Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Nahum
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, across all three chapters of Nahum. Where a term already exists in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json, the baseline rendering is reused exactly and marked “(baseline reuse).” All new terms proposed here must be added to a Nahum-specific translation memory extension before Phase 2 begins, following the same versioning and risk-tiering conventions as the baseline.
Risk tiers follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions exactly:
- Critical — mistranslation destroys essential doctrine; human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or denominational-conflation risk; human theologian review required.
- Medium — mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning; native speaker review recommended.
- Low — mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding; automated review sufficient.
A. Terms Reused Exactly from the Baseline Romans Package
| Term | Hebrew (translit.) | French rendering | Risk (baseline) | Nahum occurrence(s) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | אֱלֹהִים / אֵל Elohim / El | Dieu | Critical (registry) / Medium (memory) | 1:2, 1:7, throughout | Baseline reuse, no change. |
| Lord (Adonai/κύριος-family, non-Tetragrammaton uses) | — | Seigneur | Critical/High | not directly required in Nahum (see new YHWH entry below) | Reserved for Adonai/κύριος contexts; NOT used for the Tetragrammaton in this book — see “LORD (YHWH)” new entry. |
| Holy Spirit | — | Esprit Saint | Critical | not present in Nahum | Listed for completeness/consistency; no occurrence in this book. |
| gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | Évangile | Low/High | cross-referenced only at 1:15 (mevasser) | Do NOT use this noun to translate Nahum 1:15’s herald language; reserve for the Christ-gospel of Romans. See term #C.7 below. |
| grace | χάρις | grâce | High | not present in Nahum | Listed for completeness; no occurrence. |
| covenant | διαθήκη | alliance | High | implicit background (Davidic/Mosaic covenant assumed) | No direct lexical occurrence in Nahum, but the doctrine of “God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh” presumes the covenant relationship with Judah; usable in teaching notes. |
| glory | δόξα | gloire | High | cf. 2:3 ga’on (see distinct new entry — do not conflate) | Baseline “gloire” = God’s own glory; Nahum 2:3’s ga’on is Israel’s restored national honor — a related but distinct referent, kept as a separate glossary entry (C.9) to avoid conflation. |
B. New Term Entries — Core Passage (Nahum 1:1-8)
| # | Term (English gloss) | Hebrew (translit.) | French rendering | Risk | Alternatives rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B.1 | oracle/burden | מַשָּׂא massa | oracle | Medium | ”fardeau” (too physically literal), “message” (too weak) | Prophetic-superscription genre marker; established French Bible convention (Segond/TOB “Oracle sur Ninive”). |
| B.2 | Nahum (proper name) | נַחוּם Nachum | Nahum | Medium | — | Name means “comfort/consolation” (root nacham) — must be glossed for French readers; direct link to “Comfort for the Oppressed” doctrine. |
| B.3 | Nineveh | נִינְוֵה Nineveh | Ninive | Low | — | Standard French Bible form; historical capital of Assyria, not a symbolic “evil” abstraction. |
| B.4 | jealous God | אֵל קַנּוֹא El qanno | Dieu jaloux | High | ”Dieu passionné” (too vague, loses covenant-exclusivity force) | French “jaloux” defaults to petty human romantic jealousy; must be glossed as righteous covenant zeal for his oppressed people. Requires theologian review. |
| B.5 | avenges/avenger | נֹקֵם noqem | vengeur / venger | High | ”revanchard” (explicitly rejected — connotes petty personal grudge) | Judicial, sovereign retribution, not private vindictiveness; contrast with Romans 12:19’s prohibition on personal vengeance. Requires theologian review. |
| B.6 | LORD (divine name, Tetragrammaton) | יְהוָה YHWH | le SEIGNEUR (small capitals) | High | ”l’Éternel” (valid Segond-legacy alternative, not selected as primary but must be footnoted), “Yahvé” (early Bible de Jérusalem convention, now largely revised away) | New decision required for this curriculum, since Nahum uses the Tetragrammaton dozens of times and the baseline package has no prior YHWH entry (Romans quotes the LXX’s κύριος throughout). Recommend “le SEIGNEUR” (small caps, TOB/NBS ecumenical convention) with a footnote on the Segond variant. Flag for human theologian sign-off before Phase 2 begins — this decision recurs throughout the whole book. |
| B.7 | wrath/fury | חֵמָה / חָרוֹן / זַעַם chemah / charon / za’am | fureur / colère / courroux (context-sensitive family) | High | a single flattened French word for all three Hebrew terms (rejected — loses intensity gradation) | Multiple Hebrew wrath-terms exist at different intensities; French rendering should preserve gradation (courroux < colère < fureur) where the poetry escalates. Must always be held together with 1:3’s “slow to anger” and 1:7’s “bon” per the “Slow to Anger yet Just” doctrine. Requires theologian review wherever wrath and patience/goodness are juxtaposed. |
