Core Glossary
08 — Core Glossary: Ezekiel
Reused Baseline Terms (Exact Reuse Required — No Deviation Permitted)
| Term (EN) | Original (Hebrew) | German Rendering | Risk | TM Status | Ezekiel Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord | אֲדֹנָי (Adonai) | Herr | Critical | TM REUSE | Combines with YHWH ~130+ times; see “Lord GOD” entry below for the compound form |
| Glory | כָּבוֹד (kavod) | Herrlichkeit | Critical | TM REUSE | 1:28; 3:12, 23; 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23; 43:2, 4-5; 44:4 |
| Righteousness | צְדָקָה (tsedaqah) | Gerechtigkeit | Critical | TM REUSE | 14:14, 20; 18:20, 22, 24, 26-27; 33:12-13 |
| Covenant | בְּרִית (bĕrit) | Bund | High | TM REUSE | 16:8, 59-62; 17:13-19; 20:37; 34:25; 37:26 |
| Sin | חַטָּאָה / חֵטְא (chatta’ah/chet) | Sünde | Medium | TM REUSE | 18:4, 20-21, 24, 26; 33:14, 16 |
| David | דָּוִיד (David) | David | Low | TM REUSE | 34:23-24; 37:24-25 |
| Prophet | נָבִיא (navi) | Prophet | Low | TM REUSE | 2:5; 13:2-4, 9, 16; 33:33 |
| Holy Spirit / Spirit of God (contextual) | רוּח (ruach) — see full New Term entry below | Geist (NOT reflexively “Heiliger Geist”) | Critical | TM PARTIAL REUSE — flagged for case-by-case reviewer judgment, see notes | 1:12, 20-21; 2:2; 3:12, 14, 24; 8:3; 11:1, 5, 19, 24; 36:26-27; 37:1, 5-6, 8-10, 14; 39:29 |
| Resurrection (thematic, not lexical) | חָיָה (chayah, “to live”) — no single Hebrew noun equivalent to ἀνάστασις | Auferstehung — USE WITH MANDATORY QUALIFYING NOTE | Critical | TM REUSE WITH CRITICAL CAVEAT — see notes | 37:1-14 primarily; thematically echoed 47:9 |
| Flesh (neutral anatomical sense) | בָּשָׂר (basar) | Fleisch (anatomical sense — disambiguate from Galatians package’s ethical sense) | Medium | TM PARTIAL REUSE (same German word, different sense) | 11:19; 36:26; 37:6, 8 |
| Church (NOT applicable — flag to prevent misuse) | — (no equivalent; do not substitute Gemeinde for מִקְדָּש) | N/A — see “Sanctuary/Temple” new term below | N/A | DO NOT REUSE | — |
Notes on partial/flagged reuse:
- Ruach/Geist: The baseline’s
holy_spiritentry (Heiliger Geist) is a fixed NT Trinitarian title. Ezekiel’s ruach must not be reflexively rendered “Heiliger Geist” in every occurrence; render as “Geist” (or, where the semantic weight is on animating breath rather than personal divine agency, with a translator note on the wind/breath/spirit range) and let context and reviewer judgment determine when the fuller Trinitarian title is theologically appropriate to surface in teaching commentary (never in the base translated text itself, where anachronistic imposition of NT categories onto the OT text should be avoided). - Auferstehung: Reuse the baseline term’s German rendering only with the mandatory two-level teaching note established in 07_semantic_analysis.md (Ezek 37:11-12 entries): primary sense = corporate national restoration from exile; secondary/canonical-bridge sense = resource text for later individual bodily resurrection hope. Never present unqualified.
New Terms Introduced by Ezekiel (Proposed Additions to Translation Memory)
| Term (EN) | Original (Hebrew) | Transliteration | German Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Key Passages | Rendering Risk Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord GOD (compound divine title) | אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה | Adonai YHWH | Herr, HERR | Critical | Glory and Sovereignty of God | Throughout, ~130+ occurrences, incl. 37:3 | Established German Bible typographic convention (small-caps HERR for the tetragrammaton, ordinary Herr for Adonai) must be preserved consistently; loss of this distinction in plain-text teaching contexts is a real production risk requiring explicit formatting instructions to Phase 2 tooling. |
| Son of man (address to Ezekiel) | בֶּן־אָדָם | ben-adam | Menschensohn (with mandatory disambiguating footnote) OR Mensch/Sterblicher | Critical | (cross-cutting; relates to Sovereignty of God and to the book’s prophetic-address convention) | ~93 occurrences beginning 2:1; core passage 37:3, 9 | Highest cross-curriculum collision risk in this package: German “Menschensohn” is fixed in the baseline Gospel packages as Jesus’ messianic self-title. Mandatory first-occurrence (2:1) translator note distinguishing Ezekiel’s generic “mortal human” sense from the later messianic title; recommended recurring footnote at major occurrences (3:1; 37:3, 9). Human theologian review required wherever this term appears in curriculum-facing teaching material. |
| Spirit/breath/wind (ruach) | רוּח | ruach | Geist / Wind / Atem (context-dependent; see notes) | Critical | The New Heart and New Spirit; Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones; Individual doctrinal notes throughout | 1:12, 20; 2:2; 3:12, 14; 8:3; 11:1, 5, 19, 24; 36:26-27; 37:1-14 (14 occurrences within the core passage alone); 39:29 | The single most translation-technically-difficult term in the book. German lacks a single word spanning wind/breath/spirit the way Hebrew ruach (and, imperfectly, Greek pneuma) does. Ezekiel 37:9’s fourfold wordplay is the acute test case. Requires consistent within-document rendering strategy and mandatory translator notes wherever the wordplay is structurally load-bearing (37:9 above all). |
| Son (of man) — see above | — | — | — | — | — | — | (merged with above entry) |
| Recognition formula: “you shall know that I am YHWH” | וִידַעְתֶּם/וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהוָה | wi-yĕdaʿtem/wĕ-yadĕʿu ki-ani YHWH | und sie/ihr werden erkennen/wissen, dass ich der HERR bin | High | Glory and Sovereignty of God | ~65 occurrences across the book, incl. 6:7ff; 37:6, 13 | The book’s controlling theological refrain (“Erkenntnisformel” — established German OT-scholarship technical term, recommended for curriculum use). Must render identically at every occurrence for pedagogical consistency and cross-reference tracking. |
| Watchman | צֹפֶה | tsofeh | Wächter | High | Individual Responsibility for Sin | 3:17; 33:2, 6-7 | Distinct from generic modern “Wachmann”; established biblical register. Introduces individual-accountability theme fully developed in ch.18. |
| Blood on his own head | דָּמוֹ בְרֹאשׁוֹ | damo bĕ-rosho | sein Blut komme auf sein Haupt | High | Individual Responsibility for Sin | 3:18-20; 33:4-6, 8-9 | Must be explicitly distinguished in teaching material from the structurally similar but doctrinally opposite Matthew 27:25 “his blood be on us” cry (baseline his_blood_be_on_us, flagged Critical for antisemitism-sensitivity) — Ezekiel’s idiom is about individual, non-transferable accountability; Matthew’s is a corporately-directed historical cry with a documented history of antisemitic misuse. Never conflate the two in exposition. |
| Iniquity/guilt | עָוֹן | avon | Schuld | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations; Individual Responsibility for Sin | 4:4-6; 18:17-20; 21:24-29 | Distinct from, and complementary to, the baseline’s sin (Sünde); Schuld better captures the guilt-plus-liability double sense. |
| Abomination | תּוֹעֵבָה | toʿevah | Greuel | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | 40+ occurrences, incl. ch.8, 16, 18:12-13, 22:11 | Established Luther-tradition elevated register; consistent rendering needed across all occurrences for pedagogical tracking. |
| Cherub/cherubim | כְּרוּב | kĕruv | Kerub/Kerubim | High | God’s Presence Departing and Returning | Ch.1 (as “living creatures,” חַיּוֹת); ch.10 (named explicitly); ch.28:14, 16; ch.41 (temple carvings) | Stable transliterated term; doctrinal weight lies in the departure-narrative (ch.10-11) / return-narrative (ch.43) structural parallel these beings help constitute. |
