Semantic Analysis
Semantic Analysis — Acts 1–28
Scope and Method
This analysis covers the entire book of Acts, chapter 1 through chapter 28. The core passage, Acts 2:1–41 (Pentecost and Peter’s sermon), receives full verse-by-verse treatment. Every other chapter receives a chapter-level study of its load-bearing theological terms using the same fields: original Greek word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants, contextual theological meaning, and destination-language (Bodo) rendering with risk tier.
Governing rule: Any term already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json is reused exactly as recorded there. Such reuse is marked “(reuse — Romans TM)”. New terms required by Acts vocabulary are analyzed in full and proposed for addition to translation memory (see 08_core_glossary.md).
Comparative-religion note carried forward from the Romans baseline: Bodo religious life is shaped primarily by (1) Bathouism, an aniconic nature-religion centered on Bathoubwrai and the five-branched sijou plant (ha/earth, dwi/water, bar/air, or/fire, okhrang/sky), with communal expression in the Kherai puja, where a doudini medium enters ritual trance/possession; and (2) Brahma Dharma, a 1912 Sanskritized reform movement. Acts — with its narrative of wind, fire, Spirit-filling, tongues, visions, angels, and a literal spirit of divination cast out of a girl (16:16-18) — activates this comparative-religion risk profile far more densely, and far more concretely, than Romans did. Several of the highest-risk findings in this analysis are new to the Acts curriculum and did not arise in the Romans Language Package.
PART A — CORE PASSAGE: Acts 2:1–41, Verse by Verse
Acts 2:1
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.”
- Πεντηκοστή (Pentēkostē) — lit. “fiftieth [day].” Semantic range: the Jewish Feast of Weeks/Shavuot, celebrated fifty days after Passover, originally a harvest festival later associated with the giving of the Law at Sinai. English variants: “Pentecost,” “Feast of Weeks.” Contextual theological meaning: the calendar anchor for the giving of the Spirit, deliberately paralleling the giving of the Law — the New Covenant’s inauguration on the day that once marked the Old. Bodo rendering: पेन्तिकुस्त (Pentikust, transliteration). Risk: Medium. Bathou and Brahma Dharma calendars have no fifty-day harvest-to-covenant festival logic; this is a comprehension gap (Jewish festival calendar unfamiliar to Bodo learners) rather than a false-equivalence risk, but the Sinai/Pentecost typology must be explicitly taught, not assumed.
Acts 2:2
“And suddenly a sound came from heaven like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house…”
- πνοή (pnoē) — lit. “breath, blast, gust.” Semantic range: wind, breath, breathing; shares a root with πνεῦμα (spirit/wind). English variants: “wind,” “blast,” “rushing wind.” Contextual theological meaning: an audible, physical theophany-sign accompanying the Spirit’s arrival, echoing Genesis 1:2 and Ezekiel 37’s breath of life. Bodo rendering: बार (bar, the ordinary Bodo word for wind/air). Risk: CRITICAL — a genuinely unavoidable collision, distinct in kind from any other risk in this document. बार is documented in the Romans baseline itself as the name of one of the five elemental branches of the sijou plant in Bathou cosmology (ha/earth, dwi/water, bar/air, or/fire, okhrang/sky), the aniconic embodiment of Bathoubwrai in every Bodo household courtyard. There is no alternate Bodo word for “wind” available to sidestep this the way ईश्वर sidesteps बाथौबुरै for “God.” This must be handled by explicit teaching framing, not lexical substitution: Acts 2’s wind is a unique, historical, one-time sign of the Spirit’s descent upon the church, not an invocation or manifestation of the sijou plant’s elemental “bar.” Flag for mandatory theologian review and translator note in every occurrence in Acts 2.
Acts 2:3
“And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them.”
- γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρός (glōssai hōsei pyros) — lit. “tongues as of fire.” Semantic range: πῦρ = fire, flame; the noun γλῶσσα here describes the visual shape (flame-shaped), distinct from its later sense in this same passage (spoken language). Contextual theological meaning: fire is a recurrent theophany-marker (burning bush, Sinai, pillar of fire) signifying God’s purifying, consuming, empowering presence now distributed to each believer individually (“on each one of them”), not centralized in one shrine or mediator. Bodo rendering: ओर/उ (fire — exact standard Bodo lexeme to be confirmed with a native-speaking theologian). Risk: CRITICAL, for the identical structural reason as v.2: “or” is documented as the second of the sijou plant’s five Bathou elements. Acts 2 is therefore the single passage in the entire Acts curriculum where two of the five sacred Bathou elements (bar and or) appear together as the two central sensory phenomena of the Christian Pentecost narrative. This is not incidental; it is the highest-priority comparative-religion flag in this whole analysis. Mandatory translator note: “This wind and this fire mark the historical, once-for-all descent of the Holy Spirit upon the church at Jerusalem; they are not a manifestation of the sijou plant’s bar/or elements or of Bathoubwrai, and must be taught as such explicitly and repeatedly, not left for the hearer to reconcile silently.”
Acts 2:4
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
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πλησθέντες πνεύματος ἁγίου (plēsthentes pneumatos hagiou) — lit. “having been filled with Holy Spirit.” Semantic range: πίμπλημι = to fill, fill up, fill completely. Contextual theological meaning: a decisive, initiatory filling that empowers proclamation; recurs throughout Acts (4:8, 4:31, 9:17, 13:9) as the mark of Spirit-empowered witness. Bodo rendering: पबित्र आत्थाजों भारायनाय (pobitro aathajwng bharainai), built on the baseline’s already-fixed पबित्र आत्था (Holy Spirit — reuse, Romans TM). Risk: CRITICAL. The Romans baseline itself already names this exact risk in its curriculum-level notes: “the Spirit filling a person” language is precisely the register in which Bodo hearers experience the doudini entering trance/possession during Kherai puja, becoming a vessel for Bathoubwrai or the Kherai pantheon. Acts, unlike Romans, narrates this filling as a repeated, visible, public event with speech phenomena — making the collision far more concrete than any Romans passage. Mandatory teaching contrast: the Spirit’s filling in Acts produces intelligible, doctrinally coherent proclamation of God’s mighty works (v.11) under the full ongoing personal identity and self-control of the speaker; it is not a trance state in which the person’s identity recedes and a deity temporarily speaks through them.
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ἑτέραις γλώσσαις (heterais glōssais) — lit. “other tongues.” Semantic range: γλῶσσα = tongue (organ) or language; ἕτερος = other, different. English variants: “other tongues,” “different languages,” “unknown tongues” (used inconsistently across English translations — this curriculum must fix one rendering). Contextual theological meaning: real, existing human languages (confirmed by v.6, v.8, v.11’s list of nations each hearing their own tongue) — a miracle of intelligible cross-cultural communication, not ecstatic unintelligible speech. Bodo rendering: गुबुन रां (gubun rang, “other/different tongues/languages”). Risk: CRITICAL. “Speaking in tongues,” heard without careful framing, is the single Acts 2 phenomenon most likely to be assimilated to a doudini’s oracular trance-speech during Kherai possession. The translator note must state explicitly: (1) these were known human languages understood by the hearers present, not unintelligible ecstatic utterance; (2) the speakers retained full self-possession and were proclaiming coherent content (“the mighty works of God,” v.11), unlike a medium whose own identity recedes during possession. This distinction should be taught before this verse is ever read aloud in a Bodo congregation drawn partly from Bathouist or Brahma Dharma family backgrounds.
Acts 2:5–6
“Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem… each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”
- διάλεκτος (dialektos) — lit. “dialect, language, tongue.” Semantic range: a person’s native, ordinary spoken language — distinct in Luke’s usage here from γλῶσσα in v.4, reinforcing that the miracle was heard as normal known speech. Bodo rendering: गुदि रां (gudi rang, “one’s own/native tongue”). Risk: Medium. Important teaching support term: keeping διάλεκτος (ordinary native language) visibly distinct from γλῶσσα (miraculous other-tongue) in translation and commentary reinforces the “real, intelligible language” reading against a trance-speech misreading.
