Semantic Analysis — Proverbs (Hebrew → English → Bengali)

Methodology

Each load-bearing term is analyzed with: original word (Hebrew, with transliteration), literal meaning, semantic range, English variants found across major English versions, contextual theological meaning in Proverbs, and destination-language (Bengali) rendering risk, drawing on the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json wherever a term already has an established rendering. New terms are proposed with explicit risk grounding, paying special attention to collisions with Bengali Hindu (Shakta, Vedantic, Saraswati-devotional) and Muslim (Qur’anic-idiom) religious vocabulary, per the baseline’s documented risk pattern.

Two OT-specific realities not present in the Romans baseline must be flagged up front:

1. יְהוָה (YHWH, “the LORD”) is the covenant name of God, distinct from the generic honorific “lord” (Hebrew אָדוֹן/Greek κύριος, baseline’s lord = প্রভু). Established Bengali Bible tradition renders the Tetragrammaton সদাপ্রভু (Sodaprobhu, lit. “the Ever-Lord/the Eternally Existing Lord”). This is a new Critical-risk term required across all 31 chapters of Proverbs, since “the fear of the LORD” (יִרְאַת יְהוָה) is the book’s central refrain (1:7; 9:10; 15:33; et al.).
2. חָכְמָה (chokmah, “wisdom”), personified as a woman calling in the streets (chs. 1, 8, 9), sits at a live syncretism fault line specific to Bengali culture: Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, learning, music, and wisdom, is one of the most widely and warmly venerated figures in Bengali religious life (Saraswati Pūjā/Basanta Pañchamī is a major annual festival, especially among students). A personified female Wisdom figure calling out invitations to the simple is at real risk of being assimilated to Saraswati devotion by Bengali readers unless the translation and accompanying material keep Wisdom clearly as an attribute/gift of the one personal সদাপ্রভু, not an independent semi-divine female figure. This is treated as Critical risk throughout, on the same documentary model as the baseline’s শক্তি/Shakta-Hinduism flag for “power of God.”

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CORE PASSAGE: Proverbs 3:1-12 — Verse-by-Verse Analysis

Proverbs 3:1

Hebrew: בְּנִי תּוֹרָתִי אַל־תִּשְׁכָּח וּמִצְוֹתַי יִצֹּר לִבֶּךָ

• תּוֹרָה (torah) — Transliteration: torah. Literal meaning: “teaching, instruction” (from י־ר־ה, “to direct, to teach”), here in the personal/parental sense, NOT the codified Mosaic Law. Semantic range: teaching, doctrine, direction, law. English variants: “teaching,” “law,” “instruction.” Contextual theological meaning: the father-sage’s accumulated instruction, to be treasured, not the covenant Law-code Paul discusses in Romans. Bengali rendering: শিক্ষা (shikkha) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: the baseline reserves ব্যবস্থা exclusively for the Mosaic Law (νόμος/torah-as-covenant-code, Romans High risk). Using ব্যবস্থা here would wrongly import legal-code weight into a father’s wisdom-teaching and would contradict the baseline’s established distinction. শিক্ষা must be used consistently for this filial/sapiential sense of torah throughout Proverbs.
• מִצְוָה (mitzvah, pl. מִצְוֹת) — “commandment.” Semantic range: instruction, precept, command. English variants: “commandments,” “precepts.” Theological meaning: specific applied directives flowing from the father’s/God’s teaching. Bengali: আদেশ (adesh) — Risk: Medium. Distinct from ব্যবস্থা; no baseline collision.
• לֵב (lev) — “heart.” Semantic range: seat of will, intellect, and emotion (not merely feeling, as in English idiom). English variants: “heart,” “mind.” Theological meaning: the whole inner person must actively retain (not merely hear) wisdom. Bengali: হৃদয় (hridoy) — Risk: Medium. Note for translators: Bengali হৃদয় can skew toward emotion alone; render surrounding verbs (e.g. “keep,” “guard”) to reinforce the volitional/cognitive sense.

Proverbs 3:2

Hebrew: כִּי אֹרֶךְ יָמִים וּשְׁנוֹת חַיִּים וְשָׁלוֹם יוֹסִיפוּ לָךְ

• שָׁלוֹם (shalom) — “peace, wholeness, well-being.” Semantic range: far broader than the Romans-context “peace with God” (baseline peace = শান্তি, Medium risk, relational-covenantal peace secured through justification). In wisdom literature shalom denotes holistic flourishing — bodily, relational, social. Bengali: শান্তি (shanti) — reuse baseline term exactly, but Risk here is Medium with an added translator note distinguishing Proverbs’ this-worldly flourishing sense from the Romans 5:1 forensic-peace sense, so the two are not collapsed into one narrow doctrinal meaning.
• חַיִּים (chayyim) — “life, years of life.” Not a load-bearing doctrinal risk term; standard vocabulary (জীবন, jibon). Risk: Low.