| New heart, one heart, new spirit | לֵב חָדָש / לֵב אֶחָד / רוּח חֲדָשָׁה | lev chadash / lev echad / ruach chadashah | neues Herz / ein Herz / neuer Geist | Critical | The New Heart and New Spirit | 11:19; 18:31; 36:26-27 | Mandatory teaching note: Hebrew lev = will/intellect/moral center, broader than modern German “Herz” (heart, emotion-weighted in contemporary usage). Must render 36:26’s “new spirit” (human disposition) distinctly from 36:27’s “MY Spirit” (God’s own indwelling Spirit) without collapsing the two-stage structure. |
| Heart of stone / heart of flesh | לֵב הָאֶבֶן / לֵב בָּשָׂר | lev ha-even / lev basar | Herz aus Stein / Herz aus Fleisch | Low | The New Heart and New Spirit | 11:19; 36:26 | Rare positive case: German idiom “ein Herz aus Stein / steinernes Herz” already exists in everyday usage with matching meaning — a helpful, ready-made cultural bridge, not a collision risk. |
| Covenant formula (“I will be their God…”) | וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים | wĕ-hayiti lahem le-Elohim | Ich werde ihr Gott sein… (Bundesformel) | Medium | The New Heart and New Spirit; Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | 11:20; 34:24; 36:28; 37:23, 27 | ”Bundesformel” is an established German OT-scholarship technical term (cf. Rendtorff), recommended for direct curriculum use. |
| Soul/person (nefesh) | נֶפֶש | nefesh | Seele (WITH mandatory anti-dualism note) / Person / der Betroffene | Critical | Individual Responsibility for Sin | 18:4, 20, and throughout ch.18 | NEVER teach as a detachable Platonic “immortal soul” distinct from the body — Hebrew nefesh denotes the whole living person. Mandatory theologian review given strong contemporary German dualistic assumptions attached to “Seele.” |
| Righteous / wicked | צַדִּיק / רָשָׁע | tsaddiq / rashaʿ | gerecht / gottlos (frevlerisch) | Critical / High | Individual Responsibility for Sin | Ch.18 throughout (vv.5-9, 14-17, 21-24, 26-28); 33:12-19 | ”gerecht” shares its root with the baseline’s Critical righteousness (Gerechtigkeit); “gottlos” preferred over the softer, secularizing “böse” to preserve the covenant-violation dimension of rashaʿ. |
| Turn/repent (shuv) | שׁוּב | shuv | sich abwenden / umkehren | Critical | Individual Responsibility for Sin | 18:21-23, 30-32; 33:11, 14, 19 | Distinct lexically and conceptually from the NT’s repentance (Buße, metanoia) despite theological convergence; do not narrow to inward “Reue” (remorse) alone — shuv is behavioral-directional. |
| ”I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” | לֹא־אֶחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הָרָשָׁע | lo echpots bĕ-mot ha-rashaʿ | Ich habe kein Gefallen am Tod des Gottlosen | Critical | Individual Responsibility for Sin | 18:23, 32; 33:11 | Must be taught in the same unit as ch.18’s retributive case-law material, never isolated or suppressed; balances justice and mercy. |
| For my name’s sake / for my holy name’s sake | לְמַעַן שְׁמִי / לְמַעַן שֵׁם־קָדְשִׁי | lĕ-maʿan shĕmi / lĕ-maʿan shem-qodshi | um meines Namens willen / um meines heiligen Namens willen | High | Glory and Sovereignty of God; The New Heart and New Spirit | 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22-23, 32 | OT’s own version of sola gratia / anti-merit logic; flag explicit cross-reference to baseline Grace (Gnade) doctrine for teaching material. |
| Nations (goyim, in OT judgment-oracle sense) | גּוֹיִם | goyim | die Völker / die Nationen (NOT “Heiden” in this context) | High | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Chs.25-32, 35, 38-39 | Distinguish from the baseline’s NT-specific gentiles (Heiden) usage: Ezekiel’s goyim in the oracles-against-the-nations genre are simply the surrounding political nations under judgment, not the NT’s covenant-inclusion-contrast ethnē. Avoid anachronistic doctrinal importation. |
| Lament over the king of Tyre | קִינָה (עַל־מֶלֶךְ צוֹר) | qinah (ʿal-melekh Tsor) | Klagelied über den König von Tyrus | High | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | 28:11-19 | Disputed interpretive territory (human king only, vs. additional supra-human/“fallen angel” allusion); present as a live scholarly question, not settled doctrine; avoid popular conflation with Isaiah 14’s distinct imagery. |
| Shepherd(s) | רֹעֶה | roʿeh | Hirte(n) | High | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | Ch.34 throughout | Standard pastoral metaphor, no false-friend risk; theological weight is in correctly framing the future “David” shepherd as dynastic/typological. |
| My servant David | דָּוִיד עַבְדִּי | David ʿavdi | David, mein Knecht | Medium | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | 34:23-24; 37:24-25 | Reuse baseline david; render “servant” as “Knecht” (biblical register) not “Diener/Angestellter” (modern/secular register). |
| Covenant of peace | בְּרִית שָׁלוֹם | bĕrit shalom | Friedensbund | High | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | 34:25; 37:26 | Combine reused covenant (Bund) with shalom vocabulary; render identically at both occurrences. |
| Peace / shalom (holistic sense) | שָׁלוֹם | shalom | Friede (broadened sense — flag distinction from baseline’s narrower “peace with God”) | Medium | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | 34:25-29; 37:26 | Reuse baseline rendering Friede but explicitly broaden teaching beyond Romans’ soteriological “peace with God” to shalom’s full OT sense: security, abundance, social wholeness. |
| Two sticks (sign-act) | שְׁנֵי עֵצִים | shĕnei ʿetsim | zwei Holzstäbe | Medium | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | 37:15-17 | Completes ch.37’s restoration vision (life + unity); teach as inseparable from vv.1-14 despite being outside the core-passage boundary. |
| My sanctuary in their midst forever | מִקְדָּשִׁי בְּתוֹכָם לְעוֹלָם | miqdashi bĕ-tokham lĕ-ʿolam | mein Heiligtum wird für immer mitten unter ihnen sein | High | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones; God’s Presence Departing and Returning | 37:26-28 | Forward-link from ch.37 to the ch.40-48 New Temple vision and ch.43’s climax; reuse Sanctuary/Temple vocabulary below consistently. |
| Gog and Magog | גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג | Gog u-Magog | Gog und Magog | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Chs.38-39 | Transliterated proper names; mandatory note distinguishing Ezekiel’s own eschatological-enemy image from Revelation 20:8’s later, independently-applied reuse of the same names — guard against popular conflation and fringe conspiracy-adjacent readings. |
| Sanctuary/Temple | מִקְדָּש (also בַּיִת) | miqdash (bayit) | Heiligtum / Tempel | High | The Vision of the New Temple | Chs.40-48 throughout | No baseline entry exists; do NOT substitute the baseline’s NT church (Gemeinde). Render “Tempel” for the building generally, “Heiligtum” where consecrated holiness is emphasized. Native-speaker review recommended given unfamiliar architectural density. |
| Measuring reed | קְנֵה הַמִּדָּה | qĕneh ha-middah | Messrute | Low | The Vision of the New Temple | 40:3-5 and throughout tour | Standard technical term; visual diagramming recommended in teaching material. |
| The glory of the LORD came (return) | כְּבוֹד יְהוָה בָּא | kĕvod YHWH ba | die Herrlichkeit des HERRN kam | Critical | God’s Presence Departing and Returning | 43:1-5 | Must structurally mirror the ch.10-11 departure account’s German vocabulary exactly (same phrase, same east-gate language) to preserve the deliberate inclusio. |
