Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Proverbs (English–Bengali)
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (no deviation permitted)
| Term | Bengali | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | ঈশ্বর | Ishshor | Critical | God | Baseline reuse; never ভগবান/আল্লাহ. |
| Holy | পবিত্র | pobitro | High | Sanctification / “the Holy One” | Baseline reuse; used in Prov 9:10, 30:3 as divine title. |
| Father | পিতা | Pita | High/Critical (context) | Adoption / fatherly discipline imagery (3:12) | Baseline reuse; Medium in the human father-son analogy of 3:12, Critical when directly describing God as Father elsewhere in the curriculum. |
| Peace | শান্তি | shanti | Medium | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | Baseline reuse; broader OT “wholeness/well-being” sense in Prov 3:2 vs. Romans’ forensic peace — flag distinction in teaching notes. |
| Grace/favor | অনুগ্রহ | anugroho | Medium (Prov context) / High (baseline) | — | Baseline reuse; permitted for Prov 3:4’s social/relational “favor” (חֵן) only with translator note distinguishing from soteriological grace. |
| Righteousness | ধার্মিকতা | dharmikota | Critical | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | Baseline reuse; never ধর্ম. |
| Righteous (person) | ধার্মিক | dharmik | Critical | Contrast of Wise and Fool / Practical Righteousness | Derived from baseline root; never ধার্মিক ব্যক্তি conflated with “a religious person.” |
| Law (Mosaic) | ব্যবস্থা | bebostha | High | — | Baseline reuse; explicitly NOT used for Proverbs’ filial “torah/teaching” (see শিক্ষা below). |
| Sin | পাপ | pap | High | Universal accountability (background) | Baseline reuse; reserve for transgression-against-God contexts; use মন্দ for the broader wisdom-literature “evil/harm” sense. |
| Providence | ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা | Ishshorer porichalona | High | Trust in the Lord’s Providence | Baseline reuse exactly; core term for Prov 16:1-9, 19:21, 21:30-31. |
| Fellowship | সহভাগিতা | shohobhagita | Low | Practical Righteousness (friendship sayings) | Baseline reuse, minor relevance (17:17; 18:24). |
| Glory | মহিমা | mohima | High | (background, God’s glory) | Baseline reuse; kept distinct from কবেদ/সম্মান (the human act of honoring God, Prov 3:9). |
B. New Terms Introduced for Proverbs
| Term | Original (Hebrew) | Transliteration | Bengali | Risk | Doctrine | Alternatives Rejected | Grounded Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LORD (YHWH) | יְהוָה | YHWH / Adonai (spoken) | সদাপ্রভু | Critical | Fear of the Lord; all doctrines | প্রভু alone, আল্লাহ, ভগবান | Covenant name of God; must be distinguished from the generic honorific প্রভু (reserved for Kyrios/Christ) and from Islamic/Hindu deity names. Central to “fear of the LORD” refrain (1:7; 9:10; 15:33; et al.). |
| Wisdom | חָכְמָה (chokmah) | chokmah | প্রজ্ঞা | Critical | Wisdom Personified; Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom | জ্ঞান (too generic and equally loaded) | Established Bengali Bible term for Proverbs, but collides with Buddhist prajñā (liberating gnosis) and — distinctively in Bengal — with Saraswati devotion (goddess of wisdom/learning, major festival culture). Personified Wisdom (chs. 1, 8, 9) must always be taught as an attribute/gift of সদাপ্রভু, never an independent venerable figure. |
| Fear of the LORD | יִרְאַת יְהוָה | yir’at YHWH | সদাপ্রভুর ভয় | Critical | Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom | সদাপ্রভুর প্রতি সম্মান (too weak, loses awe) | Book’s programmatic thesis (1:7; 9:10). ভয় alone defaults to dread/terror in ordinary Bengali; teaching material must clarify reverent awe/trust, not servile fear. |
| Understanding/Discernment | בִּינָה / תְּבוּנָה | binah / tevunah | বিচক্ষণতা | High | Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom; Contrast of Wise and Fool | বুদ্ধি | বুদ্ধি shares its root with “Buddha” (the Awakened One), risking a Buddhist-enlightenment frame for a human faculty Proverbs says must not be leaned on apart from সদাপ্রভু (3:5). |
| Knowledge | דַּעַת | da’at | জ্ঞান | High | Fear of the Lord; Wisdom Personified | (no established alternative) | Central term of Hindu jnana-yoga/Vedantic liberating gnosis toward mokṣa (a concept the baseline already forbids for “salvation,” মোক্ষ). Must be taught as relational covenant-knowledge of a personal God, not impersonal self-realization. |
| Fool (general) | כְּסִיל / אֱוִיל / נָבָל | kesil / evil / naval | মূর্খ | High | Contrast of the Wise and the Fool | বোকা (too casual/colloquial), a caste-coded insult term | Moral-spiritual category — resistance to correction and to the fear of the LORD — not an intelligence or class judgment. |
| Simple/naive one | פֶּתִי | peti | অবোধ | Medium | Contrast of the Wise and the Fool | মূর্খ (conflates with hardened fool) | The peti is rescuable through instruction, unlike the hardened kesil; distinct Bengali term preserves the distinction. |
