Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Jonah (English → Hindi)
Risk tiers follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json framework: Critical (theologian review every occurrence, essential doctrine at stake), High (theologian review, significant syncretism/confusion risk), Medium (native speaker review recommended), Low (automated review sufficient).
Divine Names and Titles
| # | Term | Hebrew/Greek Original | Translit. | Hindi Rendering | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God (generic/Elohim) | אֱלֹהִים | Elohim | परमेश्वर | REUSED (baseline “god”) | Critical | 1,3,4 | Used consistently for the generic-but-true divine name, notably in all references to Nineveh’s own response (3:5,8-10) and the pagan sailors’ partial knowledge. |
| 2 | LORD (YHWH, covenant name) | יְהוָה | YHWH | यहोवा | NEW | Critical | 1,2,3,4 | Distinct from परमेश्वर; must not be conflated with प्रभु (baseline NT Kyrios rendering) either. Reflects BSI OV OT convention. The יהוה/אלהים alternation across ch.3 is theologically load-bearing (see 07_semantic_analysis.md, 3:3) and must not be flattened by using one Hindi word for both. |
| 3 | LORD, God of heaven | יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם | YHWH elohei hashamayim | यहोवा, आकाश का परमेश्वर | NEW | High | 1 | Universalizing title used when addressing Gentile sailors; reinforces Sovereignty of God over Creation. |
| 4 | pagan god(s) (lowercase, false) | אֱלֹהָיו (pl., “his god”) | elohav | देवता | NEW | Medium | 1 | Reserved exclusively for the sailors’ false gods; never परमेश्वर/यहोवा. |
Repentance, Sin, and Divine Mercy (Core Doctrinal Cluster)
| # | Term | Hebrew/Greek Original | Translit. | Hindi Rendering | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | believed (in God) | אָמַן (Hiphil) | va’ya’aminu | विश्वास किया | REUSED (baseline “faith” root) | Critical | 3 | Nineveh’s Gentile faith-response; object (परमेश्वर) must remain explicit in the clause. |
| 6 | turn from evil way (human repentance) | שׁוּב מִדַּרְכּוֹ הָרָעָה | shuv middarko hara’ah | अपनी बुरी चाल से मन फिराना | REUSED (baseline “repentance” मन फिराव root) | High | 3 | Moral-evil sense of רָעָה; keep lexically distinct from calamity sense (#8 below). |
| 7 | moral evil / wickedness | רָעָה (moral sense) | ra’ah | बुराई / दुष्टता | NEW (distinguishes from #8) | High | 1,3,4 | Nineveh’s “wickedness” (1:2), “evil way” (3:8,10), Jonah’s “great displeasure” (4:1, a third nuance — see 07 ch.4 note). Conflating with calamity-sense #8 blurs sin-repented-of vs. judgment-averted. |
| 8 | calamity / disaster | רָעָה (calamity sense) | ra’ah | विपत्ति / आपदा | NEW (distinguishes from #7) | High | 3,4 | The announced 40-day judgment (3:4) that God “relents” from (3:10; 4:2) — this is what is averted, not the sin itself. |
| 9 | God relents / has compassion and changes course (divine נחם) | נִחַם / יִנָּחֶם (Niphal) | nicham / yinnachem | दया करके अपना निश्चय बदलना | NEW — CRITICAL | Critical | 3,4 | REJECTED: पश्चाताप करना (implies God sinned/regretted moral wrongdoing; a documented drift-risk in existing popular Hindi editions of Jonah 3:10). REJECTED: मन फिराव (reserved exclusively for human repentance from sin per baseline). This term must NEVER be rendered with vocabulary implying divine moral fault. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence (3:9, 3:10, 4:2). |
| 10 | who knows? (rhetorical hope, not fatalism) | מִי יוֹדֵעַ | mi yodea | कौन जानता है | NEW | Medium-High | 3 | Risk of a fatalistic/karma-flavored misreading (“किसे पता, भाग्य में क्या है”); must read as humble appeal to God’s free character, not resignation to impersonal fate. |
| 11 | God saw their works/deeds | וַיַּרְא…מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם | vayar…ma’aseihem | परमेश्वर ने…काम देखे | NEW | High | 3 | Use काम/कार्य, never कर्म, per the baseline works-of-the-law prohibition — evidences of a turned heart, not merit-accumulation. |
| 12 | steadfast love / covenant loyalty-love (chesed) | חֶסֶד | chesed | करुणा-प्रेम | NEW | High | 2,4 | Distinct from अनुग्रह (grace/unmerited favor) and दया (mercy/compassion) already in the baseline; names God’s committed, relational covenant-faithfulness. REJECTED: प्रेम alone (bhakti/romantic-love risk); दया alone (loses distinct nuance, already assigned elsewhere). |
| 13 | gracious | חַנּוּן | channun | अनुग्रहकारी | NEW | High | 4 | Built on the reused अनुग्रह root (baseline “grace”); part of the Exodus 34:6-7 compound confession. |
| 14 | merciful/compassionate | רַחוּם | rachum | दयालु | NEW | Medium | 4 | Reuses दया root per baseline “mercy” entry. |
| 15 | slow to anger | אֶרֶך אַפַּיִם | erech appayim | विलम्ब से क्रोध करनेवाला | NEW | Medium | 4 | |
| 16 | abundant in steadfast love | רַב־חֶסֶד | rav-chesed | करुणा-प्रेम में महान | NEW | High | 4 | Superlative of #12; keep consistent. |
| 17 | should I not have pity/have compassion? | הֲלֹא אָחוּס | halo achus | क्या मैं तरस न खाऊँ? | NEW | Critical | 4 | The book’s climactic rhetorical question; retain question form, do not flatten to statement. |
| 18 | fierce/burning anger (of God) | חֲרוֹן אַף | charon af | भड़कता हुआ क्रोध | REUSED (baseline “wrath_of_god” क्रोध root) | High | 3 | Righteous, judicial, turnable anger — not personal vindictiveness. |
| 19 | perish | אָבַד | avad | नाश होना | NEW | Medium | 3 | |
| 20 | violence (in their hands) | חָמָס | chamas | हिंसा | NEW | Medium | 3 | Concrete social sin repented of, not vague guilt. |
| 21 | vain/worthless idols | הַבְלֵי־שָׁוְא | havlei-shav | व्यर्थ मूर्तियाँ | REUSED (baseline “idolatry” मूर्तिपूजा family) | High | 2 | |
| 22 | salvation belongs to the LORD | יְשׁוּעָה (of YHWH) | yeshu’ah | उद्धार | REUSED (baseline “salvation,” exact) | Critical | 2 | NEVER मुक्ति/मोक्ष — same absolute baseline prohibition applies to this OT confession. |
Sovereignty of God over Creation
| # | Term | Hebrew/Greek Original | Translit. | Hindi Rendering | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | the LORD hurled (a storm) | הֵטִיל | hetil | (यहोवा ने) चलाई / फेंकी | NEW | High | 1 | Retain active divine subject; do not passivize into an impersonal “storm came.” |
