Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 John | English → Hebrew
Curriculum: 2 John
Baseline authority: Romans Language Package (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json)
Coverage: Every load-bearing term identified across the entire book (2 John 1:1–13), including the core passage (1:4–11).
This glossary must be merged into translation_memory.json for Phase 2 processing. Terms marked “Reused (baseline)” carry forward their exact baseline Hebrew rendering, risk tier, and notes unchanged — they must not be re-translated or re-risk-assessed. Terms marked “New (2 John)” are introduced by this curriculum and require the same enforcement rigor as baseline Critical/High terms going forward.
Reused Terms (from Baseline Romans TM — Enforce Exactly, No Changes)
| English Term | Hebrew | Transliteration | Risk (baseline) | Doctrine | 2 John Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jesus | ישוע | Yeshua | Critical | Lordship of Christ | v.7 |
| Christ / Messiah | המשיח | ha-Mashiach | Critical | Messianic Promise | vv.3, 7, 9 |
| God | אלוהים | Elohim | Critical | Deity of Christ | vv.3, 9 |
| Father | אבינו | Avinu | Medium | Adoption / God the Father | vv.3, 4, 9 |
| grace | חסד | chesed | High | Grace | v.3 |
| peace | שלום | shalom | Medium | Peace with God | v.3 |
| son of God (doctrine continuity) | בן האלוהים | ben ha-Elohim | Critical | Sonship of Christ | v.3 (as “Son of the Father”), v.9 |
| fellowship (root only, see κοινωνέω below) | שותפות | shutafut | Low | Christian Fellowship | v.11 (verb form, negative use) |
| election (root only, see “elect” below) | בחירה | bechirah | High | Effectual Calling | vv.1, 13 (adjectival use) |
| holy (for reference; not directly occurring but doctrinally adjacent to “elect/set apart” language) | קדוש | kadosh | Medium | Sanctification | — (contextual only) |
New Terms Introduced by 2 John
| English Term | Hebrew Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine Category | Occurrences | Translation Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| truth | אֱמֶת | emet | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | vv.1, 2, 3, 4 | Strong OT resource but must retain Johannine sense (revealed reality of Christ), not mere factual honesty. |
| love | אַהֲבָה | ahavah | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | vv.1, 3, 5, 6 | Must be defined operationally as obedient conduct (v.6), not sentiment alone. Positive resonance with the Shema’s “וְאָהַבְתָּ” (Deut 6:5). |
| walk (ethical conduct) | הִתְהַלֵּךְ / מִתְהַלְּכִים | hithalech / mithalchim | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | vv.4, 6 | Shares root ה-ל-כ with הֲלָכָה (halachah); genuine positive resonance, but risk of narrowing to technical legal-observance framework rather than Spirit-shaped conduct. |
| commandment | מִצְוָה / מִצְווֹת | mitzvah / mitzvot | High | Walking in Truth and Love | vv.4, 5, 6 (×2) | Standard NT-Hebrew rendering (Delitzsch precedent), but heavily loaded with the 613 Mosaic mitzvot framework. Must always be anchored explicitly to “his [Christ’s] commandments” / the love-command, never left to default toward Torah-observance obligations. Cross-reference baseline’s law (תורה) entry, which remains reserved exclusively for νόμος. |
| new commandment | מִצְוָה חֲדָשָׁה | mitzvah chadashah | High | Walking in Truth and Love | v.5 | Rhetorically “new yet old” (cf. John 13:34); must preserve the letter’s own tension rather than resolving it toward either pole. |
| deceiver | מַדִּיח | madiach | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | v.7 (×2) | Strong positive/severity resonance with Deuteronomy 13’s מַדִּיחַ (one who incites to idolatry) — apt given the doctrinal severity, but register may read as more legally/punitively weighted than intended; teach accordingly. |
| antichrist | צוֹרֵר הַמָּשִׁיחַ (preferred) / אַנְטִיכְרִיסְט (transliteration, use with caution) | tzorer ha-Mashiach / antikhrist | Critical | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | v.7 | No settled native term exists. Transliteration risks pop-culture/horror-genre associations in Israeli media; descriptive compound preferred. Extends baseline’s Critical Messianic Promise / Sonship of Christ doctrines. |
