaning “comfort”) | נַחוּם | Nahum | নহূম | Nahum | Comfort for the Oppressed | Low | 1:1 | NEW (proper name). Gloss the name’s meaning at first occurrence in study materials; meaning is doctrinally load-bearing. |
| Nineveh | נִינְוֵה | Nineveh | নীনবি | Ninobi | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | Low | 1:1; throughout | NEW (proper name). Established Bengali Bible form. |
Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference
- The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors: avenging, wrath/indignation/fierce anger, will not acquit, make a complete end, bloody city, harlotries, sorceries, no healing for the wound, wicked counselor, lion/lion’s den, plunder, “I am against you,” LORD of hosts.
- God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria: LORD (YHWH → সদাপ্রভু), great in power, rebukes (the sea), whirlwind and storm, overflowing flood, darkness, plots against the LORD, the scatterer/destroyer, melting heart, “I am against you,” LORD of hosts, vision, oracle, Nineveh.
- Comfort for the Oppressed: Nahum (name meaning), good (of the LORD), stronghold/refuge, those who take refuge, affliction, yoke/bonds, good news (bearer of), peace, vow, thanksgiving.
- God as Slow to Anger yet Just: slow to anger, will not acquit (paired term), jealous, wrath/indignation, good (character resolution verse).
Escalation Summary for Phase 2 Routing
- Critical (theologian review required every occurrence): LORD/YHWH (সদাপ্রভু), will not acquit.
- High (theologian review required): jealous, avenging, wrath/indignation/fierce anger, slow to anger, great in power, stronghold/refuge, make a complete end, good news (bearer of, vs. সুসমাচার), “I am against you,” LORD of hosts, harlotries (upper end of Medium-High).
- Medium (native speaker review): good (character), plots against the LORD, vision, lion/lion’s den, Woe, sorceries, peace (contextual distinction), those who take refuge, oracle/burden.
- Low (automated review sufficient): proper names (Nahum, Nineveh, Bashan/Carmel/Lebanon), whirlwind and storm, overflowing flood, darkness, plunder, melting heart, bloody city, yoke/bonds, affliction, vow, no healing for the wound, thanksgiving.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: Ishshor
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: ভগবান, আল্লাহ
Inherited from Romans package exactly (no change). Reused in Nahum 1:2 for אֵל/אֱלֹהִים (“a jealous and avenging God”). ঈশ্বর is the settled Bengali Christian standard; never ভগবান (Hindu bhakti devotional address) or আল্লাহ (Islamic-idiom term).
Lord
Approved rendering: প্রভু
Transliteration: provu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: মালিক, ঈশ্বর, সদাপ্রভু (for this NT-reserved sense)
Inherited from Romans package exactly (no change). RETAINED HERE AS A PROTECTIVE/CONTRAST ENTRY: প্রভু is reserved exclusively for the NT Christological κύριος confession (“যীশু প্রভু,” Romans 10:9) and must NEVER be used to render the divine covenant name יהוה in Nahum. The distinct OT rendering সদাপ্রভু (see Section B) is required instead. This entry exists in the Nahum TM specifically to prevent Phase 2 workers from collapsing the two terms.
Yhwh
Approved rendering: সদাপ্রভু
Transliteration: Sadaprobhu
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: প্রভু, ঈশ্বর (as a full substitute for the covenant name)
Original: יהוה
Category: God
NEW. The covenant, personal name of God (Tetragrammaton), occurring throughout Nahum 1-3. Render with the established Bangladesh Bible Society / Bible Society of India Old Testament convention সদাপ্রভু. NEVER প্রভু, which the baseline reserves exclusively for the NT Christological confession. Critical for every occurrence in the book.
Will Not Acquit
Approved rendering: তিনি দোষীকে নির্দোষ গণ্য করবেন না
Transliteration: tini doshike nirdosh gonyo korben na
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: ক্ষমা করবেন না (loses the forensic-declaration structure), শাস্তি দেবেন (loses the acquittal-specific idiom)
Original: נַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 1:3, נַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה (emphatic Hebrew doubling). Must remain lexically and structurally distinct from the baseline’s ধার্মিক বলে গণ্য হওয়া (justification, “declared righteous”) — the two are structurally parallel forensic-declaration idioms with OPPOSITE content (declared guilty vs. declared righteous). Confusing them would imply God justifies the guilty apart from Christ, or blunt the gospel’s forensic declaration. Critical for every occurrence (1:3) and its thematic echo at 1:8-9.