Proverbs 3:3

Hebrew: חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת אַל־יַעַזְבֻךָ קָשְׁרֵם עַל־לוּחַ לִבֶּךָ

• חֶסֶד (chesed) — “steadfast love, covenant loyalty, loving-kindness.” Semantic range: loyal, faithful love within a covenant relationship — richer than mere sentiment. English variants: “steadfast love,” “mercy,” “kindness,” “lovingkindness.” Contextual theological meaning: the disciple must not let this covenant-quality love and loyalty depart, but bind it as an identity marker (“write on the tablet of your heart”). Bengali: অবিচল দয়া (obichol doya, “unwavering kindness/steadfast love”) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: a bare rendering as দয়া alone would flatten chesed to ordinary compassion or the baseline’s permitted non-soteriological sense of কৃপা, losing chesed’s covenant-loyalty dimension, which is the connective tissue between Proverbs’ wisdom ethic and the LORD’s covenant faithfulness. অবিচল (“unwavering/steadfast”) must be retained as a modifier wherever chesed appears.
• אֱמֶת/אֱמוּנָה (emet/emunah) — “faithfulness, truth, reliability.” Related root to “amen” (אָמֵן). English variants: “faithfulness,” “truth,” “loyalty.” Bengali: বিশ্বস্ততা (bishwostota, “faithfulness/trustworthiness”) — Risk: Medium. Distinguished from baseline faith (বিশ্বাস, personal trust in Christ, High risk): বিশ্বস্ততা is the abstract-noun quality of being reliable, not the act of trusting; the shared root with বিশ্বাস is intentional and theologically appropriate here, since both flow from אמן/pistis-family concepts, but they must not be used interchangeably without care.

Proverbs 3:4

Hebrew: וּמְצָא־חֵן וְשֵׂכֶל־טוֹב בְּעֵינֵי אֱלֹהִים וְאָדָם

• חֵן (chen) — “favor, grace” in the sense of social/relational regard, not the soteriological unmerited-favor sense of Romans’ grace (χάρις/অনুগ্রহ, High risk). English variants: “favor,” “grace,” “goodwill.” Bengali: অনুগ্রহ (anugroho) — Risk: Medium (not High, and only permitted here under the same allowance the baseline grants for non-soteriological compassion terms). Translator note required: this occurrence of “favor” describes the wise person’s good standing before God and people, not justification; must not be preached as if it were Romans’ saving grace.
• אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) — “God.” Reuse baseline god = ঈশ্বর exactly. Risk: Critical (per baseline).

Proverbs 3:5

Hebrew: בְּטַח אֶל־יְהוָה בְּכָל־לִבֶּךָ וְאֶל־בִּינָתְךָ אַל־תִּשָּׁעֵן

• יְהוָה (YHWH) — the covenant name, “the LORD.” Bengali: সদাপ্রভু (Sodaprobhu) — Risk: Critical. New term, established Bengali OT Bible tradition. Must never be collapsed into generic প্রভু (reserved by the baseline for κύριος/“Lord” as a title, esp. of Christ in Romans 10:9) nor rendered আল্লাহ. Distinguishing YHWH-as-covenant-name from Kyrios-as-title matters for later typological/Christological teaching but within Proverbs itself must remain the OT covenant-name rendering.
• בָּטַח (batach) — “to trust, to rely upon, to feel secure in.” Semantic range: to lean one’s whole weight on something/someone for security. English variants: “trust,” “rely on,” “have confidence in.” Contextual theological meaning: whole-hearted reliance on সদাপ্রভু, as opposed to self-reliance. Bengali: নির্ভর করা (nirbhor kora, “to depend/rely on”) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: this doctrine (Trust in the Lord’s Providence) must be kept distinct from (a) a Hindu framework of self-effort/karma-yoga toward liberation, and (b) an Islamic framework of taqdir-fatalism (resigned submission to a predetermined outcome one cannot influence, তকদির — a term the baseline’s companion 12_ai_translation_requirements.md already flags as an Islamic-idiom loanword to avoid without explicit framing). নির্ভর করা conveys active, relational, personal dependence on a personal God, not submission to impersonal fate. বিশ্বাস (baseline faith) may be used in parallel Bengali Bible tradition for batach, but নির্ভর করা is preferred here to keep “trust as reliance” distinguishable from “faith as belief/trust in Christ’s atoning work” per the baseline’s Romans usage.
• בִּינָה (binah) — “understanding, discernment, insight.” Semantic range: the human faculty of perceiving right relationships and consequences. English variants: “understanding,” “insight,” “discernment.” Bengali: বিচক্ষণতা (bichokkhonota, “discernment/prudence”) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: the more common Bengali choice, বুদ্ধি (buddhi, “intellect”), shares its root with “বুদ্ধ/Buddha” (the Awakened One) and readily evokes the Buddhist framework of intellectual awakening/enlightenment as the path to liberation from suffering — a very different epistemology from Proverbs’ claim that human বিচক্ষণতা, however necessary, must not be leaned upon apart from সদাপ্রভু. বুদ্ধি is therefore rejected in favor of the compound বিচক্ষণতা.
• נִשְׁעַן (nish’an) — “to lean/support oneself on.” Reinforces batach; not independently doctrinally load-bearing, but the phrase “do not lean” (অবলম্বন/নির্ভর করো না) must retain the picture of misplaced self-support. Risk: Low as a standalone term.

