Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Numbers (गिनती)
This glossary catalogs every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, organized by the curriculum’s seven named doctrines plus supporting categories. All entries marked [BASELINE] reuse the Romans/Galatians translation_memory.json rendering exactly, per the hard rule that established renderings must not be altered. All other entries are new additions proposed for this curriculum and must be added to translation_memory.json (with version increment) before Phase 2 translation begins, per the 12_ai_translation_requirements.md protocol.
Citation convention: Numbers = गिनती (not a transliteration of “Numbers”), per BSI OV/NV.
1. Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unbelief | अविश्वास | aviśvāsa | High | οὐ πιστεύω (Heb. lo he’emin) | 14:11; cf. 21:5 | [NEW] Built directly on baseline विश्वास (faith). Never render with a term severing the visible lexical link to faith — the antithesis must be audible. |
| grumble / murmur | बुड़बुड़ाना | buṛbuṛānā | High | γογγύζω / καταλαλέω | 11:1; 14:2,27,29,36; 16:11; 21:5 | [NEW] Use consistently across all four chapters so the recurring pattern is visible to the Hindi reader. Do not vary the term chapter to chapter. |
| test God | परीक्षा करना | parīkṣā karanā | Medium | πειράζω | 14:22 | [NEW] Negative sense — repeatedly demanding God re-prove himself. |
| wilderness (generation) | जंगल (की पीढ़ी) | jaṃgala (kī pīṛhī) | Low-Medium | ἔρημος (Heb. midbar) | throughout | [NEW] Established Hindi Bible convention for “wilderness/desert,” though जंगल colloquially suggests “forest” — minor visualization risk, not doctrinal. |
| sin | पाप | pāpa | High | ἁμαρτία | 21:7 et al. | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly. |
2. God’s Patience and Judgment
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| patient / longsuffering | धीरज रखनेवाला | dhīraja rakhanevālā | High | μακρόθυμος | 14:18 | [NEW] Must be taught together with दया से भरपूर (below) and with the same verse’s “does not leave sin unpunished” clause — never isolate either half. |
| abounding in mercy | दया से भरपूर | dayā se bharapūra | High | πολυέλεος | 14:18 | [BASELINE-adjacent] दया reused exactly from baseline mercy entry; भरपूर added as new qualifier. |
| wrath of God | परमेश्वर का क्रोध | Parameśvara kā krodha | High | ὀργή / θυμός | 11:1,10,33; 16:46; 25:3-4 | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly; never बदला (revenge). |
| divine self-oath (“as I live”) | जैसा मैं जीवित हूँ | jaisā maiṃ jīvita hūṃ | Medium-High | ζῶ ἐγώ | 14:21,28 | [NEW] God’s self-referential oath-formula; link to शपथ below. |
| oath | शपथ | śapatha | Medium | ὅρκος | 14:16,21-23,28-30 | [NEW] Distinct from वाचा (covenant) and प्रतिज्ञा (promise) — teach as a related-terms family. |
| plague | महामारी | mahāmārī | Medium | πληγή | 14:37; 16:46-49; 25:8-9,18-19 | [NEW] Must retain explicit divine agency (यहोवा ने भेजी); avoid a purely naturalistic-epidemic reading. |
| leprosy (as discipline) | कोढ़ | koṛha | Medium-High | λέπρα | 12:10-15 | [NEW] Pastoral caution: distinguish from Indian folk-theology karma-affliction causation; this affliction is personal, specific, and reversible through intercession. |
| the LORD (YHWH) | यहोवा | Yahowā | Critical | κύριος (Heb. יהוה) | throughout | [NEW] The covenant proper name of God, distinct from प्रभु (reserved for NT κύριος address of Christ) and परमेश्वर (God’s generic title). Must never read as one deity-name among many, as in the Hindu naming-convention for personal chosen deities (ishta-devata). Mandatory translator’s note on first curriculum occurrence. |
3. The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| serpent | सर्प | sarpa | Critical | ὄφις (Heb. nachash) | 21:4-9 | [NEW] नाग is FORBIDDEN — carries live Hindu sacred-serpent associations (Nag Panchami, temple naga-stones, Shesha/Vasuki). Enforce सर्प without exception. |
| bronze serpent | पीतल का सर्प | pītala kā sarpa | Critical | ὄφις χαλκοῦς (Heb. nechosheth) | 21:8-9; cf. 2 Kings 18:4 | [NEW] Physically identical in form to a common contemporary Hindu devotional object (bronze/brass naga images). Mandatory translator’s note stating both the typological purpose (John 3:14-15) and the historical warning (Israel itself later worshipped this object as “Nehushtan” and it had to be destroyed, 2 Kings 18:4). Theologian review required every occurrence. |
| lifted up (on a pole/standard) | खम्भे पर (लटकाना/टाँगना) | khambhe para (laṭakānā/tāṅganā) | High | σημεῖον / ὑψόω (John 3:14) | 21:8-9 | [NEW] The “raised up” sense must survive translation for the John 3:14-15 typological link to function; do not flatten to a bare “sign” (चिन्ह) without the elevation sense. |
| looked (and lived) | दृष्टि करना / देखना | dṛṣṭi karanā / dekhanā | Critical | ἐπιβλέπω (Heb. hibbit) | 21:9 | [NEW] दर्शन is FORBIDDEN — Hindu darshan-theology holds that visual contact with a deity’s murti itself transacts blessing; this passage’s healing instead flows from obedient trust in God’s spoken word, not from the object’s inherent power or the visual act as ritual. Consistent with the baseline’s existing rejection of दर्शन for “revelation.” Mandatory translator’s note every occurrence; theologian review required. |
| lived | जीवित रहा | jīvita rahā | Medium | ζάω | 21:8-9 | [BASELINE-adjacent] जीवित reused from baseline (जीवित बलिदान entry usage). |
| devoted to destruction (holy-war herem, distinct sense) | सत्यानाश के लिये अर्पित करना | satyānāśa ke liye arpita karanā | High | ἀνάθεμα (Heb. cherem) | 21:2-3 | [NEW] Same Greek word as the baseline Galatians “anathema” (शापित हो) but a distinct technical sense (battlefield city-devotion, not a curse on a person). Must not be rendered identically to शापित हो. |
4. Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| intercession / pray on behalf of | मध्यस्थता (करना) | madhyasthatā (karanā) | High | εὔχομαι / ἔντευξις | 11:2; 12:13; 14:13-19; 16:22,46-48; 21:7 | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly from baseline मध्यस्थता entry. Route every occurrence to theologian review per the doctrine’s designation. |