| 24 | great (recurring literary motif) | גָּדוֹל | gadol | बड़ा / महान (context-dependent) | NEW (literary motif flag) | Medium | 1,2,3,4 | Great city, great wind, great fish, great displeasure, great joy — flag the repetition for translator awareness so the pattern is not lost. |
| 25 | God appointed (fish/plant/worm/wind) | וַיְמַן | vayeman | ठहराया / नियुक्त किया | NEW | High | 1,4 | Four occurrences (1:17; 4:6; 4:7; 4:8) — MUST use the identical Hindi verb across all four to preserve this structural sovereignty-over-creation motif. |
| 26 | great fish | דָּג גָּדוֹל | dag gadol | बड़ी मछली | NEW — CRITICAL (typology link) | Critical | 1,2 | Keep as “fish,” never “whale” — matches Hebrew and LXX/Matthew 12:40 κῆτος usage that Jesus applies typologically. |
| 27 | much cattle / many animals | בְּהֵמָה רַבָּה | behemah rabbah | बहुत से पशु | NEW | Low | 3,4 | Inclusio: God’s care and Nineveh’s fast both extend to animals — feeds the Sovereignty/Creation-care doctrine. |
| 28 | cast lots | גּוֹרָלוֹת | goralot | चिट्ठियाँ (डालना) | NEW | Medium | 1 | Distinguish from Hindu astrological/oracular divination in any explanatory note; a one-time act under God’s providential control, not an endorsed ongoing practice. |
Jonah as Sign / Resurrection Typology
| # | Term | Hebrew/Greek Original | Translit. | Hindi Rendering | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | three days and three nights | שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לֵילוֹת | shloshah yamim ushloshah leilot | तीन दिन और तीन रात | NEW — CRITICAL (typology) | Critical | 1,2 | Cited verbatim by Jesus in Matthew 12:40; must never be associated with पुनर्जन्म. Ties directly to the baseline “resurrection” (पुनरुत्थान) entry. |
| 30 | sign (of Jonah) | אוֹת (inferred) / σημεῖον (Matt 12:39-41) | ot / sēmeion | चिन्ह | NEW — CRITICAL (cross-reference term, not in Jonah’s own Hebrew text) | Critical | (cross-ref) | This word does not occur in Jonah itself; it is the NT (Matthew/Luke) term applied retrospectively. Must be clearly flagged in teaching material as a cross-reference, not a direct lexical item of the book. |
| 31 | belly of the fish / belly of Sheol | מְעֵי הַדָּג / בֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל | me’ei hadag / beten she’ol | मछली का पेट / शीओल का पेट | NEW | High | 2 | Death-and-deliverance imagery underlying the typology. |
| 32 | Sheol | שְׁאוֹל | She’ol | शीओल (transliterated) | NEW | Medium | 2 | REJECTED: पाताल-लोक (Hindu mythological underworld cosmology); नरक (NT final-judgment hell). Gloss required on first use. |
| 33 | the fish vomited Jonah onto dry land | וַיָּקֵא | vayaqe | मछली ने…उगल दिया | NEW | Medium | 2 | Narrative enactment of deliverance-from-death; supports the typology doctrine concretely. |
Human Reluctance vs. God’s Universal Love
| # | Term | Hebrew/Greek Original | Translit. | Hindi Rendering | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | flee from the presence of the LORD | וַיִּבְרַח מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה | vayivrach millifnei YHWH | यहोवा की उपस्थिति से भाग गया | NEW | High | 1 | Establishes the book’s central tension. |
| 35 | I am a Hebrew | עִבְרִי אָנֹכִי | ivri anokhi | मैं इब्री हूँ | NEW | Low | 1 | Ironic self-identification to the Gentiles he is avoiding. |
| 36 | it displeased Jonah greatly, and he was angry | וַיֵּרַע…רָעָה גְדוֹלָה וַיִּחַר לוֹ | vayera…ra’ah gedolah vayichar lo | योना को बहुत बुरा लगा, और वह क्रोधित हुआ | NEW | High | 4 | Third distinct nuance of the רעה root-family (subjective displeasure); flag alongside #7-8 for teaching clarity. |
| 37 | better is my death than my life | טוֹב מוֹתִי מֵחַיָּי | tov moti mechayai | मेरे लिये मरना जीने से भला है | NEW | Medium | 4 | Jonah’s emotional extremity, contrasted with God’s patient pedagogy. |
| 38 | who do not know their right hand from their left | לֹא־יָדְעוּ בֵּין־יְמִינוֹ לִשְׁמֹאלוֹ | lo-yad’u bein-yemino lisemolo | अपने दाहिने और बाएँ हाथ का भेद नहीं जानते | NEW | Medium | 4 | Idiom of moral/spiritual innocence; render for meaning, not literally alone. |
Cultural/Ritual Terms
| # | Term | Hebrew/Greek Original | Translit. | Hindi Rendering | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | fast | צוֹם | tsom | उपवास | NEW | Medium | 3 | Distinguish from Hindu व्रत practiced for personal merit/austerity — here a corporate humility-response to received revelation, not a bargaining device. |
| 40 | sackcloth | שַׂק | saq | टाट के वस्त्र | NEW | Low | 3 | |
| 41 | ashes | אֵפֶר | efer | राख | NEW | Low | 3 | |
| 42 | king’s decree | טַעַם | ta’am | राजा का आदेश | NEW | Medium | 3 | |
| 43 | sacrifice (of the sailors, 1:16) | זֶבַח | zevach | बलिदान | NEW | Medium | 1 | Distinguish from Hindu बलि/यज्ञ offered to multiple deities for merit/appeasement — a votive thanksgiving offering to the one true God after deliverance. |
| 44 | vow | נֶדֶר | neder | मन्नत / प्रतिज्ञा | NEW | Medium-High | 1 | Risk: मन्नत strongly evokes the Hindu/folk practice of vowing offerings to a deity at a shrine in exchange for a favor (transactional, forward-looking); the biblical vow here is a grateful response AFTER deliverance already granted. Recommend theologian/native-speaker note distinguishing the two on first use. |
| 45 | holy temple | הֵיכַל קֹדְשְׁךָ | heikhal qodshekha | पवित्र मन्दिर | REUSED (पवित्र exact) | Medium | 2 | मन्दिर is correct here for the literal Jerusalem temple; the baseline caution against मंदिर applies only to mistranslating “church” (ekklesia), not to genuine OT temple references. |
| 46 | Nineveh (proper noun) | נִינְוֵה | Ninveh | नीनवे | NEW (proper noun) | Medium | 1,3,4 | The paradigmatic Gentile “nations” city; doctrinal weight lies in the narrative, not the name itself. |
| 47 | prophet (cross-reference) | נָבִיא / προφήτης (Matt 12:39) | navi / prophētēs | भविष्यद्वक्ता | REUSED (baseline, exact) | Low | (cross-ref) | Jonah’s office, named as such in 2 Kings 14:25 and Matthew 12:39, not within the book of Jonah itself. |
Summary of New Critical/High-Risk Terms Requiring Theologian Review Before Phase 2
- यहोवा (YHWH) — new divine-name distinction from परमेश्वर, load-bearing for the ch.3 name-shift argument.