Proverbs 3:6

Hebrew: בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶיךָ דָעֵהוּ וְהוּא יְיַשֵּׁר אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ

• דֶּרֶךְ (derekh) — “way, path, road” (metaphorical: course of life, conduct). English variants: “ways,” “paths.” Bengali: পথ (poth) — Risk: Low. Standard.
• יָדַע (yada) — “to know,” here in the sense “acknowledge, recognize, submit to in every dealing.” Semantic range broader than intellectual knowledge; includes relational, covenantal, even intimate knowing (cf. the same verb’s use for covenant relationship and marital union elsewhere in the OT). English variants: “acknowledge,” “know,” “seek his will.” Bengali: স্বীকার করা / জানা (shikar kora / jana) — Risk: Medium. Translator note: render as স্বীকার করা (“to acknowledge/submit to”) rather than a purely cognitive জানা, to preserve the relational-submission sense.

Proverbs 3:7

Hebrew: אַל־תְּהִי חָכָם בְּעֵינֶיךָ יְרָא אֶת־יְהוָה וְסוּר מֵרָע

• חָכָם (chakam) — “wise” (adjective/person). See full entry under Ch. 1 below. Here used ironically/warningly (“wise in your own eyes” = self-conceit, the opposite of true wisdom). Bengali: বিজ্ঞ (biggo) — Risk: High.
• יָרֵא (yare)/יִרְאָה (yir’ah) — “to fear/fear” — see the dedicated “fear of the LORD” entry below (Ch. 1). Bengali: ভয় (bhoy), in the fixed collocation সদাপ্রভুর ভয় (Sodaprobhur bhoy) — Risk: Critical.
• רַע (ra) — “evil, bad, harmful.” Semantic range: moral evil, calamity, harm — broader than the technical hamartia-sense of the baseline’s sin (পাপ, High risk, “moral transgression before a personal God”). English variants: “evil,” “wickedness,” “wrong.” Bengali: মন্দ (mondo) — Risk: Medium. Translator note: use মন্দ for this broader wisdom-literature sense of “evil/harmful,” reserving পাপ for passages emphasizing transgression against God specifically (e.g. Prov 21:4’s “the lamp of the wicked is সin,” or comparable verses); the two Bengali terms should not be used as interchangeable synonyms lest পাপ’s forensic weight be diluted.

Proverbs 3:8

Hebrew: רִפְאוּת תְּהִי לְשָׁרֶּךָ וְשִׁקּוּי לְעַצְמוֹתֶיךָ

• רִפְאוּת (rifut) — “healing.” Not independently doctrinally risky. Bengali: আরোগ্য (arogyo) — Risk: Low.

Proverbs 3:9

Hebrew: כַּבֵּד אֶת־יְהוָה מֵהוֹנֶךָ וּמֵרֵאשִׁית כָּל־תְּבוּאָתֶךָ

• כָּבַד (kabed, verb) — “to honor, to give weight/glory to.” Related noun כָּבוֹד (kavod) underlies the baseline’s glory (মহিমা, High risk, “God’s radiant honor and presence” — reused for God’s own glory). Here the verb form describes the human act of honoring God with material goods. Bengali: সম্মান করা (shomman kora, “to honor”) — Risk: Medium. Kept distinct from মহিমা (which denotes God’s own intrinsic glory, not an action directed toward him).
• רֵאשִׁית (reshit) — “firstfruits, beginning, first and best portion.” Same root idea recurs doctrinally in “the fear of the LORD is the רֵאשִׁית [beginning] of wisdom” (1:7; 9:10) — the same Hebrew word covers both “firstfruits of produce” (3:9) and “starting point of wisdom” (1:7), a wordplay worth preserving conceptually even though Bengali will use two different words (প্রথম ফল “firstfruits” here; শুরু/মূল “beginning/foundation” in 1:7). Risk: Medium, mainly a cross-reference/consistency issue rather than a syncretism risk.

Proverbs 3:10

Hebrew: וְיִמָּלְאוּ אֲסָמֶיךָ שָׂבָע וְתִירוֹשׁ יְקָבֶיךָ יִפְרֹצוּ

• No new doctrinal term; agrarian blessing imagery (granaries, wine vats). Risk: Low.