| flesh (incarnation context) | בָּשָׂר | basar | Critical | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | v.7 | Must echo Delitzsch’s John 1:14 phrasing (“וְהַדָּבָר נִהְיָה בָשָׂר”); render “coming in the flesh” as הַבָּא בַּבָּשָׂר. Directly continues baseline’s Critical incarnation (התגלמות) doctrine. |
| confess / acknowledge | מוֹדֶה בְּ… / מוֹדִים בְּ… | modeh be- / modim be- | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | v.7 | Shares root י-ד-ה with baseline’s Low-risk thanksgiving (הודיה) — a positive linguistic asset (public acknowledgment), but must retain propositional/doctrinal affirmation sense, not collapse into mere gratitude. |
| teaching of Christ / doctrine | לֶקַח הַמָּשִׁיחַ | lekach ha-Mashiach | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | v.9 (×2), v.10 | Selected over תּוֹרָה (reserved for νόμος in baseline) and over הוֹרָאָה (risks trivial “instructions/manual” register). Requires niqqud or disambiguating construct phrasing: unpointed לקח is a homograph with the common verb “he took” (לָקַח), a real parsing risk in running text. |
| abide / persevere | לְהִתְמִיד בְּ… | le-hatmid be- | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | v.9 (×2) | Root ת-מ-ד evokes the Temple’s קָרְבָּן תָּמִיד (continual offering) — a strong positive resonance for unceasing faithfulness; recommended over the more neutral לְהִשָּׁאֵר (“to remain”). |
| goes ahead / transgresses | הַחוֹרֵג | ha-choreg | Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | v.9 | Names doctrinal overreach (claiming advancement beyond Christ’s teaching); root ח-ר-ג is otherwise neutral/modern (“exceptional case”), so doctrinal framing must be supplied by context, not the word alone. |
| has God / does not have God | יֵשׁ לוֹ אֱלֹהִים / אֵין לוֹ אֱלֹהִים | yesh lo Elohim / ein lo Elohim | High | Deity of Christ / Sonship of Christ (extension) | v.9 | Relational-possession idiom; the positive form (“has the Father and the Son”) makes access to the Son a condition of relationship with the Father — extends baseline’s Critical Christological doctrines and requires theologian review. |
| lady (address) | הַגְּבִירָה / קוּרְיָה (proper name option) | ha-gvirah / Kyria | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | vv.1, 5 | Distinct from אָדוֹן, which baseline reserves exclusively for Christ’s/YHWH’s lordship (Critical). Exegetical ambiguity (individual woman vs. personified congregation) should be preserved, not resolved, in translation. |
| elder (author’s title) | הַזָּקֵן | ha-zaken | Medium | (introductory/authorial) | v.1 | Must convey a recognized leadership office (cf. Jewish community elders, זְקֵנִים), not merely advanced age. |
| children | יְלָדִים / בָּנִים | yeladim / banim | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment (context) | vv.1, 4, 13 | May be literal or an affectionate term for congregation members under pastoral care; same ambiguity as “lady.” |
| mercy | רַחֲמִים | rachamim | Low | (salutation triad, extends Grace doctrine) | v.3 | Strong OT resonance (Exodus 34:6, “רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן”); no significant collision. |
| world (κόσμος) | עוֹלָם | olam | Medium | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | v.7 | Shares its Hebrew form with rendering of αἰών (“forever,” v.2) — an intra-Hebrew ambiguity (world vs. eternity/age) that is unavoidable but should be flagged so translators disambiguate by context. |
| forever / age (αἰών) | לְעוֹלָם / עוֹלָם | le-olam / olam | Medium | (salutation) | v.2 | See note above on κόσμος; same root, different sense — context-dependent. |
| watch yourselves | הִשָּׁמְרוּ לָכֶם | hishamru lachem | Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | v.8 | Echoes OT warning formula (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:9’s “הִשָּׁמֵר לְךָ”) — positive resonance, straightforward warning register. |
| worked for / labored | עָמַלְנוּ | amalnu | Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | v.8 | Refers to ministry labor/fruit, not merit toward justification — must be kept distinct from baseline’s Critical justification/imputed_righteousness framework. |