| B.8 | slow to anger | אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם erek appayim | lent à la colère | Medium | — | Direct Exodus 34:6 covenant-formula citation; established Segond phrase. Must never be taught in isolation from the justice statements around it. |
| B.9 | will by no means leave unpunished | וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה venaqqeh lo yenaqqeh | ne laisse pas le coupable impuni | High | ”ne pardonne pas” (imprecise — conflates with forgiveness rather than legal acquittal) | Emphatic Hebrew grammatical construction (infinitive absolute); must retain the personal, moral weight of “le coupable,” not a bare legal technicality. Core support for “Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors.” Requires theologian review. |
| B.10 | great in power | גְּדוֹל־כֹּחַ gedol koach | grand en puissance | Medium | ”grand en force” (too generic/physical) | Prefer “puissance” for consistency with baseline’s power_of_god = puissance de Dieu (Romans 1:16). |
| B.11 | whirlwind/storm | סוּפָה / שְׂעָרָה suphah/se’arah | tourbillon et tempête | Low | — | Sinai-theophany imagery. |
| B.12 | rebukes (the sea) | גּוֹעֵר go’er | menace | Medium | ”réprimande” (too weak, loses sovereign-command force) | Creation/Exodus sovereignty motif underlying “God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria.” |
| B.13 | good | טוֹב tov | bon | Medium | — | Pivot term of the core passage; must be explicitly taught alongside the wrath vocabulary of vv.2-6 so French readers do not split God’s character into “wrathful OT God” vs. “good NT God.” |
| B.14 | stronghold/refuge | מָעוֹז ma’oz | refuge | Low-Medium | ”forteresse” (valid but more military/impersonal; “refuge” preferred for relational warmth) | Core term for “Comfort for the Oppressed.” |
| B.15 | knows (covenantal) | יֹדֵעַ yodea | connaît | Medium | — | Covenantal/relational knowing (cf. Amos 3:2), not bare cognitive awareness; requires a teaching gloss. |
| B.16 | take refuge/trust | חֹסֵי בוֹ chosei vo | se confient en lui / se réfugient en lui | Low-Medium | — | Keep in the same refuge-vocabulary family as ma’oz (B.14) for image consistency. |
| B.17 | overflowing flood | שֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר shetef over | un flot qui déborde | Low-Medium | — | Total, unstoppable judgment imagery. |
| B.18 | full/complete end | כָּלָה kalah | anéantissement total | High | ”détruira la ville” (Segond gloss, rejected as primary — under-translates the finality/completeness the Hebrew root carries) | Central to “Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors”: Nineveh’s judgment is total and final, unlike God’s disciplinary (non-final) dealings with his own covenant people elsewhere. Requires theologian review; recurs at 1:8, 1:9, 1:15. |
| B.19 | darkness pursues | יְרַדֶּף חֹשֶׁךְ yeraddef choshekh | les ténèbres poursuivront | Low-Medium | — | Inescapability-of-judgment imagery. |
C. New Term Entries — Chapters 1 (cont.), 2, and 3
| # | Term (English gloss) | Hebrew (translit.) | French rendering | Risk | Alternatives rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.1 | plot/devise | תְּחַשְּׁבוּן techashvun | tramer / comploter | Low | — | 1:9, 1:11. |
| C.2 | worthless one / “Belial” | בְלִיַּעַל beliya’al | un homme méchant / un conseiller pervers | CRITICAL | ”Bélial” (proper name, EXPLICITLY REJECTED as primary rendering) | French readers know “Bélial” as a demonic proper name from 2 Corinthians 6:15; using it here would wrongly import a developed Satan-figure into a text that means simply “a worthless/wicked man.” Requires mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence (1:11, 1:15). |
| C.3 | herald of good news | מְבַשֵּׂר mevasser | celui qui apporte de bonnes nouvelles / le messager de bonnes nouvelles | High | ”l’Évangile” (noun form, EXPLICITLY REJECTED here) | Direct intertextual chain: Nahum 1:15 → Isaiah 52:7 → Romans 10:15 (εὐαγγελιζομένων). Must use verbal/participial herald phrasing, not the baseline’s fixed Christ-gospel noun “Évangile,” to avoid conflating Nineveh’s historical fall with the New Testament gospel of Christ. Cross-reference note mandatory for curriculum coherence. Requires theologian review. |
| C.4 | feasts | חַגַּיִךְ chaggayikh | tes fêtes | Low | — | 1:15. |
| C.5 | the scatterer/destroyer | מֵפִיץ mefits | le destructeur | Low-Medium | — | 2:1. |
| C.6 | restored majesty/pride | גְּאוֹן ga’on | la gloire / l’honneur (de Jacob) | Medium | — | 2:3. Distinct referent from baseline’s gloire = God’s own glory (A. above); this is Israel’s restored national honor — flag to avoid conflation. |