- εὐλαβεῖς (eulabeis, “devout”) — semantic range: reverent, God-fearing, careful in religious observance. Bodo rendering: ईश्वरखौ गोरोंथिनाय (Isorkhou gworonthinai, “revering/fearing God”). Risk: Low-Medium.
Acts 2:7–11
List of nations; “we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
- τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ θεοῦ (ta megaleia tou theou) — lit. “the great things/mighty works of God.” Semantic range: God’s great saving acts, celebrated in praise (cf. Luke 1:49). Bodo rendering: ईश्वरनि महान खामानि (Isorni mohan khamani). Risk: Medium. Content-control term: establishes that the tongues-speech was doctrinal praise-content, not oracular riddle-speech of the kind associated with divinatory trance pronouncements.
Acts 2:12–13
“All were amazed and perplexed… but others mocking said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’”
- ἐξίσταντο… διηπόρουν (existanto… diēporoun) — amazement, bewilderment. Bodo rendering: आचम्बा जानाय (achamba janai). Risk: Low.
- γλεύκους μεμεστωμένοι (gleukous memestōmenoi) — lit. “having been filled with sweet new wine.” Semantic range: mocking accusation of drunkenness. Bodo rendering: मद़जों दंगदंग (modhjwng dangdang, “drunk with liquor”). Risk: High. This verse is theologically important precisely because it records outside observers offering a naturalistic explanation (drunken frenzy) for a genuine work of the Spirit. In the Bodo setting this same narrative move is double-edged: (a) it warns against reductive skepticism dismissing Spirit-filled proclamation as mere altered-state behavior, while (b) it must be taught carefully so that Bodo hearers do not run the comparison the opposite direction — i.e., concluding that Spirit-filling is the same category of phenomenon as trance/possession (only sober rather than drunk). Peter’s answer in vv.14–21 (quoting Joel) reframes the event doctrinally rather than merely denying intoxication, and this reframing move itself should be highlighted in teaching notes.
Acts 2:14–15
Peter stands and addresses the crowd, denying drunkenness. No new load-bearing terms; reuses vv.4–13 vocabulary.
Acts 2:16–18
“This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…’”
- ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου (ekcheō apo tou pneumatos mou) — lit. “I will pour out from my Spirit.” Semantic range: ἐκχέω = to pour out, spill, shed abundantly (also used of blood being shed). Contextual theological meaning: an abundant, universal, once-inaugurated outpouring — not a periodic ritual invocation repeated at each ceremony. Bodo rendering: पबित्र आत्था बोहानाय (pobitro aatha bohanai, “pouring out the Holy Spirit”). Risk: CRITICAL. Must be sharply distinguished from any framing in which the Spirit is “poured out” the way libations or offerings are poured out to Bathoubwrai or the Kherai pantheon in traditional ritual; here the direction of movement is God pouring himself out upon his people, not the people offering something up to a deity.
- προφητεύσουσιν (prophēteusousin, “they shall prophesy”) — reuse भाबिष्यत रां (prophecy)/verb form, Romans TM. Risk: Low (reuse).
- ἐνύπνια… ὁράσεις (enypnia… horaseis, “dreams… visions”) — semantic range: night-dreams and daytime visionary experience, both understood in Scripture as legitimate modes of divine revelation. Bodo rendering: सुबुं आरो दर्शन (subung aro dorshon). Risk: CRITICAL. “Vision” (दर्शन) recurs across Acts as the vehicle of major turning-point revelations (Cornelius, ch.10; Peter, ch.10; Ananias, ch.9; Paul, ch.9, 16, 18, 22, 26). Every occurrence must be taught as distinct from the trance-vision experienced by a doudini under spirit-possession during Kherai puja: biblical visions are given by the sovereign initiative of the one true God to a fully conscious recipient for a specific redemptive purpose, not summoned through ritual technique or experienced as loss of self-possession.
Acts 2:19–20
“…blood and fire and vapor of smoke… before the great and magnificent day of the Lord comes.”
- ἡμέρα Κυρίου (hēmera Kyriou) — lit. “day of the Lord.” Semantic range: the OT/NT eschatological day of divine judgment and vindication, singular and climactic. Bodo rendering: प्रभुनि सान (Probhuni san), built on the fixed baseline term प्रभु (Lord, reuse). Risk: High. Must be taught as a unique, future, historical culmination — not assimilated to any cyclical festival calendar (e.g., the annual timing of Kherai puja) or to Brahma Dharma’s own progressive-reform vision of history.
Acts 2:21
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
- πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου σωθήσεται — lit. “everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα (call upon the name): semantic range covers invocation, appeal, calling out to in need. Bodo rendering: प्रभुनि मुं लांनाय (Probhuni mung langnai, “calling on the Lord’s name”), combined with the fixed baseline term फोरायनाय (salvation, reuse). Risk: CRITICAL. This is the Acts-book counterpart to Romans 10:9–13, already flagged Critical in the baseline as verbatim-consistency-required across documents. Calling on the Lord’s name for salvation must be kept categorically distinct from calling upon Bathoubwrai’s name, or petitioning through a doudini or ओझा (ritual specialist) who “calls” a deity’s name/presence into a session. The Lord (प्रभु = Jesus, per v.36) is the sole, sufficient, exclusive object of this call; this verse should be cross-checked for verbatim consistency with the Romans 10:9–13 rendering already fixed in the baseline package.
Acts 2:22–24
“Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs… this Jesus… you crucified and killed. But God raised him up…”
- δυνάμεσι καὶ τέρασι καὶ σημείοις (dynamesi kai terasi kai sēmeiois) — “mighty works and wonders and signs.” Bodo rendering: सक्ति, चिनांथि आरो आचम्बा — reusing baseline ईश्वरनि सक्ति (power of God) plus new compound चिनांथि आरो आचम्बा (signs and wonders). Risk: High. Must be kept categorically distinct from the ritual/mediumistic power (सक्ति) attributed to a doudini’s Kherai-trance state, and from Simon Magus-type sorcery (ch.8) — this triad of terms recurs across Acts as the authenticating mark of apostolic ministry and must be defined once, carefully, and reused consistently.
- ἀνείλατε… προσπήξαντες (“you killed… having nailed [to the cross]”) — Bodo rendering: क्रुसाव लाबोनाय (krusao labwnai, “putting/nailing on the cross”), using the established Christian loanword क्रुस (cross). Risk: CRITICAL. Central atonement event; no comparative-religion collision is expected here, but the doctrinal weight (the same weight already flagged Critical for atonement/propitiation language in the Romans registry) must be preserved without softening — Peter’s sermon does not shrink from naming the audience’s own complicity (“you crucified”), and this directness should be retained.
- ὁ θεὸς ἀνέστησεν (“God raised him up”) — reuse baseline जिउनाय सोलायनाय (resurrection). Risk: CRITICAL (reuse). As in Romans, never रендered with फिन जोनोम (rebirth/reincarnation).
Acts 2:25–28
Quotation of Psalm 16: “…you will not let your Holy One see corruption.”
- τὸν ὅσιόν σου (ton hosion sou, “your Holy One”) — semantic range: ὅσιος = holy, pious, consecrated, here a messianic title for the undecaying Righteous One. Bodo rendering: पबित्र जोनाय (pobitro jwnai, “the Holy One”), built on baseline पबित्र (holy, reuse). Risk: Medium.
- διαφθοράν (diaphthoran, “corruption/decay”) — Bodo rendering: फोथाय जानाय (phwthai janai, “to rot/decay”). Risk: Low.