| Scoffer/Mocker | לֵץ | lets | উপহাসক | Medium | Contrast of the Wise and the Fool | — | Active ridiculer of correction; distinct from passive/naive folly. |
| Wise (person) | חָכָם | chakam | বিজ্ঞ | High | Contrast of the Wise and the Fool | জ্ঞানী (acceptable secondary option) | Paired directly with প্রজ্ঞা; consistency required across all wise/fool contrast passages. |
| Wicked (person) | רָשָׁע | rasha | দুষ্ট | High | Contrast of the Wise and the Fool; Practical Righteousness | অধার্মিক (acceptable but secondary) | Direct antonym of ধার্মিক; consistent pairing required. |
| Justice | מִשְׁפָּט | mishpat | ন্যায়বিচার | High | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | ন্যায় alone (baseline rejects for righteousness-adjacent terms) | Distinct from ধার্মিকতা (righteous standing); mishpat denotes the act/verdict of justice, especially for the poor and fatherless (22:17-24:22; 31:1-9). |
| Steadfast love / covenant loyalty | חֶסֶד | chesed | অবিচল দয়া | High | Trust in the Lord’s Providence; Practical Righteousness | দয়া alone, কৃপা alone | Bare দয়া flattens covenant-loyalty to generic compassion; the modifier অবিচল (“unwavering”) must be retained (Prov 3:3). |
| Faithfulness | אֱמוּנָה / אֱמֶת | emunah / emet | বিশ্বস্ততা | Medium | Trust in the Lord’s Providence | বিশ্বাস (reserved for baseline’s faith) | Abstract quality of reliability, distinct from the act of trusting (বিশ্বাস) reserved by the baseline for personal trust in Christ. |
| Trust/Rely | בָּטַח | batach | নির্ভর করা | High | Trust in the Lord’s Providence | বিশ্বাস (acceptable secondary, per Bengali Bible tradition), তকদির-framed submission | Must convey active, personal, relational dependence on সদাপ্রভু, distinct from karma-effort self-reliance and from Islamic taqdir-fatalism. |
| Path/Way | דֶּרֶךְ | derekh | পথ | Low | Practical Righteousness; Contrast of Wise and Fool | — | Standard term. |
| Heart | לֵב | lev | হৃদয় | Medium | Fear of the Lord; Trust in Providence | মন (mind alone, too narrow) | Seat of will/intellect/emotion; broader than English “heart”; ensure surrounding verbs preserve volitional-cognitive sense. |
| Teaching/Instruction (filial) | תּוֹרָה (non-Mosaic sense) | torah | শিক্ষা | High | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | ব্যবস্থা (forbidden — reserved for Mosaic Law) | Father-to-son wisdom instruction, not the codified Law Paul discusses in Romans; conflating the two would misrepresent both books. |
| Commandments | מִצְוָה / מִצְוֹת | mitzvah / mitzvot | আদেশ | Medium | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | — | Specific precepts flowing from শিক্ষা; distinct from ব্যবস্থা. |
| Discipline/Correction | מוּסָר | musar | শাসন | High | Fear of the Lord; Practical Righteousness | শাস্তি (too punitive) | Must convey formative, loving correction (Prov 3:11-12), not retributive punishment. |
| Reproof/Rebuke | תּוֹכַחַת | tokhachat | তিরস্কার | High | Fear of the Lord (3:11-12) | — | Paired with শাসন; context (v.12) must retain loving-correction framing. |
| Evil/Harm (general) | רַע | ra | মন্দ | Medium | Fear of the Lord; Contrast of Wise and Fool | পাপ (reserved for baseline’s forensic “sin”) | Broader wisdom-literature sense of harm/wrongdoing; kept distinct from পাপ’s covenant-transgression weight. |
| Self-control / rule over spirit | רוּחַ (in context of self-governance) | ruach | আত্মসংযম (compound; never bare আত্মা) | High | Speech and Self-Control | bare আত্মা | আত্মা alone evokes the Hindu Vedantic Ātman/true-Self doctrine; the compound preserves the sense of ordinary emotional/volitional self-governance. |
| Tongue | לָשׁוֹן | lashon | জিহ্বা | Medium | Speech and Self-Control | — | Organ-term for the doctrine; consistency required across chs. 10-18. |
| Mouth | פֶּה | peh | মুখ | Low | Speech and Self-Control | — | Standard term. |
| Lips | שָׂפָה | saphah | ওষ্ঠ | Low | Speech and Self-Control | — | Standard term. |
| Sluggard | עָצֵל | atsel | অলস | Medium | Diligence versus Sloth | — | Habitual laziness; contrast term for diligence sayings (ch. 6, 24, 26). |
| Diligent | חָרוּץ | charuts | অধ্যবসায়ী / পরিশ্রমী | Low-Medium | Diligence versus Sloth | — | Direct antonym of অলস. |
| Abomination | תּוֹעֵבָה | to’evah | ঘৃণ্য বিষয় | Medium | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | ritual-impurity framed terms | Moral-relational abhorrence to সদাপ্রভু (6:16-19), not ritual impurity language. |
| Strange/foreign woman (adulteress) | אִשָּׁה זָרָה / נָכְרִיָּה | ishah zarah / nokriyah | পরস্ত্রী | Medium | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | বেশ্যা (too narrowly “prostitute,” loses the marital-fidelity emphasis) | Warning figure in chs. 2, 5-7; ties directly to Practical Righteousness doctrine. |