| The place of my throne | מְקוֹם כִּסְאִי | mĕqom kisʾi | der Ort meines Thrones | High | Glory and Sovereignty of God; God’s Presence Departing and Returning | 43:7 | Resolves ch.1’s mobile-throne imagery into a fixed, permanent dwelling; theological climax of the Sovereignty doctrine’s spatial dimension. |
| I will dwell in the midst | וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְתוֹכָם | wĕ-shakhanti bĕ-tokham | ich will in ihrer Mitte wohnen | Medium | God’s Presence Departing and Returning | 43:7, 9 | Note that “Shechina/Schechina” is a later, POST-BIBLICAL rabbinic term, not itself biblical Hebrew vocabulary, and must not be presented as such even though it derives from this root. |
| Prince (not king) | נָשִׂיא | nasi | Fürst (NEVER “König”) | High | Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones; The Vision of the New Temple | Chs.34, 37, 40-48 (esp. 44-46) | Deliberate authorial demotion of the future ruler’s title, reserving supreme kingship for YHWH alone; flattening to “König” erases a theologically significant lexical choice. |
| Sons of Zadok | בְּנֵי צָדוֹק | bĕnei Tsadoq | Söhne Zadoks | Low | The Vision of the New Temple | 44:10-16 | Transliterated, proper-name-based; low risk beyond accurate historical framing. |
| River (of the temple) | נַחַל | nachal | Fluss / Strom | High | The Vision of the New Temple; Restoration | 47:1-12 | Thematic (not lexical) resonance with John 4:14/7:38 and Revelation 22:1 may be noted for canonical-trajectory teaching without asserting direct lexical borrowing. |
| Everything will live where the river goes | וְחָיָה כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־יָבוֹא שָׁמָּה הַנָּחַל | wĕ-chayah kol asher-yavo shammah ha-nachal | und alles wird leben, wohin der Fluss kommt | Medium | The Vision of the New Temple; Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones | 47:9 | Deliberate חָיָה (live) root-echo with ch.37’s resurrection vision; flag for teaching material reinforcing book-wide thematic unity. |
| YHWH Shammah (“The LORD is there”) | יְהוָה שָׁמָּה | YHWH shammah | Der HERR ist dort / Jahwe-Schammah | Critical | Glory and Sovereignty of God; God’s Presence Departing and Returning | 48:35 | Book’s climactic closing formula; render with full deliberate weight as the resolution of both the Sovereignty and Presence doctrines; mandatory theologian review. |
| Whitewash (false prophecy) | טָפֵל | tafel | übertünchen | Low | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | 13:10-16 | German idiom “etwas übertünchen” (paper over a problem) exists independently, providing a natural, low-risk bridge. |
| Vine | גֶּפֶן | gefen | Weinstock | Low | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Ch.15; 17:6-10; 19:10-14 | Standard OT metaphor vocabulary, stable. |
| Bloodshed/blood-guilt | דָּמִים | damim | Blutschuld / Blutvergießen | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Ch.22; 24:6-9 | Plural-intensive legal-guilt sense distinct from singular “blood” as substance; German distinguishes adequately. |
| Oholah and Oholibah | אָהֳלָה / אָהֳלִיבָה | Oholah / Oholivah | Ohola / Oholiba | High | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Ch.23 | Same mandatory tone-sensitivity review as ch.16’s marriage-covenant allegory. |
| Mark (protective sign) | תָּו | tav | Zeichen / Mal | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | 9:4, 6 | Distinguish explicitly from Revelation’s later, lexically distinct “seal” imagery to prevent cross-curriculum conflation. |
| The end | קֵץ | qets | das Ende | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Ch.7 | Ezekiel’s version of “Day of the LORD” tradition; avoid importing later apocalyptic (Revelation) imagery anachronistically. |
| High places | בָּמוֹת | bamot | Höhen / Kulthöhen | Low | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Ch.6 | Standard historical-religious vocabulary. |
| ”I have spoken, and I will do it” | דִּבַּרְתִּי וְעָשִׂיתִי | dibbarti wĕ-ʿasiti | Ich habe es gesagt und werde es tun | Medium | Glory and Sovereignty of God | 17:24; 22:14; 37:14 | Preserve the perfect/imperfect tense distinction (already spoken; will yet be done) for full rhetorical weight. |
| Boiling pot (sign-act) | סִיר | sir | Kochtopf / Kessel | Medium | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Ch.24 | Standard; accompanying wife’s-death sign-act needs pastoral care in exposition but no additional lexical risk. |
| Pharaoh/Egypt oracles | פַּרְעֹה | Parʿoh | Pharao | Low | Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations | Chs.29-32 | Standard transliterated title; case study in self-deifying pride vs. divine sovereignty. |
| Living creatures | חַיּוֹת | chayot | Lebewesen | Medium | Glory and Sovereignty of God | Ch.1 | Precursor term to “cherubim” (named explicitly ch.10); avoid generic “Tiere” (animals), which loses theological weight. |
| Likeness/appearance | דְּמוּת | dĕmut | Gestalt / Aussehen wie | Medium | Glory and Sovereignty of God | Ch.1 throughout | Preserve Ezekiel’s deliberately hedging, approximating syntax; do not smooth into confident plain description. |
| Throne | כִּסֵּא | kisse | Thron | Low | Glory and Sovereignty of God | 1:26; 10:1; 43:7 | Standard, stable. |
Risk Tier Summary for This Book
| Risk Tier | Count (new terms) | Representative Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 11 | Adonai YHWH (Herr, HERR); Son of Man (Menschensohn collision); ruach/Geist; new heart/new spirit; nefesh (Seele anti-dualism); righteous/wicked (ch.18); “I have no pleasure…”; shuv (turn/repent); glory returns (43:1-5); YHWH Shammah; Auferstehung-caveat (thematic) |
| High | 15 | Recognition formula; Watchman; blood on his own head; nations (goyim, non-gentiles sense); lament over king of Tyre; shepherd(s); covenant of peace; sanctuary-forever (37:26-28); Sanctuary/Temple (Heiligtum); the place of my throne; prince/Fürst; river; Oholah/Oholibah; for my name’s sake; cherub/cherubim |
| Medium | 16 | Iniquity/Schuld; abomination/Greuel; covenant formula/Bundesformel; my servant David; peace/shalom broadened sense; two sticks; Gog and Magog; I will dwell in the midst; everything will live…; bloodshed; mark/Zeichen; the end/qets; “I have spoken and will do it”; boiling pot; living creatures; likeness/Gestalt |
| Low | 9 | Heart of stone/flesh (positive idiom bridge); sons of Zadok; measuring reed; whitewash; vine; high places; Pharaoh; throne; watchman-adjacent low items |
Human theologian review is mandatory for every Critical and High risk term above, consistent with the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json’s review-routing convention. Native speaker review is recommended for all Medium risk terms, with particular attention to the architectural density of chs. 40-48. Automated review suffices only for the Low risk tier.
End of 08 — Core Glossary. Cross-reference 07_semantic_analysis.md for full verse-level and chapter-level exposition of every term listed above.
Critical Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: Herr
Transliteration: Herr
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Meister, Chef
Original: אֲדֹנָי
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: also the base component of the book’s dominant compound divine title ‘Herr, HERR’ (Adonai YHWH) — see lord_god_compound. This baseline term’s existing ‘everyday Mr.’ collision risk is a live concern anywhere ‘Herr’ appears alone in Ezekiel outside the doubled formula.