High Risk Terms
Power Of God
Approved rendering: সামর্থ্য
Transliteration: shamorthyo
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: শক্তি
Inherited from Romans package exactly (root term; no change). NEVER শক্তি. The baseline’s prohibition on শক্তি (Shakta-goddess association) applies with even greater force in Nahum, where power is displayed through storm, earthquake, and fire — imagery overlapping heavily with Kali/Durga iconographic power-display in Bengali visual culture. Used as the root of the Nahum-specific compound সামর্থ্যে মহান (see Section B).
Gospel
Approved rendering: সুসমাচার
Transliteration: susomachar
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: খুশ খবর, ইঞ্জিল
Inherited from Romans package exactly (no change). RETAINED HERE AS A PROTECTIVE/CONTRAST ENTRY: সুসমাচার denotes specifically the NT proclamation of salvation through Christ’s death and resurrection and must NEVER be used to render Nahum 1:15’s מְבַשֵּׂר (“bearer of good news”), which is a this-worldly, political-historical announcement of Nineveh’s fall. The distinct rendering সুসংবাদদাতা (see Section B) is required instead. This entry exists in the Nahum TM specifically to prevent lexical collapse of OT type and NT fulfillment.
Yhwh Tsevaot
Approved rendering: বাহিনীগণের সদাপ্রভু
Transliteration: bahinigoner Sadaprobhu
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: সেনাপতি ঈশ্বর, প্রভু বাহিনীগণের (word-order variant)
Original: יהוה צְבָאוֹת
Category: God
NEW. “The LORD of hosts,” God’s title as commander of heavenly/earthly armies (Nahum 2:13; 3:5). সদাপ্রভু and বাহিনীগণের must always appear joined; never substitute a bare military title detached from the covenant name, which would reduce God to a generalissimo rather than the personal covenant LORD directing history.
Jealous God
Approved rendering: অনন্য দাবিদার ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: ononyo dabidar Ishshor
Doctrine: God as Slow to Anger yet Just
Rejected alternatives: ঈর্ষাপরায়ণ ঈশ্বর
Original: קַנּוֹא
Category: Divine Attributes
NEW. Nahum 1:2, קַנּוֹא. God’s exclusive covenant zeal, not petty human envy. Reject ঈর্ষাপরায়ণ as primary: in everyday Bengali ঈর্ষা denotes petty, morally negative envy, which would make God’s covenant zeal sound like a character flaw. Mandatory translator note distinguishing covenant zeal from human jealousy required at every occurrence.
Avenging
Approved rendering: প্রতিফলদাতা
Transliteration: protipholdata
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: প্রতিশোধ গ্রহণকারী
Original: נָקַם / נֹקֵם
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 1:2 (×3), root נקם. “One who gives due recompense” — judicial, not personal, retribution. Reject প্রতিশোধ গ্রহণকারী (“revenge-taker”), which frames God’s action as personal vendetta rather than righteous judicial retribution, undermining the doctrine’s judicial basis.
Wrath Chemah
Approved rendering: কোপ
Transliteration: kop
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: ক্রোধ (as default/base register)
Original: חֵמָה
Category: Divine Attributes
NEW. Nahum 1:2, חֵמָה. The established formal/literary Bengali Bible term for divine wrath. Never the everyday ক্রোধ as the default register. Bengal is the historic heartland of Shakta Hinduism (Durga/Kali worship); Kali iconography is built around fierce, blood-associated divine anger, so Nahum’s dense wrath imagery must be consistently anchored to moral, judicial causation (Nineveh’s specific cruelty), never left as raw cosmic power.
Indignation Zaam
Approved rendering: প্রচণ্ড ক্রোধ
Transliteration: prochondo krodh
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: זַעַם
Category: Divine Attributes
NEW. Nahum 1:6, זַעַם, in the rhetorical question “who can stand before his indignation?” Same Shakta-Hindu fierce-wrath collision risk as wrath_chemah; this verse contains the book’s most visually intense wrath-as-fire imagery and requires explicit justice-against-oppressors framing in study notes.
