Core Glossary
1 Samuel — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package, Phase 1)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term surfaced in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, across the entire book of 1 Samuel (ch. 1–31), with special verse-by-verse density for the core passage (16:1-13). Terms already fixed in the Romans-baseline assets/translation_memory.json are marked [REUSED — EXACT] and reproduced with their permanent Hmong rendering unchanged; no alternate gloss may ever be substituted for these. Terms newly required for 1 Samuel’s distinct historical-narrative, monarchic, and cultic vocabulary are marked [NEW] and are proposed pending formal TM-revision review.
Risk tiers (inherited unchanged from the Romans baseline): Critical / High / Medium / Low, per assets/bible_term_registry.json §registry_metadata.risk_tier_definitions.
A. Divine Persons & Names
| # | English Term | Hebrew (translit.) | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | אֱלֹהִים (ʾĕlōhîm) | Vajtswv | Low | Cross-cutting | all | [REUSED — EXACT] |
| 2 | LORD (covenant Name, YHWH) | יְהוָה (YHWH) | Yawmsaub | Critical | All ten assigned doctrines | all | [NEW]. Distinct from #3 (tus Tswv); the established Hmong Bible term for the Tetragrammaton. Permanently forbidden: any transliterated substitute (e.g., “Yehauvas”), per the Romans baseline’s sectarian-substitution prohibition. |
| 3 | Lord/master (generic) | אָדוֹן (ʾāḏôn) | tus Tswv | Low-Medium | Cross-cutting | passim (human court address) | [REUSED — EXACT] for the divine/Christ-applied sense; when used of a human superior (“my lord Saul”), render as polite address (“kuv tus tswv”) — context disambiguates, but flag Medium in dense royal-court passages (ch.24-26) to avoid confusion with #2. |
| 4 | LORD of hosts | יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (YHWH Ṣəḇāʾôṭ) | Yawmsaub tus Tswv muaj Tub Rog Saum Ntuj | Medium | The Gospel/Salvation-adjacent; Faith vs. Fear | 1, 4, 15, 17 | [NEW]. Climactic at 17:45. |
| 5 | Spirit of the LORD / Holy Spirit | רוּחַ יְהוָה (rûaḥ YHWH) | Vaj Ntsuj Plig ntawm Yawmsaub | Critical | God’s Sovereign Choice of David; Samuel’s Role as Prophet | 10, 11, 16, 19 | [REUSED — EXACT core term Vaj Ntsuj Plig] + qualifier. “Vaj” prefix mandatory, never dropped. |
| 6 | human spirit/soul | נֶפֶשׁ / רוּחַ (nep̄eš / rûaḥ, anthropological) | ntsuj plig | High | Christian Living (typological) | 1, 18 | [REUSED — EXACT]. Never receives the “Vaj” prefix. |
| 7 | evil/distressing spirit (from God) | רוּחַ רָעָה מֵאֵת יְהוָה | ib tug ntsuj plig phem uas Vajtswv tso los | Critical | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 16, 18, 19 | [NEW — TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED]. Must not be rendered Vaj Ntsuj Plig, bare ntsuj plig, or dab. See §7 note in 07_semantic_analysis.md. |
| 8 | the living God | אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים (ʾĕlōhîm ḥayyîm) | Vajtswv tus muaj txoj sia nyob | Medium | Faith versus Fear | 17 | [NEW]. Reuses txoj sia root from baseline eternal_life. |
B. Kingship & Monarchy
| # | English Term | Hebrew | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | king | מֶלֶךְ (meleḵ) | vajntxwv | High | Transition to Monarchy; Danger of Rejecting God as King | 8-31 | [NEW]. Must always be contrasted with lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv (Kingdom of God). |
| 10 | kingdom (human, Israel’s) | מַמְלָכָה (mamlāḵâh) | lub nceeg vaj (Yixayeel) | High | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 8-15, 20, 24, 28 | [NEW]. Kept lexically distinct from lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv [REUSED — EXACT, baseline kingdom_of_god]. |
| 11 | like the nations | כְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִם | zoo li lwm Haiv Neeg | Medium | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 8 | Reuses baseline nations_gentiles term (lwm Haiv Neeg) in a new collocation. |
| 12 | reject | מָאַס (māʾas) | muab tso tseg / tsis lees yuav | Critical | Danger of Rejecting God as King; God’s Sovereign Choice of David | 8, 10, 12, 15, 16 | [NEW]. Double-directional: Israel rejects God (8:7); God rejects Saul (15:23,26; 16:1). |