Glory
Approved rendering: Herrlichkeit
Transliteration: Herrlichkeit
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: כָּבוֹד
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: must carry maximal doctrinal weight at 1:28; 8:4; 9:3; 10:18-19; 11:22-23; 43:1-5, 44:4 — the departure (ch.10-11) and return (ch.43) accounts require exact matching phrasing (‘die Herrlichkeit des HERRN’) to preserve the book’s deliberate structural inclusio; see glory_returns. Never dilute to generic ‘Pracht’ (worldly splendor/pomp).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: Gerechtigkeit
Transliteration: Gerechtigkeit
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: Tugend
Original: צְדָקָה
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: chs.14 and 18 use this root for a NON-transferable, individual righteousness (one person’s righteousness saves only that individual, 14:12-20; 18 throughout) — teach as an OT principle in instructive tension with, and ultimately resolved by, the NT doctrine of righteousness imputed by grace through faith. Never present as OT proof that one earns righteousness/salvation by works.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Heiliger Geist
Transliteration: Heiliger Geist
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: רוּח (in NT Trinitarian contexts)
Category: Holy Spirit
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse), RESERVED USE ONLY in this book. Do not reflexively apply this fixed NT Trinitarian title to Ezekiel’s own OT ruach vocabulary (see spirit_ruach) within the base translated text; reviewer judgment may surface the canonical connection in teaching commentary only, never in the translation itself, to avoid anachronistically imposing NT categories onto the OT text.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: Auferstehung
Transliteration: Auferstehung
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Original: חָיָה (chayah, ‘to live’) — thematic, no single Hebrew noun equivalent
Category: Restoration
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse), QUALIFIED USE ONLY in this book. Ezekiel 37:1-14’s primary, textually explicit referent (v.11, see bones_are_house_of_israel) is Israel’s corporate national restoration from exile, NOT individual bodily resurrection. Never use unqualified: every occurrence tied to ch.37 requires the mandatory two-level teaching note — (1) primary sense: corporate restoration; (2) secondary sense: legitimate later canonical-bridge resonance with individual resurrection hope (Daniel 12:2; NT resurrection theology; German funeral/Easter liturgical use).
Flesh
Approved rendering: Fleisch
Transliteration: Fleisch
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Inherited from Romans/Galatians package (exact reuse), ETHICAL/SINFUL-NATURE SENSE ONLY. Ezekiel uses the same German word ‘Fleisch’ in a distinct, neutral ANATOMICAL sense (11:19; 36:26; 37:6, 8) — see flesh_anatomical. Disambiguate explicitly wherever this curriculum is taught alongside the Galatians package so students do not conflate the two senses of one German word.
Lord God Compound
Approved rendering: Herr, HERR
Transliteration: Herr, HERR
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: Herr (single, undoubled), HERR, HERR (both in small caps)
Original: אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה
Category: God
NEW. Renders Adonai YHWH, Ezekiel’s signature double divine title (~130+ occurrences, e.g. 37:3). Established German Bible convention: small-caps HERR for the tetragrammaton, ordinary-case Herr for Adonai, together ‘Herr, HERR.’ This typographic distinction MUST be preserved consistently; loss of small-caps formatting in plain-text teaching contexts (audio scripts, subtitles, handouts) requires an explicit bracketed disambiguator (e.g. ‘Herr, HERR (der Ewige)’) rather than silent collapse to a repeated ‘Herr, Herr,’ which would read as a stutter or scribal artifact rather than a deliberate, weighty compound title. Mandatory theologian sign-off on formatting per document.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: Menschensohn
Transliteration: Menschensohn
Doctrine: Prophetic Call and Commissioning
Rejected alternatives: Mensch (loses address-formula distinctiveness), Sterblicher (abandons established Bible-translation precedent), Ben-Adam (transliteration, unrecognizable to German readers as biblical vocabulary)
Original: בֶּן־אָדָם
Category: Prophecy
NEW. THE single highest cross-curriculum collision risk in this book: German ‘Menschensohn’ is fixed elsewhere in this pipeline’s Matthew/Mark/Luke/John baseline packages as Jesus’ messianic self-title (e.g. Matthew 20:28, ‘der Menschensohn… Lösegeld für viele’). In Ezekiel (~93 occurrences, e.g. 2:1; 3:1; 37:3, 9) it means ‘mortal human being,’ emphasizing creaturely frailty before the sovereign, speaking God — NOT the messianic title. Mandatory disambiguating translator note at first occurrence (2:1) and at every major recurrence (3:1; 37:3, 9). Human theologian review mandatory wherever this term appears.
Spirit Ruach
Approved rendering: Geist
Transliteration: Geist
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: Wind (loses spirit sense mid-passage), Atem (loses spirit/agency sense; breaks the wordplay thread), Heiliger Geist (anachronistic NT over-specification)
Original: רוּח
Category: Holy Spirit
NEW. Hebrew ruach spans wind/breath/spirit in one word; German has no single equivalent. Render consistently as ‘Geist’ throughout Ezekiel 37:1-14 (14 occurrences) without switching to ‘Wind’ or ‘Atem’ mid-passage, to preserve the wordplay’s thread. Elsewhere in the book (e.g. 1:4’s literal storm-wind) ‘Wind’ may be appropriate where the referent is unambiguously meteorological and non-symbolic. Do not reflexively render as ‘Heiliger Geist’ — see holy_spirit. See four_winds_wordplay for the acute case at 37:9.
Four Winds Wordplay
Approved rendering: aus den vier Windrichtungen… Geist… hauche
Transliteration: aus den vier Windrichtungen… Geist… hauche
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: an invented compound word (e.g. ‘Windgeist’) — rejected: false-friend risk, evokes German fairy-tale/nature-spirit folklore
NEW. Ezekiel 37:9 deploys ruach FOUR times in one verse, spanning ‘four winds’ (compass winds), the address ‘O breath/spirit,’ and the verb ‘breathe’ (etymologically linked) — the passage’s densest wordplay concentration, structurally irreproducible in German since Wind, Atem, and Geist are three unrelated lexical items with no shared root. Mandatory translator/teaching note required at this verse explicitly stating that the underlying Hebrew uses one word throughout vv.1-14 and that German’s three separate words cannot reproduce that unity. Human theologian review mandatory.
New Heart
Approved rendering: ein neues Herz
Transliteration: ein neues Herz
Doctrine: The New Heart and New Spirit
Original: לֵב חָדָש
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Renders lev chadash (11:19; 18:31; 36:26). Mandatory teaching note: Hebrew lev denotes the whole center of will, intellect, and moral decision — far broader than contemporary German ‘Herz,’ heavily weighted by post-Romantic usage (‘Herzensmensch,’ ‘von Herzen’) toward emotion alone. Under-correcting risks reducing this doctrine to a promise of emotional warmth rather than total moral-volitional re-creation.
New Spirit
Approved rendering: ein neuer Geist / mein Geist
Transliteration: ein neuer Geist / mein Geist
Doctrine: The New Heart and New Spirit
Rejected alternatives: a single undifferentiated phrase for both 36:26 and 36:27 — rejected: collapses a meaningful two-stage structure
Original: רוּח חֲדָשָׁה
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Renders ruach chadashah (11:19; 18:31; 36:26), paired with new_heart. 36:27 shifts to the explicitly possessive ‘MY Spirit within you’ — distinguish ‘einen neuen Geist’ (v.26, indefinite, renewed human disposition) from ‘meinen Geist’ (v.27, definite possessive, God’s own indwelling Spirit). This two-stage structure directly parallels and interprets 37:1-14’s own bones-then-breath sequence and must be cross-referenced verbatim with my_spirit_indwelling (37:14).