Fierce Anger Charon Af
Approved rendering: তাঁর জ্বলন্ত ক্রোধ
Transliteration: tar jolonto krodh
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ
Category: Divine Attributes
NEW. Nahum 1:6, חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ (“burning of his nostrils/face,” idiom for the fiercest degree of anger). Highest-pitch wrath term in the book, occurring immediately before the pivot to God’s goodness in 1:7; the rendering must not overshadow that following resolution.
Slow To Anger
Approved rendering: ক্রোধে ধীর
Transliteration: krodhe dhir
Doctrine: God as Slow to Anger yet Just
Rejected alternatives: ধীরে ক্রোধ করেন (word-order variant, avoid for consistency)
Original: אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
Category: Divine Attributes
NEW. Nahum 1:3, אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (“long of nostrils,” idiom for patience). Doctrinal fulcrum of the book. Must always appear paired, within the same sentence or immediately adjacent clause joined by কিন্তু/তবুও (“but/yet”), with will_not_acquit — never separated across paragraph or verse-note boundaries — to prevent readers inferring either an indefinitely permissive deity or a deity whose patience is merely delay rather than character.
Great In Power
Approved rendering: সামর্থ্যে মহান
Transliteration: shamorthye mohan
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: শক্তিতে মহান
Original: גְּדוֹל־כֹּחַ
Category: God
NEW. Nahum 1:3, גְּדוֹל־כֹּחַ. Built on the baseline’s established root সামর্থ্য. শক্তি is forbidden per the baseline; the prohibition applies with even greater force here since this power is displayed through storm, earthquake, and fire, imagery overlapping heavily with Kali/Durga iconographic power-display.
Stronghold Refuge
Approved rendering: আশ্রয়
Transliteration: ashray
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: দুর্গ
Original: מָעוֹז
Category: Comfort
NEW. Nahum 1:7, מָעוֹז. Reject দুর্গ (“fort/fortress”) as primary: দুর্গ is phonetically and etymologically adjacent to দুর্গা, the preeminent Bengali Hindu goddess. Combined with the surrounding fierce-power/wrath imagery already present in Nahum 1, দুর্গ risks an unintended cumulative echo of Durga devotional language. আশ্রয়দুর্গ is acceptable only in tightly controlled poetic-parallelism contexts with a footnote, never as the default. Requires joint native-speaker and theologian review given the doctrinal weight of this verse.
Make A Complete End
Approved rendering: সম্পূর্ণরূপে ধ্বংস করবেন
Transliteration: shompurnorupe dhongsho korben
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: শাস্তি দেবেন, কষ্ট দেবেন
Original: כָּלָה יַעֲשֶׂה
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 1:8, כָּלָה יַעֲשֶׂה. Total, decisive, final destruction, not partial defeat. Combined with will_not_acquit, this is the doctrinal anchor for the certainty and totality of judgment against oppressors; a softened rendering (“punish,” “trouble”) would blunt the required finality.
Bearer Of Good News
Approved rendering: সুসংবাদদাতা
Transliteration: susongbadta
Doctrine: Typological Echo of Gospel Proclamation (Good News of Deliverance)
Rejected alternatives: সুসমাচার (reserved exclusively for the NT proclamation of salvation in Christ)
Original: מְבַשֵּׂר
Category: Comfort
NEW. Nahum 1:15, מְבַשֵּׂר. Deliberately distinct coinage from the baseline’s সুসমাচার. Nahum 1:15’s “good news” is a this-worldly, political-historical announcement of Nineveh’s fall and Judah’s deliverance, echoing Isaiah 52:7 (quoted in Romans 10:15) but not yet the specific NT gospel proclamation. Study notes must explain the typological echo without lexically merging the two terms.
I Am Against You
Approved rendering: দেখো, আমি তোমার বিরুদ্ধে
Transliteration: dekho, ami tomar birudhdhe
Doctrine: God’s Direct Personal Opposition to Evil
Rejected alternatives: ঈশ্বর তোমার বিরুদ্ধে (third-person softening, rejected)
Original: הִנְנִי אֵלַיִךְ
Category: Sovereignty
NEW. Nahum 2:13; 3:5, הִנְנִי אֵלַיִךְ. Fixed prophetic judgment-oracle formula. Must remain first-person divine direct speech attributed explicitly to সদাপ্রভু; never softened into third-person description. Flag for theologian review at every occurrence.