| 13 | anoint / anointed one | מָשַׁח / מָשִׁיחַ (māšaḥ / māšîaḥ) | muab roj pleev / tus raug pleev roj | Critical | Anointed King as Type of the Messiah; God’s Sovereign Choice of David | 9, 10, 15, 16, 24, 26 | [NEW]. Direct etymological ancestor of LXX christos → baseline-fixed Khetos. Mandatory typological teaching note at every occurrence. |
| 14 | the LORD’s anointed | מְשִׁיחַ יְהוָה (məšîaḥ YHWH) | tus raug pleev roj ntawm Yawmsaub | Critical | Anointed King as Type of the Messiah | 16, 24, 26 | [NEW]. Central to David’s refusal to harm Saul. |
| 15 | a man after his [God’s] own heart | אִישׁ כִּלְבָבוֹ | tus uas lub siab zoo li Vajtswv lub siab | Critical | God’s Sovereign Choice of David | 13, 16 | [NEW]. Verbal seed of 16:7’s lēḇāḇ. |
C. Prophetic & Priestly Office
| # | English Term | Hebrew | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | prophet | נָבִיא (nāḇîʾ) | yaj saub | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 3, 9, 10, 19, 22, 28 | [NEW — TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: confirm established status of yaj saub in current Hmong Christian usage]. Must remain distinct from txiv neeb (shaman) and tus saib yaig (diviner). |
| 17 | seer | רֹאֶה (rōʾeh) | tus xub pom | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 9 | [NEW]. Older synonym for prophet. |
| 18 | man of God | אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים | tus tibneeg ntawm Vajtswv | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 2, 9 | [NEW]. Must never use txiv neeb. |
| 19 | judge | שֹׁפֵט (šōp̄ēṭ) | tus txiav txim | Medium | Transition from Judges to Monarchy; Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 4, 7, 8 | [NEW]. Bridges to village-court idiom; must add the charismatic-deliverer sense unique to this period. |
| 20 | priest | כֹּהֵן (kōhēn) | pov thawj | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 1-4, 14, 21-23, 30 | [NEW]. |
| 21 | word of the LORD | דְּבַר־יְהוָה | Yawmsaub Txoj Lus | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 3, 9, 15 | [NEW]. |
| 22 | ephod | אֵפוֹד (ʾēp̄ôḏ) | lub tsho pluas ntawm tus pov thawj | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge (legitimate guidance) | 2, 14, 21-23, 30 | [NEW]. |
| 23 | inquire of the LORD | שָׁאַל + יְהוָה | nug Yawmsaub | High | Danger of Rejecting God as King (contrast pair) | 14, 22, 23, 28, 30 | [NEW]. Positive counterpart to #29 (divination) and #30 (medium). |
| 24 | Urim | אוּרִים (ʾûrîm) | Ulees (+ gloss) | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 28 | [NEW]. |
| 25 | casting lots | גּוֹרָל (gôrāl) | kev rho ntawv xaiv | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge (legitimate discernment) | 10, 14 | [NEW]. |
| 26 | prophesying (ecstatic) | הִתְנַבֵּא (hitnabbê) | ua yaj saub | Critical | God’s Sovereign Choice of David (Spirit-empowerment pattern) | 10, 19 | [NEW — TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: possible collision with shamanic trance]. Must always anchor to Vaj Ntsuj Plig ntawm Yawmsaub. |
D. Sacrifice, Ritual & Forbidden Practice
| # | English Term | Hebrew | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | sacrifice (general) | זֶבַח (zebach) | khoom fij | Critical | Obedience versus Sacrifice | 1, 2, 6, 9, 13, 15, 16, 20 | [NEW, reuses baseline fij domain]. Must always be marked as legitimate worship, illegitimate substitute-for-obedience, or (typologically) distinguished from Christ’s unrepeatable atonement. |
| 28 | burnt offering | עֹלָה (ʿōlâh) | khoom fij kub hlawv tag | High | Obedience versus Sacrifice | 6, 7, 13 | [NEW]. |
| 29 | guilt/reparation offering | אָשָׁם (ʾāšām) | khoom fij them txhaum | High | Obedience versus Sacrifice | 6 | [NEW]. |
| 30 | to obey/hear | שָׁמַע (šāmaʿ) | mloog lus | Critical | Obedience versus Sacrifice (15:22) | 15 (also 12, 28) | [NEW]. The single most doctrinally load-bearing verb in the Obedience-vs-Sacrifice doctrine. |
| 31 | utterly destroy / devote to destruction | חֵרֶם (ḥērem) | muab ua kom puas tsuaj tag nrho | High | Obedience versus Sacrifice | 15 | [NEW]. Never rendered with the fij root. |