| full reward | שָׂכָר מָלֵא | sachar malei | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | v.8 | Risk of being read as works-merit salvation language; must be taught as reward for faithful perseverance, not the ground of justification. Escalate per baseline’s grace/works review rule. |
| bring (teaching) | מֵבִיא | mevi | Low | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | v.10 | Straightforward; marks active promotion of doctrine, not passive ignorance. |
| receive (into house) | לְקַבֵּל | lekabel | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | v.10 | The specific act forbidden is formal endorsement/material support, not basic human decency — must not be over-generalized into blanket inhospitality. |
| house | בַּיִת | bayit | Critical | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | v.10 | Collides directly with הַכְנָסַת אוֹרְחִים (“welcoming guests”), one of Judaism’s most cherished values (Genesis 18; Talmud Shabbat 127a). Requires mandatory human theologian review whenever taught or translated. |
| hospitality (thematic, not a single lexeme) | הַכְנָסַת אוֹרְחִים | hachnasat orchim | Critical | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | v.10 (contextual) | Named explicitly here as the cultural value in tension with the letter’s instruction; must be taught as a targeted restriction (against endorsing false teaching), not a repudiation of the broader value. |
| greeting formula (“Greetings”) | שָׁלוֹם (as spoken greeting, withheld) | shalom | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | vv.10, 11 | Opposite dynamic from baseline’s peace dilution risk: because שלום is Hebrew’s own reflexive daily greeting, withholding it is unusually vivid and weighty for a Hebrew-speaking reader — a translation asset, not merely a risk. |
| shares in / participates in | מִשְׁתַּתֵּף בְּ… | mishtatef be- | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | v.11 | Same root as baseline’s Low-risk fellowship (שותפות); context must clearly mark this as complicity/warning, not an invitation to fellowship. |
| evil deeds/works | מַעֲשִׂים רָעִים | ma’asim ra’im | Low | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | v.11 | Straightforward; no significant collision. |
| paper and ink | נְיָר וִדְיוֹ | neyar u-dyo | Low | (closing, material) | v.12 | No doctrinal weight. |
| mouth to mouth (face to face) | פֶּה אֶל פֶּה | peh el peh | Low | (closing) | v.12 | Positive resonance: identical idiom to Numbers 12:8 (God speaking with Moses); genuine translation asset. |
| joy (made full) | שִׂמְחָה (מְלֵאָה) | simchah (mele’ah) | Low | (closing) | v.12 | Echoes Johannine “joy made complete” language (John 15:11; 1 John 1:4). |
| elect lady / elect sister | הַגְּבִירָה הַנִּבְחָרָה / אָחוֹת נִבְחָרָה | ha-gvirah ha-nivcharah / achot nivcharah | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment (addressee identity) | vv.1, 13 | Shares root with baseline’s election (בחירה); preserve the individual-vs-personified-congregation ambiguity rather than resolving it in translation. |
| Son of the Father | בֶּן־הָאָב | Ben ha-Av | Critical | Sonship of Christ (extension) | v.3 | Must be taught in explicit continuity with baseline’s בֶּן הָאֱלֹהִים (son_of_god) doctrine — a descriptive variant of the same Critical claim, not a separate or lesser category. |
Risk Summary for 2 John New Terms
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing (per baseline conventions) |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 5 | Human theologian review (antichrist, flesh/incarnation, house/hospitality, hospitality thematic entry, Son of the Father) |
| High | 12 | Human theologian review (commandment, new commandment, deceiver, confess, teaching of Christ, abide/persevere, has/does-not-have God, lady, full reward, receive-into-house, greeting formula, elect lady/sister) |
| Medium | 12 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 8 | Automated review |
Note: Several new terms received a higher risk tier than their closest Greek-lexical analogue might suggest in isolation, because 2 John’s short, concentrated argument repeatedly stacks doctrinally loaded terms in close proximity (e.g., commandment + walk + love in vv.4–6; teaching + abide + Father/Son in v.9; house + receive + greeting in vv.10–11). Reviewers should treat these clusters as compounding risk, not independent low-stakes word choices.