Proverbs 3:11

Hebrew: מוּסַר יְהוָה בְּנִי אַל־תִּמְאָס וְאַל־תָּקֹץ בְּתוֹכַחְתּוֹ

• מוּסָר (musar) — “discipline, correction, moral training.” Semantic range: encompasses both instructive teaching and corrective chastening (not merely punitive punishment). English variants: “discipline,” “instruction,” “correction.” Contextual theological meaning: সদাপ্রভুর discipline of his covenant child is an expression of covenant love (see v.12), not arbitrary severity. Bengali: শাসন (shashon, “discipline/correction”) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: a rendering skewed toward শাস্তি (“punishment/penalty”) would make God’s discipline sound punitive/retributive; শাসন (which in Bengali carries the sense of formative discipline/governance, as in child-rearing) better preserves the pedagogical, loving intent, but must be reinforced by context (v.12) so it is not misheard as harsh punishment either.
• תּוֹכַחַת (tokhachat) — “reproof, rebuke, correction through words.” English variants: “reproof,” “correction,” “rebuke.” Bengali: তিরস্কার (tiroshkar, “rebuke/reproof”) — Risk: High. Must be paired contextually with শাসন to keep the loving-correction sense (v.12) rather than reading as mere scolding.

Proverbs 3:12

Hebrew: כִּי אֶת אֲשֶׁר יֶאֱהַב יְהוָה יוֹכִיח וּכְאָב אֶת־בֵּן יִרְצֶה

• אָהֵב (ahev/ahav) — “to love.” Not present as a distinct entry in the Romans baseline (Romans’ love-language largely uses ἀγάπη elsewhere in Paul, outside this curriculum’s baseline glossary); new term for this curriculum. Bengali: ভালোবাসা / প্রেম — Risk: Medium. Use ভালোবাসা for the general relational verb “to love” in Proverbs’ father-son and covenant-love contexts; reserve প্রেম for more elevated/poetic register if needed, but consistency across the book is more important than register nuance.
• אָב (av) / בֵּן (ben) — “father / son.” Bengali: পিতা (reuse baseline father exactly) / পুত্র (putro) — Risk: Medium (পুত্র, standard) / Critical for পিতা only insofar as it refers to God the Father (baseline father, Critical is not assigned to পিতা in the baseline — baseline lists father as Critical risk category overall doctrine reference “Adoption into God’s Family”; here in 3:12 the analogy is human father → son, illustrating God’s fatherly discipline, so risk is Medium in this specific verse, while the underlying doctrinal category retains its baseline Critical status when applied directly to God as Father).
• רָצָה (ratsah) — “to delight in, be pleased with, accept favorably.” English variants: “delights in,” “is pleased with.” Bengali: প্রীত হওয়া / সন্তুষ্ট হওয়া (prito howa / sontushto howa) — Risk: Low-Medium.

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Whole-Book Chapter-by-Chapter Study

Chapter 1 — Foundational Terms (many new; establishes book’s vocabulary)