| 32 | divination | קֶסֶם (qesem) | kev ua khawv koob saib yaig | Critical | Obedience versus Sacrifice; Danger of Rejecting God as King | 15 | [NEW]. Direct, named collision with living Hmong shamanic divination practice. |
| 33 | household idols (teraphim) | תְּרָפִים (tərāp̄îm) | dab mlom hauv tsev | High | Obedience versus Sacrifice | 15, 19 | [NEW, reuses baseline idol]. |
| 34 | idol (general) | (image domain) | dab mlom | High | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 5, 7, 12, 31 | [REUSED — EXACT]. |
| 35 | medium/necromancer | בַּעֲלַת־אוֹב (baʿălaṭ-ʾôḇ) | tus pojniam ua khawv koob hu dab tuag | Critical | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 28 | [NEW]. The book’s single most direct collision with living Hmong spiritist/shamanic mediumship. Must never be presented as an effective legitimate channel. |
| 36 | consecrate/sanctify (ritual) | קָדַשׁ, hitqaddəšû | ua kom dawb huv | High | Obedience versus Sacrifice | 16 | [NEW, reuses baseline sanctification collision domain]. Must be distinguished as OT ceremonial preparation, background to (not identical with) NT progressive moral sanctification. |
| 37 | the LORD relented/regretted | נִחַם (niḥam) | Vajtswv nyuaj siab | High | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 15 | [NEW]. Must be paired with 15:29’s denial of divine fickleness. |
| 38 | ark (of the covenant) | אֲרוֹן הַבְּרִית | Lub Thawv Sib Cog Lus | High | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge; Danger of Rejecting God as King | 4, 5, 6, 7 | [NEW]. Never taught as inherently talismanic/magical. |
E. Covenant, Vow & Relational Terms
| # | English Term | Hebrew | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | covenant | בְּרִית (bərîṯ) | kev sib cog lus | Medium | Transition from Judges to Monarchy; Anointed King as Type of Messiah | 11, 18, 20, 23 | [NEW]. Distinct from baseline’s unilateral lus cog tseg (promise, God→people). |
| 40 | vow | נֵדֶר (nēḏer) | lus cog rau Vajtswv | Medium | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 1, 14 | [NEW]. Direction: person→God, opposite of #39/promise. |
| 41 | loved him as his own soul | נֶפֶשׁ | hlub nws ib yam li nws hlub nws tus kheej | Medium | Anointed King as Type of the Messiah (typological friendship) | 18, 20 | [NEW]. Must not use ntsuj plig. |
| 42 | jealousy | קִנְאָה (qinʾâ) | kev khib | Medium | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 18 | [NEW]. |
| 43 | vengeance | נָקָם (nāqam) | kev pauj taub | Medium | Faith versus Fear (contrast: trust God, not self-vengeance) | 25 | [NEW]. |
| 44 | love | אַהֲבָה (ʾahăḇâh) | kev hlub | Low | Anointed King as Type of the Messiah | 18, 20 | [REUSED — EXACT]. |
| 45 | blessing (material) | בְּרָכָה (bərāḵâh) | koob hmoov | Low | (general) | 25 | [REUSED — EXACT]. Correct context per baseline’s material-blessing carve-out; never for grace. |
F. Human Nature, Ethics & Faith/Fear
| # | English Term | Hebrew | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | fear/dread | יָרֵא / פָּחַד | kev ntshai | Medium | Faith versus Fear | 17 | [NEW]. |
| 47 | trust | בָּטַח (bāṭaḥ) | vam khom (Yawmsaub) | Medium | Faith versus Fear | 17 | [NEW]. Always anchored to Yawmsaub as object. |
| 48 | faith/believe | (thematic, cf. NT pistis) | kev ntseeg / ntseeg | Medium | Faith versus Fear | 17 | [REUSED — EXACT]. |
| 49 | the battle is the LORD’s | מִלְחָמָה + יְהוָה | kev tsov rog no yog Yawmsaub li | High | Faith versus Fear | 17 | [NEW]. Interpretive key to ch.17. |
| 50 | heart (seat of will/character) | לֵבָב / לֵב (lēḇāḇ / lēḇ) | lub siab | Critical | God’s Sovereign Choice of David | 13, 16 | [REUSED — bridges to baseline will_of_god idiom]. The load-bearing term of the core passage (16:7). |
| 51 | outward appearance | עַיִן (ʿayin) | qhov muag / qhov tsos sab nraud | Medium | God’s Sovereign Choice of David | 16 | [NEW]. |
| 52 | choose/election | בָּחַר (bāḥar) | kev xaiv (Vajtswv xaiv raws li nws lub siab nyiam) | Critical | God’s Sovereign Choice of David | 16 | [REUSED — EXACT], mandatory verbatim reuse of baseline election_choose, no deviation permitted. |
| 53 | righteous | צַדִּיק (ṣaddîq) | tus ncaj ncees | Critical | Anointed King as Type of the Messiah | 24 | [REUSED — EXACT], bridges to baseline righteousness_of_god_righteous. |