This glossary must be merged into translation_memory.json (incrementing its version number) before any Phase 2 segment translation of 2 John begins, per the Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Jesus
Approved rendering: ישוע
Transliteration: Yeshua
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ישו
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. In 2 John 1:7 this is the name whose incarnation (‘coming in the flesh’) deceivers deny; must always retain the final ayin, ישוע, never the truncated ישו, which functions as a slur in some circles. This spelling requirement is especially severe here because v.7 is itself a Christological confession-test verse.
Messiah
Approved rendering: המשיח
Transliteration: ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs in 2 John 1:3, 1:7, 1:9, tied to the incarnation-denial test (v.7) and to ‘the teaching of Christ’ (לֶקַח הַמָּשִׁיחַ, v.9), which believers must not go beyond.
God
Approved rendering: אלוהים
Transliteration: Elohim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: Θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 2 John 1:9’s relational-possession idiom (‘has God’ / ‘does not have God’) sharpens the baseline’s Shema-collision risk into an explicit either/or claim: relationship with God the Father is made contingent on holding to the Son’s teaching. This must not be softened.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: בן האלוהים
Transliteration: ben ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ / Υἱὸς τοῦ Πατρός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Continued in 2 John via the descriptive variant ‘Son of the Father’ (בֶּן־הָאָב, v.3, see son_of_the_father) and v.9’s ‘has…the Son’ — the identical Critical ontological claim, not a lesser or separate category. Must never be softened toward honorific or subordinationist phrasing.
Law
Approved rendering: תורה
Transliteration: Torah
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Inherited from Romans package. Does not occur as a lexeme in 2 John, but is retained here as a MANDATORY reserved boundary term: תורה must NEVER be used to render ‘the teaching of Christ’ (see teaching_of_christ) or ‘his commandments’ (see commandment). Some circulating Hebrew-language sources collapse this exact distinction (rendering v.9’s διδαχή as תּוֹרַת הַמָּשִׁיחַ); this must not be echoed.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: צורר המשיח
Transliteration: tzorer ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: The Antichrist and Eschatological Deception
Rejected alternatives: אנטיכריסט (permitted only as a parenthetical gloss on first occurrence, never as primary rendering), צורר ישוע, אויב המשיח
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Eschatology
New in 2 John (v.7). No settled native Hebrew term exists. Transliteration risks horror-film/occult pop-culture associations dominant in Israeli secular media, trivializing a serious Christological-eschatological category. The descriptive compound leverages the root צ-ר-ר (used of Israel’s historic national enemies). This is a CONSTRUCTED, not inherited, rendering and must be flagged as such in teaching material every time it is introduced. Do not borrow the unrelated midrashic Armilus tradition as a shortcut gloss.
Incarnation Flesh
Approved rendering: הבא בבשר
Transliteration: ha-ba ba-basar
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: a merely spiritual ‘coming’ or ‘appearing’, descriptive paraphrase such as ‘who appeared as a human’
Original: ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
New in 2 John (v.7). Must deliberately echo Delitzsch’s John 1:14 phrasing (‘וְהַדָּבָר נִהְיָה בָשָׂר’) so the reader recognizes the identical Critical incarnation doctrine (התגלמות) already established in the baseline package. Softening ‘coming in the flesh’ into a merely spiritual coming would erase the specific point 2 John defends. Fixed phrase; never paraphrase.
House
Approved rendering: בית
Transliteration: bayit
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: οἰκία
Category: Church
New in 2 John (v.10). Collides directly with הַכְנָסַת אוֹרְחִים (‘welcoming guests’), modeled on Abraham’s tent (Genesis 18) and elevated by the Talmud (Shabbat 127a) as greater than receiving the Divine Presence. MANDATORY human theologian review whenever this passage is taught or translated, so the prohibition is understood as narrowly targeted, not a repudiation of the broader value.