| C.7 | devastation, desolation, ruin (triple wordplay) | בּוּקָה וּמְבוּקָה וּמְבֻלָּקָה buqah, mevuqah, umevulaqah | Pillage, ravage, ruine ! | Medium | a flattened single-word rendering (rejected — loses escalating triadic form) | 2:11. Poetic sound-play cannot be reproduced exactly; preserve escalation and totality of meaning. Flag as poetic-form loss, not doctrinal error. |
| C.8 | den of lions | מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת ma’on arayot | repaire de lions | Low-Medium | — | 2:12-13. Turns Assyria’s own royal lion-iconography into an image of judgment. |
| C.9 | Woe | הוֹי hoy | Malheur | Low-Medium | ”Hélas” (too weak, loses formal judicial-indictment force) | 3:1. Formal prophetic woe-oracle marker. |
| C.10 | bloody/city of blood | עִיר הַדָּמִים ir hadamim | ville sanguinaire | Medium | — | 3:1. Names the specific historical charge (systematic violence against conquered peoples) underlying “Justice and Wrath…against Oppressors.” |
| C.11 | harlotries / harlot | זְנוּנִים / זוֹנָה zenunim / zonah | prostitutions / la prostituée | High | a euphemistic softening that removes the metaphor entirely (rejected — loses the prophetic-literary genre signal shared with Isaiah/Ezekiel/Hosea) | 3:4. Stock ANE prophetic metaphor for exploitative imperial statecraft, not a statement about individual sexual morality or women generally; mandatory teaching note for gendered-imagery sensitivity in French cultural context. |
| C.12 | mistress of sorceries | בַּעֲלַת כְּשָׁפִים ba’alat kishafim | maîtresse des enchantements | Medium | — | 3:4. Requires historical (not folk-magic) framing — documented Assyrian court divination practice. |
| C.13 | filth/refuse | נִדִּים nidim | ordures / saletés | High | a crude, clinically literal rendering of the shared ritual-impurity root (rejected — loses dignity of register while amplifying an unintended association) | 3:6. Public-shaming judgment imagery; dignified but forceful register required. |
| C.14 | No-Amon (Thebes) | נֹא אָמוֹן No-Amon | No-Amon (+ footnote ”= Thèbes, capitale de l’Égypte”) | Low | — | 3:8-10. Historical precedent argument. |
| C.15 | locusts | אַרְבֶּה / יֶלֶק arbeh / yeleq | sauterelles | Low-Medium | — | 3:15-17. |
| C.16 | wound/fracture (incurable) | שֶׁבֶר / מַכָּה shever / makkah | blessure (sans remède) | Low-Medium | — | 3:19. Closing certainty-of-judgment statement. |
| C.17 | clap hands (relief/joy at downfall) | תָּקְעוּ כַף taqe’u khaf | applaudissent / battent des mains | Low-Medium | — | 3:19. Final image of the book; concrete enactment of “Comfort for the Oppressed.” |
D. Abstract Doctrine-Level Terms (Not Single Lexical Items)
These are curriculum-level doctrinal labels required by the parameters but not tied to one Hebrew word; included here because Phase 2 segment translation and review routing will need consistent French renderings for them.
| # | Doctrine | French doctrine name | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D.1 | The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors | la justice et la colère de Dieu contre les oppresseurs | High | Built from B.7 (wrath family), B.9 (will not leave unpunished), B.18 (kalah), C.10 (city of blood). Requires theologian review wherever wrath and justice are jointly discussed, consistent with baseline’s treatment of “grace” and “justification” as High/Critical categories. |
| D.2 | God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria | la souveraineté de Dieu sur Ninive et l’Assyrie | Medium-High | New doctrine category for this curriculum, adjacent to baseline’s “providence” (Medium risk) but specifically applied to a named pagan empire rather than the individual believer’s life circumstances (Romans 8:28). Recommend Medium-High tiering; escalate to theologian review if a segment implies God’s sovereignty is contested by or dependent on human/imperial power. |
| D.3 | Comfort for the Oppressed | la consolation pour les opprimés | Medium | Anchored in B.2 (Nahum’s name), B.13-B.16 (goodness/refuge/knowing), C.17 (closing rejoicing). Native speaker review recommended to ensure warmth of register matches baseline’s Romans 8/12 “warmth within formal register” guidance. |
| D.4 | God as Slow to Anger yet Just | Dieu lent à la colère, et pourtant juste | High | The core theological tension of the whole core passage (B.7, B.8, B.9, B.13 held together). Requires theologian review in every segment that presents patience and judgment together, to prevent either term from being taught in isolation. |
E. Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Preparation
- Term B.6 (YHWH → “le SEIGNEUR”) must be ratified by a human theologian before Phase 2 segment translation begins, given its extremely high frequency in Nahum and its divergence from Segond-legacy reader expectations.
- Term C.2 (“Belial”) and Term C.3 (“mevasser”/Évangile boundary) are the two terms in this book with the highest risk of silent, well-intentioned mistranslation (importing NT theological freight backward into an OT text) and must be flagged for mandatory theologian review at every occurrence, not just first occurrence.