| atonement (human priestly act) | प्रायश्चित्त | prāyaścitta | Critical | ἐξιλάσκομαι | 16:46-48; 25:13 | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly; extend the baseline’s existing caution — must be taught as real but temporary/typological, anticipatory of and inferior to Christ’s own propitiation (Romans 3:25), never as independent human-secured atonement. |
| zeal (for the LORD) | परमेश्वर के लिये उत्साह | Parameśvara ke liye utsāha | Critical | ζῆλος | 25:11,13 | [BASELINE-adjacent] उत्साह reused from baseline (Romans 10:2/Galatians 1:14); qualifying phrase added per baseline pattern. Must be lexically distinguished from जलन की भेंट (below, marital jealousy). Requires pastoral framing given contemporary sensitivities around religiously-motivated violence; mandatory theologian review with pastoral note. |
| marital jealousy/suspicion (distinct sense) | जलन की भेंट | jalana kī bheṇṭa | Medium | ζηλοτυπία | 5:11-31 | [NEW] Must be kept lexically distinct from परमेश्वर के लिये उत्साह above — different concept despite English “jealousy” covering both. |
| Angel of the LORD | यहोवा का दूत | Yahowā kā dūta | Medium-High | ἄγγελος κυρίου | 22:22-35 | [NEW] Do not flatten to generic स्वर्गदूत (angel); retain divine-name qualifier. Flag for theologian awareness re: possible Christophany reading (not required to be resolved in curriculum text). |
5. Faithfulness of God’s Promises despite Human Failure
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| oath (of the land-promise) | शपथ | śapatha | Medium | ὅρκος | 14:16,21-23,28-30 | [NEW] See entry under doctrine 2; cross-referenced here. |
| covenant | वाचा | vācā | High | διαθήκη | throughout (background) | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly. |
| promise | प्रतिज्ञा | pratijñā | High | ἐπαγγελία | background to land-oath language | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly from Galatians package; never वरदान. |
| inheritance (land) | मीरास / विरासत | mīrās / virāsat | High | κλῆρος / κληρονομία | 26; 27; 32; 34; 36 | [NEW] Culturally significant given Indian patrilineal inheritance custom and son-preference; the Zelophehad narrative’s affirmation of daughters’ inheritance rights (ch. 27, 36) should be flagged for careful native-speaker and theologian review, paralleling the baseline’s flag on Galatians 3:28. |
| redemption price (firstborn) | छुटकारे का दाम | chuṭakāre kā dāma | Medium-High | λύτρον | 3:44-51 | [NEW] Built on baseline छुटकारा; here a literal cultic transaction, not the NT deliverance-from-sin sense, though it prefigures the same substitutionary logic. |
| star out of Jacob (messianic oracle) | याकूब से एक तारा निकलेगा | Yākūba se eka tārā nikalegā | High | ἀνατελεῖ ἄστρον ἐξ Ιακωβ | 24:17 | [NEW] Connect forward to baseline messianic-promise family (मसीह); flag for theologian review given the Critical-risk status of Messianic Promise in the baseline registry. |
6. Census and the People of God
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| census / numbering | गिनती | ginती | Medium | ἀριθμέω / ἐπισκέπτομαι | 1; 26 | [NEW] Also the Hindi book-title for Numbers. Pastoral note recommended re: folk anxieties about counting people bringing misfortune. |
| congregation / assembly | मण्डली | maṇḍalī | Low-Medium | συναγωγή (Heb. edah) | throughout | [BASELINE-adjacent] Per baseline note (“मण्डली acceptable for congregation”). Keep distinct from कलीसिया (NT church). |
| tribe | गोत्र | gotra | Medium | φυλή | 1-2; 7; 13; 26; 32; 34; 36 | [NEW] NEVER जाति (caste) — would import India’s caste hierarchy into the text. गोत्र also carries Hindu marriage-exogamy associations; monitor for confusion but retain as the established rendering. |
| Levites | लेवीय | Levīya | Low | Λευῖται | 3-4; 8; 18 | [NEW, low risk] Standard transliteration. |
7. Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| divination (professional, for hire) | तंत्र-मंत्र | tantra-mantra | High | μαντεία / οἰωνισμός | 22:7; 23:23; 24:1 | [NEW] Names a live category of Indian ritual-specialist practice; render descriptively, not sensationally. Keep distinct from जादू-टोना (baseline sorcery term, φαρμακεία). |
| curse | श्राप / श्रापित | śrāpa / śrāpita | High | κατάρα / καταράομαι | 22-24 (repeated) | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly from Galatians package. This narrative is a strong positive teaching opportunity: the professional curse-pronouncement is shown totally impotent against God’s blessing — make this futility explicit in teaching material. |
| blessing | आशीष | āśīṣa | Medium | εὐλογία | 6:22-27; 22-24 | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly from Galatians package; never आशीर्वाद. |
| ”there is no divination against Jacob” | याकूब के विरुद्ध कोई तंत्र-मंत्र काम नहीं करता | Yākūba ke viruddha koī tantra-mantra kāma nahīṃ karatā | High | οὐκ ἔστιν μαντεία ἐν Ιακωβ | 23:23 | [NEW] Doctrinal climax line; recommend highlighting in all teaching use. |
| idols / idolatry | मूर्तिपूजा | mūrtipūjā | High | εἴδωλα / εἰδωλολατρία | 25 (Baal-Peor); 33:52 | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly. |
8. Supporting Cultic / Legal Vocabulary (General)
| English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Original (Heb/Gk) | Primary passages | Notes / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vow (human) | प्रण | praṇ | Medium-High | εὐχή | 6; 30 | [NEW] Deliberately distinct from प्रतिज्ञा (God’s promise, baseline). संकल्प rejected — too closely tied to Hindu puja ritual-vow formula. |
| Nazirite | नाज़ीर | Nāzīr | High | Ναζιραῖος | 6 | [NEW] Extends baseline “separation unto God’s service” doctrine; must be distinguished from Hindu sannyasa (world-renunciation) — a Nazirite lives within ordinary society under a specific vow. |
| tabernacle / tent of meeting | मिलापवाला तम्बू | milāpavālā tambū | Medium | σκηνή | throughout | [NEW] Must not be confused with मंदिर (Hindu temple, forbidden per baseline church entry) — a portable tent-sanctuary, not an enshrined idol-house. |
| priest | याजक | yājaka | Medium | ἱερεύς | 3-4; 8; 16-19; 25 | [NEW] Established Christian/biblical term; avoid पुजारी (Hindu temple priest) or पण्डित (brahmin priest). |