Hospitality
Approved rendering: הכנסת אורחים
Transliteration: hachnasat orchim
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: (thematic - underlies vv.10-11; no single Greek lexeme)
Category: Church
New in 2 John (thematic, underlies vv.10-11; no single Greek lexeme). One of the most cherished values in Jewish tradition. The restriction must always be taught as narrowly targeted at doctrinal endorsement of a specific incarnation-denying teacher, never as a repudiation of hospitality as a virtue. Flagged Critical independent of any single word choice, because the doctrine-culture collision itself, not a mistranslation, is the risk.
Son Of The Father
Approved rendering: בן־האב
Transliteration: Ben ha-Av
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ (2 John Extension)
Rejected alternatives: a softened relational/honorific phrase such as ‘beloved of the Father’ in place of ontological Sonship
Original: Υἱὸς τοῦ Πατρός
Category: Christology
New in 2 John (v.3). Must be taught in explicit continuity with baseline’s בן האלוהים (son_of_god) doctrine — a descriptive variant of the identical Critical claim about Christ’s unique, co-equal divine Sonship, not a separate or lesser category. Some circulating non-Trinitarian/Unitarian Hebrew NT renderings soften this clause toward subordinationism; this must never be echoed.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: חסד
Transliteration: chesed
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: חן
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Opens the salutation triad in 2 John 1:3 (‘grace, mercy, peace’) alongside the new term mercy (רחמים). Must still be sharpened, per baseline, to convey favor apart from Torah-observance.
Election
Approved rendering: בחירה
Transliteration: bechirah
Doctrine: Effectual Calling / Election
Original: ἐκλεκτός / ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Applied adjectivally in 2 John to ‘the elect lady’ (v.1) and ‘the elect sister’ (v.13) — see elect_lady_sister for the compound rendering. The individual-woman-vs-personified-congregation ambiguity must be preserved, not resolved, and must never be phrased so as to imply Israel’s own corporate election has been superseded or transferred.
Commandment
Approved rendering: מצוה / מצוותיו
Transliteration: mitzvah / mitzvotav
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
New in 2 John (vv.4,5,6 x2). מצוה is the standard term for the 613 Mosaic commandments in Jewish self-understanding. Every occurrence must be anchored explicitly to Christ’s own instruction (‘his commandments,’ v.6, the love-command), never left to default toward Torah-observance obligation. Cross-reference the reserved law/תורה entry. This is the single most common doctrinal drift point observed in the existing Hebrew-language translation landscape for this letter.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: מצוה חדשה
Transliteration: mitzvah chadashah
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: Covenant
New in 2 John (v.5). Rhetorically ‘new yet old’ (cf. John 13:34, and ‘from the beginning’ in the same verse); must preserve the letter’s own tension rather than resolving it toward either ‘genuinely novel’ or ‘merely repeated.’ Resonates positively with Jeremiah 31:31’s renewed-covenant language — teach as continuity-through-fulfillment, not abrogation.
Deceiver
Approved rendering: מדיח
Transliteration: madiach
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: πλάνος
Category: Christology
New in 2 John (v.7, x2). Root resonance with Deuteronomy 13’s מַדִּיחַ (one who incites to idolatry) is doctrinally apt for the severity intended, but imports a more juridical/legal register than the author’s own pastoral-warning tone; supply a brief contextual gloss distinguishing pastoral warning from legal indictment.
Confess
Approved rendering: מודה ב… / מודים ב…
Transliteration: modeh be- / modim be-
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: a weaker verb closer to ‘say’ or ‘admit’
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Faith
New in 2 John (v.7). Shares root י-ד-ה with baseline’s Low-risk הודיה (thanksgiving) — a positive linguistic asset — but must retain the sense of public, propositional doctrinal affirmation, not collapse into mere gratitude or factual acknowledgment. Some circulating dynamic-equivalence editions weaken this verb; do not echo that drift.