- All terms marked High or Critical in this glossary must be added to a Nahum translation memory extension file (parallel in structure to the baseline
translation_memory.json) before Phase 2 Step 16 begins, per the Pre-flight Checklist in12_ai_translation_requirements.md. - No new term in this glossary contradicts any baseline Romans entry; where overlap exists (God, Seigneur, gloire, Évangile, alliance, grâce), the baseline rendering is reused exactly and boundary conditions are noted (see C.3, C.6) to prevent cross-curriculum conflation.
Critical Risk Terms
Worthless One Belial
Approved rendering: un homme méchant / un conseiller pervers
Transliteration: beliya’al
Doctrine: The Worthless Counselor and the Old Testament/New Testament Doctrinal Boundary (Belial)
Rejected alternatives: Bélial (proper demonic name — EXPLICITLY, PERMANENTLY REJECTED for this book)
Original: בְלִיַּעַל
Category: Sin-Oppression
New Nahum term (1:11, 1:15). French Bibles render this same root as the developed demonic proper name ‘Bélial’ at 2 Corinthians 6:15. Using that name here would retroactively import a fully personified Satan-figure into a text where the Hebrew means only ‘a worthless/wicked man.’ Mandatory human theologian review at EVERY occurrence, not just the first, plus a translator’s note explaining the term’s later theological development.
High Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: Seigneur
Transliteration: Seigneur
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: maître, patron
Inherited from Romans package. Romans 10:9 ‘Jésus est Seigneur’; ‘Seigneur’ carries feudal-historical resonance in French. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: this entry is reserved for Adonai/κύριος-type address contexts; it is NOT used to render the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) in Nahum — see the new ‘lord_yhwh’ entry, which uses ‘le SEIGNEUR’ (small capitals) instead.
Grace
Approved rendering: grâce
Transliteration: grâce
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: faveur, mérite
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: no direct lexical occurrence in Nahum; listed for completeness given adjacency to the ‘good’ (tov, 1:7) and covenant-mercy themes of the core passage.
Covenant
Approved rendering: alliance
Transliteration: alliance
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: contrat
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: no direct lexical occurrence, but the doctrine ‘God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria’ presumes the underlying Mosaic/Davidic covenant relationship between God and Judah; usable in teaching notes to ground why Assyria’s oppression of God’s covenant people specifically provokes divine judgment.
Glory
Approved rendering: gloire
Transliteration: gloire
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC FENCING REQUIRED: baseline ‘gloire’ = God’s own radiant, Christological glory. Nahum 2:3’s ga’on (restored national honor of Jacob) is a related but DISTINCT referent — see the new ‘restored_majesty’ entry. Never let bare ‘gloire’ stand for Nahum 2:3 without the qualifier ‘de Jacob,’ to avoid silently merging the two senses.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: justice
Transliteration: justice (de Dieu)
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: vertu, droiture
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC FENCING REQUIRED: baseline ‘justice’ = God’s gift-status, forensic righteousness credited to an individual believer (Romans). Nahum’s justice-vocabulary (God’s judgment against Nineveh) is corporate and historical — God’s righteous governance of nations, not an individual’s justified standing. Any segment using ‘justice’ in Nahum must be flagged in teaching notes as this distinct, non-soteriological register to prevent cross-curriculum doctrinal bleed.
Jealous God
Approved rendering: Dieu jaloux
Transliteration: El qanno
Doctrine: Divine Jealousy as Covenant Zeal
Rejected alternatives: Dieu passionné (too vague, loses covenant-exclusivity force)
Original: אֵל קַנּוֹא
Category: Divine Character
New Nahum term (1:2). French ‘jaloux’ defaults to petty romantic possessiveness in ordinary usage. Must never stand unglossed: righteous, covenant-loyal zeal exercised by God on behalf of his oppressed people against their oppressors, not divine insecurity. Mandatory translator’s note at every occurrence. Requires theologian review.
Avenger
Approved rendering: vengeur
Transliteration: noqem
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: revanchard (explicitly rejected — personal-grudge connotation)
Original: נֹקֵם
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:2). French ‘vengeur/vengeance’ defaults to personal, emotional vindictiveness (rancune). Must be anchored as God’s own judicial right on behalf of the oppressed, explicitly distinguished from the private ‘vengeance’ forbidden to believers (cf. baseline Romans 12:19 background). Requires theologian review.