| 54 | servant (courtly self-designation) | עֶבֶד (ʿeḇeḏ) | qhev | High | Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge | 3, 25 (Nabal/Abigail), passim | [REUSED — EXACT], baseline servant_slave_doulos; requires the same catechetical distinction between honored voluntary service and involuntary chattel-slavery. |
| 55 | glory | כָּבוֹד (kāḇôḏ) | lub yeeb koob | Low-Medium | Danger of Rejecting God as King | 4 | [REUSED — EXACT]. “Ichabod” = departure of glory. |
| 56 | death | מָוֶת (māweṯ) | txoj kev tuag | Low | Transition from Judges to Monarchy | 4, 31 | [REUSED — EXACT]. |
| 57 | shepherd (occupation/typological) | רֹעֶה (rōʿeh) | yug yaj | Low | Anointed King as Type of the Messiah | 16, 17 | [NEW]. Typological cross-reference to Christ the Good Shepherd. |
Cross-Reference Note
Every [REUSED — EXACT] entry above must appear character-for-character identical to its Romans-baseline assets/translation_memory.json rendering in all Phase 2 generated content for this 1 Samuel Language Package. Every [NEW] entry is a candidate for formal TM-revision review and must not be treated as permanent until that review occurs; until then, any Phase 2 generation using a [NEW] term must log it per the Romans-baseline escalation rule (§9, 12_ai_translation_requirements.md): “A genuinely new theological term/concept surfaces with no TM entry… insert [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: <term>, <context>]; do not invent a permanent rendering unilaterally.” Terms marked Critical above (#2, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15, 26, 30, 32, 35, 50, 52) require human theologian review before any publication, consistent with the Romans-baseline routing rule.
Critical Risk Terms
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Vaj Ntsuj Plig
Transliteration: pneuma hagion / rûaḥ (divine)
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David; Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: bare ntsuj plig (no Vaj prefix) — rejected, denotes an animistic wandering human soul
Inherited from Romans package. ‘Vaj’ prefix mandatory at every occurrence in 1 Samuel exactly as in Romans. In this book always appears qualified as ‘Vaj Ntsuj Plig ntawm Yawmsaub’ — see ‘spirit_of_the_lord_rushed_upon’ below for the full collocation used at 10:6,10; 11:6; 16:13; 19:20,23.
Election Choose
Approved rendering: kev xaiv (Vajtswv xaiv raws li nws lub siab nyiam)
Transliteration: bāḥar / eklegomai
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David
Rejected alternatives: hmoov (impersonal fate/fortune) vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, collapses personal divine choice into fatalism and erases the heart/appearance contrast at 16:7
Inherited from Romans package, mandatory verbatim reuse, character-for-character, no deviation permitted under the no-re-gloss-without-TM-revision rule. This is the single most load-bearing Critical term for the core passage (16:8-10).
Righteousness Of God Righteous
Approved rendering: Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees / tus ncaj ncees
Transliteration: dikaiosynē theou / dikaios; ṣaddîq; ṣiḏqôṯ YHWH
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah; The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘kev ncaj ncees’ without qualifier — rejected, reads as self-achieved moralism
Inherited from Romans package. Applied to David (‘you are more righteous than I,’ 24:17) and, with ‘Yawmsaub’ substituted for the generic divine referent, to God’s own ‘righteous acts’ recounted in Samuel’s farewell address (12:7, see ‘lords_righteous_acts’ below).
Grace
Approved rendering: txiaj ntsim
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: koob hmoov (fortune/blessing tied to fate and ritual correctness) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN for this sense
Inherited from Romans package. Not itself a load-bearing term in 1 Samuel’s assigned doctrines, but preserved here because ‘koob hmoov’ (see ‘blessing_material’ below) IS reused in this book for Abigail’s ordinary material blessing (25:27); the permanent lexical separation between txiaj ntsim (grace) and koob hmoov (material blessing) established in the Romans baseline governs both books identically and must never be blurred.