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: לֶקַח המשיח
Transliteration: lekach ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: תורת המשיח (collides with the reserved law/תורה term, exclusively for νόμος), הוראת המשיח (too trivial a register, evokes an instruction manual)
Original: διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Covenant
New in 2 John (v.9 x2, v.10). Requires MANDATORY niqqud on לֶקַח, or a disambiguating construct/possessive phrasing (e.g., ‘לקחו של המשיח’), in every single occurrence: unpointed לקח is a homograph with the ordinary verb לָקַח (‘he took’), a genuine parsing risk independent of doctrinal weight. Some circulating sources render this as תּוֹרַת הַמָּשִׁיחַ, collapsing the protected law/gospel distinction — never echo that choice.
Abide
Approved rendering: להתמיד ב…
Transliteration: le-hatmid be-
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: להישאר (too neutral; loses the Temple קרבן תמיד resonance)
Original: μένω
Category: Faith
New in 2 John (v.9 x2). Root ת-מ-ד evokes the Temple’s קָרְבָּן תָּמִיד (continual offering) — a strong positive resonance for unceasing faithfulness. Preferred over the flatter, more neutral ‘to remain.‘
Has God
Approved rendering: יש לו האב והבן / אין לו אלוהים
Transliteration: yesh lo ha-Av ve-ha-Ben / ein lo Elohim
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ (2 John Extension)
Original: Θεὸν ἔχει / τὸν Πατέρα καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ἔχει
Category: Christology
New in 2 John (v.9). The single highest-risk ambiguity in the letter: makes possession of/relationship with the Son a condition for genuine relationship with the Father — a strong claim against any framework, Jewish or otherwise, that would consider devotion to God the Father sufficient apart from the Son. MANDATORY human theologian review at every occurrence, regardless of nominal risk tier of surrounding vocabulary.
Lady
Approved rendering: הגבירה / קוריה
Transliteration: ha-gvirah / Kyria
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment (addressee identity)
Rejected alternatives: אדון / אדונה (reserved exclusively for Christ’s/YHWH’s lordship per baseline; forbidden here)
Original: κυρία
Category: Church
New in 2 John (vv.1,5). κυρία is distinct from κύριος’s exclusive divine-Lordship sense; must never be rendered with אָדוֹן. Preserve, do not resolve, the exegetical ambiguity between an individual woman and a personified congregation — both הגבירה and the proper-name option קוריה should remain available.
Full Reward
Approved rendering: שכר מלא
Transliteration: sachar malei
Doctrine: Reward for Faithful Perseverance
Original: μισθὸς πλήρης
Category: Salvation
New in 2 John (v.8). Must never be conflated with ההצדקה (justification, Critical in baseline); this is God’s gracious commendation of faithful perseverance in ministry, received by grace-empowered faithfulness, not the ground of justification itself. Some circulating study-note editions blur this line via שכר ועונש cross-references — do not echo. Escalate per baseline’s rule flagging any segment contrasting grace/reward with works-based language.
Receive Into House
Approved rendering: לקבל
Transliteration: lekabel
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: λαμβάνω
Category: Church
New in 2 John (v.10). The forbidden act is formal reception functioning as doctrinal endorsement and material support of a teacher denying the incarnation, not withholding ordinary human decency. Must never be over-generalized into blanket inhospitality; every occurrence requires accompanying scope-limiting teaching material.
Greeting Formula
Approved rendering: שלום (as the withheld greeting)
Transliteration: shalom
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: a vague ‘do not welcome him’ that loses the specific act of withholding the customary greeting
Original: χαίρειν
Category: Church
New in 2 John (vv.10,11). Rendering as the withheld שלום is doctrinally sharp precisely because שלום is Hebrew’s own reflexive daily greeting — deliberately withholding it becomes an immediately felt, weighty social act. Must not be softened.