Nefesh Soul
Approved rendering: Seele
Transliteration: Seele
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Rejected alternatives: die unsterbliche Seele (imports foreign Platonic dualism), Person (accurate but sacrifices register/liturgical continuity)
Original: נֶפֶש
Category: Sin
NEW. Renders nefesh (18:4, 20 and throughout ch.18): the whole living person/self, NOT a detachable Platonic ‘immortal soul’ distinct from the body. Retain the traditional Luther rendering ‘die Seele, die sündigt, die soll sterben’ but MUST accompany it with an explicit anti-dualism teaching note at every ch.18 occurrence, given strong contemporary German Platonic-dualist assumptions attached to ‘Seele’ across both religious and secular philosophical culture. Mandatory theologian review.
Righteous
Approved rendering: gerecht
Transliteration: gerecht
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Original: צַדִּיק
Category: Sin
NEW. Renders tsaddiq, the adjectival form of the root behind Gerechtigkeit. Structures ch.18’s entire case-law argument (vv.5-9, 14-17, 21-24, 26-28). Mandatory fencing note: this shares its root with the Critical baseline righteousness entry, creating risk that Ezekiel 18’s individual, non-transferable, this-life righteousness bleeds backward into readers’ understanding of Romans’ forensic, faith-alone righteousness — keep the two doctrines distinct even while sharing vocabulary.
Turn Repent
Approved rendering: sich abwenden / umkehren
Transliteration: sich abwenden / umkehren
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Rejected alternatives: Reue (narrows to inward remorse alone, losing the OT’s behavioral-directional sense)
Original: שׁוּב
Category: Sin
NEW. Renders shuv (18:21-23, 30-32; 33:11, 14, 19): physical turning/returning extended to moral-covenantal reorientation. Lexically and conceptually distinct from the baseline NT repentance term (Buße, metanoia) despite theological convergence — both may be taught together as ‘repentance’ but require separate glossary entries and a one-time comparative note.
No Pleasure In Death Of Wicked
Approved rendering: Ich habe kein Gefallen am Tod des Gottlosen
Transliteration: Ich habe kein Gefallen am Tod des Gottlosen
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Original: לֹא־אֶחְפֹּץ בְּמוֹת הָרָשָׁע
Category: Sin
NEW. Renders 18:23, 32; 33:11. Must be taught in the SAME unit as ch.18’s retributive case-law material — never isolated as a standalone ‘God is only kind’ text, nor suppressed in favor of the retributive material alone. Together they constitute Ezekiel’s balanced statement on divine justice and mercy.
Glory Returns
Approved rendering: die Herrlichkeit des HERRN kam
Transliteration: die Herrlichkeit des HERRN kam
Doctrine: God’s Presence Departing and Returning
Original: כְּבוֹד יְהוָה בָּא
Category: God
NEW. Renders 43:1-5, the book’s climactic reversal. Must structurally mirror the ch.10-11 departure account’s German vocabulary EXACTLY (identical ‘die Herrlichkeit des HERRN’ phrasing, identical ‘durch das Osttor’ language at both departure and return) so the deliberate inclusio remains structurally visible. Requires cross-document/cross-chapter consistency validation at Phase 2 QA, since parallel batch processing could otherwise produce two independently defensible but non-matching renderings. Mandatory theologian review.
Yhwh Shammah
Approved rendering: Der HERR ist dort
Transliteration: Der HERR ist dort
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: יְהוָה שָׁמָּה
Category: God
NEW. Renders 48:35, the book’s final words — the restored city’s new name, sealing both the Sovereignty and Presence-Departing-and-Returning doctrines in a single closing formula. Render with full deliberate weight (some German study Bibles retain the transliterated ‘Jahwe-Schammah’ as a proper-name-style parenthetical for academically-oriented supplementary material). Mandatory theologian review to ensure this deliberate, climactic final verse is not lost through overly casual translation, equivalent to other Critical proper-name formulas in this pipeline (e.g. Immanuel).
Bones Are House Of Israel
Approved rendering: Diese Gebeine sind das ganze Haus Israel
Transliteration: Diese Gebeine sind das ganze Haus Israel
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
NEW. Renders 37:11, the vision’s OWN interpretive key and THE single most important interpretive control for the entire core passage. Must be taught and quoted alongside the vision itself, never appended as an afterthought — establishes that the primary, explicit referent is Israel’s corporate national restoration from exile, not (in its first-order sense) individual bodily resurrection. Mandatory human theologian review for any teaching material built on 37:1-14 without this verse foregrounded.
Graves Opened
Approved rendering: Ich werde eure Gräber öffnen und euch aus euren Gräbern heraufführen
Transliteration: Ich werde eure Gräber öffnen und euch aus euren Gräbern heraufführen
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
NEW. Renders 37:12-13, the ‘grave’ metaphor for exile itself (exile-as-burial), a distinct image from the literal bones-picture of vv.1-10 — most scholars read this as the vision’s interpretive application shifting into fresh metaphor. Even more than v.11, this verse’s vocabulary (open graves, raise up) is precisely what later resurrection texts and the NT itself use literally, making it the strongest single textual bridge to the church’s later resurrection doctrine — teach as covenantal-exile metaphor FIRST, note the canonical bridge SECOND. Mandatory theologian review.
My Spirit Indwelling
Approved rendering: und ich werde meinen Geist in euch geben, und ihr werdet leben
Transliteration: und ich werde meinen Geist in euch geben, und ihr werdet leben
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
NEW. Renders 37:14’s explicitly possessive ‘MY Spirit’ — verbally identical in structure to 36:27’s ‘I will put my Spirit within you.’ Must render ‘meinen Geist’ verbatim-consistently between 36:27 and 37:14 so German students see the deliberate cross-reference the Hebrew itself signals: the same divine Spirit who gives mere biological life (37:5-10) is here identified explicitly as God’s own personal Spirit, indwelling the restored people, directly continuing and fulfilling the New Heart and New Spirit doctrine of ch.36 within the vision of ch.37.
High Risk Terms
Covenant
Approved rendering: Bund
Transliteration: Bund
Doctrine: Covenant
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: cast as a marriage covenant in chs.16 and 23 (Bundesuntreue); this application requires mandatory theologian AND native-speaker tone review given graphic covenant-unfaithfulness imagery, paralleling the Ephesians 5 household-code sensitivity discipline already established in the baseline. Also underlies covenant_of_peace and covenant_formula below.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: Heiden
Transliteration: Heiden
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse), RESTRICTED APPLICABILITY in this book. Do NOT use ‘Heiden’ for Ezekiel’s goyim in the oracles-against-the-nations genre (chs.25-32, 35, 38-39) — see nations_goyim (Völker/Nationen) for that context. Reserve ‘Heiden’ only where a genuine NT-style Jew/Gentile covenant-inclusion contrast is intended, which Ezekiel’s judgment-oracle genre does not share.
Church
Approved rendering: Gemeinde
Transliteration: Gemeinde
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: Kirche
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse), DO NOT APPLY to Ezekiel’s Temple material. ‘Gemeinde’ is the NT ekklesia concept and must NEVER substitute for the OT architectural/cultic miqdash — see sanctuary_temple. These are categorically distinct referents; flattening one into the other is a doctrine-importation error, not a stylistic choice.
Recognition Formula
Approved rendering: und ihr werdet erkennen, dass ich der HERR bin
Transliteration: und ihr werdet erkennen, dass ich der HERR bin
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: varying the verb (wissen vs. erkennen) occurrence-by-occurrence — rejected for pedagogical consistency
Original: וִידַעְתֶּם/וְיָדְעוּ כִּי־אֲנִי יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW. Ezekiel’s controlling refrain (~65 occurrences, e.g. 6:7ff; 37:6, 13). Render identically at every occurrence for cross-reference consistency. The German OT-scholarship technical term ‘Erkenntnisformel’ (Zimmerli) is recommended for direct curriculum use as a ready-made, doctrinally precise teaching label.