- दया करके अपना निश्चय बदलना (divine נחם, “relent”) — must never collide with पश्चाताप; documented drift-risk in existing popular Hindi Jonah editions.
- विपत्ति/आपदा vs. बुराई/दुष्टता — the dual-sense רָעָה distinction, essential to Jonah 3:8-10 and 4:1-2.
- करुणा-प्रेम (chesed) — new term extending the baseline grace/mercy family.
- तीन दिन और तीन रात and बड़ी मछली — resurrection-typology anchors tied to Matthew 12:40.
- क्या मैं तरस न खाऊँ? — the book’s climactic compassion-for-the-nations statement.
- मन्नत / प्रतिज्ञा (vow) — cultural-collision risk with transactional Hindu vow-practice.
All entries above should be submitted to translation_memory.json as version-incremented additions pending theologian sign-off, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Parameśvara
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वर, भगवान
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
परमेश्वर (Supreme Lord) is the BSI OV standard. ईश्वर is used in some contexts; both are acceptable but परमेश्वर is preferred for doctrinal precision. भगवान has broad Hindu deity usage — avoid. Inherited from Romans package. In Jonah this renders אֱלֹהִים (Elohim), the generic-but-true divine name used specifically once the narrative turns to Nineveh’s own response (3:5,8-10) and to the sailors’ partial address to God (1:6,16) — must be kept lexically distinct from यहोवा (see yhwh_lord, new Jonah entry) throughout chapters 1, 3, and 4.
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: Prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: स्वामी, ईश्वर
Established term. In Romans 10:9 the confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ = यीशु प्रभु है. Must convey exclusive, supreme Lordship; add context notes distinguishing from Hindu deity usage. Inherited from Romans package. Not used directly to translate any Hebrew term in Jonah’s OT text (which uses יְהוָה, rendered यहोवा — see yhwh_lord), but retained here as a fencing reference: प्रभु (NT Kyrios) must never be conflated with यहोवा (OT covenant name) or परमेश्वर (Elohim) when Jonah materials are cross-referenced against NT Christology curricula in this Language Package.
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhāra
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, छुटकारा
CRITICAL: NEVER use मुक्ति or मोक्ष — these carry Hindu liberation from samsara meaning. उद्धार = deliverance by God through Christ. छुटकारा may be used for ‘redemption’ in specific contexts. Inherited from Romans package. Governs Jonah 2:9’s climactic confession ‘salvation belongs to the LORD’ (see salvation_belongs_to_lord, new Jonah entry) — the same absolute prohibition applies with full force to this OT confession, since Jonah’s own deliverance from the fish is itself a type of salvation-by-God-alone.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: पुनरुत्थान
Transliteration: punaruttāna
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म, पुनर्जीवन
CRITICAL: NEVER use पुनर्जन्म (reincarnation). पुनरुत्थान = bodily resurrection, once-for-all. Always distinguish from Hindu/Buddhist reincarnation cycle in notes. Inherited from Romans package. Governs the doctrine of Jonah as a Sign Foreshadowing Christ’s Resurrection: Jonah’s own three-days-in-the-fish experience (see three_days_three_nights, great_fish, new Jonah entries) was a rescue/deliverance, NOT itself a resurrection — it typologically prefigures Christ’s actual, historical, bodily पुनरुत्थान and must never be described using पुनर्जन्म-adjacent ‘return from death’ phrasing on either end of the typology.
Yhwh Lord
Approved rendering: यहोवा
Transliteration: Yahowā
Doctrine: The Covenant Name and the Universal God
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वर (would erase the deliberate name-shift the Hebrew signals), प्रभु (baseline NT Kyrios rendering, distinct register)
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW. The covenant, personal name of Israel’s God (Jonah 1:1,3,9,14,16; 3:1,3). Jonah 3 deliberately alternates יְהוָה (Jonah’s own commissioning, 3:1,3) and אֱלֹהִים (Nineveh’s response, 3:5,8-10) to signal that the God with a personal covenant name is the same God the nations may call on by the generic name. यहोवा must never be conflated with परमेश्वर (Elohim) or प्रभु (NT Kyrios) — collapsing either distinction erases the chapter’s central name-shift argument and could be misread as implying two different deities. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Believed God
Approved rendering: विश्वास किया
Transliteration: viśvāsa kiyā
Doctrine: God’s Compassion for the Nations
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, आस्था, भरोसा
Original: אָמַן (Hiphil, וַיַּאֲמִינוּ)
Category: Faith
NEW (reuses baseline विश्वास root exactly). Jonah 3:5. The Ninevites’ trusting response to God’s proclaimed word, without prior covenant privilege — the OT’s clearest single-verse anticipation of Gentile faith. The object of faith (परमेश्वर) must remain explicit in the Hindi clause: ‘नीनवे के लोगों ने परमेश्वर पर विश्वास किया,’ so this is not read as generic religious credulity or devotional śraddhā.
Divine Relenting
Approved rendering: दया करके अपना निश्चय बदलना
Transliteration: dayā karake apanā niścaya badalanā
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Rejected alternatives: पश्चाताप करना (implies God sinned/regretted moral wrongdoing; a documented drift-risk in existing popular Hindi Jonah editions), मन फिराव (reserved exclusively for human turning from sin)
Original: נִחַם / יִנָּחֶם (Niphal)
Category: God
NEW — CRITICAL COINAGE. Jonah 3:9, 3:10, 4:2 (Niphal of נחם). God’s compassionate change of a previously announced course of action in response to genuine repentance — NOT moral repentance from sin. Must never be rendered with vocabulary implying God sinned, erred, or morally repented. Mandatory theologian review on every occurrence; this is the single highest-priority forbidden-substitution rule new to this book.
Should I Not Have Pity
Approved rendering: क्या मैं तरस न खाऊँ?
Transliteration: kyā maiṃ tarasa na khāūṃ?