Acts 2:29–31
Peter argues David’s tomb is still with them, so David spoke prophetically of the Christ’s resurrection. Reuses दाऊद (David, reuse), मसीह (Messiah/Christ, reuse), जिउनाय सोलायनाय (resurrection, reuse), भाबिष्यत रां (prophecy, reuse). Risk: Critical (reuse cluster) — this is the Davidic-covenant-to-Messiah argument already documented as High/Critical risk in the Romans baseline (seed_of_david, davidic_covenant, messianic_promise); Acts 2 supplies its climactic New Testament fulfillment and should be cross-referenced explicitly in teaching notes.
Acts 2:32–33
“This Jesus God raised up… Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”
- ὑψωθεὶς (hypsōtheis, “having been exalted/lifted up”) — semantic range: to raise, lift high, exalt in honor and rank. Bodo rendering: गोजान होनाय (gwjan honai, “being raised up/exalted in honor”). Risk: High. Christ’s exaltation to supreme heavenly authority must not be read as merely becoming one exalted elder-spirit among the honorific “बर’ऐ/बुरहा” ranks of the Bathou pantheon — the baseline’s forbidden-substitution rule for लॉर्ड (प्रभु) applies with equal force here: this is unique enthronement at God’s own right hand, not promotion within a populated spirit-hierarchy.
- ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ (“at the right hand of God”) — Bodo rendering: ईश्वरनि जोबथा हाथाव (Isorni jwbtha hathao). Risk: Medium. Enthronement/throne-room imagery is not a standing convention in Bodo cultural idiom and should be briefly explained rather than assumed self-evident.
- τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος… ἐξέχεεν (“the promise of the Holy Spirit… poured out”) — combines थारायनाय (promise, new term, see below) with पबित्र आत्था बोहानाय (pouring out the Spirit, established above at v.17). Risk: CRITICAL (compound).
Acts 2:34–35
Quotation of Psalm 110: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Reuses enthronement imagery from v.33. No new terms.
Acts 2:36
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
- Κύριον καὶ Χριστόν (Kyrion kai Christon, “Lord and Christ”) — the climactic double confession of the sermon. Bodo rendering: प्रभु आरो मसीह, using both fixed baseline terms प्रभु (Lord, reuse) and मसीह (Messiah/Christ, reuse) exactly. Risk: CRITICAL. This is the Acts counterpart to Romans 10:9’s “Jesus is Lord” confession, already flagged for verbatim cross-document consistency in the baseline. Every element of the baseline’s Lordship-of-Christ forbidden-substitution rule applies at full force: प्रभु must never be swapped for बर’ऐ/बुरहा. This verse, together with v.21 and v.38, forms the doctrinal spine of the whole sermon and should be treated as a fixed, verbatim-consistent unit across every Acts curriculum document, exactly as Romans 10:9–10 is treated in the baseline.
Acts 2:37
“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said… ‘What shall we do?’”
- κατενύγησαν τὴν καρδίαν (katenygēsan tēn kardian) — lit. “were pierced/stabbed in the heart.” Semantic range: a sudden, sharp, painful inner conviction. Bodo rendering: गोसो खारनाय (gwsw kharnai, “the heart being pierced/cut”). Risk: Medium. Must convey genuine Spirit-and-Word-produced conviction of sin and need, distinct from superstitious fear of having violated a ritual taboo (a register familiar from Bathou purity concerns) or from a generalized emotional response without doctrinal content.
Acts 2:38
“And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
This is the single most theologically dense verse in the core passage, and the hinge of the whole curriculum’s Repentance-and-Baptism doctrine.
- μετανοήσατε (metanoēsate, “repent”) — lit. “change your mind/turn.” Semantic range: a decisive reorientation of the whole person — mind, will, and direction of life — away from sin and toward God, not mere regret. English variants: “repent,” “turn,” “change your mind.” Bodo rendering: गोसो सोलायनाय (gwsw solainai, “the heart’s turning”), built on गोसो (heart), consistent with existing baseline compounds (गोसाथारि, गोसो जोंथानाय). Risk: High. Must be distinguished from Brahma Dharma’s own reform-oriented ethic of self-improvement toward accumulated पुण्य (merit — already forbidden for “grace” in the baseline) and from any ritual purification act that addresses external/ceremonial impurity rather than the whole person’s relationship to God.
- βαπτισθήτω… ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (“be baptized… in the name of Jesus Christ”) — βάπτισμα/βαπτίζω: lit. “to dip, immerse.” Bodo rendering: बाप्तिस्मा (baptisma, an established Christian loanword; verb: पानिजों बाप्तिस्मा नोनाय, “receiving baptism with water”). Risk: High. Must be distinguished from the household and courtyard cleansing rites performed before Bathou and Kherai ceremonies (already flagged for साफ/pobitro distinctions in the baseline) — Christian baptism is a public, once-for-all identification with Christ’s death and resurrection and with his name specifically, not a repeatable ritual purification.
- εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν (“for the forgiveness of your sins”) — ἄφεσις: lit. “release, sending away, pardon.” Bodo rendering: गुनाहनि माफ (gunahni maph), built on baseline गुनाह (sin, reuse) plus माफ (pardon, a widely used regional loanword). Risk: High. The baseline explicitly warns that “forgiveness” alone must never substitute for or exhaust justification (धार्मिक होनाय राव), which additionally carries the positive declared-righteous dimension. This verse should be taught alongside Romans 4–5’s justification teaching, not as a stand-alone, thinner concept.
- τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (“the gift of the Holy Spirit”) — δωρεά: a free, unearned gift (same semantic family as χάρις/grace). Bodo rendering: पबित्र आत्थानि दान (pobitro aathani daan), combining baseline पबित्र आत्था (reuse) with the दान root already fixed for grace (मोफादांनाय दान). Risk: CRITICAL. Must resist both a Brahma Dharma merit-reading and a traditional reciprocal-offering reading, exactly as the baseline’s grace entry requires — the Spirit is given freely upon repentance and faith, not earned by, or exchanged for, ritual performance. This is also the passage’s tightest point of contact with the सक्ति (spirit-power) risk already documented for the doudini’s trance abilities: the gift received here is the personal indwelling Holy Spirit for holiness and witness, categorically not a mediumistic or oracular power.
This verse as a whole is a mandatory human-theologian-review trigger under the baseline’s escalation rules (it contains repentance, baptism, forgiveness of sin, and gift-of-Spirit language simultaneously) and should be treated with the same weight as Romans 10:9–10.
Acts 2:39
“For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
- ἐπαγγελία (epangelia, “promise”) — Bodo rendering: थारायनाय (tharaynai), reusing the root already present in the baseline’s messianic_promise doctrine name (मसीहनि थारायनाय). Risk: Medium.
- ὅσους ἂν προσκαλέσηται Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν (“everyone the Lord our God calls”) — reuses baseline फिनायाव/फिनायनि सिम (called/calling, reuse). Risk: High (reuse). Must retain the universal scope (“you… your children… all who are far off”) without qualification, per the baseline’s universal_scope_of_gospel doctrine — of particular importance given contemporary ethnic/territorial sensitivities around “who belongs” in the Bodoland region.
Acts 2:40
“And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’”
- διεμαρτύρετο (“bore witness/testified solemnly”) — reuse new term साक्षी/साक्ष्य होनाय (witness, see Ch.1 below). Risk: High.
- παρεκάλει (“exhorted”) — reuse baseline गोसो होनाय (exhort, reuse). Risk: Low.
- γενεᾶς τῆς σκολιᾶς ταύτης (“this crooked generation”) — Bodo rendering: बांगियै जुथुद (bangiyoi juthud, “crooked/perverse generation”). Risk: Low-Medium.
Acts 2:41
“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
- ἀποδεξάμενοι τὸν λόγον (“having received the word”) — Bodo rendering: रावखौ लाबोनाय (rangkhou labwnai). Risk: Low.