Harlotries
Approved rendering: ব্যভিচার
Transliteration: bebhichar
Doctrine: Moral Illegitimacy of Imperial Oppression
Original: זְנוּנִים
Category: Sin
NEW. Nahum 3:4, זְנוּנִים. Metaphor for a nation’s use of seductive political/commercial alliances and deceptive diplomacy to entrap and exploit weaker nations. Must be explicitly marked in study notes as figurative, corporate-national imperial deception, NOT a literal individual-morality indictment; unmarked rendering risks moralistic misapplication.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: শান্তি
Transliteration: shanti
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: সুখ, স্বস্তি
Inherited from Romans package exactly (no change). Reused in Nahum 1:15 for שָׁלוֹם — here national/political peace and deliverance from Assyrian oppression, distinct from Romans 5:1’s relational peace with God through justification. Both senses legitimately share শান্তি; study notes must distinguish the referents so the two doctrinal contexts are not conflated.
Whirlwind And Storm
Approved rendering: ঘূর্ণিঝড় ও প্রবল ঝড়
Transliteration: ghurnijhor o probol jhor
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: סוּפָה וּשְׂעָרָה
Category: Theophany
NEW. Nahum 1:3, סוּפָה וּשְׂעָרָה. Culturally advantageous: the Bay of Bengal coast is one of the most cyclone-exposed regions on earth, so this image lands with unusual visceral force and requires no cultural adaptation. Preserve vividness; do not flatten into a generic storm.
Rebukes The Sea
Approved rendering: ধমক দেন
Transliteration: dhomok den
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: তর্জন করেন (acceptable formal alternative, not primary)
Original: גּוֹעֵר בַּיָּם
Category: Sovereignty
NEW. Nahum 1:4, גּוֹעֵר בַּיָּם. English “rebukes” can read as mere verbal scolding; the underlying sense is total sovereign subjugation of a cosmic force (echoing Creation/Exodus imagery) and must be reinforced in study notes.
Good Character Of God
Approved rendering: মঙ্গলময়
Transliteration: mongolmoy
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: সৎ
Original: טוֹב
Category: Divine Attributes
NEW. Nahum 1:7, טוֹב. Doctrinal hinge-verse: after six verses of wrath vocabulary, this reveals God’s fundamental moral goodness and covenant benevolence. মঙ্গলময় carries covenantal-benevolence force; the flatter সৎ risks reading as a throwaway transition word and must be avoided.
Those Who Take Refuge
Approved rendering: যারা তাঁর মধ্যে আশ্রয় নেয়
Transliteration: jara tar moddhye ashray nei
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Original: חֹסֵי בוֹ
Category: Comfort
NEW. Nahum 1:7, חֹסֵי בוֹ. Pairs with stronghold_refuge above. The clause “he knows” must be preserved to keep the refuge relational/covenantal, not merely architectural.
Overflowing Flood
Approved rendering: প্লাবনকারী বন্যা
Transliteration: plabonkari bonna
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: বন্যা (acceptable short form)
Original: שֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 1:8, שֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר. Historically prescient — Nineveh’s actual fall (612 BC) involved Tigris flooding. Culturally resonant given deltaic flood exposure in Bangladesh/West Bengal; preserve the totality/finality nuance rather than rendering as an ordinary seasonal flood.
Plots Against The Lord
Approved rendering: সদাপ্রভুর বিরুদ্ধে চক্রান্ত করা
Transliteration: Sadaprobhur birudhdhe chokranto kora
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: חֹשֵׁב עַל־יהוה
Category: Sovereignty
NEW. Nahum 1:9-11, חֹשֵׁב עַל־יהוה. Assyria’s political/military aggression reframed as rebellion directed at God himself. Must use সদাপ্রভু consistently, never প্রভু.
Wicked Counselor
Approved rendering: দুষ্ট মন্ত্রণাদাতা
Transliteration: dushto montronadata
Doctrine: Moral Illegitimacy of Imperial Oppression
Original: יוֹעֵץ בְּלִיָּעַל
Category: Sin
NEW. Nahum 1:11, יוֹעֵץ בְּלִיָּעַל. Standard moral-corruption vocabulary; identifies the moral character behind Assyrian imperial policy as fundamentally corrupt.