| purification (ceremonial, red heifer) | शुद्धिकरण | śuddhikaraṇa | Medium | καθαρισμός / ῥαντισμός | 8; 19 | [NEW] The one legitimate literal-OT use of this term in the curriculum; explicitly distinct from पवित्रीकरण (sanctification, reserved for the NT doctrine per baseline). Teach both terms together with the distinction stated plainly. |
| uncleanness (ritual) | अशुद्धता | aśuddhatā | Medium | ἀκαθαρσία | 19; 5 | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly; distinct from moral sin (पाप). |
| restitution / trespass | अपराध / हानि की पूर्ति | aparādha / hāni kī pūrti | Low | πλημμέλεια | 5:6-8 | [NEW, low risk] |
| cities of refuge | शरण के नगर | śaraṇa ke nagara | Medium | πόλεις φυγαδευτήρια | 35 | [NEW] Institutional embodiment of patience/judgment doctrine; teach alongside 14:18. |
| avenger of blood | खून का पलटा लेनेवाला | khūna kā palṭā lenevālā | High | ἀγχιστεύς τοῦ αἵματος / ἐκδικέω | 35 | [NEW] Flag for native-speaker review given India’s regional honor-killing/blood-feud sensitivities; must be framed as a judicially-regulated ancient legal category requiring due process, not private vendetta. |
| Spirit (on the seventy elders) | आत्मा | ātmā | Medium | πνεῦμα | 11:16-17,25 | [BASELINE-adjacent] Context distinguishes OT anticipatory sense from the full NT doctrine of the personal पवित्र आत्मा. |
| rod/staff (budding) | लाठी / छड़ी (अंकुरित होना) | lāṭhī / chaṛī (aṃkurita honā) | Low-Medium | ῥάβδος / βλαστάνω | 17 | [NEW] Keep focus on life-from-death divine authentication, not generic “symbol of authority” (राजदण्ड) framing. |
| cloud / fire (guidance) | बादल / आग का खम्भा | bādala / āga kā khambhā | Low | νεφέλη / πῦρ | 9; throughout | [NEW, low risk] Reinforces baseline providence entry (परमेश्वर का विधान). |
| trumpets | तुरही | turahī | Low | σάλπιγξ | 10 | [NEW, low risk] |
| manna | मन्ना | mannā | Low | μάννα | 11; throughout | [NEW, low risk] Standard transliteration. |
| quail | बटेर | baṭera | Low | ὀρτυγομήτρα | 11 | [NEW, low risk] |
9. Proper Names
| English | Hindi | Transliteration | Risk | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moses | मूसा | Mūsā | Low | Established per 12_ai_translation_requirements.md transliteration standards. |
| Aaron | हारून | Hārūna | Low | Standard. |
| Miriam | मिर्याम | Miryāma | Low | Standard. |
| Joshua | यहोशू | Yahośū | Low | Standard; note distinct from यीशु (Jesus) despite shared Hebrew root — never conflate spellings. |
| Caleb | कालेब | Kāleba | Low | Standard. |
| Korah | कोरह | Koraha | Low | Standard. |
| Balaam | बिलाम | Bilāma | Medium | Low lexical risk but high narrative-doctrinal weight (see doctrine 7). |
| Balak | बालाक | Bālāka | Low | Standard. |
| Phinehas | पीनहास | Pīnahāsa | Medium | Low lexical risk but high narrative-doctrinal weight (see doctrine 4). |
| Edom | एदोम | Edoma | Low | Standard. |
| Israel | इस्राएल | Isrāela | Medium | [BASELINE] Reuse exactly. |
Cross-References to Baseline Package
The following terms are reused exactly from the Romans/Galatians translation_memory.json with no modification: सुसमाचार, अनुग्रह, विश्वास (root of new अविश्वास), धार्मिकता, धर्मी ठहराया जाना, उद्धार, पवित्र, पवित्रीकरण, पवित्र जन, पवित्र आत्मा, परमेश्वर, प्रभु, पिता, मध्यस्थता, दया, आशीष, श्राप/श्रापित, प्रायश्चित्त, छुटकारा, प्रतिज्ञा, वाचा, मूर्तिपूजा, अशुद्धता, परमेश्वर का क्रोध, उत्साह, इस्राएल, मूसा (transliteration standard).
New Terms Requiring translation_memory.json Version Increment Before Phase 2
All entries marked [NEW] above (approx. 35 terms) must be added to translation_memory.json with appropriate doctrine_risk, alternatives_rejected, and notes fields, following the exact schema of the baseline file, before any Phase 2 segment translation of Numbers content proceeds. The four Critical-risk new terms — यहोवा, सर्प, पीतल का सर्प, दृष्टि करना/देखना — require mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence per the baseline’s escalation rules, and should additionally be flagged in bible_term_registry.json and doctrine_risk_registry.json extensions for Numbers.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dhārmikatā
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य, न्याय
CRITICAL: Never use धर्म. Inherited from Romans package; background doctrine to the bronze serpent’s typological connection to salvation by faith rather than works.
Justification
Approved rendering: धर्मी ठहराया जाना
Transliteration: dharmī ṭaharāyā jānā
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: माफी पाना, पुण्य प्राप्त करना
Compound phrase required; never abbreviated. Inherited from Romans package.
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhāra
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, छुटकारा
CRITICAL: NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष. Inherited from Romans package; directly relevant to the Bronze Serpent typology (John 3:14-15) — the bitten Israelite’s ‘looked and lived’ response prefigures उद्धार received by trusting response, not ritual performance.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: Pavitra Ātmā
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा, देव-आत्मा
CRITICAL: Never ब्रह्म or परमात्मा alone. Inherited from Romans package. Numbers 11:16-17,25 (Spirit distributed to seventy elders) is an OT anticipatory sense — see the new spirit_on_the_elders entry, which must be read as pointing toward, not identical to, this full NT doctrine.
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Parameśvara
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वर, भगवान
Inherited from Romans package. In Numbers, परमेश्वर is God’s generic title, kept distinct from यहोवा (his covenant proper name, new Critical entry) and प्रभु (reserved for NT Christ-address).
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: Prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: स्वामी, ईश्वर
Inherited from Romans package. Reserved for New Testament κύριος-address of Christ; must NOT be used to render the Numbers occurrences of the divine covenant name YHWH, which use यहोवा instead (new Critical entry).