Elect Lady Sister
Approved rendering: הגבירה הנבחרה / אחות נבחרה
Transliteration: ha-gvirah ha-nivcharah / achot nivcharah
Doctrine: Divine Election and Corporate Identity of the Church
Original: ἐκλεκτή κυρία / ἐκλεκτὴ ἀδελφή
Category: Church
New in 2 John (vv.1,13). Shares its root with baseline’s election (בחירה). The individual-vs-personified-congregation ambiguity must be preserved, not resolved — applying ‘elect’ to a local congregation risks being heard as a claim that the Messianic community has taken over Israel’s own irrevocable election. Frame per Romans 11’s grafting-in metaphor: a real but derivative participation in Messiah, never a transfer or replacement.
Medium Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: אבינו
Transliteration: Avinu
Doctrine: God the Father, paired with the Son (Sonship of Christ extension)
Original: Πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. In 2 John 1:3 and 1:9, ‘the Father’ is tightly paired with ‘the Son’ as joint objects of relational possession/access, extending baseline’s note on Avinu’s corporate liturgical resonance into an individual, Christ-conditioned relationship.
Peace
Approved rendering: שלום
Transliteration: shalom
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Doubles in function in 2 John: positively in the v.3 salutation, and as the specific greeting pointedly withheld from false teachers in vv.10-11. The everyday-ubiquity dilution risk baseline flags becomes, in the withholding usage, a translation asset — deliberately withholding Hebrew’s own reflexive daily greeting is unusually vivid. Must not be softened into a vague ‘do not welcome him’ that loses this force.
Holy
Approved rendering: קדוש
Transliteration: kadosh
Doctrine: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Does not occur as a direct lexeme in 2 John but is doctrinally adjacent to the ‘elect’ language of vv.1,13; retained here for cross-reference consistency only.
Truth
Approved rendering: אמת
Transliteration: emet
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
New in 2 John (vv.1,2,3,4). Strong OT/Rabbinic resource (God’s own attribute, Psalm 31:6) but must retain the specific Johannine sense — the revealed reality of who Christ is (John 14:6) — never flattened into generic factual honesty. Never let the word stand as a free-floating abstraction; anchor genitivally to Christ/apostolic teaching or to v.6’s behavioral definition.
Love
Approved rendering: אהבה
Transliteration: ahavah
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Ethics
New in 2 John (vv.1,3,5,6). Strong positive resonance with the Shema’s ‘ואהבת’ (Deuteronomy 6:5), but v.6 defines it operationally as obedient conduct (‘that we walk according to his commandments’), not sentiment alone. Must not be read as merely romantic/familial affection in the Modern Hebrew sense.
Walking In Truth
Approved rendering: מתהלכים / התהלך
Transliteration: mithalchim / hithalech
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: הולכים
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
New in 2 John (vv.4,6). Shares root ה-ל-כ with הֲלָכָה (halachah) — a genuine positive resonance for behavioral seriousness, but risks narrowing ‘walking in truth’ toward technical legal-observance rather than Spirit-shaped conduct flowing from Christ’s own teaching. Some circulating Hebrew Roots/One Law materials exploit this resonance to import mandatory Torah-observance; do not echo that framing.
Goes Ahead
Approved rendering: החורג
Transliteration: ha-choreg
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: προάγω
Category: Ethics
New in 2 John (v.9). A neutral, modern word (e.g., ‘an exceptional case,’ tax exceptions) carrying essentially zero inherent doctrinal charge; the doctrinal framing of claimed advancement beyond Christ’s teaching (likely proto-Gnostic overreach) must be supplied explicitly by surrounding context, never assumed from the word alone.
Elder
Approved rendering: הזקן
Transliteration: ha-zaken
Doctrine: Pastoral Authority of the Elder
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
New in 2 John (v.1). Positively resonates with the recognized office of communal זְקֵנִים (Exodus 18, Numbers 11, the Sanhedrin) — a genuine asset. Must convey a recognized apostolic-era teaching/pastoral office, not merely advanced age, which is the term’s default casual reading in Israeli Hebrew.
Children
Approved rendering: ילדים / בנים
Transliteration: yeladim / banim
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment / Divine Election
Original: τέκνα
Category: Church
New in 2 John (vv.1,4,13). May be literal children or, affectionately, congregation members under pastoral care — the same interpretive ambiguity as ‘lady’; preserve rather than resolve.