Doctrine: God’s Compassion for the Nations
Rejected alternatives: एक कथन के रूप में रखना (flattening to a statement, loses the rhetorical/apologetic force)
Original: הֲלֹא אָחוּס עַל־נִינְוֵה
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 4:10-11. God’s closing rhetorical question defending the moral rightness of his compassion for Nineveh’s population and animals — the book’s theological climax. तरस खाना is a natural, warm Hindi idiom; the rhetorical-question form must be retained and must not be softened into mere sentiment.
Salvation Belongs To Lord
Approved rendering: उद्धार यहोवा की ओर से है
Transliteration: uddhāra Yahowā kī ora se hai
Doctrine: Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance from Death
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष
Original: יְשׁוּעָה (לַיהוָה הַיְשׁוּעָה)
Category: Salvation
NEW (reuses baseline उद्धार exactly). Jonah 2:9. Jonah’s climactic prayer-confession that deliverance is entirely God’s sovereign act, not something achieved by human effort or ritual. The same absolute baseline prohibition against मुक्ति/मोक्ष applies with full force to this OT confession.
Great Fish
Approved rendering: बड़ी मछली
Transliteration: baṛī machalī
Doctrine: Jonah as a Sign Foreshadowing Christ’s Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: व्हेल (whale — a well-established but incorrect popular Hindi drift, absent from both the Hebrew דָּג and the LXX/Matthew 12:40 κῆτος)
Original: דָּג גָּדוֹל
Category: Christology
NEW — CRITICAL. Jonah 1:17. The large sea creature God appoints to swallow Jonah, later cited by Jesus as the pattern for his own three days in the grave (Matthew 12:40). Keep as ‘fish,’ never ‘whale’ — substituting a species-specific creature-word would weaken the direct textual link to the resurrection-typology doctrine.
Three Days Three Nights
Approved rendering: तीन दिन और तीन रात
Transliteration: tīna dina aura tīna rāta
Doctrine: Jonah as a Sign Foreshadowing Christ’s Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: ‘पुराना जीवन मरकर नया जीवन पाना’ शैली का पुनर्जन्म-सुझावदायक वाक्यांश (any ‘old life dies, new life begins’ phrasing suggestive of reincarnation)
Original: שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וּשְׁלֹשָׁה לֵילוֹת
Category: Christology
NEW — CRITICAL. Jonah 1:17. The fixed period of Jonah’s confinement inside the fish, cited verbatim by Jesus in Matthew 12:40 as the pattern for his own three days in the grave before resurrection. Must be worded identically wherever it recurs in study materials referencing Matthew 12:40; never associated with पुनर्जन्म. Mandatory theologian review; cross-curriculum shared-citation verbatim-match rule applies.
Sign Of Jonah
Approved rendering: चिन्ह
Transliteration: cinha
Doctrine: Jonah as a Sign Foreshadowing Christ’s Resurrection
Original: σημεῖον Ἰωνᾶ (Matthew 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32)
Category: Christology
NEW — CRITICAL cross-reference term. Matthew 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32. Jesus’ own retrospective naming of Jonah’s fish-experience as a prophetic sign of his coming death and resurrection. This word does not occur within Jonah’s Hebrew text itself; must be clearly flagged in teaching material as a cross-reference to Matthew/Luke, not a direct lexical item of the book of Jonah, to avoid readers assuming Jonah’s own text names itself a ‘sign.‘
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: viśvāsa
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, आस्था, भरोसा
Trust in a specific person (Christ/God); not generalized religious devotion. Object of faith must always be specified in context. Distinguish from Hindu śraddhā. Inherited from Romans package. Used in Jonah 3:5, ‘the people of Nineveh believed God’ (see believed_god, new Jonah entry, for the specific compound rendering with explicit object).
Repentance
Approved rendering: मन फिराव
Transliteration: mana phirāva
Doctrine: Repentance
Rejected alternatives: पश्चाताप
Turning of the whole mind/life toward God, not merely feeling remorse (पश्चाताप) or performing penance. Inherited from Romans package. Used in Jonah 3:8,10 for Nineveh’s human turning from evil (see turn_from_evil_way, new Jonah entry); reserved EXCLUSIVELY for human repentance from sin — never for God’s own action in 3:9-10 and 4:2, which requires the distinct new entry divine_relenting.
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: pāpa
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म, अशुद्धता
Moral transgression before a personal God. Distinguish from ritual impurity (अशुद्धता) and bad karma. Inherited from Romans package. Underlies Nineveh’s ‘wickedness’ named in Jonah 1:2 and the moral-evil sense of רָעָה repented of in 3:8,10 (see moral_evil, new Jonah entry, for the specific contextual rendering).
Holy
Approved rendering: पवित्र
Transliteration: pavitra
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: शुद्ध, निर्मल
पवित्र = set apart for God; morally pure. शुद्ध has ritual purity connotations. Use पवित्र consistently. Inherited from Romans package. Used in Jonah 2:4,7 for ‘your holy temple’ (see holy_temple, new Jonah entry) — पवित्र reused exactly; मन्दिर is correct here for the literal Jerusalem temple, distinct from the baseline’s caution against मंदिर which applies only to mistranslating ‘church’ (ekklesia).
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का क्रोध
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā krodha
Doctrine: Judgment
Rejected alternatives: बदला
Romans 1:18. God’s settled, righteous judgment against sin; never personal revenge (बदला) or capricious anger. Inherited from Romans package. क्रोध root reused in Jonah 3:9 and 4:2 for חֲרוֹן אַף, ‘fierce/burning anger’ (see fierce_anger_of_god, new Jonah entry) — Jonah’s context uniquely stresses that this wrath is explicitly turnable in response to genuine repentance, without becoming personal vindictiveness.
Idolatry
Approved rendering: मूर्तिपूजा
Transliteration: mūrtipūjā
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Romans 1:23. Direct term; handle pastorally in Hindu-background contexts but do not soften the biblical claim. Inherited from Romans package. Family reused in Jonah 2:8, ‘those who regard vain idols forsake their hope of chesed’ (see vain_idols, new Jonah entry).
Works Of The Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था के काम
Transliteration: vyavasthā ke kāma
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: कर्म
NEVER कर्म for ‘works’ — karma imports merit-accumulation cosmology. काम preserves the grace-vs-works contrast of Romans 3-4 and 11:5-6. Inherited from Romans package. The underlying काम/कर्म principle governs Jonah 3:10’s ‘God saw their works/deeds’ (see god_saw_their_works, new Jonah entry): Nineveh’s deeds are evidences of a turned heart, never merit-accumulating works purchasing God’s favor.
Providence
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का विधान
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā vidhāna
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, कर्म का नियम
God’s personal, purposive governance. Never use भाग्य (fate) or karma language. Inherited from Romans package. Directly relevant to Jonah’s Sovereignty of God over Creation doctrine: the storm (1:4), the fish/plant/worm/wind (1:17; 4:6-8), and the casting of lots (1:7) are all instruments of this personal providence, never impersonal fate.