Affliction
Approved rendering: ক্লেশ
Transliteration: klesh
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: দুঃখ-দুর্দশা (acceptable alternate compound)
Original: עֳנִי
Category: Comfort
NEW. Nahum 1:12, עֳנִי. Direct object of the “Comfort for the Oppressed” doctrine — Judah’s actual lived experience under Assyrian threat.
Vow
Approved rendering: মানত
Transliteration: manot
Doctrine: Response of Worship and Thanksgiving to Deliverance
Original: נֵדֶר
Category: Worship
NEW. Nahum 1:15, נֵדֶר. Broadly cross-religious Bengali vocabulary used across Hindu, Muslim, and Christian popular practice for a vow discharged upon receiving a blessing. Ensure the vow’s object is anchored explicitly to সদাপ্রভু, not left as a generic religious act.
The Scatterer
Approved rendering: বিধ্বংসকারী
Transliteration: bidhwongshokari
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: מֵפִיץ
Category: Sovereignty
NEW. Nahum 2:1, מֵפִיץ. A besieging military force, presented as instrumentally under God’s sovereign hand; God’s directive agency must remain explicit in surrounding verbs of sending/commissioning.
Lion And Lions Den
Approved rendering: সিংহ / সিংহের গুহা
Transliteration: shingho / shinghyer guha
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: אַרְיֵה / כְּפִיר / מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 2:11-12, אַרְיֵה / כְּפִיר / מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת. Assyria portrayed as a predatory lion, inverting Assyrian royal lion-hunt propaganda. Flag: the lion is also Durga’s iconographic mount (vahana) in Bengali tradition; must be kept firmly anchored to Assyria as the judged, predatory party, never read as an image of the divine.
Woe
Approved rendering: দুর্ভোগ
Transliteration: durbhog
Doctrine: Formal Prophetic Indictment (Woe Oracle Form)
Rejected alternatives: হায় (acceptable interjection alternate, secondary)
Original: הוֹי
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Nahum 3:1, הוֹי. Funeral-lament interjection repurposed as a formal judgment-announcement formula; must match established use in other Bengali prophetic-book translations (Isaiah, Habakkuk) so learners recognize the genre marker.
Sorceries
Approved rendering: জাদুবিদ্যা
Transliteration: jadubidya
Doctrine: Moral Illegitimacy of Imperial Oppression
Rejected alternatives: মায়াবিদ্যা (acceptable alternate)
Original: כְּשָׁפִים
Category: Sin
NEW. Nahum 3:4, כְּשָׁפִים. Paired with harlotries as indictment of Nineveh’s manipulative, deceptive control over other nations. Intersects with living Bengali folk-occult vocabulary (tantra, folk exorcism) across both Hindu and Muslim popular religion; study notes must keep this explicitly metaphorical/historical, not a condemnation of contemporary folk practice.
Vision Chazon
Approved rendering: দর্শন
Transliteration: dorshon
Doctrine: Historical Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: חָזוֹן
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Nahum 1:1, חָזוֹן. Established Bengali prophetic-superscription term (Isaiah 1:1, Obadiah 1:1). দর্শন is also the standard Bengali/Hindu term for devotionally beholding a deity’s image (“দর্শন করা”); superscription-formula context must make clear this is a received divine disclosure to a prophet, not a worshiper’s visual encounter with an idol. No better single-word alternative exists in established Bengali Bible usage.
Oracle Massa
Approved rendering: ভাববাণী (নীনবির বিরুদ্ধে)
Transliteration: bhabbani (Ninobir birudhdhe)
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: ভার (literal “burden”, rejected as reading like a private complaint)
Original: מַשָּׂא
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Nahum 1:1, מַשָּׂא. A divinely-imposed prophetic oracle of judgment against a nation. Built on the baseline’s established root ভাববাণী (prophecy), qualified with the target nation to preserve the authoritative, nation-directed force of the term.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ধন্যবাদ
Transliteration: dhonnobad
Doctrine: Response of Worship and Thanksgiving to Deliverance
Original: (implicit; cf. שַׁלְּמִי נְדָרָיִךְ)
Category: Worship
Inherited from Romans package exactly (no change). Reused in Nahum 1:15 as Judah’s called-for response to deliverance from Assyrian oppression.