World
Approved rendering: עולם
Transliteration: olam
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: κόσμος
Category: Church
New in 2 John (v.7). Shares its Hebrew form with the rendering of αἰών (‘forever,’ v.2, see age_aion) — an unavoidable intra-Hebrew ambiguity between ‘world’ (spatial/moral) and ‘age/eternity’ (temporal) that must be disambiguated by context and syntax (e.g., בעולם for the spatial sense) on every occurrence.
Age Aion
Approved rendering: לעולם / עולם
Transliteration: le-olam / olam
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love (truth abiding forever, v.2)
Original: αἰών
Category: Eschatology
New in 2 John (v.2). Shares its Hebrew root/form with the rendering of κόσμος (world, v.7, see world); the two occurrences fall close together in the letter’s short span — check deliberately for consistent, correctly disambiguated rendering across both verses.
Watch Yourselves
Approved rendering: השמרו לכם
Transliteration: hishamru lachem
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: βλέπετε ἑαυτούς
Category: Ethics
New in 2 John (v.8). Echoes the OT warning formula (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:9’s ‘הִשָּׁמֵר לְךָ’) — a positive resonance giving the warning register scriptural weight. Stable across the existing translation landscape; low risk.
Worked For
Approved rendering: עמלנו
Transliteration: amalnu
Doctrine: Reward for Faithful Perseverance
Original: ἐργάζομαι
Category: Ethics
New in 2 John (v.8). Refers to the fruit of gospel ministry/faithful discipleship, not personal merit toward justification; must be kept distinct from the Critical justification/imputed_righteousness framework inherited from baseline.
Shares In
Approved rendering: משתתף ב… / שותף ל…
Transliteration: mishtatef be- / shutaf le-
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Church
New in 2 John (v.11). Shares its root directly with baseline’s Low-risk fellowship (שותפות); surrounding context must unmistakably mark this occurrence as complicity/warning, not an invitation to fellowship.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: שותפות
Transliteration: shutafut
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: קהילה
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. The verb form (κοινωνέω) is applied negatively in 2 John 1:11 to complicity in a false teacher’s evil deeds (see shares_in); surrounding context must unmistakably mark that occurrence as warning/complicity, not positive fellowship, since the identical root otherwise carries a positive charge.
Mercy
Approved rendering: רחמים
Transliteration: rachamim
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace as Covenant Greeting
Original: ἔλεος
Category: God
New in 2 John (v.3), the middle term of the salutation triad. Strong OT resonance (Exodus 34:6, ‘רחום וחנון’); no significant collision risk. A genuine asset to anchor the whole triad in familiar OT territory.
Bring Teaching
Approved rendering: מביא
Transliteration: mevi
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: φέρω
Category: Covenant
New in 2 John (v.10). Straightforward verb marking active, deliberate promotion of false doctrine, as opposed to mere ignorance of it. No significant collision risk.
Evil Deeds
Approved rendering: מעשים רעים
Transliteration: ma’asim ra’im
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: Ethics
New in 2 John (v.11). Straightforward; no significant collision risk.
Paper And Ink
Approved rendering: ניר ודיו
Transliteration: neyar u-dyo
Doctrine: (closing, material description)
Original: χάρτης καὶ μέλαν
Category: Epistolary
New in 2 John (v.12). Purely material description; no doctrinal weight.
Mouth To Mouth
Approved rendering: פה אל פה
Transliteration: peh el peh
Doctrine: Christian Joy and Fellowship
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Epistolary
New in 2 John (v.12). Identical idiom to Numbers 12:8 (‘פֶּה אֶל פֶּה אֲדַבֵּר בּוֹ,’ of God speaking with Moses) — a genuine positive translation asset conveying intimacy and directness; leverage deliberately in teaching material.
Joy Made Full
Approved rendering: שמחה מלאה
Transliteration: simchah mele’ah
Doctrine: Christian Joy and Fellowship
Original: χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη
Category: Faith
New in 2 John (v.12). Echoes Johannine language elsewhere (John 15:11; 1 John 1:4); no significant collision risk.
Referenced passages