Father
Approved rendering: पिता
Transliteration: Pitā
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्मा, सृष्टिकर्ता
Inherited from Romans package. Low direct occurrence in Numbers itself but retained for teaching-note consistency across the whole curriculum library.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: प्रायश्चित्त
Transliteration: prāyaścitta
Doctrine: Atonement
Rejected alternatives: तुष्टीकरण
Inherited from Romans package (already Critical due to overlap with Hindu self-performed penance). Numbers intensifies this risk: see the new priestly_atonement entry, where the referent is a literal human priest (Aaron, Phinehas) performing a ritual act — must be taught as temporary and typological, never independent human-secured atonement.
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: Masīha
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: अभिषिक्त व्यक्ति, देव-दूत
Inherited from Romans package. Connects forward from the new star_out_of_jacob entry (Numbers 24:17, Balaam’s oracle) — flag for theologian review given the inherited Critical status of this doctrine family.
Jesus
Approved rendering: यीशु
Transliteration: Yīśu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईसा, ईशू
Inherited from Romans package. Essential for teaching notes connecting the Bronze Serpent type (Numbers 21:8-9) to its New Testament fulfillment (John 3:14-15).
Yahweh The Lord
Approved rendering: यहोवा
Transliteration: Yahowā
Doctrine: The Divine Covenant Name (YHWH)
Original: κύριος (Heb. יהוה, YHWH)
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW — CRITICAL. Throughout Numbers (explicitly at 21:6, 14:18, 23:19). Established BSI OV rendering of the covenant name YHWH, kept distinct from प्रभु (reserved for NT κύριος-address of Christ) and परमेश्वर (generic title). Must never be heard as one optional personal deity-name among many, as in the Hindu ishta-devata (chosen personal deity) naming convention. Mandatory translator’s note on first occurrence in any curriculum document; theologian review every occurrence.
Serpent
Approved rendering: सर्प
Transliteration: sarpa
Doctrine: The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
Rejected alternatives: नाग — FORBIDDEN without exception
Original: ὄφις (Heb. nachash)
Category: Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
NEW — CRITICAL. Numbers 21:6-9. नाग denotes a revered, currently-worshipped sacred serpent in Indian religious culture (Nag Panchami, temple naga-stones, Shesha/Vasuki); using it would prime readers to hear the judgment/healing serpent as possessing its own inherent sacred potency rather than being God’s controlled instrument. सर्प is the theologically neutral term and must be enforced without exception throughout the passage.
Bronze Serpent
Approved rendering: पीतल का सर्प
Transliteration: pītala kā sarpa
Doctrine: The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
Rejected alternatives: नाग की मूर्ति
Original: ὄφις χαλκοῦς (Heb. nechosheth)
Category: Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
NEW — CRITICAL. Numbers 21:8-9; cf. 2 Kings 18:4. Physically identical in form to a common contemporary Hindu devotional object (bronze/brass naga images placed under trees, in temples, at Nag Panchami). Mandatory translator’s note on every occurrence stating BOTH the typological purpose (John 3:14-15) AND the historical warning (this very object became the idol ‘Nehushtan’ and had to be destroyed by Hezekiah). Theologian review required every occurrence. सर्प (never नाग) throughout.
Looked And Lived
Approved rendering: दृष्टि करना / देखना
Transliteration: dṛṣṭi karanā / dekhanā
Doctrine: The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
Rejected alternatives: दर्शन — FORBIDDEN without exception
Original: ἐπιβλέπω (Heb. hibbit)
Category: Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
NEW — CRITICAL. Numbers 21:9. The single most theologically load-bearing verb in the core passage and the gravest collision risk in the whole book. दर्शन (the Hindu doctrine that visual contact with a deity’s sacred image itself transacts blessing, central to temple worship) must never be used or implied. Healing in this passage flows from obedient trust in God’s spoken word, not from the object’s power or the visual act as ritual — precisely the error Israel itself later committed (2 Kings 18:4, Nehushtan). Mandatory translator’s note every occurrence; theologian review required.
Priestly Atonement
Approved rendering: प्रायश्चित्त
Transliteration: prāyaścitta
Doctrine: Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
Original: ἐξιλάσκομαι
Category: Intercession
NEW (extends the baseline propitiation entry’s Hindi rendering to a new, escalated application). Numbers 16:46-48 (Aaron); 25:13 (Phinehas). A literal human priestly ritual act halting active divine wrath. Must be taught as real but TEMPORARY and TYPOLOGICAL, anticipatory of and inferior to Christ’s own once-for-all propitiation (Romans 3:25) — never as evidence that human ritual action independently secures atonement apart from Christ. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Zeal For The Lord
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर के लिये उत्साह
Transliteration: Parameśvara ke liye utsāha
Doctrine: Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
Original: ζῆλος
Category: Intercession
NEW — CRITICAL. Numbers 25:11,13 (Phinehas). Built on baseline उत्साह plus the qualifying phrase ‘परमेश्वर के लिये,’ per the baseline’s established pattern. Must be lexically distinguished from marital_jealousy (जलन की भेंट, ch. 5). Given contemporary Indian sensitivity to religiously-motivated communal violence, mandatory theologian review with an accompanying pastoral note is required for every occurrence: Phinehas’ act was a specific, divinely-commissioned instance under direct divine sanction within Israel’s unique covenant context, never a general warrant for individual or communal religious violence today.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: सुसमाचार
Transliteration: susamācar
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: खुशखबरी, शुभ सन्देश
Established BSI OV term. Do not use colloquial alternatives. Inherited from Romans package; relevant to Numbers as background for the bronze serpent’s forward typological connection to the gospel proclaimed in Christ.
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. Inherited from Romans package; relevant as background to Faithfulness of God’s Promises (God’s unearned favor continuing despite the wilderness generation’s failure).
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: viśvāsa
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, आस्था, भरोसा
Inherited from Romans package. Root of the new अविश्वास (unbelief) coinage for Numbers 14:11 — the faith/unbelief antithesis must remain audibly linked.
Holy
Approved rendering: पवित्र
Transliteration: pavitra
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: शुद्ध, निर्मल
Inherited from Romans package. Background to Numbers 6 (Nazirite separation) and 8 (Levite consecration).
Saints
Approved rendering: पवित्र जन
Transliteration: pavitra jana
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: संत, संतजन
Inherited from Romans package. संत/नाज़ीर collision guard: a Nazirite (नाज़ीर) is a distinct vow-category, not synonymous with पवित्र जन’s corporate sainthood.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: पवित्रीकरण
Transliteration: pavitrikaraṇa
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: सफाई, शुद्धिकरण
Inherited from Romans package. IMPORTANT for Numbers: शुद्धिकरण (see ceremonial_purification, new entry) is reserved exclusively for the literal OT red-heifer ceremonial rite (ch. 19) and must be explicitly distinguished from this NT doctrine — do not conflate.