- ἐβαπτίσθησαν (“were baptized”) — reuse बाप्तिस्मा (see v.38). Risk: High (reuse).
- προσετέθησαν… ψυχαὶ ὡσεὶ τρισχίλιαι (“were added… about three thousand souls”) — προστίθημι: to add, join to. Bodo rendering: फिसाजोंनाय (phisajwngnai, “joining/being added”). Risk: High. This is the first appearance in the curriculum of church membership as an act of individual response and incorporation rather than an inherited status. It must be explicitly distinguished from the Bodo cultural pattern of belonging by birth into a clan (afad) — already flagged in the baseline’s adoption entry — since entrance into the newly-forming church in Acts 2 comes through repentance, faith, and baptism, cutting across, not following, existing kinship and lineage lines.
(Note: Acts 2:42–47, describing the newborn community’s ongoing life, is covered under the Chapter 2 entry in Part B below, since the core-passage boundary for this curriculum is fixed at 2:1–41.)
PART B — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SURVEY OF THE WHOLE BOOK
Chapter 1 — Ascension, Promise of the Spirit, Apostolic Succession
| Terms | Variants | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascension ἀνελήμφθη / ἀναλαμβάνω anelēmphthē / analambanō ”was taken up” — a literal, visible, bodily departure into heaven, witnessed by many | ascension, taken up, received up | Christ’s final, bodily, visible departure to heaven, promising bodily return (1:11) | स्वर्गाव लांनाय (swargao langnai, “going up to heaven”) | High — must be taught as a unique, historical, bodily event witnessed by many, not a deity’s temporary heavenly journey or a shamanic soul-flight motif |
| Witness μάρτυς / μαρτυρέω martys / martyreō one who testifies to what he has seen/heard, under legal or solemn obligation | witness, testify, martyr (later sense) | The apostles’ core commission (1:8): “you will be my witnesses” — direct, first-hand testimony to Christ’s life, death, resurrection | साक्षी (sakkhi); verb साक्ष्य होनाय (sakkhyo honai) | High — must convey courtroom-grade, first-hand testimony to historical fact, not a doudini’s or ओझा’s oracular pronouncement of spiritual truth received in trance |
| Kingdom of God βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ basileia tou theou God’s reign | kingdom | The disciples’ mistaken question about restoring a political kingdom (1:6) | ईश्वरनि राज्य (reuse — Romans TM) | Medium (reuse) — Acts 1:6-7 is itself a teaching opportunity to correct a territorial-political misreading, directly relevant given the Bodoland Territorial Region’s own contemporary politics |
| Holy Spirit baptism / promise of the Spirit βαπτισθήσεσθε ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ baptisthēsesthe en pneumati hagiō to be baptized/immersed in the Holy Spirit | baptized with the Spirit | John’s water baptism contrasted with the coming Spirit-baptism, fulfilled in ch.2 | पबित्र आत्थाजों बाप्तिस्मा (pobitro aathajwng baptisma) | Critical — sets up ch.2’s central event; must not be confused with any ritual immersion/cleansing rite tied to Bathou household purification |
| Casting lots / choosing Matthias κλῆρος klēros lot, portion, allotted share | lot, casting lots | Method of discerning God’s choice for apostolic succession (1:26) | आगोरनाय (aagwrnai, “casting/drawing lots”) | Low-Medium — should be distinguished from divinatory lot-casting or omen-reading practices in folk religious life; the outcome here is understood as God’s sovereign choice (ईश्वरनि सायख, election, reuse), not chance-fate (भागी) |
Chapter 2 — Pentecost (2:1–41 treated in Part A above); Community Life (2:42–47)
| Terms | Variants | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breaking of bread κλάσις τοῦ ἄρτου klasis tou artou ”the breaking of the loaf” | breaking bread, the Lord’s Supper, communion | The new community’s regular shared meal, remembering Christ, distinct from ordinary eating | रोटि सिटानाय (roti sitanai) | Medium — must be distinguished from ordinary communal village meals and from Bathou/Kherai communal ritual feasting following a puja offering; this is a memorial act tied specifically to Christ’s body |
| Fellowship κοινωνία koinōnia shared participation | fellowship, communion, sharing | Reuse — Romans TM | गोसो जोंथानाय (reuse) | Low (reuse) |
| Common possession-sharing κοινά (εἶχον ἅπαντα κοινά) koina ”held all things common” | held everything in common | Voluntary, Spirit-motivated generosity within the new community, not a mandated communal-property rule | समान लाबोनाय (saman labwnai, “possessing/holding in common”) | Medium — should be taught as voluntary Spirit-led generosity, not assimilated to any external social-reform or commune ideal |
| Signs and wonders σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα sēmeia kai terata see 2:22 above | signs and wonders, miracles | Apostolic authentication continuing after Pentecost (2:43) | चिनांथि आरो आचम्बा (established above) | High (reuse) |
| Favor with the people χάριν charin goodwill, favor (a broader, non-salvific sense of χάρις than “grace”) | favor, goodwill | General public goodwill toward the young church (2:47), distinct from saving grace | गोसोमोन नाजानाय (gwswmwn najanai, “mutual goodwill”) | Low — deliberately NOT rendered with the fixed grace term (मोफादांनाय दान) to avoid blurring the doctrinal weight of saving grace with generic social favor |
Chapter 3 — Healing at the Temple, Peter’s Second Sermon
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In the name of Jesus | ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ | en tō onomati | healing performed by the authority of Christ’s name, not the apostle’s own power | Peter’s explicit denial of personal power/holiness (3:12) as the source of the healing | जिसुनि मुंआव (Jisuni mungao) | High — must be distinguished from a doudini’s or ओझा’s invocation of a deity’s name/power during ritual healing; the authority here is delegated apostolic authority in Christ’s name, immediately and explicitly denied to be the apostle’s own |
| Repentance | μετάνοια/μετανοήσατε | metanoia | see 2:38 | Repeated call, now tied to “times of refreshing” | गोसो सोलायनाय (reuse — established above) | High (reuse) |
| Prophet like Moses | προφήτην… ὡς Μωϋσῆν | prophētēn hōs Mōusēn | the promised prophet of Deuteronomy 18:15, fulfilled in Christ | Ties Jesus to the whole line of OT prophecy | मुसानि सारि भाबिष्यत सोंग्रा (Musani sari bhabishyot songra), using reuse root भाबिष्यत सोंग्रा | High (reuse root) — requires OT background teaching, per the baseline’s fulfillment_of_prophecy doctrine |
| Times of refreshing / restoration of all things | ἀνάψυξις / ἀποκατάστασις | anapsyxis / apokatastasis | seasons of relief; final cosmic restoration | Eschatological hope tied to Christ’s return | आराम जानाय सान / सोमोग्र सोलायनाय (aram janai san / somogro solainai) | Medium — eschatological hope should be distinguished from cyclical renewal-of-the-natural-order concepts embedded in seasonal Kherai puja observance |
Chapter 4 — Boldness, Persecution Begins, Great Grace
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boldness | παρρησία | parrēsia | freedom/confidence of speech, fearlessness | Peter and John’s fearless testimony before the Sanhedrin (4:13, 4:29, 4:31) | साहस (sahas) | Medium — central to the Persecution-and-Bold-Witness doctrine; distinguish from mere social defiance — this boldness flows from Spirit-filling (4:8, 4:31), not personal temperament |