| Adultery | נִאוּף / זְנוּת | ni’uph / z’nut | ব্যভিচার | Medium | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | — | Standard term. |
| To create/bring forth (of Wisdom) | קָנָה / חוּל | qanah / chul | সৃষ্টি করা / উৎপন্ন করা | High | Wisdom Personified (Prov 8:22-31) | “purchase/buy” (misleadingly commercial), literal “beget a child” (risks pantheon-deity-generation reading) | Avoid renderings suggesting সদাপ্রভু transactionally acquired Wisdom or literally begat a second deity; convey God’s creative bringing-forth of his own attribute. |
| Woman Folly | אִשָּׁה כְסִילוּת | ishah kesilut | মূর্খতার নারী | High | Wisdom Personified (by contrast); Contrast of Wise and Fool | — | Deliberate literary mirror of personified Wisdom (ch. 9); sharpens the Saraswati-adjacent risk noted for প্রজ্ঞা — must be taught as a moral-choice figure, not a rival goddess figure. |
| Holy One (divine title) | קָדוֹשׁ | qadosh | পবিত্র (সত্তা) | High | Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom | — | Reuse baseline পবিত্র as root; occurs as a divine title in Prov 9:10, 30:3. |
| King | מֶלֶךְ | melekh | রাজা | Low | Trust in the Lord’s Providence (chs. 16, 20-21, 25, 29-31) | — | No competing sacral connotation in Bengali; standard term. |
| Excellent/capable wife | אֵשֶׁת חַיִל | eshet chayil | গুণবতী স্ত্রী | Medium | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life (ch. 31) | পতিব্রতা স্ত্রী (overemphasizes wifely submission alone, loses חַיִל’s “capability/strength” sense) | Closing embodiment of the book’s doctrine; must retain both her practical strength/capability AND her stated motive, সদাপ্রভুর ভয় (31:30), echoing the book’s opening thesis. |
| Boundary stone | גְּבוּל | gevul | সীমাচিহ্ন | Low | Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | — | Imagery term (22:28; 23:10), no doctrinal collision. |
| To love | אָהֵב | ahav | ভালোবাসা | Medium | Fear of the Lord (3:12, discipline as love) | — | General relational verb; consistency across father-son and covenant-love contexts. |
| Firstfruits / Beginning | רֵאשִׁית | reshit | প্রথম ফল (3:9) / শুরু-মূল (1:7, 9:10) | Medium | Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom | — | Same Hebrew word covers both senses; Bengali requires two different renderings — flag for cross-reference consistency in teaching notes, not a mistranslation. |
| Tree of life | עֵץ חַיִּים | etz chayyim | জীবন-বৃক্ষ | Medium | Wisdom Personified (3:18) | — | Echoes Genesis 2-3/Revelation 22; keep consistent with any parallel rendering elsewhere in the wider curriculum library. |
C. Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference Summary
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Terms |
|---|---|
| The Fear of the Lord as the Beginning of Wisdom | সদাপ্রভু, সদাপ্রভুর ভয়, প্রজ্ঞা, জ্ঞান, প্রথম ফল/শুরু-মূল (reshit), পবিত্র (Holy One) |
| Wisdom Personified | প্রজ্ঞা, মূর্খতার নারী (Woman Folly), সৃষ্টি করা/উৎপন্ন করা (qanah), জীবন-বৃক্ষ |
| Practical Righteousness in Daily Life | ধার্মিকতা, ধার্মিক, দুষ্ট, ন্যায়বিচার, আদেশ, শিক্ষা, পরস্ত্রী, ব্যভিচার, ঘৃণ্য বিষয়, গুণবতী স্ত্রী |
| The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool | বিজ্ঞ, মূর্খ, অবোধ, উপহাসক, বিচক্ষণতা, জ্ঞান |
| Speech and Self-Control | জিহ্বা, মুখ, ওষ্ঠ, আত্মসংযম |
| Diligence versus Sloth | অলস, অধ্যবসায়ী/পরিশ্রমী |
| Trust in the Lord’s Providence | ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা (baseline reuse), নির্ভর করা, অবিচল দয়া, বিশ্বস্ততা, রাজা |
D. Chapter Coverage Confirmation
Chapters 1, 2, 3 (core), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 30, and 31 introduce new load-bearing terms, documented above. Chapters 10-15, 17-19, 20-22:16, 22:17-24:22, 24:23-34, and 25-29 have been reviewed in full and confirmed to introduce no new Critical/High-risk theological vocabulary; they densely reapply the terms established in chs. 1-9, 16, and 30-31 (wise/fool, righteous/wicked, tongue/mouth, sluggard/diligent, king, providence) and are therefore not separately tabulated.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: Ishshor
Doctrine: Relational Knowledge of God / Fear of the Lord (background)
Rejected alternatives: ভগবান, আল্লাহ
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Baseline term reused exactly for Proverbs’ אֱלֹהִים/Elohim (e.g. 2:5, 3:4, 30:5, 30:9). Never ভগবান (Hindu devotional usage) or আল্লাহ (Islamic-idiom).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: ধার্মিকতা
Transliteration: dharmikota
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life
Rejected alternatives: ধর্ম, পুণ্য, ন্যায়
Original: צֶדֶק / צְדָקָה
Category: Righteousness
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER ধর্ম. Reused for Proverbs’ צֶדֶק/צְדָקָה (tsedeq/tsedaqah), right standing and right conduct relative to God’s wisdom-order throughout chs. 10-15, 21, 29.