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: pāpa
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म, अशुद्धता
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Central at Numbers 21:7’s formal confession (‘हमने पाप किया है’); must not be softened into generic apology. Kept distinct from the new ritual_uncleanness entry (अशुद्धता), which names ceremonial-legal impurity, not moral transgression.
Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: vyavasthā
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, शरीयत, नियम
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER धर्म. Background to Numbers 15 (Sabbath-breaker) and the covenant-law framework underlying the whole wilderness narrative.
Idolatry
Approved rendering: मूर्तिपूजा
Transliteration: mūrtipūjā
Doctrine: Idolatry Warning at Baal-Peor and on Entering the Land
Original: εἰδωλολατρία / εἴδωλα
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Applied narratively at Baal-Peor (Numbers 25:1-5) and prospectively in the command to destroy the land’s idols (33:52) — preserve both applications; do not soften either.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का क्रोध
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā krodha
Doctrine: God’s Patience and Judgment
Rejected alternatives: बदला
Original: ὀργή / θυμός
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
Inherited from Romans package. Never बदला (personal revenge). Recurs at Numbers 11:1,10,33; 16:46; 25:3-4; every occurrence must retain explicit divine agency, never a naturalistic-epidemic reading. Fence extends to the new avenger_of_blood entry (ch. 35), which is a distinct, judicially-regulated human legal category, not God’s own wrath.
Covenant
Approved rendering: वाचा
Transliteration: vācā
Doctrine: Faithfulness of God’s Promises despite Human Failure
Rejected alternatives: अनुबंध, समझौता
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Faithfulness of God’s Promises
Inherited from Romans package. Forms one leg of the वाचा/प्रतिज्ञा/शपथ related-terms family that must be taught together whenever Numbers 14 land-oath language appears, so the three concepts are not flattened into one generic ‘promise.‘
Promise
Approved rendering: प्रतिज्ञा
Transliteration: pratijñā
Doctrine: Faithfulness of God’s Promises despite Human Failure
Rejected alternatives: वरदान, वचन (alone, ambiguous with mere spoken word)
Original: ἐπαγγελία
Category: Faithfulness of God’s Promises
Inherited from Galatians package. वरदान forbidden — would make the promise merit-conditioned, contradicting God’s unilateral, unconditional pledge to give the land. Never confused with the new human_vow entry (प्रण), which names a human’s obligation to God, the reverse direction.
Intercession
Approved rendering: मध्यस्थता
Transliteration: madhyasthatā
Doctrine: Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
Rejected alternatives: शफाअत
Original: εὔχομαι / ἔντευξις
Category: Intercession
Baseline risk tier: Medium (Romans). ESCALATED to High for the Numbers curriculum: the doctrine_risk_registry.json (v1) designates Intercession as a High-risk doctrine requiring theologian review for every occurrence given its concentration at Numbers 11:2; 12:13; 14:13-19; 16:22; 21:7. Must be distinguished from generic private प्रार्थना — this is intercession on behalf of the whole guilty congregation, prefiguring Christ’s own mediatorial intercession. Inherited term from Romans package with escalated routing.
Redemption
Approved rendering: छुटकारा
Transliteration: chuṭakārā
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष
Inherited from Romans/Galatians package. Base root for the new छुटकारे का दाम (redemption_price_firstborn) entry, a literal cultic transaction (Numbers 3:44-51) distinct from, though prefiguring, this NT sense.
Curse
Approved rendering: श्राप / श्रापित
Transliteration: śrāpa / śrāpita
Doctrine: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
Original: κατάρα / καταράομαι
Category: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
Inherited from Galatians package. Numbers 22-24 (Balak repeatedly hiring Balaam) is a strong POSITIVE teaching opportunity: the professional curse-pronouncement is shown totally impotent against God’s sovereign will — this futility must be made explicit, not left implying curses retain independent, ritually-counterable power.
Sovereignty
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर की संप्रभुता
Transliteration: Parameśvara kī samprabhutā
Doctrine: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, नियति
Inherited from Romans package. Central to the Balaam doctrine: God’s personal sovereignty overriding a professional diviner’s mechanisms — never impersonal fate/karma.
Providence
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का विधान
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā vidhāna
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, कर्म का नियम
Inherited from Romans package. Reinforced narratively by the cloud/fire guidance of Numbers 9 (see the new cloud_and_fire entry) — God’s personal, purposive governance, never fate or karma.
Election
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का चुनाव
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā cunāva
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, नियति, किस्मत
Inherited from Romans package. Background to Israel’s corporate identity as the people whom no professional curse can touch (Numbers 23:23) and whose census (ch. 1, 26) reflects God’s own ordering of his chosen people.
Worship
Approved rendering: आराधना
Transliteration: ārādhanā
Doctrine: Worship
Rejected alternatives: पूजा
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER पूजा. Background to the tabernacle worship-calendar chapters (28-29) and the negative warning of Baal-Peor’s false worship (25:1-5).
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: अनन्त जीवन
Transliteration: ananta jīvana
Doctrine: Eschatology
Rejected alternatives: अमरता (immortality-through-liberation framing)
Inherited from Galatians package. Forward theological link from the Bronze Serpent’s ‘looked and lived’ (Numbers 21:9) to John 3:15-16’s ζωή αἰώνιος; never liberation-immortality or moksha-style absorption.
Unbelief
Approved rendering: अविश्वास
Transliteration: aviśvāsa
Doctrine: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
Rejected alternatives: संदेह (too weak — describes uncertainty, not settled covenant-breaking refusal to trust)
Original: οὐ πιστεύω (Heb. lo he’emin)
Category: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
NEW. Numbers 14:11; cf. 21:5. Built directly on the baseline विश्वास (faith) root by simple negation so the faith/unbelief antithesis remains lexically visible, mirroring the baseline’s grace/works antithesis pattern. Never render with a term severing this visible root connection.
Grumbling
Approved rendering: बुड़बुड़ाना
Transliteration: buṛbuṛānā
Doctrine: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
Original: γογγύζω / καταλαλέω
Category: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
NEW. Numbers 11:1; 14:2,27,29,36; 16:11; 21:5. Must remain lexically identical across ALL occurrences so the recurring behavioral pattern is visible to a Hindi reader moving through the book. The double object at 21:5 (against God AND against Moses) must be retained — opposing the mediator is opposing God.