| No other name by which we must be saved | οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἄλλῳ οὐδενὶ ἡ σωτηρία | ouk estin en allō oudeni hē sōtēria | salvation is found in no other name than Jesus | The exclusivity claim of 4:12 | जिसुनि मुं गैयोबादि गुबुन मुंजों फोरायनाय गैया (Jisuni mung gaiyobadi gubun mungjwng phoraynai gaiya) | Critical — the single most exclusivist statement in Acts; must retain full exclusivity without softening, directly relevant given the populated, non-exclusive Bathou pantheon in which many deities/spirit-mediators are recognized alongside one another |
| One accord / unity | ὁμοθυμαδόν | homothymadon | with one mind, unanimously | The believers’ unified prayer and purpose (4:24) | मोनथि सोमोन्दो (monthi somondo) | Low-Medium |
| Great grace | χάρις μεγάλη | charis megalē | great, abundant favor resting on the community | 4:33 — favor accompanying the apostles’ witness and the community’s generosity | महान मोफादांनाय दान (mohan mwphwdangnai daan), reuse root | Critical (reuse root) |
Chapter 5 — Ananias and Sapphira, Apostolic Discipline, Gamaliel
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lying to the Holy Spirit | ψεύσασθαι… τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον | pseusasthai to pneuma to hagion | deceiving/lying to the (personal) Holy Spirit | Ananias’s sin is against a Person, not a ritual infraction (5:3) | पबित्र आत्थाखौ मिथ्या रायनाय (pobitro aathakhou mithya rainai) | Critical — decisively reinforces that the Holy Spirit is a personal, knowing divine Person who can be lied to, not an impersonal force or a nature-spirit that can merely be offended ritually |
| Testing the Spirit | πειράσαι τὸ πνεῦμα Κυρίου | peirasai to pneuma Kyriou | to test, try, put to the proof | Sapphira’s parallel sin (5:9) | आत्थाखौ सोध्रांनाय (aathakhou sodhrangnai) | High |
| Great fear came upon the church | ἐγένετο φόβος μέγας | egeneto phobos megas | fear, awe, reverential dread | Communal response to God’s holiness and discipline (5:5, 5:11) | गोरोंथि (gworonthi) | Medium — must be taught as reverent awe before a holy, personal God, distinct from fear of ritual taboo-violation or of an offended nature-spirit |
| Obeying God rather than man | πειθαρχεῖν τῷ θεῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις | peitharchein tō theō mallon ē anthrōpois | to obey, submit to authority | Peter and the apostles before the Sanhedrin (5:29) | ईश्वरनि मानोन, reuse root मानोन (obedience) | Medium (reuse root) |
Chapter 6 — Deacons, Hellenists and Hebrews, Stephen Introduced
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deacon / service | διάκονος / διακονία | diakonos / diakonia | servant, one who serves; service, ministry | The Seven appointed to serve tables so the apostles could focus on the word (6:1-6) | सेवा होगिरि (sewa hogiri, “one who does service”) | Medium |
| Hellenist / Hebrew (Grecian Jews vs. Hebraic Jews) | Ἑλληνισταί / Ἑβραῖοι | Hellēnistai / Hebraioi | Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora vs. Aramaic/Hebrew-speaking Jews of Judea | Internal cultural-linguistic tension within the earliest church (6:1) | ग्रीक-रावनि जिहूदी / हिब्रु-रावनि जिहूदी (descriptive) | Low — background/cultural distinction, no doctrinal collision |
| Laying on of hands | ἐπίθεσις τῶν χειρῶν | epithesis tōn cheirōn | placing hands upon | Commissioning ritual for the Seven (6:6), recurring throughout Acts for ordination and for reception of the Spirit | खाथिजों साननाय (khathijwng sannai) | Medium — recurs in chs. 8, 9, 13, 19; a consistent single rendering should be fixed and reused throughout |
| Full of the Spirit and wisdom | πλήρης πνεύματος καὶ σοφίας | plērēs pneumatos kai sophias | filled/full | Stephen’s qualification for service (6:3, 6:5) | पबित्र आत्था आरो बुद्धिजों भारायनाय, reuse “filled with the Spirit” + बुद्धि (wisdom, loan) | Critical (reuse root) |
Chapter 7 — Stephen’s Speech and Martyrdom
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covenant / Law | διαθήκη / νόμος | diathēkē / nomos | reuse | Stephen’s historical survey of Israel (Abraham, Moses, the Law) | गोसाथारि / बिथान (reuse — Romans TM) | High (reuse) |
| Idol worship | εἰδωλολατρία (implied, the golden calf, 7:41) | eidōlolatria | worship of a manufactured image | Israel’s historic sin of image-worship at Sinai | मूर्ति पूजा (murti puja) | High — Bathou worship is itself aniconic (the sijou plant, not a crafted image), so this specific critique of image-worship does not indict Bathou practice on its own terms; the teaching should note this distinction carefully rather than assume a direct parallel, while still applying the broader Romans-1 principle of worshiping the creation rather than the Creator |
| Resisting the Holy Spirit | ἀντιπίπτετε τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ | antipiptete tō pneumati tō hagiō | to resist, oppose, fight against | Stephen’s climactic charge against his hearers (7:51) | पबित्र आत्थाखौ राग होनाय (pobitro aathakhou rag honai) | High |
| Stoning / martyrdom | λιθοβολέω / μάρτυς (implied) | lithoboleō | to stone to death | Stephen’s death, the first Christian martyrdom, as the completion of “witness” (reuse साक्षी) | हादोजों मावनाय (hadojwng mabnai, “killing with stones”) | High — establishes the Persecution-and-Bold-Witness doctrine’s most vivid instance; witness (साक्षी) unto death is the semantic root that later gives English “martyr” its meaning, worth noting explicitly in teaching |
Chapter 8 — Philip, Simon Magus, the Ethiopian Eunuch
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorcery / magic | μαγεία / μαγεύων | mageia | occult magical practice | Simon the sorcerer’s former profession and his attempt to buy spiritual power (8:9-11, 8:18-19) | जादू (jadu) | Critical — must be sharply distinguished both from the Holy Spirit’s freely-given gift and from the doudini’s trance-derived सक्ति (already flagged in the baseline’s power_of_god entry) and from the ओझा’s folk-ritual diviner role (already flagged in the baseline’s prophet entry); Simon’s error is treating spiritual power as a purchasable commodity — the exact opposite of grace |
| Gift of God | ἡ δωρεὰ τοῦ θεοῦ | hē dōrea tou theou | free gift | Peter’s rebuke: “you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money” (8:20) | ईश्वरनि दान, reuse दान root (grace) | Critical (reuse root) — reinforces the grace-versus-transaction distinction already central to the Romans baseline; a natural teaching bridge from Romans 4 and 11:5-6 |
| Baptism | βαπτίζω/βάπτισμα | baptizō | reuse | The Samaritan believers (8:12-17) and the Ethiopian eunuch (8:36-38) both baptized | बाप्तिस्मा (reuse — established above) | High (reuse) |
| Eunuch | εὐνοῦχος | eunouchos | a castrated court official | The Ethiopian treasury official, a Gentile-adjacent “God-fearer” figure, reading Isaiah 53 | नपुंसक (napunsok, background term only) | Low — cultural/background note; no significant doctrinal collision, but the eunuch’s inclusion (despite exclusion under some readings of Deuteronomy 23:1) previews the Gospel-to-Gentiles doctrine developed fully in chs.10-15 |
Chapter 9 — Conversion of Saul; Peter’s Miracles