• חָכְמָה (chokmah, “wisdom”) — Literal: skill, expertise applied to living rightly. Semantic range: practical skill (e.g. craftsmanship, Exod 31:3) extended to moral-relational skill in life, and here personified as a woman crying out in the street (1:20-33). English variants: “wisdom,” “skill,” “insight.” Contextual theological meaning: wisdom is not raw intellect but a God-given, God-oriented competence for righteous living, ultimately rooted in relationship with সদাপ্রভু. Bengali: প্রজ্ঞা (projna) — Risk: Critical. Grounded reason: প্রজ্ঞা is the established Bengali Bible-tradition rendering for chokmah in Proverbs, but প্রজ্ঞা (Sanskrit-derived) is also the central technical term in Buddhist doctrine for the transcendent, liberating insight that ends the cycle of suffering/rebirth (one of the Buddhist Pāramitās), and closely parallels the Hindu Vedantic জ্ঞান/prajñā associated with realizing the identity of Ātman and Brahman. Left unqualified, প্রজ্ঞা risks being heard as an impersonal, self-attained insight leading to liberation, rather than a relational gift flowing from “the fear of সদাপ্রভু” (1:7). Additionally — and specific to Bengali culture — Wisdom’s personification as a calling, beckoning female figure (1:20-33; chs. 8-9) risks assimilation to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of wisdom/learning who is exceptionally prominent in Bengali devotional and civic life (Saraswati Pūjā). Materials teaching this doctrine MUST explicitly anchor personified Wisdom as সদাপ্রভু’s own attribute/creation (cf. 8:22, “the LORD possessed/brought forth wisdom”), never as an independent semi-divine figure to be venerated in her own right. Alternatives rejected: জ্ঞান (too generic, “knowledge,” and equally loaded with Hindu jnana-yoga liberation associations without প্রজ্ঞা’s compensating Bible-tradition precedent).
• יִרְאַת יְהוָה (yir’at YHWH, “the fear of the LORD”) — the book’s programmatic thesis (1:7): “The fear of the LORD is the beginning [רֵאשִׁית] of knowledge.” Semantic range: reverential awe, submission, and worshipful trust — not terror. Bengali: সদাপ্রভুর ভয় — Risk: Critical (see above). Must always be glossed/taught (in surrounding lesson material, not by altering the translation itself) as reverent awe/submission, not dread, since ভয় alone in ordinary Bengali usage defaults to “fear/dread.”
• מוּסָר (musar, “instruction/discipline”) — see 3:11 entry. Bengali: শাসন / শিক্ষা (context-sensitive as in 3:11). Risk: High.
• כְּסִיל (kesil, “fool”) — Literal: a thick, dull, morally obstinate person; not merely unintelligent but resistant to correction. Semantic range spans “fool” across chs. 1-29, contrasted with חָכָם (“wise”). English variants: “fool,” “stupid person,” “dullard.” Bengali: মূর্খ (murkho) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: this is a moral-spiritual category (rejection of সদাপ্রভুর ভয় and instruction), not an IQ judgment; must not be rendered with a term implying mere lack of schooling, nor with a term carrying caste-based insult connotations in Bengali social usage.
• פֶּתִי (peti, “simple/naive one”) — Literal: open, unguarded, easily persuaded — one who has not yet hardened into folly but lacks discernment. English variants: “simple,” “naive,” “gullible.” Bengali: অবোধ (obodh, “unwise/naive”) — Risk: Medium. Kept distinct from মূর্খ: the peti is rescuable through instruction; the kesil has hardened.
• לֵץ (lets, “scoffer/mocker”) — one who actively ridicules correction and wisdom. Bengali: উপহাসক (upohashok) — Risk: Medium.
• תּוֹכַחַת (tokhachat, “reproof”) — see 3:11-12. Risk: High.

Chapter 2 — Reuses ch. 1 vocabulary; introduces:

• תְּבוּנָה (tevunah, “understanding”) — synonym cluster with בִּינָה (3:5). Bengali: বিচক্ষণতা — Risk: High (same grounded reason as বিনা entry above: avoid বুদ্ধি’s Buddhist-root association).
• דַּעַת (da’at, “knowledge”) — Literal: cognitive and relational knowledge (cf. “knowledge of God,” 2:5). English variants: “knowledge.” Bengali: জ্ঞান (gyan) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: জ্ঞান is the central term of Hindu jnana yoga/Vedantic liberating gnosis (knowledge of Ātman-Brahman identity as the path to mokṣa — a term the baseline salvation entry already flags as forbidden, মোক্ষ). “Knowledge of the Holy One” (Prov 9:10) or “knowledge of God” must be taught as relational covenant-knowledge of a personal সদাপ্রভু, not impersonal metaphysical self-realization. Retained (no better established alternative exists in Bengali Bible tradition) but flagged for mandatory contextual framing.
• אִשָּׁה זָרָה / נָכְרִיָּה (ishah zarah / nokriyah, “strange/foreign woman,” i.e. the adulteress) — introduced 2:16, developed chs. 5-7. Bengali: পরস্ত্রী (poroshtri, “another man’s wife”) — Risk: Medium; doctrinally tied to Practical Righteousness in Daily Life.

Chapter 3 — CORE PASSAGE (see verse-by-verse above, vv.1-12). Remainder of chapter (vv.13-35):

• עֵץ חַיִּים (etz chayyim, “tree of life”) — Wisdom is called a “tree of life to those who lay hold of her” (3:18). English variants: “tree of life.” Bengali: জীবন-বৃক্ষ (jibon-brikkho) — Risk: Medium. Translator note: this phrase echoes Genesis 2-3 and Revelation 22; keep consistent with any parallel rendering used elsewhere in the wider curriculum library.
• Reuses প্রজ্ঞা, বিচক্ষণতা, সদাপ্রভু from above; no other new Critical/High terms.

Chapter 4

• No new Critical/High terms; reinforces চলা/পথ (“walking/path”) imagery and “guard your heart” (৪:২৩, লেব/হৃদয় reused). Notable phrase: “the path of the righteous” (אֹרַח צַדִּיקִים) — introduces:
• צַדִּיק (tsaddiq, “righteous [person]”) — Bengali: ধার্মিক (dhармik) — Risk: Critical. Reuses the root of the baseline’s righteousness (ধার্মিকতা, Critical). Grounded reason: identical to the baseline’s concern — ধার্মিক must never be confused with a general “religious/dutiful person” (a risk ধর্ম-based terms would introduce); it designates one who is in right standing/right conduct relative to সদাপ্রভু’s wisdom-order, consonant with (though not identical to) the forensic righteousness of Romans.
• רָשָׁע (rasha, “wicked [person]”) — contrast term throughout Proverbs 4, 10-15, etc. Bengali: দুষ্ট (dushto) — Risk: High.