Patience Of God
Approved rendering: धीरज रखनेवाला
Transliteration: dhīraja rakhanevālā
Doctrine: God’s Patience and Judgment
Original: μακρόθυμος
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW. Numbers 14:18 (quoting Exodus 34:6-7). Must never be taught in isolation — always bound to the same verse’s दया से भरपूर and its ‘does not leave sin unpunished’ clause. धीरज alone is a generic secular virtue-word (patience in traffic, parenting); this pairing supplies the covenantal loading.
Abounding In Mercy
Approved rendering: दया से भरपूर
Transliteration: dayā se bharapūra
Doctrine: God’s Patience and Judgment
Original: πολυέλεος
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW. Numbers 14:18. दया reused exactly from the baseline mercy entry; भरपूर added as a new intensifying qualifier. Teach as an inseparable pair with patience_of_god.
Divine Self Oath
Approved rendering: जैसा मैं जीवित हूँ
Transliteration: jaisā maiṃ jīvita hūṃ
Doctrine: God’s Patience and Judgment
Rejected alternatives: कसम खाना (folk-devotional oath idiom invoking rivers/ancestors/deities as witness — wholly unsuited to God swearing by his own life)
Original: ζῶ ἐγώ
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW. Numbers 14:21,28. God’s self-referential oath formula, the strongest possible guarantee. Render literally, not idiomatically; link to oath_of_promise (शपथ) as a related divine self-oath category, distinct from the human vow (प्रण, ch. 6).
Leprosy As Discipline
Approved rendering: कोढ़
Transliteration: koṛha
Doctrine: God’s Patience and Judgment
Original: λέπρα
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW. Numbers 12:10-15 (Miriam). Pastoral caution required: Indian folk theology often attributes chronic illness to accumulated karma across lifetimes (impersonal, unfalsifiable); this affliction is instead personal, specific, immediate, and reversible through a personal God’s response to intercession — the opposite theological shape. Must never be generalized into a rule that all illness is punishment for a specific sin.
Lifted Up On Pole
Approved rendering: खम्भे पर टाँगना
Transliteration: khambhe para ṭāṅganā
Doctrine: The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
Rejected alternatives: चिन्ह (bare ‘sign,’ without the elevation sense)
Original: σημεῖον / ὑψόω (cf. John 3:14)
Category: Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
NEW. Numbers 21:8-9. The ‘raised up/elevated’ sense must survive translation intact — this is exactly the detail John 3:14 picks up to link this episode typologically to the cross. A flattened bare ‘sign’ rendering would sever this connection.
Devoted To Destruction
Approved rendering: सत्यानाश के लिये अर्पित करना
Transliteration: satyānāśa ke liye arpita karanā
Doctrine: The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
Rejected alternatives: शापित हो — must NOT be reused for this sense
Original: ἀνάθεμα (Heb. cherem)
Category: Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
NEW. Numbers 21:2-3, immediately preceding the core passage. Same Greek word (ἀνάθεμα) as the baseline Galatians ‘anathema’ (शापित हो) but a wholly distinct technical sense — battlefield holy-war city-devotion, not a curse on a person. Must not be rendered identically to शापित हो or a reader who has studied Galatians will wrongly conflate the two.
Angel Of The Lord
Approved rendering: यहोवा का दूत
Transliteration: Yahowā kā dūta
Doctrine: Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
Rejected alternatives: स्वर्गदूत (generic, without the divine-name qualifier)
Original: ἄγγελος κυρίου
Category: Intercession
NEW. Numbers 22:22-35. Must not be flattened to a generic स्वर्गदूत without the यहोवा qualifier, which would lose the figure’s unique authority. Flag for theologian awareness of a possible Christophany reading; the curriculum need not resolve that question.
Inheritance Land
Approved rendering: विरासत
Transliteration: virāsat
Doctrine: Faithfulness of God’s Promises despite Human Failure
Rejected alternatives: मीरास (demoted per linguistic gap analysis — मीरास is the specific technical term for inheritance shares under Islamic personal law (mīrāth) in India, risking an unintended cross-reference to Muslim personal-law vocabulary)
Original: κλῆρος / κληρονομία
Category: Faithfulness of God’s Promises
NEW. Numbers 26; 27; 32; 34; 36. विरासत is the primary rendering, per the refinement recorded in 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.5/§4. Directly confronts strong son-preference and patrilineal-inheritance custom in Indian family/property practice; the Zelophehad narrative’s clear divine ruling in favor of daughters’ inheritance rights (27:6-7) must be taught plainly, without softening or defensive framing.
Redemption Price Firstborn
Approved rendering: छुटकारे का दाम
Transliteration: chuṭakāre kā dāma
Doctrine: Faithfulness of God’s Promises despite Human Failure
Original: λύτρον
Category: Faithfulness of God’s Promises
NEW. Numbers 3:44-51. Built on the baseline छुटकारा (redemption) term plus दाम (price). A literal cultic transaction — the Levites and a monetary payment substitute for Israel’s firstborn sons — distinct from छुटकारा’s NT sense of deliverance from sin, though it prefigures the same substitutionary logic. Teach as type/foreshadow, never merge with the fulfilled doctrine.
Star Out Of Jacob
Approved rendering: याकूब से एक तारा निकलेगा
Transliteration: Yākūba se eka tārā nikalegā
Doctrine: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
Original: ἀνατελεῖ ἄστρον ἐξ Ιακωβ
Category: Faithfulness of God’s Promises
NEW. Numbers 24:17. Balaam’s long-range messianic-royal oracle, spoken against his own commercial interest. Connects forward to the baseline’s Critical-risk Messianic Promise doctrine and मसीह terminology; flag for theologian review on that basis.
Divination
Approved rendering: तंत्र-मंत्र
Transliteration: tantra-mantra
Doctrine: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
Original: μαντεία / οἰωνισμός
Category: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
NEW. Numbers 22:7; 23:23; 24:1. Names a live category of Indian ritual-specialist practice (fee-for-service diviners, tantriks, occult practitioners). Render descriptively, not sensationally; keep lexically distinct from जादू-टोना (baseline sorcery term, φαρμακεία), a related but not identical occult category.
No Divination Against Jacob
Approved rendering: याकूब के विरुद्ध कोई तंत्र-मंत्र काम नहीं करता
Transliteration: Yākūba ke viruddha koī tantra-mantra kāma nahīṃ karatā
Doctrine: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
Original: οὐκ ἔστιν μαντεία ἐν Ιακωβ
Category: Balaam and God’s Sovereign Blessing
NEW. Numbers 23:23. The theological climax of Balaam’s oracles: occult mechanisms have no power at all over God’s covenant people. This line should be highlighted in all teaching use of the Balaam narrative as the doctrine’s positive climax.