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Way | ἡ ὁδός | hē hodos | ”the Way/road” | Self-designation of the early Christian movement (9:2), recurring in 19:9, 19:23, 22:4, 24:14, 24:22 | मसीहनि बिबार (Mosihni bibar, “the Way of/belonging to Christ”) | High — bare “the Path/Way” without the Christ-anchor risks conflation with Sanskritized “marga” (path) soteriological language familiar from Hindu and Buddhist categories that shaped Brahma Dharma’s own 1912 reform vocabulary; the Christ-specific anchor must always be retained in translation, not left implicit |
| Conversion / turning | ἐπιστρέφω (implied throughout ch.9) | epistrephō | to turn, be converted | Saul’s radical reversal from persecutor to proclaimer | सोलायनाय (solainai, “turning”), contextualized as personal conversion | High — the Conversion-of-Paul doctrine’s central narrative; should be distinguished from a gradual ethical “improvement” narrative of the kind Brahma Dharma’s reform ethic proposes, since Saul’s turning is sudden, sovereignly initiated, and grounded in a direct encounter with the risen, exalted Lord (reuse प्रभु) |
| Chosen instrument / vessel | σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς | skeuos eklogēs | a vessel, chosen by selection | God’s description of Saul’s calling to Ananias (9:15) | सायखनि आयदा (saikhoni aayda), reuse ईश्वरनि सायख (election) root | Medium (reuse root) |
| Baptism | βαπτίζω | baptizō | reuse | Saul’s baptism (9:18) | बाप्तिस्मा (reuse) | High (reuse) |
Chapter 10 — Cornelius, Peter’s Vision, Gentile Pentecost
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vision | ὅραμα | horama | a visionary sight given by God | Both Cornelius (10:3) and Peter (10:9-16) receive coordinated visions | दर्शन (reuse — established at 2:17 above) | Critical (reuse) |
| Clean / unclean | καθαρός / κοινός | katharos / koinos | ritually pure / ritually common-impure | Peter’s dietary-purity vision reinterpreted as a sign that God has declared all peoples (not merely all foods) clean (10:15, 10:28) | साफ / अशुद्ध (saph / ashuddho), reusing baseline’s reserved साफ (ritual cleanliness) | High — this is a direct, explicit point of contact with Brahma Dharma’s own reformed purity-ethic (including its vegetarianism, documented in the baseline’s own notes), and should be taught as a decisive New Testament reversal of dietary-purity boundary-marking, extended typologically to the ethnic/social boundary between Jew and Gentile |
| God shows no partiality | οὐκ ἔστιν προσωπολήπτης ὁ θεός | ouk estin prosōpolēptēs ho theos | lit. “is not a receiver of faces,” i.e., does not judge by external status | Peter’s programmatic declaration opening the door to Gentile inclusion (10:34) | ईश्वर मुख सायाबाय (Isor mukh sayabai, “God does not look at [outward] appearance”) | High — extends the baseline’s universal_scope_of_gospel doctrine specifically into ethnic-inclusion territory; must retain unqualified force even where ethnic/territorial identity is a genuinely live and sometimes contested category in the contemporary Bodoland region |
| Tongues (as evidence of Gentile reception) | γλώσσαις λαλούντων | glōssais lalountōn | reuse | The Gentile “Pentecost” (10:44-46), astonishing the Jewish believers present | गुबुन रां (reuse — established at 2:4) | Critical (reuse) — the same forbidden-substitution caution against trance-speech conflation applies here with equal force |
Chapter 11 — Report to Jerusalem; the Name “Christian” Coined
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God granted repentance to the Gentiles | τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὁ θεὸς τὴν μετάνοιαν ἔδωκεν | tois ethnesin… metanoian | reuse repentance + reuse gentiles | The Jerusalem church’s resolution of the Cornelius episode (11:18) | गैर-जुथुदखौबो गोसो सोलायनाय होनाय (reuse compound) | High (reuse cluster) |
| Christian | Χριστιανός | Christianos | ”belonging to Christ” | First applied to believers at Antioch (11:26) | मसीही (Mosihi), built on established मसीह | Medium — a natural, transparent formation; low risk of syncretistic misreading, but should be taught as originally an outsider’s label that the church embraced |
Chapter 12 — Herod’s Persecution; Peter’s Deliverance; James’s Martyrdom
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angel | ἄγγελος | angelos | messenger | An angel frees Peter from prison (12:7-11) | स्वर्गदूत (swargodut, “heavenly messenger”) | High — must be sharply distinguished from ancestral household spirits (बुरहा-बुरही आत्था) and nature-spirits (देउ) recognized in Bathou tradition, per the baseline’s holy_spirit forbidden-substitution logic extended to the wider spirit-world; biblical angels are created, personal servants of the one true God, not ancestral or nature spirits |
| The church praying | ἦν προσευχομένη | ēn proseuchomenē | reuse — prayer/intercession | The gathered church’s earnest, corporate prayer for Peter’s release (12:5, 12:12) | बिनयनाय (reuse — Romans TM) | Medium (reuse) |
| Providence / God’s deliverance | (implied, not a single lexical term) | — | God’s personal, purposive intervention | Peter’s rescue framed as God’s act, contrasted with Herod’s subsequent death (12:23) | ईश्वरनि सामलानाय (reuse — Romans TM) | High (reuse) |
Chapter 13 — First Missionary Journey; Justification Preached at Antioch
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sent out by the Holy Spirit | τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον εἶπεν… ἐκπέμψαντες | to pneuma… ekpempsantes | The Spirit’s direct commissioning of Paul and Barnabas (13:2-4) | Foundational Great-Commission-Fulfilled moment | पबित्र आत्थाजों दैलायनाय, combined with reuse मंगल खबरनि दायो (mission) | Critical (reuse root) |
| Justification by faith preached | δικαιοῦται / δεδικαίωσθαι | dikaioutai | reuse | Paul’s sermon at Antioch explicitly states justification comes through Christ, not the Law of Moses (13:38-39) | धार्मिक होनाय राव (reuse — Romans TM) | Critical (reuse) — this is the Acts narrative’s own explicit statement of the Justification-apart-from-the-Law doctrine, and should be cross-referenced directly with Romans 3-4 |
| Appointed to eternal life | ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον | hosoi ēsan tetagmenoi | those who were appointed/destined | 13:48 — a strong election statement | गोदान थारायनाय सादों जिउनायनि थाखाय, reuse ईश्वरनि सायख (election) root | High (reuse root) — must not be reheard as impersonal भागी (fate), per the baseline’s election entry |
| Turning to the Gentiles / light for the Gentiles | φῶς ἐθνῶν | phōs ethnōn | ”a light for/of the nations” (Isaiah 49:6 quoted) | Paul and Barnabas’s programmatic turn to Gentile mission after synagogue rejection (13:46-47) | गैर-जुथुदनि थाखाय जुनि (goir-juthudni thakhai juni), reuse गैर-जुथुद root | Medium (reuse root) |
| Sorcerer opposing the gospel | μάγος (Elymas/Bar-Jesus) | magos | reuse | Elymas the sorcerer opposing Paul’s preaching (13:6-11) | जादू (reuse — established ch.8) | Critical (reuse) |
Chapter 14 — Lystra and Iconium
No new theological vocabulary; reuses established terms. The Lystra crowd’s attempt to worship Paul and Barnabas as the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes (14:11-13) reuses the मूर्ति पूजा (idol worship) term established in Chapter 7 and developed further in Chapters 17 and 19; Paul’s response (“we bring you good news… turn from these vain things to the living God,” 14:15) reuses मंगल खबर (gospel), गोसो सोलायनाय (repentance/turning), and ईश्वर (the living God, contrasted with lifeless idols — reuse). No entries requiring new glossary additions.