Watchman
Approved rendering: Wächter
Transliteration: Wächter
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Rejected alternatives: Wachmann (mundane modern register, loses elevated biblical sense)
Original: צֹפֶה
Category: Sin
NEW. Ezekiel’s own prophetic role (3:17; 33:2-9): a sentinel appointed to warn of danger, introducing the book’s individual-accountability theme fully developed in ch.18.
Blood On His Own Head
Approved rendering: sein Blut komme auf sein Haupt
Transliteration: sein Blut komme auf sein Haupt
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Original: דָּמוֹ בְרֹאשׁוֹ
Category: Sin
NEW. Idiom of personal, non-transferable culpability (3:18-20; 33:4-9). CRITICAL DISTINCTION REQUIRED: structurally identical in surface form to the Matthew baseline’s Critical term his_blood_be_on_us (Matthew 27:25, ‘Sein Blut komme über uns und unsere Kinder’), which carries a documented history of antisemitic weaponization. Ezekiel’s idiom concerns INDIVIDUAL, non-transferable accountability; Matthew’s is a CORPORATELY-directed historical cry. These serve opposite doctrinal points and must never be conflated in exposition. Mandatory theologian sign-off.
Cherub
Approved rendering: Kerub / Kerubim
Transliteration: Kerub / Kerubim
Doctrine: God’s Presence Departing and Returning
Original: כְּרוּב
Category: God
NEW. Stable transliterated loanword in German Bible tradition. The living creatures of ch.1 are explicitly named cherubim in ch.10; these throne-bearers convey the glory out of the temple at its departure. Doctrinal weight lies in ensuring the departure narrative (10:18-19; 11:22-23) uses matching vocabulary with ch.43’s return, making the book’s structural inclusio visible in German.
Wicked
Approved rendering: gottlos
Transliteration: gottlos
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Rejected alternatives: böse (too secular/general, loses covenant-violation dimension)
Original: רָשָׁע
Category: Sin
NEW. Renders rasha’, the direct antonym of tsaddiq. ‘gottlos/frevlerisch’ (established biblical register) preferred over the softer, more secularizing ‘böse.‘
For My Names Sake
Approved rendering: um meines Namens willen / um meines heiligen Namens willen
Transliteration: um meines Namens willen / um meines heiligen Namens willen
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: לְמַעַן שְׁמִי / לְמַעַן שֵׁם־קָדְשִׁי
Category: God
NEW. Renders 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22-23, 32. This is the OT’s own sola gratia / anti-merit logic. Mandatory explicit cross-reference to the baseline Grace doctrine (Gnade, ‘unmerited… apart from any human… cooperation’) for teaching material, so German readers — already primed by the Reformation’s grace-versus-merit debate — recognize this as independent, converging biblical warrant rather than treating grace as an exclusively New Testament category.
Nations Goyim
Approved rendering: die Völker / die Nationen
Transliteration: die Völker / die Nationen
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Rejected alternatives: Heiden (anachronistically imports NT Jew/Gentile covenant-inclusion theology into a distinct OT genre)
Original: גּוֹיִם
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders goyim in the oracles-against-the-nations genre (chs.25-32, 35, 38-39): simply the surrounding political nations under judgment, NOT the NT’s covenant-inclusion-contrast ethnē. NEVER render ‘Heiden’ here — see the restricted gentiles entry above. This is a doctrine-importation risk disguised as a simple word choice, since ‘Heiden’ reads as a perfectly natural, even expected, translation to an untrained translator.
Lament King Of Tyre
Approved rendering: Klagelied über den König von Tyrus
Transliteration: Klagelied über den König von Tyrus
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: קִינָה (עַל־מֶלֶךְ צוֹר)
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders 28:11-19’s funeral-dirge over the king of Tyre. The Eden/garden-of-God imagery has generated a disputed ‘fallen angel’ popular reading; present as a contested exegetical question, not settled doctrine, and avoid the popular but exegetically contested conflation with Isaiah 14’s distinct Lucifer/Satan imagery present in some German-language apocalyptic literature.
Shepherd
Approved rendering: Hirte
Transliteration: Hirte
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Original: רֹעֶה
Category: Restoration
NEW. Standard ANE royal-leadership metaphor (ch.34 throughout). No false-friend risk; theological weight lies in correctly teaching the future ‘David’ shepherd (34:23-24) as dynastic/typological, not a claim David himself is resurrected to reign.
Covenant Of Peace
Approved rendering: Friedensbund
Transliteration: Friedensbund
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Original: בְּרִית שָׁלוֹם
Category: Covenant
NEW. Combines the inherited covenant (Bund) with the shalom vocabulary of peace_shalom. Render identically at both occurrences (34:25; 37:26).
Sanctuary Forever
Approved rendering: mein Heiligtum wird für immer mitten unter ihnen sein
Transliteration: mein Heiligtum wird für immer mitten unter ihnen sein
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Original: מִקְדָּשִׁי בְּתוֹכָם לְעוֹלָם
Category: Temple
NEW. Renders 37:26-28, the first explicit anticipation of the New Temple vision within ch.37’s restoration promise. Reuse sanctuary_temple vocabulary consistently; flag as this chapter’s forward-link to the book’s climax in chs.40-48 and 43.
Sanctuary Temple
Approved rendering: Heiligtum / Tempel
Transliteration: Heiligtum / Tempel
Doctrine: The Vision of the New Temple
Rejected alternatives: Gemeinde (categorically wrong — NT ekklesia concept, never substitutable for OT miqdash)
Original: מִקְדָּש (also בַּיִת)
Category: Temple
NEW. No baseline NT entry exists for this OT architectural-cultic term. Render ‘Tempel’ for the building generally, ‘Heiligtum’ where consecrated holiness is emphasized — complementary distribution, not interchangeable synonyms. Native-speaker review recommended given the extensive architectural detail’s (chs.40-48) potential to overwhelm non-specialist German readers without diagramming.
Place Of My Throne
Approved rendering: der Ort meines Thrones
Transliteration: der Ort meines Thrones
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: מְקוֹם כִּסְאִי
Category: God
NEW. Renders 43:7, God’s designation of the restored temple as His permanent throne-location, resolving ch.1’s mobile-throne imagery. Flag cross-reference to ch.1’s throne (Thron/kisse) for the full doctrinal arc; theological climax of the Sovereignty doctrine’s spatial dimension.
Prince Nasi
Approved rendering: Fürst
Transliteration: Fürst
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: König (erases a deliberate and theologically significant authorial demotion reserving supreme kingship for YHWH alone), Nasi (transliteration — not an established German Bible loanword)
Original: נָשִׂיא
Category: Restoration
NEW. Renders nasi, the future ruler’s deliberately demoted title (chs.34, 37, 40-48, esp. 44-46) — NEVER melekh/‘king.’ Hard-fence rule: flag every occurrence for a translator self-check confirming König was not substituted, given the strong normalizing pull toward the more familiar ‘king’ title.
River Of Temple
Approved rendering: Fluss / Strom
Transliteration: Fluss / Strom
Doctrine: The Vision of the New Temple
Original: נַחַל
Category: Temple
NEW. Renders nachal (47:1-12), the river flowing from beneath the temple threshold, healing even the Dead Sea’s salt waters. Thematic (not lexical) resonance with John 4:14, John 7:38, and Revelation 22:1 (established or future NT pipeline terms) may be noted for canonical-trajectory teaching without asserting direct lexical borrowing, since the Hebrew and Greek vocabulary differ.
Oholah Oholibah
Approved rendering: Ohola / Oholiba
Transliteration: Ohola / Oholiba
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: אָהֳלָה / אָהֳלִיבָה
Category: Judgment
NEW. Transliterated symbolic sister-names for Samaria and Jerusalem (ch.23), extending ch.16’s marriage-covenant-unfaithfulness allegory. Same mandatory theologian AND native-speaker tone review as ch.16, given the chapter’s extended graphic sexual-unfaithfulness language.