Human Vow
Approved rendering: प्रण
Transliteration: praṇ
Doctrine: Separation unto God’s Service: The Nazirite Vow
Rejected alternatives: संकल्प (rejected — carries strong ritual-formula associations from Hindu puja practice), प्रतिज्ञा (rejected here — reserved exclusively for God’s own unilateral promise to humans)
Original: εὐχή (Heb. neder)
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 6; 30. Deliberately distinct from प्रतिज्ञा to preserve the direction-of-obligation distinction (human vow to God vs. God’s promise to humans).
Nazirite
Approved rendering: नाज़ीर
Transliteration: Nāzīr
Doctrine: Separation unto God’s Service: The Nazirite Vow
Original: Ναζιραῖος
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 6. Extends the baseline’s High-risk ‘separation unto God’s service’ doctrine. Must be explicitly distinguished from Hindu sannyasa (formal world-renunciation severing family/social ties) — a Nazirite lives within ordinary society under a specific, often temporary vow.
Avenger Of Blood
Approved rendering: खून का पलटा लेनेवाला
Transliteration: khūna kā palṭā lenevālā
Doctrine: Cities of Refuge and the Avenger of Blood
Original: ἀγχιστεύς τοῦ αἵματος / ἐκδικέω
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 35:9-34. India’s regional honor-killing and blood-feud/vendetta customs make this term culturally sensitive; per the honor/shame routing rule, all teaching use must clarify this is a judicially-regulated ancient legal category requiring due process, never private vendetta — fenced against बदला, already forbidden for God’s own wrath in the baseline.
Medium Risk Terms
Mercy
Approved rendering: दया
Transliteration: dayā
Doctrine: Mercy of God
Inherited from Romans package. Kept distinct from अनुग्रह (grace). Base for the new दया से भरपूर (abounding_in_mercy) qualifier at Numbers 14:18.
Blessing Of Abraham
Approved rendering: आशीष
Transliteration: āśīṣa
Doctrine: Covenant
Rejected alternatives: आशीर्वाद (guru/elder reciprocal-favor connotation)
Inherited from Galatians package. Reused for the Aaronic priestly blessing (Numbers 6:22-27) and, ironically, for Balaam’s forced oracles (22-24) — God’s own gracious pronouncement, never a reciprocal-favor exchange.
Zeal
Approved rendering: उत्साह
Transliteration: utsāha
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: जोश
Inherited from Romans/Galatians package. Root for the new, Critical-risk परमेश्वर के लिये उत्साह (zeal_for_the_lord, Phinehas, Numbers 25:11,13) entry — kept lexically distinct from the new marital_jealousy entry (जलन की भेंट, ch. 5).
Israel
Approved rendering: इस्राएल
Transliteration: Isrāela
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Proper Names
Inherited from Romans package. Proper name; BSI established form; the object of God’s sovereign, unbreakable protection in the Balaam narrative.
Test God
Approved rendering: परीक्षा करना
Transliteration: parīkṣā karanā
Doctrine: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
Original: πειράζω
Category: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
NEW. Numbers 14:22. Negative sense — Israel’s repeated demand that God re-prove himself. Always pair with an explicit negative frame (e.g. ‘बार-बार’) so परीक्षा does not read as a neutral academic exam.
Wilderness Generation
Approved rendering: जंगल (की पीढ़ी)
Transliteration: jaṃgala (kī pīṛhī)
Doctrine: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
Original: ἔρημος (Heb. midbar)
Category: Unbelief and the Wilderness Generation
NEW. Established Hindi Bible convention for wilderness/desert, though जंगल colloquially suggests ‘forest’ — minor visualization risk, not doctrinal; a clarifying image (barren desert) is useful in teaching notes.
Oath Of Promise
Approved rendering: शपथ
Transliteration: śapatha
Doctrine: Faithfulness of God’s Promises despite Human Failure
Original: ὅρκος
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW. Numbers 14:16,21-23,28-30. Distinct from वाचा (covenant) and प्रतिज्ञा (promise); names specifically the sworn character of the land-promise. Teach वाचा/प्रतिज्ञा/शपथ together as a related-terms family.
Plague
Approved rendering: महामारी
Transliteration: mahāmārī
Doctrine: God’s Patience and Judgment
Original: πληγή
Category: God’s Patience and Judgment
NEW. Numbers 14:37; 16:46-49; 25:8-9,18-19. Must retain explicit divine agency (यहोवा ने भेजी) in every occurrence; never a naturalistic-epidemic reading.
Lived Bronze Serpent
Approved rendering: जीवित रहा / जीवित रहेगा
Transliteration: jīvita rahā / jīvita rahegā
Doctrine: The Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
Original: ζάω / ζήσεται / ἔζη
Category: Bronze Serpent as a Type of Christ
NEW. Numbers 21:8-9. जीवित reused consistent with the baseline’s जीवित बलिदान usage. Must not be rendered with any phrasing implying the bitten person had to perform an act of worship toward the serpent object; life follows from trusting response, not ritual performance.
Marital Jealousy
Approved rendering: जलन की भेंट
Transliteration: jalana kī bheṇṭa
Doctrine: Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
Original: ζηλοτυπία
Category: Intercession
NEW. Numbers 5:11-31. A husband’s unproven suspicion of his wife’s infidelity, addressed by a ritual ordeal. Must be kept lexically distinct from zeal_for_the_lord — different concept despite English ‘jealousy’ covering both.
Census
Approved rendering: गिनती
Transliteration: ginatī
Doctrine: Census and the People of God
Original: ἀριθμέω / ἐπισκέπτομαι
Category: Census and the People of God
NEW. Numbers 1; 26. Also the Hindi book-title for Numbers itself; usable but requires care that the census narrative and the book title are not confused in teaching materials. Some Hindu-background readers carry a folk anxiety that counting people invites misfortune (cf. 2 Samuel 24); a brief pastoral note that this census is God’s own command, an act of covenant administration, is advisable.
Congregation
Approved rendering: मण्डली
Transliteration: maṇḍalī
Doctrine: Census and the People of God
Original: συναγωγή (Heb. edah)
Category: Census and the People of God
NEW (formalizes a usage note already present within the baseline church entry). Israel’s gathered covenant community as a corporate whole. Keep distinct from कलीसिया, reserved by the baseline for the New Testament church.