Chapter 15 — The Jerusalem Council
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circumcision | περιτομή | peritomē | the Jewish covenant sign of male circumcision | The council’s central dispute: must Gentile believers be circumcised to be saved? (15:1, 15:5) | खतना (khatna, established regional loanword) | High — this chapter is the Bible’s own record of the Justification-apart-from-the-Law controversy being formally resolved; must be taught alongside reuse बिथान (law) and मोफादांनाय दान (grace) to make clear that salvation is by grace through faith, not by submission to a code of ritual requirements — a distinction worth stressing given Brahma Dharma’s own early-20th-century introduction of codified religious-conduct rules into Bodo religious life |
| Salvation by grace, not the Law | διὰ τῆς χάριτος… σωθῆναι | dia tēs charitos… sōthēnai | reuse | Peter’s decisive argument (15:10-11) | मोफादांनाय दान… फोरायनाय (reuse — Romans TM) | Critical (reuse cluster) |
| Apostolic decree / food offered to idols | εἰδωλόθυτα | eidōlothyta | food/meat sacrificed to idols | Part of the council’s minimal requirements for Gentile believers (15:20, 15:29) | देवता-मूर्तिनि थाखाय हबनाय बोरै (debota-murtini thakhai habnai borai) | High — directly parallels the practice of consuming food/offerings presented to Bathoubwrai or the wider Kherai pantheon during puja; this specific New Testament concern (association with idol-worship through shared ritual meals) has an unusually direct and concrete point of cultural contact in the Bodo setting and deserves explicit, careful teaching rather than a merely historical gloss |
| Sexual immorality (decree context) | πορνεία | porneia | sexual immorality broadly | Part of the same minimal decree (15:20, 15:29) | बेसार सुबुंनाय (besar subungnai) | Medium |
Chapter 16 — Lydia, the Philippian Jailer, the Divining Spirit
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit of divination (Python spirit) | πνεῦμα Πύθωνα | pneuma Pythōna | lit. “a spirit of Python” — a divining/soothsaying spirit possessing a slave girl who told fortunes | Paul casts this spirit out of the girl (16:16-18) | मिथ्या भाबिष्यत आत्था (mithya bhabishyot aatha, “false-prophecy spirit”) | Critical — this is arguably the single most direct narrative parallel in all of Acts to the doudini’s oracular trance/possession role in Kherai puja: a spirit takes over a human medium and produces (apparently accurate) divinatory speech for profit. The passage must be taught as an authoritative act of deliverance by the superior power of Christ’s name over a real but subordinate and deceptive spirit — not as a mere psychological healing, and not in a way that inadvertently validates the doudini’s own trance role as a legitimate lesser parallel. This deserves the highest level of theologian review and careful catechetical framing in the Bodo context. |
| What must I do to be saved | τί με δεῖ ποιεῖν ἵνα σωθῶ | ti me dei poiein hina sōthō | reuse salvation | The Philippian jailer’s question (16:30) and Paul’s answer, “believe in the Lord Jesus” (16:31) | फोरायनाय (reuse — Romans TM) | Critical (reuse) |
| Household baptism | ἐβαπτίσθη… πανοικί | ebaptisthē… panoiki | ”he was baptized… with his whole household” | The jailer’s household (16:33) and Lydia’s household (16:15) both baptized together | बाप्तिस्मा (reuse) + descriptive समग्र गोथोमा (whole household) | Medium — the strong Bodo cultural value placed on clan/household (afad) solidarity gives household-baptism narratives a point of natural resonance, but individual repentance and faith (not household membership by birth) remain the basis of salvation, and this distinction should be taught explicitly |
| Roman citizenship | Ῥωμαῖός εἰμι | Rhōmaios eimi | legal Roman citizen status | Paul and Silas’s legal appeal after unjust beating (16:37-38) | रोमनि नागरिक (Romni nagarik) | Low — legal/cultural background note only |
Chapter 17 — Athens and the Areopagus
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown god | ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ | agnōstō theō | an altar inscription Paul uses as an apologetic bridge (17:23) | Paul’s rhetorical starting point among Greek philosophers | अज्ञात ईश्वर (agyat Isor) | Medium — a useful cross-cultural apologetic model; teaching should note that Paul uses, but then decisively moves beyond, the pagan altar’s own vocabulary to proclaim the true God by name (ईश्वर, reuse), rather than treating it as itself an acceptable name for God |
| Idols | κατείδωλον (implied, “full of idols”) | kateidōlon | reuse | Paul’s observation about Athens (17:16) | मूर्ति पूजा (reuse — established ch.7) | High (reuse) |
| Resurrection (debated) | ἀνάστασις | anastasis | reuse | Greek philosophers’ mockery of bodily resurrection (17:32) | जिउनाय सोलायनाय (reuse — Romans TM) | Critical (reuse) — never फिन जोनोम |
| Repentance (universal call) | μετανοεῖν | metanoein | reuse | Paul’s call to “all people everywhere” (17:30) | गोसो सोलायनाय (reuse — established ch.2) | High (reuse) |
Chapter 18 — Corinth; Gallio; Aquila and Priscilla
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synagogue | συναγωγή | synagōgē | Jewish gathering place | Paul’s regular pattern of first preaching in local synagogues (18:4, 18:7, 18:19) | सिनागग (sinagog, transliteration) | Medium — must be kept distinct from नमासोलि, the Bathou/Kherai ritual worship site already reserved in the baseline (church entry) as a forbidden substitution; the synagogue is a Jewish institution with its own distinct history and should not be rendered with a term carrying indigenous-shrine associations |
No further new theological vocabulary in this chapter; Gallio’s judicial indifference (18:14-16) and Aquila/Priscilla’s tent-making partnership (18:2-3) are narrative/background material without significant doctrinal-risk terms.
Chapter 19 — Ephesus; Disciples of John; the Riot over Artemis
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John’s baptism vs. Holy Spirit baptism | βάπτισμα Ἰωάννου / βάπτισμα… εἰς πνεῦμα ἅγιον | baptisma Iōannou | Baptism of repentance (John’s) contrasted with baptism into the fuller reality of the Holy Spirit | Paul re-baptizes disciples who knew only John’s baptism (19:1-7) | यूहननि बाप्तिस्मा / पबित्र आत्थाजों बाप्तिस्मा (reuse compound) | High (reuse cluster) — an important teaching point about the completeness of New Covenant Spirit-baptism relative to preparatory forms |
| Magic books burned | βίβλους… κατέκαιον | biblous… katekaion | Ephesian believers publicly burn their occult books (19:19) | Decisive renunciation of prior sorcery involvement | जादूनि किताब जोबाब होनाय (reuse जादू root) | Critical (reuse root) — a strong practical model for renunciation of prior involvement in divinatory/occult practice, directly relevant for converts from Bathouist or folk-ritual backgrounds |
| Idol shrine (Artemis/Diana of the Ephesians) | ναός… Ἀρτέμιδος | naos Artemidos | Ephesus’s major pagan temple and silver-idol trade | The riot provoked by economic threat to idol-manufacture (19:23-41) | मूर्ति पूजा (reuse — established ch.7) | High (reuse) |
| The Way | ἡ ὁδός | hē hodos | reuse | 19:9, 19:23 | मसीहनि बिबार (reuse — established ch.9) | High (reuse) |
Chapter 20 — Miletus Farewell; Elders and Overseers
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elder | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | an older/senior person; here, a recognized church leadership office | Paul summons the “elders” of the Ephesian church (20:17) | मण्डलीनि मुख्य मानुष (mwndolini mukhyo manwsw, “leading person of the church”) | CRITICAL FORBIDDEN-SUBSTITUTION NOTE. The natural, honorific Bodo word for a respected elder is बुरहा, but this term is explicitly reserved by the Romans baseline for Bathoubwrai and Kherai-pantheon elder-deities and forbidden for any Christian usage, including for Christ’s own Lordship. Church “elder” language in Acts 20 and throughout the Pastoral tradition MUST NOT be rendered with बुरहा/बर’ऐ, or a Bodo hearer could plausibly understand church elders as functioning within the same honorific-elder-deity category as Bathoubwrai. A descriptive, non-honorific-title compound is required instead. |