Medium Risk Terms
Sin
Approved rendering: Sünde
Transliteration: Sünde
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility for Sin
Original: חַטָּאָה / חֵטְא
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: watch for colloquial German trivialization (‘eine kleine Sünde,’ a minor indulgence) softening ch.18’s weightier forensic sense. Distinguish from the complementary new term iniquity_guilt (Schuld): Sünde for the act, Schuld for its accruing guilt-plus-liability.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: 37:11’s identification of the dry bones as ‘the whole house of Israel’ and the passage’s contemporary resonance in modern Zionist/Israeli national rhetoric make the baseline’s existing Staatsräson caution especially acute for ch.37 teaching material — keep the ancient exile-and-return referent distinct from any contemporary geopolitical claim.
Father
Approved rendering: Vater
Transliteration: Vater
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Low direct use in Ezekiel itself (the book favors the ‘Herr, HERR’ address form) but retained for cross-reference consistency with covenant_formula (‘Ich werde ihr Gott sein…’).
Holy
Approved rendering: heilig
Transliteration: heilig
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: rein
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Underlies both sanctuary_temple (Heiligtum) and for_my_names_sake’s intensified form (‘um meines heiligen Namens willen’).
Iniquity Guilt
Approved rendering: Schuld
Transliteration: Schuld
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: עָוֹן
Category: Sin
NEW. Renders avon: moral distortion PLUS its penal consequence — guilt plus liability, not merely the sinful act. Distinct from, and complementary to, the inherited sin (Sünde): Sünde for the act, Schuld for its accruing liability. Feeds directly into ch.18’s individual-accountability arithmetic (4:4-6; 18:17-20; 21:24-29).
Abomination
Approved rendering: Greuel
Transliteration: Greuel
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Rejected alternatives: Abscheulichkeit (too generic)
Original: תּוֹעֵבָה
Category: Sin
NEW. Established Luther-tradition elevated register for to’evah (40+ occurrences, e.g. ch.8, 16, 18:12-13, 22:11). Consistent rendering required across all occurrences for pedagogical tracking.
Covenant Formula
Approved rendering: Ich werde ihr Gott sein, und sie werden mein Volk sein
Transliteration: Ich werde ihr Gott sein, und sie werden mein Volk sein
Doctrine: The New Heart and New Spirit
Original: וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים
Category: Covenant
NEW. Recurring formula (11:20; 34:24; 36:28; 37:23, 27). The German OT-scholarship technical term ‘Bundesformel’ (cf. Rendtorff) is recommended for direct curriculum use. Render identically at all five occurrences for cross-reference consistency.
Servant David
Approved rendering: David, mein Knecht
Transliteration: David, mein Knecht
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: Diener/Angestellter (modern/secular register, loses biblical covenant-servant sense)
Original: דָּוִיד עַבְדִּי
Category: Covenant
NEW. Reuses inherited david (David) exactly; renders ‘servant’ as ‘Knecht’ (established biblical register). Occurs 34:23-24; 37:24-25.
Peace Shalom
Approved rendering: Friede
Transliteration: Friede
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Original: שָׁלוֹם
Category: Restoration
NEW, though reusing the inherited German word Friede. Renders shalom’s fuller OT sense (34:25-29; 37:26): comprehensive covenantal flourishing — security, abundance, social harmony — far broader than the inherited peace entry’s narrower ‘peace with God’ (Romans 5:1) scope. Teaching material must explicitly broaden the concept for German learners already anchored to the Romans usage.
Two Sticks
Approved rendering: zwei Holzstäbe
Transliteration: zwei Holzstäbe
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Original: שְׁנֵי עֵצִים
Category: Restoration
NEW. Sign-act of 37:15-17: two inscribed sticks representing Judah and Israel, joined in Ezekiel’s hand. Teach vv.15-28 as inseparable from vv.1-14 — a single literary and theological unit (life AND unity) even though only vv.1-14 form the assigned core passage.
Gog And Magog
Approved rendering: Gog und Magog
Transliteration: Gog und Magog
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: גּוֹג…מָגוֹג
Category: Judgment
NEW. Transliterated proper names (chs.38-39). Mandatory note distinguishing Ezekiel’s own historically-anchored eschatological-enemy image from Revelation 20:8’s later, independently-applied reuse of the same names, guarding against popular conflation and fringe conspiracy-adjacent readings present in some German-language apocalyptic subcultures. Reuse this note verbatim in any future Revelation-curriculum package in this pipeline.
Dwell In Midst
Approved rendering: ich will in ihrer Mitte wohnen
Transliteration: ich will in ihrer Mitte wohnen
Doctrine: God’s Presence Departing and Returning
Rejected alternatives: Schechina/Schechinah (later post-biblical rabbinic coinage, not biblical Hebrew vocabulary — must not be presented as such)
Original: וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְתוֹכָם
Category: God
NEW. Renders 43:7, 9, fulfilling 37:26-28’s anticipation. Explicit note for teaching material: ‘Schechina,’ sometimes used in popular German Christian teaching as shorthand for this dwelling-presence, is a later rabbinic term absent from the Hebrew Bible itself; it may be mentioned as a later Jewish theological development for context but never presented as Ezekiel’s own vocabulary.
Everything Will Live
Approved rendering: und alles wird leben, wohin der Fluss kommt
Transliteration: und alles wird leben, wohin der Fluss kommt
Doctrine: The Vision of the New Temple
Original: וְחָיָה כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־יָבוֹא שָׁמָּה הַנָּחַל
Category: Restoration
NEW. Renders 47:9, reusing the chayah (‘live’) root that structured ch.37’s entire vision, now applied to ecological/cosmic renewal. Flag the root-echo with ch.37 for teaching material, reinforcing the book’s thematic unity between its resurrection-vision and its new-creation vision.
Bloodshed
Approved rendering: Blutschuld
Transliteration: Blutschuld
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: דָּמִים
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders damim (plural-intensive ‘blood’ = bloodguilt), ch.22, 24:6-9. German distinguishes this from singular blood-as-substance adequately; ensure the plural-intensive legal-guilt sense is conveyed.
Mark Protective Sign
Approved rendering: Zeichen
Transliteration: Zeichen
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Rejected alternatives: Tav (transliteration — carries no independent meaning for German readers)
Original: תָּו
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders tav (9:4, 6), a literal inscribed mark distinguishing those spared from judgment. Avoid over-connecting to Revelation’s later, lexically distinct ‘seal’ imagery without an explicit note distinguishing the two systems, to prevent conflation across this pipeline’s future Revelation curriculum.
The End Qets
Approved rendering: das Ende
Transliteration: das Ende
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: קֵץ
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders qets (ch.7), Ezekiel’s version of the ‘Day of the LORD’ tradition — the definitive, total end of the old order. Connect to the wider prophetic tradition without importing later apocalyptic (Revelation-influenced) imagery anachronistically.
Spoken And Done
Approved rendering: Ich habe es gesagt und werde es tun
Transliteration: Ich habe es gesagt und werde es tun
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: דִּבַּרְתִּי וְעָשִׂיתִי
Category: God
NEW. Fixed idiom (17:24; 22:14; 37:14) asserting certain correspondence between YHWH’s word and deed. Preserve the perfect/imperfect tense distinction (already spoken; will yet be done) rather than collapsing into one tense, since the distinction carries the rhetorical weight of certain future fulfillment.