Tribe
Approved rendering: गोत्र
Transliteration: gotra
Doctrine: Census and the People of God
Rejected alternatives: जाति — FORBIDDEN, would import India’s caste hierarchy into a non-hierarchical covenant structure
Original: φυλή
Category: Census and the People of God
NEW. Numbers 1-2; 7; 13; 26; 32; 34; 36. गोत्र also carries Hindu marriage-exogamy associations distinct from the biblical tribal sense; retained as the least-bad established option with a monitoring teaching note. जाति is absolutely forbidden.
Tabernacle
Approved rendering: मिलापवाला तम्बू
Transliteration: milāpavālā tambū
Doctrine: Tribal Identity and Camp Order around God’s Presence
Rejected alternatives: मंदिर — FORBIDDEN (Hindu temple, forbidden per the baseline church entry)
Original: σκηνή
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers, throughout. A portable tent-sanctuary housing the ark of the covenant, not an enshrined image-house.
Priest
Approved rendering: याजक
Transliteration: yājaka
Doctrine: Intercession (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas)
Rejected alternatives: पुजारी (Hindu temple priest), पण्डित (brahmin ritual specialist)
Original: ἱερεύς
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 3-4; 8; 16-19; 25. Established Christian/biblical term; avoid Hindu religious-office associations.
Ceremonial Purification
Approved rendering: शुद्धिकरण
Transliteration: śuddhikaraṇa
Doctrine: Ceremonial Purification versus Spiritual Sanctification
Original: καθαρισμός / ῥαντισμός
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 8; 19 (red heifer rite). The one legitimate literal-OT context for this term, which the baseline elsewhere rejects as an alternative for NT sanctification precisely because of its ritual-purity connotation. Must be explicitly distinguished from पवित्रीकरण in any teaching note.
Ritual Uncleanness
Approved rendering: अशुद्धता
Transliteration: aśuddhatā
Doctrine: Ceremonial Purification versus Spiritual Sanctification
Original: ἀκαθαρσία
Category: Sin
NEW as a standalone keyed term (previously referenced only within the baseline sin entry’s notes as a contrast term, never independently keyed). Numbers 19; 5. Ritual-legal impurity, especially from corpse-contact; distinct from moral sin (पाप) — a person can be ceremonially unclean without having sinned.
Cities Of Refuge
Approved rendering: शरण के नगर
Transliteration: śaraṇa ke nagara
Doctrine: Cities of Refuge and the Avenger of Blood
Original: πόλεις φυγαδευτήρια
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 35. A structured, judicial institution balancing justice and mercy; teach alongside Numbers 14:18’s patience-and-judgment verse as an institutional embodiment of the same doctrine.
Spirit On The Elders
Approved rendering: आत्मा
Transliteration: ātmā
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 11:16-17,25. God’s Spirit distributed to seventy elders to share the burden of leadership. Reuse baseline पवित्र आत्मा family vocabulary; context must distinguish this OT anticipatory empowering sense from the full NT doctrine of the personal, indwelling Holy Spirit.
Rod Budding
Approved rendering: लाठी / छड़ी (अंकुरित होना)
Transliteration: lāṭhī / chaṛī (aṃkurita honā)
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: ῥάβδος / βλαστάνω
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 17. A staff of authority also carries royal/scepter associations in Indian tradition (राजदण्ड); ensure teaching keeps the point of the sign — life from death, divine authentication — from being overshadowed by generic ‘symbol of authority’ framing.
Balaam
Approved rendering: बिलाम
Transliteration: Bilāma
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Βαλαάμ
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Low lexical transliteration risk but high narrative-doctrinal weight given the Balaam-and-Sovereign-Blessing doctrine; keep consistent across all narrative and prophetic-oracle chapters (22-24, 31).
Phinehas
Approved rendering: पीनहास
Transliteration: Pīnahāsa
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Φινεές
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Low lexical transliteration risk but high narrative-doctrinal weight given the Intercession doctrine’s third pattern (zealous decisive action).
Low Risk Terms
Levites
Approved rendering: लेवीय
Transliteration: Levīya
Doctrine: Census and the People of God
Original: Λευῖται
Category: Census and the People of God
NEW. Numbers 3-4; 8; 18. Standard established transliteration; low lexical risk.
Restitution
Approved rendering: अपराध / हानि की पूर्ति
Transliteration: aparādha / hāni kī pūrti
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: πλημμέλεια
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 5:6-8. Establishes that sin against a neighbor carries both a horizontal restitution component and a vertical guilt before God.
Cloud And Fire
Approved rendering: बादल / आग का खम्भा
Transliteration: bādala / āga kā khambhā
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: νεφέλη / πῦρ
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 9; throughout. Reinforces the baseline providence entry (परमेश्वर का विधान); avoid any suggestion of an impersonal natural-force reading.
Trumpets
Approved rendering: तुरही
Transliteration: turahī
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: σάλπιγξ
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 10. Standard term; low translation risk.
Manna
Approved rendering: मन्ना
Transliteration: mannā
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: μάννα
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 11; throughout. Standard transliteration; the object of the people’s contempt at Numbers 11 and 21:5.
Quail
Approved rendering: बटेर
Transliteration: baṭera
Doctrine: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
Original: ὀρτυγομήτρα
Category: Supporting Cultic and Legal Vocabulary
NEW. Numbers 11:31-34. Standard term; low translation risk.
Moses
Approved rendering: मूसा
Transliteration: Mūsā
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Μωυσῆς (Heb. Mosheh)
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Established per the 12_ai_translation_requirements.md transliteration standard. Israel’s God-appointed leader and chief intercessor.
Aaron
Approved rendering: हारून
Transliteration: Hārūna
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Ἀαρών
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration. Israel’s first high priest, intercedes with incense at Numbers 16:46-48.
Miriam
Approved rendering: मिर्याम
Transliteration: Miryāma
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Μαριάμ
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration. Disciplined with leprosy for opposing Moses (Numbers 12).
Joshua
Approved rendering: यहोशू
Transliteration: Yahośū
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Ἰησοῦς (Heb. Yehoshua)
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration; note the shared Hebrew root with यीशु (Jesus) but the spellings and referents must never be conflated in Hindi.
Caleb
Approved rendering: कालेब
Transliteration: Kāleba
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Χάλεβ
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration.
Korah
Approved rendering: कोरह
Transliteration: Koraha
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Κορε
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration. Led the rebellion of Numbers 16.
Balak
Approved rendering: बालाक
Transliteration: Bālāka
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Βαλάκ
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration.
Edom
Approved rendering: एदोम
Transliteration: Edoma
Doctrine: Proper Names
Original: Ἐδώμ
Category: Proper Names
NEW. Standard established transliteration. The nation whose refusal of passage occasions the discouragement of Numbers 21:4.
Referenced passages