Sovereignty
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर की संप्रभुता
Transliteration: Parameśvara kī samprabhutā
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, नियति
Spelling adjudicated v2 in the Romans package (anusvara form). God’s personal rule; never impersonal fate/karma. Inherited from Romans package. Names the doctrinal category ‘The Sovereignty of God over Creation’ central to Jonah 1, 1:17, and 4:6-11; must never collide with Hindu domain-deity (Varuna/waters, Vayu/wind) or Prakriti-as-divine readings — see lord_hurled and god_appointed, new Jonah entries.
Predestination
Approved rendering: पहले से ठहराया जाना
Transliteration: pahale se ṭhaharāyā jānā
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, नियति, किस्मत
Romans 8:29-30. God’s personal, purposive appointing; never fate/destiny/karma language. Inherited from Romans package. The verb root ठहराया is reused for Jonah’s fourfold divine ‘appointed’ motif (see god_appointed, new Jonah entry) — God appointing the fish (1:17), the plant (4:6), the worm (4:7), and the wind (4:8) as one consistent literary and theological pattern of sovereign, purposive command.
Creator
Approved rendering: सृजनहार
Transliteration: sṛjanahāra
Doctrine: Creation
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्मा
Romans 1:25. Never Hindu creator-deity names. सृजनहार is the established Hindi Christian form. Inherited from Romans package. Background concept for the Sovereignty of God over Creation doctrine in Jonah; God’s total command over sea, storm, fish, plant, worm, wind, and animal life throughout the book presupposes this Creator identity, though the word itself is not directly used to translate a specific Jonah verse.
Covenant
Approved rendering: वाचा
Transliteration: vācā
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: अनुबंध, समझौता
Relational covenant bond; more than a legal contract. Established in BSI OV. Inherited from Romans package. Background concept for the doctrine ‘The Covenant Name and the Universal God’: יְהוָה (see yhwh_lord, new Jonah entry) is specifically God’s covenant name, distinguished from the generic-but-true אֱלֹהִים used once the narrative turns toward Gentile Nineveh.
Grace
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, दया, वरदान, भाग्य, कर्म-फल, पुण्य
Must convey unmerited favor apart from any human merit. Directly counters karma worldview. कृपा may be used for mercy/compassion in non-grace contexts only. Inherited from Romans package. Root reused as the base for gracious_channun (new Jonah entry, 4:2, अनुग्रहकारी), part of Jonah’s compressed quotation of Exodus 34:6-7 describing God’s disposition to favor a Gentile enemy city apart from any merit of its own.
Word Of The Lord
Approved rendering: यहोवा का वचन
Transliteration: Yahowā kā vacana
Doctrine: Prophetic Commission and the Word of God
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वर का वचन (loses the covenant-name specificity that is always present with this phrase in Jonah)
Original: דְּבַר־יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 1:1; 3:1. The prophetic word-event; a fresh, sovereign divine commissioning delivered directly to a prophet, not a written text. Always occurs with the covenant name in Jonah. God’s willingness to recommission Jonah ‘a second time’ (3:1) after his flight is itself an enacted picture of the mercy the book will show toward Nineveh.
Lord God Of Heaven
Approved rendering: यहोवा, आकाश का परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Yahowā, ākāśa kā Parameśvara
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Original: יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 1:9. A universalizing divine title Jonah uses when confessing his God to the Gentile sailors, emphasizing cosmic lordship rather than a narrowly national title. Render as a single unified confession, not two separate divine references; reinforces both Sovereignty over Creation and Compassion for the Nations simultaneously.
Exceedingly Great City
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर के लिए अति बड़ा नगर
Transliteration: Parameśvara ke lie ati baṛā nagara
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Rejected alternatives: एक बहुत बड़ा नगर (flattens the Hebrew superlative idiom)
Original: עִיר־גְּדוֹלָה לֵאלֹהִים
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 3:3. A Hebrew idiom of superlative intensity (‘a city great to God’) describing Nineveh’s vast size, using אֱלֹהִים as an intensifier precisely at the narrative’s pivot toward the Gentile city. Must retain अति/असाधारण rather than flattening into an ordinary ‘very great,’ and must use परमेश्वर here (not यहोवा), preserving the divine-name shift the Hebrew signals.
Turn From Evil Way
Approved rendering: अपनी बुरी चाल से मन फिराना
Transliteration: apanī burī cāla se mana phirānā
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Rejected alternatives: पश्चाताप करना (regret-only, insufficient for the relational turning intended)
Original: שׁוּב מִדַּרְכּוֹ הָרָעָה
Category: Repentance
NEW (reuses the baseline मन फिराव verb-form exactly). Jonah 3:8,10. The moral-evil sense of רָעָה must be kept lexically distinct from the calamity sense (see calamity_disaster) — Jonah 3:10 places both senses side by side in a single verse, the strongest data-point in the book for why the distinction is essential.
Moral Evil
Approved rendering: बुराई / दुष्टता
Transliteration: burāī / duṣṭatā
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Rejected alternatives: विपत्ति/आपदा (must never merge with the calamity sense)
Original: רָעָה (moral sense)
Category: Sin
NEW. Wickedness/moral wrongdoing — Nineveh’s sin named in 1:2 and repented of in 3:8,10. Must be lexically distinguished in Hindi from the calamity/disaster sense of the same Hebrew word רָעָה (see calamity_disaster).
Calamity Disaster
Approved rendering: विपत्ति / आपदा
Transliteration: vipatti / āpadā
Doctrine: Divine Judgment and Warning
Rejected alternatives: बुराई/दुष्टता (moral-evil sense, must never merge with this calamity sense)
Original: רָעָה (calamity sense)
Category: Judgment
NEW. The announced judgment/disaster (the 40-day overthrow of 3:4) that God relents from bringing (3:10; cf. 4:2). Must never be rendered with the same Hindi word used for moral_evil, or ‘God relented of the disaster’ (3:10) risks being misread as God relenting of moral wrongdoing, colliding with his impeccability.
God Saw Their Works
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर ने उनके काम देखे
Transliteration: Parameśvara ne unake kāma dekhe
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Rejected alternatives: कर्म (karma-merit-accumulation connotation forbidden)
Original: וַיַּרְא הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם
Category: Repentance
NEW. Jonah 3:10. God’s discerning attention to Nineveh’s genuine, demonstrated moral change, which triggers his relenting. Use काम/कार्य for ‘works/deeds,’ never कर्म, per the baseline works_of_the_law prohibition — these are visible fruits of a turned heart, not merit-accumulating deeds purchasing God’s favor.