Lord Yhwh
Approved rendering: le SEIGNEUR
Transliteration: YHWH
Doctrine: The Covenant Name of God (YHWH)
Rejected alternatives: l’Éternel (valid Segond-legacy variant — footnote only, not primary), Yahvé (early Bible de Jérusalem convention, now revised away)
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW DECISION for this curriculum: the baseline Romans package never renders the Tetragrammaton directly (it only quotes the LXX’s κύριος as ‘Seigneur’). Nahum uses YHWH dozens of times as the explicit subject of every wrath/justice/sovereignty/comfort claim. Adopt ‘le SEIGNEUR’ (small capitals, TOB/NBS ecumenical convention) as primary, with a mandatory footnote noting the Segond-tradition variant ‘l’Éternel.’ Requires MANDATORY human theologian sign-off before Phase 2 begins, and must be applied with total consistency across all three chapters.
Wrath Chemah
Approved rendering: fureur
Transliteration: chemah
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: rage (too generic/uncontrolled-sounding)
Original: חֵמָה
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:2, 1:6). Hottest-register wrath term. Must always be held together with 1:3’s ‘lent à la colère’ (slow_to_anger) and 1:7’s ‘bon’ (good) so it reads as settled, righteous heat, not capricious rage.
Wrath Charon Aph
Approved rendering: l’ardeur de sa colère
Transliteration: charon appo
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Rejected alternatives: déplaisir, irritation (both far too weak — this is the most intense wrath idiom in the Hebrew Bible)
Original: חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:6). The passage’s rhetorical climax (‘who can stand before his indignation?’). Must not be softened; grounds the claim that no earthly power, including Assyria, can withstand God’s judgment.
Will Not Leave Unpunished
Approved rendering: ne laisse pas le coupable impuni
Transliteration: venaqqeh lo yenaqqeh
Doctrine: Certainty and Finality of Divine Judgment
Rejected alternatives: ne pardonne pas facilement (blurs judicial non-acquittal into reluctant forgiveness), ne pas acquitter (bare legal technicality, loses moral weight)
Original: וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:3b). Hebrew’s strongest emphatic-certainty grammatical form. The clause most vulnerable to well-intentioned softening by translators uncomfortable with divine-wrath language. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Complete End
Approved rendering: anéantissement total
Transliteration: kalah
Doctrine: Certainty and Finality of Divine Judgment
Rejected alternatives: il détruira la ville (Segond gloss — under-translates the finality/completeness the root carries), destruction (bare, insufficient)
Original: כָּלָה
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:8, 1:9, 1:15). Total, irreversible destruction — distinct from God’s merely disciplinary, non-final dealings with his own covenant people elsewhere in Scripture. Recurs three times; mandatory theologian review and consistency check at every occurrence.
Herald Good News
Approved rendering: celui qui apporte de bonnes nouvelles
Transliteration: mevasser
Doctrine: Herald of Good News and Gospel Typology
Rejected alternatives: l’Évangile (baseline Christ-gospel noun — EXPLICITLY REJECTED for this occurrence)
Original: מְבַשֵּׂר
Category: Prophecy-Comfort
New Nahum term (1:15). Directly parallels Isaiah 52:7, quoted by Paul at Romans 10:15 (εὐαγγελιζομένων), the verbal root of the baseline’s fixed noun ‘Évangile.’ Must use verbal/participial herald phrasing here — never the noun — to avoid conflating Nineveh’s historical fall with the NT gospel of Christ. Mandatory cross-reference teaching note: Nahum 1:15 → Isaiah 52:7 → Romans 10:15. Theologian review required.
Harlotries
Approved rendering: prostitutions / la prostituée
Transliteration: zenunim / zonah
Doctrine: The Systemic Wickedness of Nineveh (Violence, Deceit, Exploitation, Sorcery)
Rejected alternatives: a euphemistic softening that removes the metaphor entirely (loses the shared prophetic-genre signal with Isaiah/Ezekiel/Hosea)
Original: זְנוּנִים / זוֹנָה
Category: Sin-Oppression
New Nahum term (3:4). Stock ANE prophetic-literary metaphor for exploitative, treaty-breaking imperial statecraft, not a statement about individual sexual conduct. Mandatory teaching note required given contemporary French cultural sensitivity to gendered-violence imagery; the metaphor indicts imperial exploitation, not women or sexuality generally.
Filth Refuse
Approved rendering: ordures
Transliteration: nidim
Doctrine: The Systemic Wickedness of Nineveh (Violence, Deceit, Exploitation, Sorcery)
Rejected alternatives: a crude, clinically literal rendering of the shared ritual/menstrual-impurity root (amplifies an unintended association)
Original: נִדִּים
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (3:6). God’s judgment publicly exposes and shames the oppressor exactly as the oppressor shamed its victims; requires a dignified but forceful register. Theologian review required given the sensitive shared Hebrew root.
Medium Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: אֱלֹהִים / אֵל
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Secularization risk: ‘Dieu’ is used as a casual interjection (‘Mon Dieu!’) and can be treated as an abstract deist concept rather than the personal, triune God of Scripture. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: must be held together with the new ‘lord_yhwh’ entry below — every wrath, justice, sovereignty, and comfort claim in Nahum is anchored to the specific covenant name YHWH, not a generic ‘Dieu.‘
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Esprit Saint
Transliteration: Esprit Saint
Doctrine: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: no lexical occurrence in Nahum; retained here only for cross-curriculum consistency should any teaching material draw a Trinity-wide comparison.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israël
Transliteration: Israël
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: Nahum addresses Judah under Assyrian threat as the covenant people; keep the referent historical/theological (the covenant nation under threat), not the modern nation-state, consistent with baseline guidance.