Lord
Approved rendering: প্রভু
Transliteration: provu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ (Romans) — retained here ONLY as a forbidden-substitution anchor
Rejected alternatives: মালিক, ঈশ্বর
Inherited from Romans package. Reserved for κύριος/Kyrios as a title, especially of Christ (Romans 10:9). In Proverbs this term must NEVER be used to render יְהוָה (YHWH) — see the new Critical entry lord_yhwh (সদাপ্রভু) for the covenant name. প্রভু and সদাপ্রভু must remain visually and doctrinally distinct throughout all Proverbs material.
Lord Yhwh
Approved rendering: সদাপ্রভু
Transliteration: Sodaprobhu
Doctrine: The Fear of the Lord as the Beginning of Wisdom (and virtually all doctrines in this curriculum)
Rejected alternatives: প্রভু (alone), আল্লাহ, ভগবান
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
New term for this curriculum. The personal covenant name יְהוָה (YHWH), rendered per established Bengali OT Bible tradition. Central to the book’s programmatic refrain ‘the fear of the LORD’ (1:7; 9:10; 15:33; 31:30). Must never be flattened into generic প্রভু (reserved by the baseline for Christ’s Kyrios-title) nor rendered আল্লাহ/ভগবান.
Wisdom
Approved rendering: প্রজ্ঞা
Transliteration: projna
Doctrine: Wisdom Personified; Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom
Rejected alternatives: জ্ঞান (too generic and equally loaded)
Original: חָכְמָה
Category: Wisdom
New term. Established Bengali Bible-tradition rendering of חָכְמָה (chokmah), but collides with the Buddhist technical term prajñā (liberating gnosis, one of the Pāramitās) and — distinctively in Bengal — with Saraswati devotion, the Hindu goddess of wisdom/learning venerated in the major annual Saraswati Pūjā festival. Personified Wisdom (chs. 1, 8, 9) must always be taught as সদাপ্রভু’s own attribute/creation, never an independently venerable figure.
Fear Of The Lord
Approved rendering: সদাপ্রভুর ভয়
Transliteration: Sodaprobhur bhoy
Doctrine: The Fear of the Lord as the Beginning of Wisdom
Rejected alternatives: সদাপ্রভুর প্রতি সম্মান (too weak, loses awe)
Original: יִרְאַת יְהוָה
Category: Fear of the Lord
New term. The book’s programmatic thesis, forming an inclusio (1:7; 9:10; 15:33; 31:30). Ordinary Bengali ভয় defaults to dread/terror; accompanying lesson material (not the translation itself) must clarify reverent awe and trust, not servile fear. Must always retain সদাপ্রভু, never generic প্রভু.
Righteous Person
Approved rendering: ধার্মিক
Transliteration: dharmik
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life; Contrast of Wise and Fool
Rejected alternatives: ধার্মিক ব্যক্তি conflated with ‘a religious person’
Original: צַדִּיק
Category: Righteousness
New term, derived from the baseline’s ধার্মিকতা root. Renders צַדִּיק (tsaddiq), the positive contrast-pole to the wicked (rasha) throughout chs. 10-15, 21, 29. Must never be confused with a general ‘religious/dutiful person.‘
High Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: পবিত্র
Transliteration: pobitro
Doctrine: Relational Knowledge of God (Holy One divine title)
Rejected alternatives: শুচি, নির্মল
Inherited from Romans package. Reused as the root for Proverbs’ קָדוֹשׁ (‘Holy One’) divine title in 9:10 and 30:3 — see also new entry holy_one.
Father
Approved rendering: পিতা
Transliteration: Pita
Doctrine: Divine Discipline as an Expression of Covenant Love
Rejected alternatives: ব্রহ্মা, সৃষ্টিকর্তা
Inherited from Romans package. Risk is Medium in Proverbs’ ordinary human father-son address (‘my son…’) but rises to the baseline’s Critical/High weight whenever the analogy is applied directly to God as Father, as in 3:12 (‘as a father the son he delights in’).
Grace
Approved rendering: অনুগ্রহ
Transliteration: anugroho
Doctrine: Grace (soteriological, background reference only)
Rejected alternatives: কৃপা, পুণ্য, ভাগ্য
Inherited from Romans package. Reserved for the soteriological unmerited-favor sense. See separate entry grace_favor for Proverbs 3:4’s non-soteriological social/relational favor (חֵן), which uses the identical Bengali word but carries only Medium risk in that specific context.
Law
Approved rendering: ব্যবস্থা
Transliteration: bebostha
Doctrine: Reliability and Sufficiency of God’s Words (background) / forbidden-substitution anchor
Rejected alternatives: ধর্ম, শরিয়ত, নিয়ম
Inherited from Romans package. Reserved EXCLUSIVELY for the Mosaic Law-code sense of תּוֹרָה. Proverbs also uses תּוֹרָה in a distinct filial/sapiential sense (the father-sage’s accumulated teaching, 3:1; 4:2; 7:2) — that sense MUST use the separate entry teaching_instruction_filial (শিক্ষা), never ব্যবস্থা.
Sin
Approved rendering: পাপ
Transliteration: pap
Doctrine: Universal accountability (background) / distinguished from evil_harm
Rejected alternatives: অধর্ম, অশুচিতা
Original: חַטָּאָה / פֶּשַׁע
Category: Righteousness
Inherited from Romans package. Reserved for חַטָּאָה/פֶּשַׁע, moral transgression against God specifically (e.g. 21:4; 28:13). Kept distinct from the broader wisdom-literature sense of רַע (‘evil/harm’), rendered মন্দ — see evil_harm. The two Bengali terms must not be used interchangeably.