Steadfast Love Chesed
Approved rendering: करुणा-प्रेम
Transliteration: karuṇā-prema
Doctrine: God’s Compassion for the Nations
Rejected alternatives: प्रेम अकेले (too easily read as romantic/bhakti-devotional love), दया अकेले (already reserved by the baseline for compassion/eleos)
Original: חֶסֶד
Category: God
NEW COINAGE. Jonah 2:8; foundational to 4:2. God’s (or derivatively a person’s) faithful, committed, covenant-bound love — broader and more relational than either grace (unmerited favor toward the guilty) or mercy (compassion toward the miserable). Theologian review recommended for consistency wherever chesed recurs.
Gracious Channun
Approved rendering: अनुग्रहकारी
Transliteration: anugrahakārī
Doctrine: God’s Self-Revealed Character (Exodus 34:6-7 Confession)
Rejected alternatives: कृपालु (acceptable only as a secondary descriptive gloss, not the primary rendering)
Original: חַנּוּן
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 4:2. God’s disposition to give favor freely, apart from merit — part of the Exodus 34:6-7 self-revelation Jonah quotes. Built on the reused अनुग्रह root from the baseline grace entry, keeping the grace-doctrine link visible even though this is an adjective describing divine character, here explicitly extended to a Gentile enemy city.
Abundant Steadfast Love
Approved rendering: करुणा-प्रेम में महान
Transliteration: karuṇā-prema meṃ mahāna
Doctrine: God’s Self-Revealed Character (Exodus 34:6-7 Confession)
Original: רַב־חֶסֶד
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 4:2. Superlative form of chesed — God’s covenant-love is not rationed but abundant, extended even to a Gentile enemy nation. Must remain consistent with steadfast_love_chesed so the connection between 2:8 and 4:2 stays visible.
Fierce Anger Of God
Approved rendering: भड़कता हुआ क्रोध
Transliteration: bhaṛakatā huā krodha
Doctrine: Divine Judgment and Warning
Rejected alternatives: बदला (personal revenge, rejected per the baseline wrath_of_god entry)
Original: חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ / חֲרוֹן אַף
Category: Judgment
NEW (extends baseline क्रोध root). Jonah 3:9; 4:2. God’s intense but bounded, turnable, righteous judicial anger against sin — not personal vindictiveness or capricious rage. Jonah’s context uniquely stresses that this wrath is explicitly turnable in response to genuine repentance.
Vain Idols
Approved rendering: व्यर्थ मूर्तियाँ
Transliteration: vyartha mūrtiyāṃ
Doctrine: Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance from Death
Original: הַבְלֵי־שָׁוְא
Category: Sin
NEW (reuses baseline मूर्तिपूजा family). Jonah 2:8. Worthless idols whose devotees, per Jonah’s prayer, forfeit access to God’s chesed. Handle pastorally for Hindu-background readers but do not soften the biblical claim.
Lord Hurled
Approved rendering: यहोवा ने आँधी चलाई
Transliteration: Yahowā ne āṃdhī calāī
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Rejected alternatives: आँधी आई (passivized, erases the personal divine causation)
Original: וַיהוָה הִטִּיל
Category: Creation
NEW. Jonah 1:4. God’s direct, personal causation of the storm that overtakes Jonah’s ship. Retain an active divine subject in Hindi; passivizing opens the door to a polytheistic domain-deity or impersonal-nature misreading.
God Appointed
Approved rendering: ठहराया / नियुक्त किया
Transliteration: ṭhaharāyā / niyukta kiyā
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Rejected alternatives: भेजा, बनाया, रखा (varying synonyms across occurrences would obscure the deliberate structural motif)
Original: וַיְמַן
Category: Creation
NEW (verb root shared with baseline predestination entry). Jonah 1:17; 4:6; 4:7; 4:8. God’s sovereign designation of the fish, the plant, the worm, and the wind — four occurrences of the same verb spanning sea, vegetation, small creature, and atmosphere. MUST use the identical Hindi verb across all four occurrences to preserve this deliberate structural sovereignty-over-creation motif.
Belly Of Fish Sheol
Approved rendering: मछली का पेट / शीओल का पेट
Transliteration: machalī kā peṭa / Śīola kā peṭa
Doctrine: Jonah as a Sign Foreshadowing Christ’s Resurrection
Original: מְעֵי הַדָּג / בֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל
Category: Christology
NEW. Jonah 2:2. Jonah’s poetic description of his confinement inside the fish as death itself, using בֶּטֶן (‘belly’) metaphorically extended to the realm of the dead. This death-and-deliverance imagery underlies the resurrection-typology doctrine even before Christ’s own citation of it.
Flee From Presence Of Lord
Approved rendering: यहोवा की उपस्थिति से भाग गया
Transliteration: Yahowā kī upasthiti se bhāga gayā
Doctrine: Human Reluctance versus God’s Universal Love
Original: וַיִּבְרַח מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Jonah 1:3. Jonah’s attempted escape from his specific divine commission to preach mercy to Nineveh, not a literal denial of God’s omnipresence. Establishes the book’s central tension; यहोवा must be used here (not परमेश्वर), since this is Jonah fleeing his specific covenant-relational commissioner.
Jonah Displeased Angry
Approved rendering: योना को बहुत बुरा लगा, और वह क्रोधित हुआ
Transliteration: Yonā ko bahuta burā lagā, aura vaha krodhita huā
Doctrine: Human Reluctance versus God’s Universal Love
Original: וַיֵּרַע אֶל־יוֹנָה רָעָה גְדוֹלָה וַיִּחַר לוֹ
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Jonah 4:1. Jonah’s own subjective displeasure and anger at God’s mercy toward Nineveh — a third distinct nuance of the רעה word-family, alongside the moral-evil (moral_evil) and calamity (calamity_disaster) senses tracked in chapter 3. Must be flagged for teaching clarity so the three senses are not conflated across the book.
Vow
Approved rendering: मन्नत / प्रतिज्ञा
Transliteration: mannata / pratijñā
Doctrine: Gentile Worship Response to God’s Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: मन्नत अकेले, बिना स्पष्टीकरण-टिप्पणी के (मन्नत used alone without an explanatory note, risking the transactional shrine-vow reading)
Original: נֶדֶר
Category: Worship
NEW. Jonah 1:16. A vow made by the sailors to the LORD after their deliverance, a grateful response after the fact rather than a bargaining device. मन्नत strongly evokes the Hindu/folk practice of vowing offerings to a deity IN EXCHANGE FOR a future favor — the reverse direction from this text. A theologian/native-speaker note distinguishing the two is required on first use; प्रतिज्ञा may be used as a secondary gloss to reduce the transactional connotation.