Sin
Approved rendering: péché
Transliteration: péché
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: Nineveh’s imperial violence, deceit, and exploitation (ch. 3) are systemic sin against God and neighbor; do not let colloquial trivialization (‘péché mignon’ = guilty pleasure) soften the weight of the indictment in Nahum 3’s specific, historical war-crime charges.
Oracle
Approved rendering: oracle
Transliteration: massa
Doctrine: Prophetic Woe-Oracle Genre
Rejected alternatives: fardeau (too physically literal), message (too weak, loses judicial weight)
Original: מַשָּׂא
Category: Prophecy
New Nahum term. Prophetic-superscription genre marker (1:1); established French Bible convention ‘Oracle sur Ninive’ (Segond/TOB header style).
Nahum Name
Approved rendering: Nahum
Transliteration: Nachum
Doctrine: The Meaning and Mission of the Prophet’s Name
Rejected alternatives: Nahoum (acceptable variant spelling, footnote only)
Original: נַחוּם
Category: Prophecy
New Nahum term. The name’s meaning (‘comfort/consolation,’ root nacham) is invisible to French readers without an explicit gloss. Mandatory translator’s note wherever the name is introduced: ‘Nahum, dont le nom signifie « consolation ».’ Directly serves the ‘Comfort for the Oppressed’ doctrine.
Wrath Zaam
Approved rendering: indignation
Transliteration: za’am
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: זַעַם
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:6). Lower-intensity member of the graded wrath-word family; keep French gradation courroux/indignation < colère < fureur across the three wrath terms.
Slow To Anger
Approved rendering: lent à la colère
Transliteration: erek appayim
Doctrine: God as Slow to Anger yet Just
Original: אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
Category: Divine Character
New Nahum term (1:3). Direct Exodus 34:6 covenant-formula citation; established Segond phrase. Must never be taught in isolation from the justice statement immediately following it in the same verse.
Great In Power
Approved rendering: grand en puissance
Transliteration: gedol koach
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: grand en force (too generic/physical)
Original: גְּדוֹל־כֹּחַ
Category: Divine Character
New Nahum term (1:3). Prefer ‘puissance’ for consistency with the baseline’s power-of-God vocabulary (puissance de Dieu, Romans 1:16).
Rebukes The Sea
Approved rendering: menace
Transliteration: go’er
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: réprimande (too weak, loses sovereign-command force)
Original: גּוֹעֵר
Category: Divine Sovereignty
New Nahum term (1:4). Creation/Exodus sovereignty motif (cf. Psalm 106:9); keeps the cosmic-sovereignty register grounding God’s historical sovereignty over Nineveh.
Good
Approved rendering: bon
Transliteration: tov
Doctrine: God as Slow to Anger yet Just
Original: טוֹב
Category: Divine Character
New Nahum term (1:7). The pivot term of the core passage. Must be taught explicitly against 1:2-6’s wrath vocabulary so French readers do not compartmentalize an ‘OT God of wrath’ vs. an ‘NT God of love’ as different characters.
Stronghold Refuge
Approved rendering: refuge
Transliteration: ma’oz
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: forteresse (valid but more military/impersonal)
Original: מָעוֹז
Category: Salvation-Comfort
New Nahum term (1:7). God himself, not political alliance or military strength, is the true refuge of the oppressed. Keep in the same refuge-vocabulary family as ‘take_refuge’ below.
Knows Covenantally
Approved rendering: connaît
Transliteration: yodea
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Original: יֹדֵעַ
Category: Divine Character
New Nahum term (1:7). Covenantal/relational knowing (cf. Amos 3:2), not bare cognitive awareness. Requires a teaching gloss so God’s care reads as personal and elective, not abstract sympathy.
Take Refuge
Approved rendering: se réfugient en lui
Transliteration: chosei vo
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: croient en lui (too cognitive, loses the shelter-seeking image)
Original: חֹסֵי בוֹ
Category: Salvation-Comfort
New Nahum term (1:7). The posture of the oppressed toward God — active trust, not passive victimhood. Keep in the same refuge-vocabulary family as ‘stronghold_refuge.‘
Overflowing Flood
Approved rendering: un flot qui déborde
Transliteration: shetef over
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: שֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:8). Total, unstoppable judgment imagery; established Segond precedent.
Darkness Pursues
Approved rendering: les ténèbres poursuivront ses ennemis
Transliteration: ve’oyvav yeraddef-choshekh
Doctrine: The Justice and Wrath of God against Oppressors
Original: וְאֹיְבָיו יְרַדֶּף־חֹשֶׁךְ
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (1:8). Inescapability-of-judgment imagery closing the core passage.