Providence
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের পরিচালনা
Transliteration: Ishshorer porichalona
Doctrine: Trust in the Lord’s Providence
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি
Original: cf. 16:1-9; 19:21; 21:1, 30-31 (no single fixed Hebrew term)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Core term for Proverbs 16:1-9, 16:33, 19:21, 20:24, 21:1, 21:30-31. Proverbs’ human-agency-plus-divine-sovereignty pairing (‘the heart plans, but the LORD establishes the steps,’ 16:9) must not collapse into fatalism (নিয়তি/ভাগ্য, forbidden) or pure human autonomy.
Glory
Approved rendering: মহিমা
Transliteration: mohima
Doctrine: God’s radiant honor (background)
Rejected alternatives: জ্যোতি, তেজ
Original: כָּבוֹד
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Background sense underlying Proverbs 25:2 (‘it is the glory of God to conceal a thing’). Kept distinct from honor_verb (সম্মান করা), the human act of honoring God, which is not the same as God’s own intrinsic glory.
Wisdom Brought Forth
Approved rendering: সৃষ্টি করা / উৎপন্ন করা
Transliteration: srishti kora / utponno kora
Doctrine: Wisdom Personified (Prov 8:22-31)
Rejected alternatives: কেনা (buy/purchase), জন্ম দেওয়া (literally beget a child)
Original: קָנָה / חוּל
Category: Wisdom
New term. Renders קָנָה/חוּל (qanah/chul), the verbs describing Wisdom’s origin relative to God at 8:22-25. Avoid any rendering implying a commercial purchase or a literal begetting of a second, independently existing deity — a reading that would echo Hindu mythological patterns of deities generating other deities.
Woman Folly
Approved rendering: মূর্খতার নারী
Transliteration: murkhotar nari
Doctrine: Wisdom Personified (by contrast); Contrast of the Wise and the Fool
Original: אִשָּׁה כְסִילוּת
Category: Wisdom
New term. ‘Woman Folly’ (9:13-18), the deliberate literary mirror of personified Wisdom, who likewise calls out to the simple but leads to death. This mirroring sharpens the Saraswati-adjacent risk documented under wisdom; both figures must be taught as personified moral choices, never as two competing goddess-figures.
Understanding
Approved rendering: বিচক্ষণতা
Transliteration: bichokkhonota
Doctrine: Fear of the Lord; Contrast of Wise and Fool
Rejected alternatives: বুদ্ধি
Original: בִּינָה / תְּבוּנָה
Category: Wisdom
New term. Renders בִּינָה/תְּבוּנָה (binah/tevunah). বুদ্ধি is rejected because it shares its root with ‘বুদ্ধ/Buddha’ (the Awakened One), risking a Buddhist-enlightenment frame for a faculty Proverbs explicitly says must not be leaned on apart from সদাপ্রভু (3:5).
Knowledge
Approved rendering: জ্ঞান
Transliteration: gyan
Doctrine: Fear of the Lord; Relational Knowledge of God
Original: דַּעַת
Category: Wisdom
New term. Renders דַּעַת (da’at). জ্ঞান is retained (no better-established Bengali Bible alternative exists) but is the central term of Hindu jnana-yoga/Vedantic liberating gnosis toward mokṣa (already forbidden by the baseline for salvation, মোক্ষ). Must always be taught as relational covenant-knowledge of a personal God (‘knowledge of the Holy One,’ 9:10; 2:5), never impersonal metaphysical self-realization.
Wise Person
Approved rendering: বিজ্ঞ
Transliteration: biggo
Doctrine: The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool
Rejected alternatives: জ্ঞানী (acceptable secondary)
Original: חָכָם
Category: Character
New term. Renders חָכָם (chakam), paired directly with প্রজ্ঞা. Consistency required across all wise/fool contrast passages (chs. 1, 9-15, 26, 29).
Fool
Approved rendering: মূর্খ
Transliteration: murkho
Doctrine: The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool
Rejected alternatives: বোকা (too casual), caste-coded insult terms
Original: כְּסִיל / אֱוִיל / נָבָל
Category: Character
New term. Renders כְּסִיל/אֱוִיל/נָבָל (kesil/evil/naval) — a moral-spiritual category (rejection of সদাপ্রভুর ভয় and correction), not an IQ judgment or a caste-based insult in Bengali social usage.
Wicked Person
Approved rendering: দুষ্ট
Transliteration: dushto
Doctrine: The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool; Practical Righteousness
Rejected alternatives: অধার্মিক (acceptable secondary)
Original: רָשָׁע
Category: Righteousness
New term. Renders רָשָׁע (rasha), direct antonym of ধার্মিক; consistent pairing required across chs. 10-15, 21, 24, 28-29.
Justice
Approved rendering: ন্যায়বিচার
Transliteration: nyayobichar
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life; Justice for the Poor and Marginalized
Rejected alternatives: ন্যায় alone
Original: מִשְׁפָּט
Category: Righteousness
New term. Renders מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), the act/verdict of justice, especially for the poor and fatherless (22:17-24:22; 29:7; 31:1-9). Distinct from ধার্মিকতা (righteous standing); denotes the concrete act/verdict of justice.