Overthrown
Approved rendering: उलट दी जाएगी
Transliteration: ulaṭa dī jāegī
Doctrine: Divine Judgment and Warning
Rejected alternatives: नष्ट हो जाएगी (generic destruction verb, loses the deliberate Sodom/Gomorrah allusion)
Original: נֶהְפָּכֶת
Category: Judgment
NEW. Jonah 3:4. The announced judgment on Nineveh, using the identical Hebrew verb-root (הָפַךְ) applied to Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction (Genesis 19:25). Preferred over a generic rendering because it preserves the ‘overturning’ root and its allusion, making Nineveh’s repentance and God’s relenting (3:10) more startling since Sodom was not spared.
Medium Risk Terms
Mercy
Approved rendering: दया
Transliteration: dayā
Doctrine: Mercy of God
Kept distinct from अनुग्रह (grace, unmerited favor). दया = compassion toward the miserable. Inherited from Romans package. Root reused for merciful_rachum (new Jonah entry, 4:2) and for the compound term should_i_not_have_pity’s तरस खाना idiom (4:11); kept distinct from करुणा-प्रेम (chesed, new Jonah entry), which names covenant-committed love rather than simple compassion.
Pagan God
Approved rendering: देवता
Transliteration: devatā
Doctrine: God’s Compassion for the Nations
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वर, यहोवा
Original: אֱלֹהָיו
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 1:5. The false, lower-case gods of the pagan sailors, invoked in contrast to the one true God. Reserved exclusively for false/pagan deities; never परमेश्वर or यहोवा, preserving the true-God/false-gods contrast that frames the doctrine of God’s Compassion for the Nations from the human side.
Who Knows
Approved rendering: कौन जानता है
Transliteration: kauna jānatā hai
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Rejected alternatives: किसे पता, भाग्य में क्या है (fatalistic idiom, forbidden)
Original: מִי יוֹדֵעַ
Category: Providence
NEW. Jonah 3:9. The king of Nineveh’s rhetorical marker of humble hope in God’s freedom to relent, not despairing doubt. Risk of a fatalistic/karma-flavored misreading if rendered loosely; must read as humble appeal to God’s free, personal character (developed explicitly in 4:2), never resignation to impersonal fate.
Merciful Rachum
Approved rendering: दयालु
Transliteration: dayālu
Doctrine: God’s Self-Revealed Character (Exodus 34:6-7 Confession)
Original: רַחוּם
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 4:2. God’s tender compassion toward the suffering and undeserving; pairs with חַנּוּן as twin core divine attributes. Reuses the दया root from the baseline mercy entry for consistency.
Slow To Anger
Approved rendering: विलम्ब से क्रोध करनेवाला
Transliteration: vilamba se krodha karanevālā
Doctrine: God’s Self-Revealed Character (Exodus 34:6-7 Confession)
Original: אֶרֶך אַפַּיִם
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 4:2. God’s patient forbearance before judgment falls — the attribute that explains why the 40-day window (3:4) was given at all.
Perish
Approved rendering: नाश होना
Transliteration: nāśa honā
Doctrine: Divine Judgment and Warning
Original: אָבַד
Category: Judgment
NEW. Jonah 3:9. To be lost or destroyed under God’s judgment; the king’s stated goal in repenting is deliverance from this real judgment, not mere ritual correctness.
Violence
Approved rendering: हिंसा
Transliteration: hiṃsā
Doctrine: The Concrete Moral Specificity of Repentance
Original: חָמָס
Category: Sin
NEW. Jonah 3:8. Violent injustice and bloodshed (חָמָס) — the concrete social sin the Ninevites turn from, consistent with Assyria’s historical reputation for cruelty. Grounds ‘turning from evil’ in concrete ethical wrongdoing rather than vague ritual guilt.
Great Motif
Approved rendering: बड़ा / महान
Transliteration: baṛā / mahāna
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Original: גָּדוֹל
Category: Creation
NEW (literary-motif flag). A recurring literary motif — great city (1:2; 3:2-3), great wind (1:4), great fish (1:17), great displeasure (4:1), great joy (4:6) — underscoring that nothing ‘great’ in creation or history escapes God’s sovereign reach. Recommend consistent बड़ा/महान across the book; flag the repetition so the pattern is not lost through varied synonyms.
Cast Lots
Approved rendering: चिट्ठियाँ डालना
Transliteration: ciṭṭhiyāṃ ḍālanā
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Original: גּוֹרָלוֹת
Category: Creation
NEW. Jonah 1:7. A common ANE divinatory practice the sailors use to identify who is responsible for the storm, which God sovereignly uses to expose Jonah. Add a brief explanatory note distinguishing this from Hindu astrological/oracular divination practices — a one-time event under God’s providential control, not an endorsed ongoing practice.
Sheol
Approved rendering: शीओल
Transliteration: Śīola
Doctrine: Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance from Death
Rejected alternatives: पाताल-लोक (imports Hindu cosmological-underworld connotations), नरक (imports NT final-judgment ‘hell’ connotations not present in this OT term)
Original: שְׁאוֹל
Category: Christology
NEW. Jonah 2:2. The Old Testament realm/abode of the dead, invoked in Jonah’s prayer as the place from which he is rescued. Transliterate with a gloss on first use, so that Jonah’s rescue ‘from Sheol’ is read as prefiguring Christ’s actual resurrection from real death, not a journey through a mythological underworld.
Fish Vomited
Approved rendering: मछली ने योना को सूखी भूमि पर उगल दिया
Transliteration: machalī ne Yonā ko sūkhī bhūmi para ugala diyā
Doctrine: Jonah as a Sign Foreshadowing Christ’s Resurrection
Original: וַיָּקֵא אֶת־יוֹנָה
Category: Christology
NEW. Jonah 2:10. The fish’s expulsion of Jonah onto dry land — a decisive, visible, complete deliverance. Supports the resurrection-typology doctrine narratively, not merely verbally; render as a vivid, ordinary narrative verb with no ritual connotation.
Better Death Than Life
Approved rendering: मेरे लिये मरना जीने से भला है
Transliteration: mere liye maranā jīne se bhalā hai
Doctrine: Human Reluctance versus God’s Universal Love
Original: טוֹב מוֹתִי מֵחַיָּי
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Jonah 4:3,8. Jonah’s expression of suicidal despair/exasperation at God’s mercy toward Nineveh. Frames Jonah’s emotional extremity, contrasted with God’s patient, pedagogical response rather than rebuke or abandonment.
Right Hand Left Hand
Approved rendering: अपने दाहिने और बाएँ हाथ का भेद नहीं जानते
Transliteration: apane dāhine aura bāeṃ hātha kā bheda nahīṃ jānate
Doctrine: God’s Compassion for the Nations
Original: לֹא־יָדְעוּ בֵּין־יְמִינוֹ לִשְׁמֹאלוֹ
Category: God
NEW. Jonah 4:11. An idiom for moral/spiritual innocence or ignorance describing Nineveh’s population in God’s closing appeal. Render for the idiom’s meaning with a footnote gloss; a literal rendering alone risks being read as a claim about physical confusion rather than moral/spiritual immaturity.