Chapter 5

• Extended warning against the אִשָּׁה זָרָה (see ch. 2). Introduces:
• נִאוּף/זְנוּת (ni’uph/z’nut, “adultery/sexual immorality”) — Bengali: ব্যভিচার (bebhichar) — Risk: Medium; doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life.
• No new Critical terms.

Chapter 6

• עָצֵל (atsel, “sluggard”) and the ant vignette (6:6-11) — Literal: a habitually lazy person. English variants: “sluggard,” “lazy man.” Bengali: অলস (olosh) — Risk: Medium. Doctrine: Diligence versus Sloth.
• שֶׂבַע תּוֹעֲבוֹת (sheva to’evot, “seven things [the LORD] hates/abominations,” 6:16-19) — תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) — Literal: something detestable, ritually/morally repugnant to God. Bengali: ঘৃণ্য বিষয় (ghrinyo bishoy, “detestable thing”) — Risk: Medium. Note: keep as moral-relational abhorrence to সদাপ্রভু, not ritual-impurity language (cf. baseline’s sin note distinguishing moral transgression from ritual impurity).
• Continues adultery warnings from ch. 5.

Chapter 7

• Extended narrative seduction scene (the strange woman’s speech). No new Critical/High terms beyond those already introduced (chs. 2, 5); reinforces অবোধ (the naive young man as a “peti” figure, 7:7).

Chapter 8 — Wisdom Personified: Major Doctrinal Chapter

• חָכְמָה (chokmah) speaks in first person (8:1-36), climaxing in 8:22-31: “সদাপ্রভু possessed/brought me forth [קָנָה, qanah] at the beginning of his work… before the mountains were settled, I was brought forth [חוּל, chul]… I was beside him… rejoicing before him always.” Bengali: প্রজ্ঞা (as established). Risk: Critical. This is the single highest-stakes passage in the book for the Saraswati-syncretism risk flagged above: Wisdom here speaks as a distinct “I,” present with God before creation, participating in creation’s joy. Historic Christian reading (echoed in John 1’s Logos) sees this as anticipatory of Christ’s eternal wisdom/agency in creation (cf. 1 Cor 1:24, “Christ… the wisdom of God” — outside this curriculum’s core baseline but relevant background). Translator/teacher note required: this personification is a literary figure expressing an attribute of the one God, সদাপ্রভু, not a second, independently venerable divine being — and emphatically not a female deity of knowledge analogous to Saraswati. Any curriculum material on this chapter must carry an explicit doctrinal note to this effect.
• קָנָה (qanah) — “to possess, acquire, create, bring forth.” Semantic range spans “buy/acquire” (economic) and “beget/create” (this passage) — a genuine translation-choice ambiguity. Bengali: সৃষ্টি করা / উৎপন্ন করা (srishti kora / utponno kora, “to create/bring forth”) — Risk: High. Avoid a rendering that suggests সদাপ্রভু “purchased” Wisdom as a commodity or “begat” her as a literal offspring in a way that could be misread through a pantheon lens (multiple deities generating other deities, a common Hindu mythological pattern). Preferred rendering emphasizes God’s creative bringing-forth of Wisdom as his own attribute.

Chapter 9 — Wisdom’s House vs. Folly’s House

• Wisdom (פרجna) builds her house and invites the simple (9:1-6); contrasted with אִשָּׁה כְסִילוּת (“Woman Folly,” 9:13-18), who also calls out and invites the simple to her table, but to death. Bengali for Folly: মূর্খতার নারী / বোকামির প্রতীক নারী (murkhotar nari, “the woman of folly”) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: the deliberate literary mirroring of Wisdom and Folly as two competing female voices sharpens (not lessens) the Saraswati-adjacent risk noted at ch. 8: Bengali readers must clearly see BOTH figures as personified moral choices, not two competing goddesses to select between in a devotional sense.
• 9:10 repeats the thesis: “the fear of সদাপ্রভু is the beginning [רֵאשִׁית] of wisdom, and the knowledge [דַּעַת] of the Holy One [קָדוֹשׁ, qadosh] is understanding [בִּינָה].” קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “Holy One”) — reuse baseline holy = পবিত্র exactly, here as a divine title: “পবিত্র সত্তা/পবিত্রতম” — Risk: High, consistent with baseline.