Boiling Pot
Approved rendering: Kochtopf
Transliteration: Kochtopf
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: סִיר
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders sir (ch.24), a sign-act image for Jerusalem’s coming purgation by siege, paired with the death of Ezekiel’s wife and the prohibition against mourning. Standard German rendering; the accompanying sign-act requires pastoral care in exposition but no additional lexical risk.
Living Creatures
Approved rendering: Lebewesen
Transliteration: Lebewesen
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: Tiere (generic ‘animals’ — loses the theological weight of these throne-attending beings)
Original: חַיּוֹת
Category: God
NEW. Renders chayot (ch.1), the four-faced, four-winged throne-bearing beings later explicitly named cherubim in ch.10.
Likeness Appearance
Approved rendering: Gestalt wie
Transliteration: Gestalt wie
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: דְּמוּת
Category: God
NEW. Renders demut (ch.1 throughout), deliberately hedging vocabulary (‘something like the likeness of…’) protecting God’s transcendence even while describing a vision of Him. Preserve the hedging, approximating syntax; do not smooth into confident, plain description, which would undercut the text’s own theological reserve.
Flesh Anatomical
Approved rendering: Fleisch
Transliteration: Fleisch
Doctrine: The New Heart and New Spirit
Original: בָּשָׂר
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Renders basar in its neutral ANATOMICAL sense (11:19; 36:26; 37:6, 8), distinct from the inherited, ethical/sinful-nature Critical flesh entry from the Galatians package. A disambiguating note is required wherever this document is taught alongside the Galatians package, so students do not conflate the two distinct senses of one German word.
Sword Judgment
Approved rendering: Schwert
Transliteration: Schwert
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: חֶרֶב
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders cherev (ch.21 and elsewhere), both the literal military instrument and a personified agent of divine judgment directly addressed by God. Preserve the striking rhetorical device of direct address to the sword with equivalent direct address in German rather than flattening to indirect description.
Hand Of The Lord
Approved rendering: die Hand des HERRN kam über mich
Transliteration: die Hand des HERRN kam über mich
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
NEW. Renders the stock prophetic-compulsion idiom (37:1; cf. 1:3; 3:14, 22; 8:1; 33:22; 40:1). Stable, idiomatic in German Bible tradition; risk is register flattening into a merely emotional/psychological reading if not anchored to the surrounding prophetic-call vocabulary established at 1:3.
Great Army
Approved rendering: ein überaus großes Heer
Transliteration: ein überaus großes Heer
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: ein sehr großes Heer (flattens the Hebrew’s doubled intensifier me’od me’od to a single ‘sehr’)
NEW. Renders 37:10’s climactic ‘exceedingly great army,’ the doubled Hebrew intensifier (me’od me’od). Use an intensifying German construction rather than a single ‘sehr’ to retain the rhetorical climax — full restoration to purposeful, active, corporate national life, not mere resuscitation to passive existence.
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: דָּוִיד
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Ezekiel-specific: combines with the new term servant_david (‘David, mein Knecht,’ 34:23-24; 37:24-25) — teach the future ‘David’ figure as dynastic/typological, never as a claim that David himself is resurrected to reign.
Prophet
Approved rendering: Prophet
Transliteration: Prophet
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: נָבִיא
Category: Prophecy
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse). Applies to Ezekiel himself (2:5) and, negatively, to the false prophets rebuked in ch.13; see whitewash.
Peace
Approved rendering: Friede
Transliteration: Friede
Doctrine: Peace with God
Inherited from Romans package (exact reuse), NARROW SENSE ONLY (‘peace with God’ through justification, Romans 5:1). Ezekiel’s shalom (34:25-29; 37:26) is broader — see peace_shalom, which reuses this same German rendering ‘Friede’ but requires explicit scope-broadening teaching to cover shalom’s fuller OT sense of comprehensive covenantal flourishing, not only the narrower soteriological sense.
Heart Of Stone Flesh
Approved rendering: Herz aus Stein / Herz aus Fleisch
Transliteration: Herz aus Stein / Herz aus Fleisch
Doctrine: The New Heart and New Spirit
Original: לֵב הָאֶבֶן / לֵב בָּשָׂר
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Renders lev ha-even / lev basar (11:19; 36:26). RARE POSITIVE CASE: German already possesses the exact idiom ‘ein Herz aus Stein / ein steinernes Herz’ in everyday usage with matching meaning — a ready-made cultural bridge. Leave simple and largely unglossed; do not over-engineer with footnotes given the bridge already works.
Measuring Reed
Approved rendering: Messrute
Transliteration: Messrute
Doctrine: The Vision of the New Temple
Original: קְנֵה הַמִּדָּה
Category: Temple
NEW. Renders qeneh ha-middah, the surveying instrument used throughout Ezekiel’s guided temple tour (40:3-5 and repeatedly). Standard technical vocabulary; visual diagramming recommended in teaching material given German readers’ likely unfamiliarity with the architectural genre.
Sons Of Zadok
Approved rendering: Söhne Zadoks
Transliteration: Söhne Zadoks
Doctrine: The Vision of the New Temple
Original: בְּנֵי צָדוֹק
Category: Temple
NEW. Transliterated, proper-name-based term for the specific priestly lineage singled out for exclusive priestly service (44:10-16). Low risk beyond accurate historical framing (later Second Temple/Qumran reception may be noted for context).
Whitewash
Approved rendering: übertünchen
Transliteration: übertünchen
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: טָפֵל
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders tafel (13:10-16): false prophets’ act of covering a flimsy wall to make it appear sound. The German idiom ‘etwas übertünchen’ (to paper over a problem) exists independently in general usage, providing a natural, low-risk bridge.
Vine
Approved rendering: Weinstock
Transliteration: Weinstock
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: גֶּפֶן
Category: Judgment
NEW. Common OT metaphor for Israel (ch.15; 17:6-10; 19:10-14), a useless fire-fuel vine. Standard, stable German rendering.
High Places
Approved rendering: Kulthöhen
Transliteration: Kulthöhen
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: בָּמוֹת
Category: Judgment
NEW. Renders bamot (ch.6), elevated cultic platforms/shrines associated with illegitimate worship. Standard historical-religious German vocabulary.
Pharaoh Egypt
Approved rendering: Pharao
Transliteration: Pharao
Doctrine: Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Original: פַּרְעֹה
Category: Judgment
NEW. Standard transliterated proper name/title (chs.29-32), a case study in self-deifying pride judged against divine sovereignty.
Throne
Approved rendering: Thron
Transliteration: Thron
Doctrine: Glory and Sovereignty of God
Original: כִּסֵּא
Category: God
NEW. Renders kisse (1:26; 10:1; 43:7), establishing YHWH’s kingship even in exile. Standard, stable.
Valley Of Bones
Approved rendering: Tal der (Toten-)Gebeine
Transliteration: Tal der (Toten-)Gebeine
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: Talebene (accurate but loses the fixed idiomatic heading form)
NEW. Fixed German-Bible-tradition section-heading idiom for Ezekiel 37:1-14’s setting (biqʿah, ‘valley/plain’). Safe and traditional for section titles and teaching-material headers.
Bones Gebeine
Approved rendering: Gebeine
Transliteration: Gebeine
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
Rejected alternatives: Knochen (too clinical, loses solemn corpse-specific connotation)
NEW. Renders atsamot throughout 37:1-14. ‘Gebeine’ (elevated, biblically established) preferred over the more clinical ‘Knochen’ to preserve the passage’s solemn register.
Our Hope Is Lost
Approved rendering: Unsere Hoffnung ist dahin, wir sind abgeschnitten
Transliteration: Unsere Hoffnung ist dahin, wir sind abgeschnitten
Doctrine: Restoration and the Valley of Dry Bones
NEW. Renders 37:11’s exiles’ own words of despair. Natural, established German phrasing giving voice to the exiles’ theological despair in their own words, which the vision directly answers — pastoral as well as doctrinal function.
Referenced passages