| Overseer | ἐπίσκοπος | episkopos | one who watches over, oversees | Same office/persons as “elders” here, viewed functionally (20:28) | मण्डली सायगिरि (mwndoli saigiri, “church watcher/overseer”), formed on the established agentive pattern (cf. गोदान जायगारि, “apostle”) | High |
| Shepherd / flock | ποιμήν / ποίμνιον | poimēn / poimnion | shepherd; flock of sheep | Pastoral metaphor for church leadership and the congregation (20:28-29) | खासि रोखागिरि / खासिमादाय (khasi rokhagiri / khasimaday) | Medium — a generally safe rural metaphor, though its resonance should be confirmed with native speakers given differing patterns of animal husbandry across Bodo communities |
| The whole counsel of God | πᾶσαν τὴν βουλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ | pasan tēn boulēn tou theou | God’s entire purpose/plan | Paul’s claim to have proclaimed it in full (20:27) | ईश्वरनि सोमोग्र सलाह (Isorni somogro salah) | Medium |
Chapter 21 — Return to Jerusalem; Nazirite Vow; Temple Purification
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nazirite vow | εὐχή (implied — the vow of Numbers 6) | euchē | a Jewish vow of temporary consecration involving abstention from wine and hair-cutting | Paul joins others in completing such a vow to reassure Jewish believers (21:23-26) | नासरी बारनाय (Nasori barnai) | Medium — should be distinguished from Bathou household votive-offering practices made to secure Bathoubwrai’s protection, since the Nazirite vow is a self-directed act of consecration to God rather than a petition for protection/prosperity |
| Prophecy (Agabus) | προεφήτευσεν | proephēteusen | reuse | Agabus’s specific prophetic warning of Paul’s arrest (21:10-11) | भाबिष्यत रां (reuse — Romans TM) | Low (reuse) |
Chapter 22 — Paul’s Defense Before the Jerusalem Crowd
Largely a retelling of the conversion narrative already analyzed in Chapter 9; reuses सोलायनाय (conversion/turning), मसीह (Christ), दर्शन (vision), and adds:
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zeal for the law | ζηλωτὴς… τοῦ νόμου | zēlōtēs… tou nomou | fervent devotion | Paul’s description of his pre-conversion zeal (22:3), reuse बिथान (law) | गोरोब (gwrwb, zeal/fervor) | Low-Medium |
Chapter 23 — Sanhedrin Trial; Pharisees and Sadducees Dispute
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanhedrin | συνέδριον | synedrion | the Jewish high council | The Jewish supreme religio-legal body trying Paul (23:1) | महासभा (mohasabha, “great council,” Sanskrit/Assamese loan) | Low — background institutional term |
| Resurrection dispute (Pharisees vs. Sadducees) | ἀνάστασις | anastasis | reuse | Sadducees deny, Pharisees affirm bodily resurrection (23:8) | जिउनाय सोलायनाय (reuse — Romans TM) | Critical (reuse) |
Chapter 24 — Trial Before Felix
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Way | ἡ ὁδός | hē hodos | reuse | Felix’s own acquaintance with “the Way” (24:14, 24:22) | मसीहनि बिबार (reuse — established ch.9) | High (reuse) |
| Resurrection of the just and unjust | ἀνάστασιν… δικαίων τε καὶ ἀδίκων | anastasin dikaiōn te kai adikōn | reuse resurrection + righteousness | Paul’s hope, stated to Felix (24:15) | जिउनाय सोलायनाय (धार्मिक आरो गुनाहगिरि नि थाखाय) (reuse compound) | Critical (reuse cluster) |
| Self-control, righteousness, judgment to come | ἐγκράτεια, δικαιοσύνη, κρίμα | egkrateia, dikaiosynē, krima | self-mastery; reuse righteousness; a coming verdict | Paul’s message to Felix, which “alarmed” him (24:25) | आपसो सामलानाय, धार्मिकता (reuse), बिसार (aapsw samlanai, dharmikota, bisar) | High — judgment (बिसार) must be distinguished from an impersonal karma-based reckoning familiar from Brahma Dharma’s ethic |
Chapter 25 — Trial Before Festus; Appeal to Caesar
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appeal to Caesar | Καίσαρα ἐπικαλοῦμαι | Kaisara epikaloumai | formal legal appeal to the emperor’s court | Paul’s use of Roman legal rights (25:11) | कैसरनि खोथाव सुबुंनाय (Kaisorni khothao subungnai) | Low — legal-cultural background term |
Chapter 26 — Paul’s Testimony Before Agrippa
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavenly vision | τῇ οὐρανίῳ ὀπτασίᾳ | tē ouraniō optasia | reuse vision | Paul’s climactic self-description: “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision” (26:19) | स्वर्गीय दर्शन (reuse दर्शन root) | Critical (reuse root) |
| From darkness to light | ἐκ σκότους εἰς φῶς | ek skotous eis phōs | reuse light/glory imagery | The commission Christ gives Paul for the Gentiles (26:18) | गुबि सोलo जुनिआव (gubi solo juniao) | Medium |
| Inheritance among the sanctified | κλῆρον ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις | klēron en tois hēgiasmenois | a share/portion among those made holy | 26:18, ties directly to baseline’s sanctification and adoption entries | पबित्र मानुषनि जायगानि आयदा (reuse पबित्र मानुष root) | High (reuse root) |
Chapter 27 — The Voyage and Shipwreck
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Providence amid the storm | (implied — angel’s assurance, 27:23-24) | — | reuse providence + angel | God’s personal preservation of Paul and all aboard through the storm | ईश्वरनि सामलानाय (reuse — Romans TM), स्वर्गदूत (reuse — established ch.12) | High (reuse cluster) |
No new theological vocabulary beyond these reused terms; the chapter’s dramatic force lies in showing God’s providence in extremity rather than introducing new doctrine.
Chapter 28 — Malta and Rome; Gospel Preached Unhindered
| Term | Greek | Translit. | Meaning | Contextual Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sign/wonder (viper bite survived, healing at Malta) | σημεῖον (implied) | sēmeion | reuse | Paul’s survival and healing ministry on Malta (28:3-9) | चिनांथि आरो आचम्बा (reuse — established ch.2) | High (reuse) |
| Kingdom of God preached unhindered | κηρύσσων τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ… ἀκωλύτως | kēryssōn… akōlytōs | reuse kingdom + “without hindrance” | The book’s final image: the gospel advancing freely even from Roman custody (28:31) | रां-थाबदेला ईश्वरनि राज्य सोंग्रोनाय (reuse ईश्वरनि राज्य root) | Medium (reuse root) — a fitting closing image for the Great-Commission-Fulfilled doctrine: the mission (reuse मंगल खबरनि दायो) reaching “the ends of the earth” (1:8) by the book’s end |
Summary Observations for Phase 2 Planning
- Acts intensifies, rather than introduces, the Romans baseline’s central comparative-religion risk cluster around the Holy Spirit, spirit-filling, tongues, visions, and possession/trance phenomena — because Acts narrates these as concrete, repeated public events rather than discussing them in epistolary abstraction. Every occurrence of filling/tongues/vision language in Acts 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, and 19 should be treated as a mandatory theologian-review trigger.
- Acts 2:2-3’s wind-and-fire theophany is the single highest-priority new finding of this analysis: it is the one passage in the whole curriculum where translation cannot route around a forbidden-term collision the way “God” avoids बाथौबुरै, because “wind” and “fire” have no alternate common Bodo words. This requires sustained explicit teaching framing rather than lexical substitution, and should be flagged for the highest tier of theologian review in Phase 2.
- Acts 16:16-18 (the divining spirit) is the most direct narrative parallel in all of Acts to the doudini’s Kherai-trance role and deserves comparable priority treatment.
- “Elder” (πρεσβύτερος) in Acts 20 requires a new forbidden-substitution rule (never बुरहा/बर’ऐ for church elders) that must be added to Phase 2’s system prompt alongside the existing Romans-baseline forbidden list.
- Acts 10 and 15 supply the book’s own narrative resolution of the Justification-apart-from-the-Law doctrine, and should be taught in explicit continuity with Romans 3-4, reusing धार्मिक होनाय राव, बिथान, and मोफादांनाय दान exactly as fixed in the baseline.
This document must be loaded alongside 08_core_glossary.md, the Romans baseline translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json before any Phase 2 translation of Acts material begins.