Chapters 10-15 — Proverb Collections (Solomon I)

No major new theological terms; these chapters densely apply the vocabulary already established: প্রজ্ঞা/মূর্খ (wise/fool), ধার্মিক/দুষ্ট (righteous/wicked), জিহ্বা/মুখ (tongue/mouth, see below), অলস/পরিশ্রমী (sluggard/diligent). Two refinements worth flagging:

• לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) and פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) / שָׂפָה (saphah, “lips”) — recur heavily (10:19-21, 31-32; 12:18-19; 13:2-3; 15:1-4) as the organ of the Speech and Self-Control doctrine. Bengali: জিহ্বা / মুখ / ওষ্ঠ — Risk: Medium (জিহ্বা/মুখ), Low (ওষ্ঠ). No syncretism collision; the risk is purely one of register consistency (avoid switching translations of the same organ-term across chapters).
• חָרוּץ (charuts, “diligent”) contrasted with עָצֵל — Bengali: অধ্যবসায়ী / পরিশ্রমী — Risk: Low-Medium.

Chapter 16 — Providence Emphasis

• 16:1-9 is the book’s clearest statement of divine providence over human planning (“The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from সদাপ্রভু,” 16:1; “commit your work to সদাপ্রভু, and your plans will be established,” 16:3; “The heart of man plans his way, but সদাপ্রভু establishes his steps,” 16:9). This is the doctrinal core of Trust in the Lord’s Providence outside the core passage. Reuse baseline providence term exactly: ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা — Risk: High (per baseline, “God’s personal, purposive governance… never fate/নিয়তি/ভাগ্য”). Note: Proverbs’ human-agency-plus-divine-sovereignty pairing (man plans, God establishes) must be rendered so as not to collapse into either pure fatalism (নিয়তি, rejected by baseline) or pure human autonomy.

Chapters 17-19 — Proverb Collections (continued)

No new Critical/High terms; reuse established vocabulary. Notable term of Medium risk: רֵעַ (rea, “friend/neighbor”) appears frequently (17:17; 18:24; 19:4-7) — Bengali: বন্ধু / প্রতিবেশী — Risk: Low, tied loosely to Practical Righteousness in Daily Life (relational ethics), no doctrinal collision.

Chapters 20-21 — Kings, Justice, Providence

• מֶלֶךְ (melekh, “king”) recurs as a wisdom-exemplar/warning figure (20:2, 8, 26, 28; 21:1). Bengali: রাজা (raja) — Risk: Low; standard term, no religious collision (Bengali রাজা carries no competing sacral connotation comparable to শক্তি or প্রজ্ঞা).
• 21:1, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of সদাপ্রভু” — reinforces the Providence doctrine (ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা, reuse). 21:30-31, “No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against সদাপ্রভু… the victory belongs to সদাপ্রভু” — key Providence proof-text; reuse established terms প্রজ্ঞা/বিচক্ষণতা/সদাপ্রভু.

Chapters 22:1-16 — Reuses established vocabulary; no new terms.

Chapters 22:17-24:22 — “Words of the Wise” (Sayings of the Wise Collection)

No new Critical/High doctrinal terms; reinforces মূর্খ/ধার্মিক/দুষ্ট, adds ethical case-law style admonitions (boundary stones, the poor, the fatherless) tied to Practical Righteousness in Daily Life, all using vocabulary already glossed. One notable term:

• גְּבוּל (gevul, “boundary”) in “do not move the ancient boundary stone” (22:28; 23:10) — Risk: Low, imagery only.

Chapters 24:23-34 — Sluggard’s Field Vignette

Reuses עָצֵל/অলস (Diligence versus Sloth) from ch. 6; no new term.

Chapters 25-29 — “Proverbs of Solomon, Copied by the Men of Hezekiah”

No new Critical/High theological terms; this large block densely reapplies প্রজ্ঞা/মূর্খ, ধার্মিক/দুষ্ট, জিহ্বা/মুখ, অলস/পরিশ্রমী, and adds one Medium-risk term worth noting for the Speech and Self-Control doctrine:

• רוּחַ (ruach, “spirit,” in the sense of one’s inner disposition/self-control), Proverbs 25:28: “A man without self-control [lit. “who does not rule over his spirit,” אֵין מַעְצָר לְרוּחוֹ] is like a city broken into, without walls.” Bengali: আত্মা (attha, “spirit/self”) within the phrase আত্মসংযম (attoshomjom, “self-control”) — Risk: High. Grounded reason: আত্মা is also the standard Bengali word for the Hindu/Vedantic Ātman, the eternal Self ultimately identified with Brahman in Advaita philosophy. Rendering ruach as a bare আত্মা without the compound framing risks reading Proverbs’ call to “rule over one’s spirit” as a Vedantic call to master/realize one’s true transcendent Self, rather than the book’s actual point: ordinary emotional and volitional self-governance before সদাপ্রভু. The compound আত্মসংযম (“self-restraint/self-control”) is therefore mandated rather than a bare আত্মা reference; this is analogous to how the baseline mandates আত্মিক বর (not bare বর) for spiritual gifts, and পবিত্র আত্মা (never bare আত্মা) for the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 30 — The Words of Agur