Fast Tsom
Approved rendering: उपवास
Transliteration: upavāsa
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Original: צוֹם
Category: Worship
NEW. Jonah 3:5,7. A public, corporate act of humility and abstention from food, accompanying (not replacing) the Ninevites’ inward turning from evil. Distinguish from Hindu व्रत/उपवास practiced for personal merit, austerity, or to influence a deity transactionally — here it is a corporate response of humility to a word already received.
Kings Decree
Approved rendering: राजा का आदेश
Transliteration: rājā kā ādeśa
Doctrine: God’s Care for Non-Human Creation
Original: טַעַם
Category: Worship
NEW. Jonah 3:7. The official royal proclamation by which the king of Nineveh enforces corporate repentance and fasting across the whole city, including its animals. The animal-inclusive scope is theologically load-bearing for the Sovereignty/Creation-care doctrine and must not be trimmed as mere stylistic flourish.
Sacrifice Sailors
Approved rendering: बलिदान
Transliteration: balidāna
Doctrine: Gentile Worship Response to God’s Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: बलि/यज्ञ (multi-deity merit-accumulation or appeasement connotation)
Original: זֶבַח
Category: Worship
NEW. Jonah 1:16. The votive offering the pagan sailors make to the LORD after their deliverance from the storm. Distinguish from Hindu बलि/यज्ञ offered to multiple deities for merit or appeasement — this is a grateful, votive thanksgiving offering to the one true God after deliverance already granted.
Holy Temple
Approved rendering: पवित्र मन्दिर
Transliteration: pavitra mandira
Doctrine: Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance from Death
Original: הֵיכַל קֹדְשְׁךָ
Category: Worship
NEW (reuses baseline पवित्र exactly). Jonah 2:4,7. The Jerusalem temple, God’s dwelling-place and the direction of Jonah’s prayer even in extremity. मन्दिर is the correct standard term for the literal Jerusalem temple here; the baseline’s caution against मंदिर applies only to mistranslating ‘church’ (ekklesia), not to genuine OT temple references.
Nineveh
Approved rendering: नीनवे
Transliteration: Nīnave
Doctrine: God’s Compassion for the Nations
Original: נִינְוֵה
Category: Covenant
NEW (proper noun). Jonah 1:2; 3:2-7; 4:11. The Assyrian capital city, the paradigmatic Gentile ‘nations’ city and Israel’s historic enemy — central to the doctrine of God’s Compassion for the Nations. Doctrinal weight lies in the narrative outcome (repentance and mercy), not in the word itself. Use consistently across all four chapters.
Proclamation
Approved rendering: उद्घोषणा
Transliteration: udghoṣaṇā
Doctrine: Prophetic Commission and the Word of God
Rejected alternatives: बात (too casual, loses prophetic authority register)
Original: הַקְּרִיאָה
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Jonah 3:2. God’s dictated message that Jonah is commanded to proclaim to Nineveh — not Jonah’s own editorial content. Prefer उद्घोषणा (formal proclamation) to keep register elevated, preserving prophetic authority: the content of judgment is God’s own, not the prophet’s personal choice.
Low Risk Terms
Prophet
Approved rendering: भविष्यद्वक्ता
Transliteration: bhaviṣyadvaktā
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: ज्योतिषी
Original: נָבִיא / προφήτης
Category: Prophecy
God’s spokesperson; do not confuse with astrologer/fortune-teller. Use नबी (nabi) for OT prophets in informal/note contexts. Inherited from Romans package. Jonah’s office is named as such only outside the book itself (2 Kings 14:25; Matthew 12:39) — a cross-reference term, not found within Jonah’s own Hebrew text; flag this distinction in any teaching material.
Amen
Approved rendering: आमीन
Transliteration: āmīna
Doctrine: Worship
Galatians 1:5; 6:18. Transliterated per the Language Package’s established baseline transliteration standard; no translation risk. Inherited from Romans package. Not present in Jonah’s own text; retained here only for consistency should any Jonah teaching/doxological framing material require it.
Much Cattle
Approved rendering: बहुत से पशु
Transliteration: bahuta se paśu
Doctrine: God’s Care for Non-Human Creation
Original: בְּהֵמָה רַבָּה
Category: Creation
NEW. Jonah 3:7-8; 4:11. The many animals of Nineveh, included in both the city’s fast and God’s closing statement of compassion — an inclusio feeding the Sovereignty/Creation-care doctrine. Must not be trimmed as stylistic excess in teaching paraphrases.
Three Days Journey
Approved rendering: तीन दिन की यात्रा
Transliteration: tīna dina kī yātrā
Doctrine: The Sovereignty of God over Creation
Original: מַהְלַךְ שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים
Category: Creation
NEW. Jonah 3:3. A measurement of Nineveh’s size by three days’ travel-time, establishing the scale of Jonah’s mission field. Distinct from the theologically loaded ‘three days and three nights’ of 1:17/2:1 (see three_days_three_nights) — do not conflate the two; this one is purely a distance-measure with no typological weight.
I Am A Hebrew
Approved rendering: मैं इब्री हूँ
Transliteration: maiṃ Ibrī hūṃ
Doctrine: Human Reluctance versus God’s Universal Love
Original: עִבְרִי אָנֹכִי
Category: Prophecy
NEW. Jonah 1:9. Jonah’s ironic self-identification of his covenant ethnic-religious identity to the Gentile sailors he is fleeing among. No significant translation risk beyond preserving the irony in surrounding narrative framing.
Sackcloth
Approved rendering: टाट के वस्त्र
Transliteration: ṭāṭa ke vastra
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Original: שַׂק / שַׂקִּים
Category: Worship
NEW. Jonah 3:5-6. Coarse mourning/penitential garment worn by the Ninevites and their king as an outward sign of inward humility and dread. Standard rendering; minimal syncretism risk.
Ashes
Approved rendering: राख
Transliteration: rākha
Doctrine: Repentance and Divine Mercy
Original: אֵפֶר
Category: Worship
NEW. Jonah 3:6. Mourning/penitential ash, the posture the king of Nineveh adopts, completing the outward penitential tableau alongside sackcloth.
Forty Days
Approved rendering: चालीस दिन
Transliteration: cālīsa dina
Doctrine: Divine Judgment and Warning
Original: אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם
Category: Judgment
NEW. Jonah 3:4. The stock biblical probationary period announced before judgment, echoing the flood, Sinai, Elijah, and Christ’s wilderness fast. Retain the number literally; signals a genuine but bounded window for repentance, itself an act of mercy preceding judgment.
Referenced passages