Steadfast Love
Approved rendering: অবিচল দয়া
Transliteration: obichol doya
Doctrine: Steadfast Love and Faithfulness; Trust in the Lord’s Providence
Rejected alternatives: দয়া alone, কৃপা alone
Original: חֶסֶד
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders חֶסֶד (chesed), loyal, covenant-quality love (3:3; 14:22; 16:6; 20:28). A bare দয়া rendering would flatten chesed to ordinary compassion; অবিচল (‘unwavering/steadfast’) must be retained as a modifier wherever chesed appears — never optional.
Trust Rely
Approved rendering: নির্ভর করা
Transliteration: nirbhor kora
Doctrine: Trust in the Lord’s Providence
Rejected alternatives: বিশ্বাস (acceptable secondary per Bengali Bible tradition), তকদির-framed submission
Original: בָּטַח
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders בָּטַח (batach), to lean one’s whole weight on God for security (3:5; 16:20; 29:25). Must be kept distinct from (a) a Hindu karma-effort/self-cultivation framework and (b) Islamic taqdir-fatalism (submission to a predetermined outcome, তকদির). Conveys active, personal, relational dependence on a personal সদাপ্রভু.
Teaching Instruction Filial
Approved rendering: শিক্ষা
Transliteration: shikkha
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life
Rejected alternatives: ব্যবস্থা (forbidden — reserved for Mosaic Law)
Original: תּוֹרָה
Category: Instruction
New term. Renders תּוֹרָה in its filial/sapiential sense (3:1; 4:2; 7:2) — the father-sage’s accumulated teaching, NOT the codified Mosaic Law. Never ব্যবস্থা, which the baseline reserves exclusively for the Law-code (νόμος/Mosaic torah).
Discipline Correction
Approved rendering: শাসন
Transliteration: shashon
Doctrine: Divine Discipline as an Expression of Covenant Love
Rejected alternatives: শাস্তি (too punitive)
Original: מוּסָר
Category: Instruction
New term. Renders מוּסָר (musar), formative moral training and correction, an expression of covenant love (3:11-12; 1:2-3; 13:24), not arbitrary severity. শাস্তি would make God’s discipline sound punitive/retributive; শাসন preserves the pedagogical, loving intent but must be reinforced by surrounding context (3:12) so it is not misheard as harsh punishment.
Reproof Rebuke
Approved rendering: তিরস্কার
Transliteration: tiroshkar
Doctrine: Divine Discipline as an Expression of Covenant Love
Original: תּוֹכַחַת
Category: Instruction
New term. Renders תּוֹכַחַת (tokhachat), correction delivered through words, paired with musar (3:11-12; 1:23, 25, 30; 15:5, 10, 31-32). Must be paired contextually with শাসন to retain the loving-correction sense of 3:12 rather than reading as mere scolding.
Self Control
Approved rendering: আত্মসংযম
Transliteration: attoshomjom
Doctrine: Speech and Self-Control
Rejected alternatives: bare আত্মা
Original: רוּחַ (in the sense of ruling one’s inner disposition)
Category: Speech
New term. Compound rendering (never bare আত্মা) of רוּחַ in the sense of ruling one’s inner disposition (25:28, ‘a man without self-control…is like a city broken into’). আত্মা alone is the standard Bengali word for the Hindu/Vedantic Ātman, the eternal Self identified with Brahman in Advaita philosophy. Analogous to the baseline’s mandated compounds আত্মিক বর and পবিত্র আত্মা (never bare আত্মা/বর).
Holy One
Approved rendering: পবিত্র (সত্তা)
Transliteration: pobitro (sotta)
Doctrine: Relational Knowledge of God; Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom
Original: קָדוֹשׁ
Category: God
New term. Renders קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh) as a divine title, ‘the Holy One’ (9:10, ‘knowledge of the Holy One is understanding’; 30:3). Reuse the baseline root পবিত্র; as a divine title render পবিত্র/পবিত্রতম with a clear referent to সদাপ্রভু.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: শান্তি
Transliteration: shanti
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life (holistic flourishing)
Rejected alternatives: সুখ, স্বস্তি
Inherited from Romans package. In Proverbs 3:2, 3:17, 12:20 renders שָׁלוֹם, the broader this-worldly holistic-flourishing sense (bodily, relational, social well-being), distinct from Romans 5:1’s forensic peace-with-God sense secured through justification. A translator note distinguishing the two senses should travel with this term so they are not collapsed into one narrow doctrinal meaning.
Tree Of Life
Approved rendering: জীবন-বৃক্ষ
Transliteration: jibon-brikkho
Doctrine: Wisdom Personified (3:18)
Original: עֵץ חַיִּים
Category: Wisdom
New term. Wisdom is called ‘a tree of life to those who lay hold of her’ (3:18). Echoes Genesis 2-3 and Revelation 22; keep rendering consistent with any parallel usage elsewhere in the wider curriculum library.
Firstfruits Beginning
Approved rendering: প্রথম ফল / শুরু-মূল
Transliteration: prothom phol / shuru-mul
Doctrine: Fear of the Lord as Beginning of Wisdom
Original: רֵאשִׁית
Category: Fear of the Lord
New term. The same Hebrew word רֵאשִׁית (reshit) covers both ‘firstfruits of produce’ (3:9) and ‘starting point/beginning of wisdom’ (1:7, 9:10). Bengali requires two distinct renderings: প্রথম ফল in 3:9, শুরু/মূল in 1:7 and 9:10. Flag for cross-reference consistency in teaching notes; a translation-choice issue, not a syncretism risk.