• 30:1-4: Agur’s confession of human epistemic limits before God (“Who has ascended to heaven and come down?… What is the name of his son?”) — echoes but predates Christian revelation; introduces no new Critical term but intensifies “the Holy One” (קָדוֹשׁ) and knowledge-of-God themes from ch. 9. Reuse পবিত্র/সদাপ্রভু/জ্ঞান.
• 30:5-6: “Every word of God [אֱלוֹהַ, Eloah, poetic singular of Elohim] proves true… do not add to his words” — ties to Inspiration of Scripture-adjacent concerns (cf. baseline doctrine registry’s inspiration_of_scripture, High risk); reuse ঈশ্বর.
• No new Critical/High terms beyond reused vocabulary.

Chapter 31 — The Words of Lemuel; The Excellent Wife

• 31:1-9: royal instruction on justice for the poor — reuses ন্যায়বিচার/দুষ্ট/ধার্মিক vocabulary; no new term.
• 31:10-31: אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (eshet chayil, “a woman/wife of valiant strength/capability”) — Literal: “woman of חַיִל” (military/economic strength, valor, capability — the same word used for “mighty men of valor”). English variants: “excellent wife,” “virtuous woman,” “wife of noble character,” “capable wife.” Contextual theological meaning: this is a portrait of practical wisdom embodied in a woman’s daily industrious, God-fearing life (31:30, “a woman who fears সদাপ্রভু is to be praised” — closing inclusio with 1:7 and 9:10). Bengali: গুণবতী স্ত্রী (gunoboti stri, “a wife/woman of [excellent] qualities”) — Risk: Medium. Grounded reason: must avoid a rendering that reduces this figure to domestic docility alone (losing חַיִל’s connotation of strength/capability) or, conversely, a rendering so strength-focused that it loses her explicitly stated motive, সদাপ্রভুর ভয় (31:30) — the same fear-of-the-LORD thesis that opened the book. This chapter functions as the book’s closing embodiment of Practical Righteousness in Daily Life and must echo, not merely parallel, the opening thesis vocabulary.

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Summary of New Critical/High-Risk Terms Introduced by Proverbs (not present in the Romans baseline)

Term	Bengali	Risk	Reason (grounded)
LORD (YHWH)	সদাপ্রভু	Critical	Covenant name; must not be confused with generic প্রভু (Kyrios-title, reserved for Christ per baseline) nor Islamic আল্লাহ.
wisdom (chokmah), Wisdom personified	প্রজ্ঞা	Critical	Collision with Buddhist prajñā (liberating gnosis) and, distinctively for Bengali culture, with Saraswati devotion (goddess of wisdom/learning).
fear of the LORD	সদাপ্রভুর ভয়	Critical	Central book-thesis; ভয় alone defaults to dread/terror in ordinary Bengali and must be taught as reverent awe/trust.
understanding/discernment (binah/tevunah)	বিচক্ষণতা	High	বুদ্ধি rejected: shares root with “Buddha,” risking Buddhist-enlightenment framing.
knowledge (da’at)	জ্ঞান	High	Central term of Hindu jnana-yoga/Vedantic liberating gnosis (mokṣa-adjacent); requires relational framing.
self-control / rule over one’s spirit (ruach)	আত্মসংযম (compound; never bare আত্মা)	High	আত্মা alone evokes Vedantic Ātman/true-Self doctrine.
steadfast love / covenant loyalty (chesed)	অবিচল দয়া	High	Bare দয়া loses covenant-loyalty weight; risks flattening to generic compassion.
trust/rely (batach)	নির্ভর করা	High	Must be distinguished from karma-effort self-reliance and from Islamic taqdir-fatalism.
discipline/correction (musar)	শাসন	High	Must convey formative/loving correction, not bare punitive শাস্তি.
fool (kesil/naval/evil)	মূর্খ	High	Moral-spiritual category (resistance to correction), not an IQ or caste-based insult term.
Woman Folly (ch. 9)	মূর্খতার নারী	High	Deliberately mirrors Wisdom personified; sharpens the Saraswati-adjacent risk, requires explicit doctrinal framing.
torah/teaching (filial sense)	শিক্ষা (never ব্যবস্থা)	High	Must not be confused with the baseline’s reserved term for the Mosaic Law.

All chapters of Proverbs (1-31) have now been reviewed. Chapters not separately itemized above with new terms (10-15, 17-19, 20-22:16, 24:23-34) are explicitly confirmed reviewed and found to introduce no new Critical/High-risk theological vocabulary beyond what is documented; they reuse and densely apply the terms established in chs. 1-9, 16, and 30-31.