The Destroyer
Approved rendering: le destructeur
Transliteration: mefits
Doctrine: God’s Use of Historical Agents of Judgment
Original: מֵפִיץ
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (2:1). The besieging force (historically Babylon and Media) as God’s instrument; sovereignty operates through, not apart from, real history.
Restored Majesty
Approved rendering: la gloire / l’honneur de Jacob
Transliteration: ga’on
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Rejected alternatives: gloire (bare, unqualified — risks conflation with the baseline’s Christological glory)
Original: גְּאוֹן
Category: Salvation-Comfort
New Nahum term (2:3). Israel’s restored national honor/dignity — the flip side of judgment on the oppressor. Must always be qualified ‘de Jacob’ to fence off the baseline’s distinct Christological ‘gloire’ entry.
Devastation Wordplay
Approved rendering: Pillage, ravage, ruine !
Transliteration: buqah, mevuqah, umevulaqah
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Rejected alternatives: a flattened single-word rendering (loses the escalating triadic form)
Original: בּוּקָה וּמְבוּקָה וּמְבֻלָּקָה
Category: Imagery-Metaphor
New Nahum term (2:11). Untranslatable triple Hebrew alliterative wordplay; prioritize escalating rhythm and totality of meaning over literal root-matching. Flag as a documented poetic-form loss, not a doctrinal error.
Den Of Lions
Approved rendering: repaire de lions
Transliteration: ma’on arayot
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: מְעוֹן אֲרָיוֹת
Category: Imagery-Metaphor
New Nahum term (2:12-13). Turns Assyria’s own royal lion-iconography into an image of judgment; a brief historical note strengthens teaching value.
Woe
Approved rendering: Malheur
Transliteration: hoy
Doctrine: Prophetic Woe-Oracle Genre
Rejected alternatives: Hélas (too weak, loses judicial-indictment force)
Original: הוֹי
Category: Prophecy-Judgment
New Nahum term (3:1). Formal prophetic judgment-indictment interjection opening a woe-oracle (cf. Isaiah, Habakkuk); established Segond/prophetic-genre convention.
City Of Blood
Approved rendering: ville sanguinaire
Transliteration: ir hadamim
Doctrine: The Systemic Wickedness of Nineveh (Violence, Deceit, Exploitation, Sorcery)
Original: עִיר הַדָּמִים
Category: Sin-Oppression
New Nahum term (3:1). Names the specific historical charge — systematic violence against conquered peoples — underlying ‘Justice and Wrath against Oppressors.‘
Mistress Of Sorceries
Approved rendering: maîtresse des enchantements
Transliteration: ba’alat kishafim
Doctrine: The Systemic Wickedness of Nineveh (Violence, Deceit, Exploitation, Sorcery)
Original: בַּעֲלַת כְּשָׁפִים
Category: Sin-Oppression
New Nahum term (3:4). Documented Assyrian court divination practice; requires historical framing so French readers do not read this as a modern folk-magic caricature.
Incurable Wound
Approved rendering: blessure sans remède
Transliteration: shever / makkah
Doctrine: Certainty and Finality of Divine Judgment
Original: שֶׁבֶר / מַכָּה
Category: Divine Judgment
New Nahum term (3:19). The book’s closing indictment — Nineveh’s judgment-wound is fatal and beyond healing; pair ‘blessure’ with ‘sans remède/incurable’ to preserve the finality established across chapters 1-2.
Clap Hands
Approved rendering: applaudissent
Transliteration: taqe’u khaf
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Original: תָּקְעוּ כַף
Category: Salvation-Comfort
New Nahum term (3:19). The book’s final image — the formerly oppressed rejoice at Nineveh’s fall. Must read as relieved rejoicing over real, named atrocities, not gratuitous cruelty; the concrete enactment of ‘Comfort for the Oppressed.‘
Low Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Évangile
Transliteration: Évangile
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: bonne nouvelle (informal only)
Inherited from Romans package. NAHUM-SPECIFIC: cross-referenced only, at Nahum 1:15 (mevasser/herald language). This fixed noun must NEVER be used to render Nahum 1:15; that would wrongly present Nineveh’s historical fall as the New Testament gospel of Christ. See the new ‘herald_good_news’ entry, which uses a verbal/participial phrase instead.
Nineveh
Approved rendering: Ninive
Transliteration: Nineveh
Doctrine: Geographic and Historical References
Original: נִינְוֵה
Category: Historical-Geographic
New Nahum term. Standard French Bible form. Pair with the sovereignty doctrine so readers keep the actual historical imperial capital in view, not an abstract symbol of ‘evil in general.‘
Elkoshite
Approved rendering: l’Elqoshite
Transliteration: ha’Elqoshi
Doctrine: Geographic and Historical References
Original: הָאֶלְקֹשִׁי
Category: Historical-Geographic
New Nahum term. Gentilic designation, uncertain geography; no doctrinal weight.