Darkness Pursuing
Approved rendering: অন্ধকার
Transliteration: ondhokar
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: חֹשֶׁךְ
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 1:8, חֹשֶׁךְ. Darkness personified as pursuing, inescapable judgment. Standard term; reinforce the judgment sense contextually (“তাঁর শত্রুদের অন্ধকার তাড়া করবে”) rather than the more common Bengali idiomatic sense of generic evil/ignorance.
Yoke And Bonds
Approved rendering: যোয়াল ও বন্ধন
Transliteration: joyal o bondhon
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Original: מוֹטָה / מוֹסֵר
Category: Comfort
NEW. Nahum 1:13, מוֹטָה / מוֹסֵר. Instruments of political subjugation. Agrarian yoke imagery is well understood in Bengali rural culture; no adaptation needed.
Plunder Spoil
Approved rendering: লুটের মাল
Transliteration: luter mal
Doctrine: Moral Illegitimacy of Imperial Oppression
Original: בַּז / שָׁלָל
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 2:9, בַּז / שָׁלָל. Goods and captives seized violently by a conquering army; concrete evidence of Nineveh’s oppression. Everyday vocabulary, no significant collision.
Melting Heart
Approved rendering: ভয়ে বুক কাঁপা
Transliteration: bhoye buk kapa
Doctrine: Reciprocal Justice of God’s Judgment
Rejected alternatives: হৃদয় ভেঙে পড়া (acceptable alternate idiom), হৃদয় গলে যাওয়া (literal calque, rejected)
Original: נָמֵס לֵב
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 2:10, נָמֵס לֵב. Idiom for terror; render idiomatically per the baseline’s idiom-handling guidance, not as a literal calque of “melting heart,” which is not a natural Bengali idiom.
Bloody City
Approved rendering: রক্তপাতী নগর
Transliteration: roktopati nogor
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: עִיר הַדָּמִים
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 3:1, עִיר הַדָּמִים. A city characterized by the bloodshed and violence it has inflicted on others. Direct and vivid, no significant collision.
No Healing For The Wound
Approved rendering: তোমার ক্ষতের কোনো আরোগ্য নেই
Transliteration: tomar khoter kono arogyo nei
Doctrine: Certainty and Finality of Divine Judgment
Original: אֵין כֵּהָה לְשִׁבְרֵךְ
Category: Judgment
NEW. Nahum 3:19, אֵין כֵּהָה לְשִׁבְרֵךְ. Idiom for a fatal, untreatable injury. Confirms the finality of judgment established at 1:8-9.
Nahum Name
Approved rendering: নহূম
Transliteration: Nahum
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: সান্ত্বনাকারী (paraphrase-as-name, rejected — breaks proper-name convention)
Original: נַחוּם
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). Nahum 1:1, נַחוּם, from the root נחם, “to comfort.” Standard transliteration নহূম. Gloss the name’s meaning (“comfort/consolation”) at first occurrence in study materials, since this meaning is theologically load-bearing for the “Comfort for the Oppressed” doctrine and is not otherwise recoverable from the transliteration alone.
Nineveh
Approved rendering: নীনবি
Transliteration: Ninobi
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: נִינְוֵה
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). Nahum 1:1 and throughout. Established Bengali Bible form. No doctrinal ambiguity.
Assyria
Approved rendering: আসিরিয়া
Transliteration: Assiria
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: אַשּׁוּר
Category: Proper Names
NEW (proper name). The imperial power of which Nineveh was capital. Established Bengali Bible form. Low risk beyond consistency with নীনবি.
Bashan Carmel Lebanon
Approved rendering: বাশন, কর্মিল, লিবানোন
Transliteration: Bashan, Karmel, Libanon
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: בָּשָׁן / כַּרְמֶל / לְבָנוֹן
Category: Geography
NEW (proper names). Nahum 1:4. Fertile regions renowned for lushness, whose withering under God’s word displays his sovereignty over the most celebrated natural abundance. Established Bengali Bible proper-name forms; provide a brief geographic gloss for readers with low Old Testament narrative literacy.
Referenced passages