Simple Naive
Approved rendering: অবোধ
Transliteration: obodh
Doctrine: The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool
Rejected alternatives: মূর্খ (conflates with hardened fool)
Original: פֶּתִי
Category: Character
New term. Renders פֶּתִי (peti), an open, unguarded, easily persuaded person who has not yet hardened into folly. Deliberately distinct from মূর্খ: the peti is rescuable through instruction, unlike the hardened kesil.
Scoffer
Approved rendering: উপহাসক
Transliteration: upohashok
Doctrine: The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool
Original: לֵץ
Category: Character
New term. Renders לֵץ (lets), one who actively ridicules correction and wisdom (9:7-8; 13:1; 14:6). Distinguished from the passive/naive peti and the hardened kesil.
Evil Harm
Approved rendering: মন্দ
Transliteration: mondo
Doctrine: Fear of the Lord; Contrast of Wise and Fool
Rejected alternatives: পাপ (reserved for baseline’s forensic ‘sin’)
Original: רַע
Category: Righteousness
New term. Renders רַע (ra), the broader wisdom-literature sense of harm/wrongdoing/calamity (3:7; 1:16; 4:14), broader than the technical transgression sense of hamartia. Kept distinct from পাপ so পাপ’s forensic weight is not diluted.
Abomination
Approved rendering: ঘৃণ্য বিষয়
Transliteration: ghrinyo bishoy
Doctrine: Abomination and God’s Moral Order
Rejected alternatives: ritual-impurity framed terms (অশুচি)
Original: תּוֹעֵבָה
Category: Righteousness
New term. Renders תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah), something detestable and morally repugnant to God (6:16-19; 11:1, 20; 20:10, 23). Kept as moral-relational abhorrence to a personal সদাপ্রভু, not ritual-impurity language.
Faithfulness
Approved rendering: বিশ্বস্ততা
Transliteration: bishwostota
Doctrine: Steadfast Love and Faithfulness
Rejected alternatives: বিশ্বাস (reserved for baseline’s personal trust in Christ)
Original: אֱמוּנָה / אֱמֶת
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders אֱמוּנָה/אֱמֶת (emunah/emet), the abstract quality of reliability/trustworthiness (3:3; 12:22; 20:6). Distinct from বিশ্বাস, the baseline’s faith term reserved for personal trust in Christ’s atoning work.
Heart
Approved rendering: হৃদয়
Transliteration: hridoy
Doctrine: Fear of the Lord; Trust in Providence
Rejected alternatives: মন (mind alone, too narrow)
Original: לֵב
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders לֵב (lev), the seat of will, intellect, and emotion (3:1, 3, 5; 4:23). Bengali হৃদয় can skew toward emotion alone; surrounding verbs (‘guard,’ ‘keep,’ ‘trust with’) must reinforce the volitional-cognitive sense.
Commandments
Approved rendering: আদেশ
Transliteration: adesh
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life
Original: מִצְוָה
Category: Instruction
New term. Renders מִצְוָה (mitzvah), specific applied directives flowing from the father’s/God’s teaching (3:1; 6:20; 7:1-2). Distinct from ব্যবস্থা; no baseline collision.
Acknowledge Know
Approved rendering: স্বীকার করা
Transliteration: shikar kora
Doctrine: Trust in the Lord’s Providence
Rejected alternatives: জানা (purely cognitive, too narrow)
Original: יָדַע
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders יָדַע (yada) in 3:6, ‘acknowledge him in all your ways’ — a relational-covenantal knowing/submission broader than intellectual knowledge. Preferred over a purely cognitive জানা.
Tongue
Approved rendering: জিহ্বা
Transliteration: jihba
Doctrine: Speech and Self-Control
Original: לָשׁוֹן
Category: Speech
New term. Renders לָשׁוֹן (lashon), the organ of speech (10:19-21, 31-32; 12:18-19; 15:1-4; 18:21). No syncretism collision; risk is purely register consistency across chs. 10-25.
Sluggard
Approved rendering: অলস
Transliteration: olosh
Doctrine: Diligence versus Sloth
Original: עָצֵל
Category: Diligence
New term. Renders עָצֵל (atsel), a habitually lazy person, the ant vignette’s warning figure (6:6-11; 24:30-34; 26:13-16).
Diligent
Approved rendering: অধ্যবসায়ী / পরিশ্রমী
Transliteration: odhyoboshayi / porishromi
Doctrine: Diligence versus Sloth
Original: חָרוּץ
Category: Diligence
New term. Renders חָרוּץ (charuts), the diligent, industrious person, direct antonym of atsel (10:4; 12:24, 27; 13:4).
Strange Woman
Approved rendering: পরস্ত্রী
Transliteration: poroshtri
Doctrine: Marital Fidelity and Sexual Purity
Rejected alternatives: বেশ্যা (too narrowly ‘prostitute’, loses marital-fidelity emphasis)
Original: אִשָּׁה זָרָה / נָכְרִיָּה
Category: Family
New term. Renders אִשָּׁה זָרָה/נָכְרִיָּה (ishah zarah/nokriyah), the adulteress/‘foreign woman’ warning figure of chs. 2, 5-7.
Adultery
Approved rendering: ব্যভিচার
Transliteration: bebhichar
Doctrine: Marital Fidelity and Sexual Purity
Original: נִאוּף / זְנוּת
Category: Family
New term. Renders נִאוּף/זְנוּת (ni’uph/z’nut), sexual immorality/adultery, warned against extensively in chs. 5-7.