Book Of Vision
Approved rendering: livre de la vision
Transliteration: sefer chazon
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: סֵפֶר חֲזוֹן
Category: Prophecy
New Nahum term. Marks Nahum’s message as revealed, not self-generated political commentary.
Whirlwind Storm
Approved rendering: tourbillon et tempête
Transliteration: suphah u-se’arah
Doctrine: Divine Warrior Theophany and Cosmic Sovereignty
Original: סוּפָה וּשְׂעָרָה
Category: Imagery-Theophany
New Nahum term (1:3). Sinai-theophany storm imagery; established Segond precedent.
Cosmic Theophany
Approved rendering: les montagnes tremblent, les collines se fondent
Transliteration: harim ra’ashu…vehagevaot hitmogagu
Doctrine: Divine Warrior Theophany and Cosmic Sovereignty
Original: הָרִים רָעֲשׁוּ…וְהַגְּבָעוֹת הִתְמֹגָגוּ
Category: Imagery-Theophany
New Nahum term (1:5). Established Segond precedent; the most permanent-seeming features of creation tremble before God, so Nineveh’s fortifications certainly will too.
Cloud Dust Of Feet
Approved rendering: la nuée est la poussière de ses pieds
Transliteration: anan avaq raglav
Doctrine: Divine Warrior Theophany and Cosmic Sovereignty
Original: עָנָן אֲבַק רַגְלָיו
Category: Imagery-Theophany
New Nahum term (1:3). Portrays God as a conquering divine warrior-king; keep the martial connotation, not a purely decorative poetic reading.
Bashan Carmel Lebanon
Approved rendering: Basan, Carmel, Liban
Transliteration: Bashan, Karmel, Levanon
Doctrine: Geographic and Historical References
Original: בָּשָׁן, כַּרְמֶל, לְבָנוֹן
Category: Historical-Geographic
New Nahum term (1:4). Standard French Bible geographic forms; brief footnote on their symbolic fertility/strength association aids low-OT-literacy readers.
Plot Devise
Approved rendering: comploter
Transliteration: techashvun
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: תְּחַשְּׁבוּן
Category: Sin-Oppression
New Nahum term (1:9, 1:11). Rhetorical challenge to any scheme against God.
Feasts
Approved rendering: tes fêtes
Transliteration: chaggayikh
Doctrine: Comfort for the Oppressed
Original: חַגַּיִךְ
Category: Covenant-Worship
New Nahum term (1:15). Restoration of Judah’s free covenant worship, no longer under Assyrian threat.
Shield Chariot
Approved rendering: bouclier et char
Transliteration: magen / rekhev
Doctrine: God’s Use of Historical Agents of Judgment
Original: מָגֵן / רֶכֶב
Category: Imagery-Metaphor
New Nahum term (2:3-4). Martial imagery of the besieging army; purely descriptive, low doctrinal risk.
Melting Heart Knees
Approved rendering: le cœur se fond, les genoux chancellent
Transliteration: lev names…piq birkayim
Doctrine: Reversal of Fortune and Vindication of the Oppressed
Original: לֵב נָמֵס…פִּק בִּרְכַּיִם
Category: Imagery-Metaphor
New Nahum term (2:11). Established Segond precedent; the oppressor now feels the terror it once inflicted.
Young Lion Prey
Approved rendering: lionceau / proie
Transliteration: kefir / terefah
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: כְּפִיר / טְרֵפָה
Category: Imagery-Metaphor
New Nahum term (2:13). Continuation of the lion-predator metaphor.
Full Of Lies
Approved rendering: pleine de mensonge
Transliteration: kullah kachash
Doctrine: The Systemic Wickedness of Nineveh (Violence, Deceit, Exploitation, Sorcery)
Original: כֻּלָּהּ כַּחַשׁ
Category: Sin-Oppression
New Nahum term (3:1). Charges Nineveh with deceit as a matter of state policy.
No Amon
Approved rendering: No-Amon
Transliteration: No-Amon
Doctrine: Fulfillment and Historical Certainty of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: une grande ville d’Égypte (paraphrase — dilutes the historical specificity of the argument)
Original: נֹא אָמוֹן
Category: Historical-Geographic
New Nahum term (3:8-10). Retain the transliteration per Segond, with a mandatory footnote ’= Thèbes, capitale de l’Égypte,’ since the historical-precedent argument (Assyria’s own prior conquest) requires this background to land for French readers with low ANE literacy.
Locusts
Approved rendering: sauterelles
Transliteration: arbeh / yeleq
Doctrine: God’s Sovereignty over Nineveh and Assyria
Original: אַרְבֶּה / יֶלֶק
Category: Imagery-Metaphor
New Nahum term (3:15-17). Nineveh’s own leadership shown fragile and quick to scatter, reinforcing that no imperial power stands against God’s judgment.
Referenced passages