Excellent Wife
Approved rendering: গুণবতী স্ত্রী
Transliteration: gunoboti stri
Doctrine: The Excellent Wife as Embodied Practical Wisdom
Rejected alternatives: পতিব্রতা স্ত্রী (overemphasizes wifely submission alone)
Original: אֵשֶׁת חַיִל
Category: Family
New term. Renders אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (eshet chayil), ‘a woman of valiant strength/capability’ (31:10-31). Must retain both her practical capability AND her explicit motive, সদাপ্রভুর ভয় (31:30), echoing the book’s opening thesis (1:7).
Love Verb
Approved rendering: ভালোবাসা
Transliteration: bhalobasha
Doctrine: Divine Discipline as an Expression of Covenant Love
Original: אָהֵב
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders אָהֵב (ahav), used of the LORD’s fatherly love expressed through discipline (3:12) and general relational love throughout the book. প্রেম reserved only for elevated/poetic register if needed; consistency outweighs register nuance.
Son
Approved rendering: পুত্র
Transliteration: putro
Doctrine: Divine Discipline as an Expression of Covenant Love (background)
Original: בֵּן
Category: Family
New term. Renders בֵּן (ben), the book’s characteristic address (‘my son…’) and the illustrative figure of 3:12’s father-son discipline analogy. Standard term; doctrinal weight rises only where applied directly to God’s fatherly discipline.
Honor Verb
Approved rendering: সম্মান করা
Transliteration: shomman kora
Doctrine: Fear of the Lord (background — honoring God with wealth)
Original: כָּבַד
Category: God
New term. Renders כָּבַד (kabed), to honor/give weight to God (3:9, ‘honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce’). Kept distinct from মহিমা, which denotes God’s own intrinsic glory rather than a human action directed toward him.
Grace Favor
Approved rendering: অনুগ্রহ
Transliteration: anugroho
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life (social/relational favor, Prov 3:4)
Original: חֵן
Category: Covenant
New Proverbs-specific context for a baseline-shared word. Renders חֵן (chen), social/relational favor or goodwill in the sight of God and man (3:4), distinct from the soteriological unmerited-favor sense of Romans’ charis. Permitted here only under the same non-soteriological allowance the baseline grants for social/relational favor; a translator note is required so this is not preached as Romans’ saving grace.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: সহভাগিতা
Transliteration: shohobhagita
Doctrine: Family and Friendship Ethics (background)
Rejected alternatives: বন্ধুত্ব
Inherited from Romans package. Minor relevance in Proverbs (17:17; 18:24; 27:17) where a doctrinal ‘shared participation’ sense is intended; most friendship sayings instead use বন্ধু/প্রতিবেশী (see friend_neighbor).
Mouth
Approved rendering: মুখ
Transliteration: mukh
Doctrine: Speech and Self-Control
Original: פֶּה
Category: Speech
New term. Renders פֶּה (peh), the mouth as the source of speech (10:11, 14; 15:2; 18:7). Standard term.
Lips
Approved rendering: ওষ্ঠ
Transliteration: ostho
Doctrine: Speech and Self-Control
Original: שָׂפָה
Category: Speech
New term. Renders שָׂפָה (saphah), paired with mouth/tongue imagery (10:19; 12:19; 17:7). Standard term.
King
Approved rendering: রাজা
Transliteration: raja
Doctrine: Trust in the Lord’s Providence
Original: מֶלֶךְ
Category: Society
New term. Renders מֶלֶךְ (melekh), the king as a wisdom-exemplar/warning figure and instrument of providence (chs. 16, 20-21, 25, 29-31). No competing sacral connotation in Bengali comparable to শক্তি or প্রজ্ঞা; standard term.
Friend Neighbor
Approved rendering: বন্ধু / প্রতিবেশী
Transliteration: bondhu / protibeshi
Doctrine: Family and Friendship Ethics
Original: רֵעַ
Category: Family
New term. Renders רֵעַ (rea), friend or neighbor, subject of frequent relational-ethics sayings (17:17; 18:24; 27:6, 17; 19:4-7). No doctrinal collision.
Boundary Stone
Approved rendering: সীমাচিহ্ন
Transliteration: shimachihno
Doctrine: Property and Boundary Ethics
Original: גְּבוּל
Category: Society
New term. Renders גְּבוּל (gevul), the ancient boundary stone, not to be moved (22:28; 23:10). Concrete agrarian image, no religious-vocabulary collision.
Path Way
Approved rendering: পথ
Transliteration: poth
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness; Contrast of Wise and Fool
Original: דֶּרֶךְ
Category: Wisdom
New term. Renders דֶּרֶךְ (derekh), way/path, a governing metaphor for the course of life or conduct (3:6; 4:14, 18-19). Standard term.
Healing
Approved rendering: আরোগ্য
Transliteration: arogyo
Doctrine: Practical Righteousness in Daily Life (background — 3:8)
Original: רִפְאוּת
Category: Wisdom
New term. Renders רִפְאוּת (rifut), healing/health, the promised bodily benefit of trusting instruction (3:8). No doctrinal risk.
Delight Pleased
Approved rendering: প্রীত হওয়া / সন্তুষ্ট হওয়া
Transliteration: prito howa / sontushto howa
Doctrine: Divine Discipline as an Expression of Covenant Love (background — 3:12)
Original: רָצָה
Category: Covenant
New term. Renders רָצָה (ratsah), to delight in or be pleased with, describing God’s disposition toward the disciplined son (3:12). Minor risk.
Referenced passages