Yhwh Lord Name
Approved rendering: Yawmsaub
Transliteration: YHWH
Doctrine: All seven assigned doctrines (foundational)
Rejected alternatives: Yehauvas (transliterated divine-name substitution) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, sectarian NWT-style pattern per the inherited Romans-baseline prohibition, tus Tswv used interchangeably for YHWH — rejected, must remain lexically distinct from the generic lord/master entry
[NEW]. The established Hmong Bible term reserved specifically for the Tetragrammaton, distinct from ‘lord’ (tus Tswv, generic honorific). This distinction governs the entire book, since 1 Samuel repeatedly contrasts YHWH’s own kingship with human kingship (8:7) and YHWH’s anointed with the human office-holder (24:6,10).
Evil Spirit From The Lord
Approved rendering: ib tug ntsuj plig phem uas Vajtswv tso los
Transliteration: rûaḥ rāʿâh mēʾēṯ YHWH
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: Vaj Ntsuj Plig — forbidden, reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit, bare ntsuj plig alone — rejected, reads as merely Saul’s own troubled human soul, dab (spirit) vocabulary — forbidden, assimilates the narrative into the indigenous animistic spirit-affliction system that Hmong hearers would expect to require shamanic exorcism (ua neeb)
[NEW — TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED]. No Romans-baseline precedent. Torments Saul after the Spirit of the LORD departs (16:14; 18:10; 19:9). Mandatory teaching note distinguishing this from (a) the Holy Spirit, (b) generic dab-affliction, (c) popular ‘possession’ narratives — this is God’s disciplinary permission upon a rejected king, not a rival spiritual power requiring ritual remedy.
Reject Maas
Approved rendering: muab tso tseg / tsis lees yuav ntxiv lawm
Transliteration: māʾas
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King; God’s Sovereign Choice of David
Rejected alternatives: framing as capricious, ritually-appeasable ancestor/spirit anger — forbidden, must read as a settled judicial verdict flowing from covenant unfaithfulness, not a mood that ritual correction could reverse
[NEW]. Bidirectional: Israel rejects Yawmsaub as king (8:7); Yawmsaub judicially rejects Saul (15:23,26; 16:1). Never pair with restorative-ritual vocabulary implying Saul’s rejection is appeasable.
Anoint Messiah Type
Approved rendering: muab roj pleev / tus raug pleev roj
Transliteration: māšaḥ / māšîaḥ
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah; God’s Sovereign Choice of David
Rejected alternatives: treating the act as merely ancient coronation custom with no typological note — forbidden, any alternate Hmong rendering substituted without formal TM-revision — forbidden per the no-re-gloss rule
[NEW]. Direct etymological ancestor of Hebrew māšîaḥ → LXX christos → the already-fixed Romans-baseline transliteration ‘Khetos.’ Mandatory typological teaching note at every occurrence (9:16; 10:1; 15:1; 16:3,12-13; 24:6,10; 26:9,11), stating the full chain māšaḥ → christos → Khetos, since the link is invisible in the Hmong surface vocabulary and cannot be inferred from the words alone.
Lords Anointed
Approved rendering: tus raug pleev roj ntawm Yawmsaub
Transliteration: məšîaḥ YHWH
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah
Rejected alternatives: assimilation to Hmong ancestor-veneration protocol (honoring lineage/ritual status) — forbidden; must be taught as recognition of a divinely instituted office, not inherited sacred lineage-status
[NEW]. Central to David’s refusal to harm Saul (24:6,10; 26:9,11).
Man After Gods Own Heart
Approved rendering: tus uas lub siab zoo li Vajtswv lub siab
Transliteration: ʾîš kilḇāḇô
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David
[NEW]. Verbal seed of 16:7’s lēḇāḇ (13:14); must not be read as achieved moral merit, but as God’s prior, sovereign discernment of inward character.
Prophesying Ecstatic
Approved rendering: ua yaj saub (raws li Vaj Ntsuj Plig coj)
Transliteration: hitnabbê
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David; Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: unanchored trance-behavior with no stated acting agent — forbidden, risks assimilation into shamanic trance-possession (ua neeb)
[NEW — TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: possible collision]. A Spirit-induced ecstatic prophetic state (10:5-13; 19:20-24). Must always be explicitly anchored to ‘Vaj Ntsuj Plig ntawm Yawmsaub’ as the acting agent, both in its positive (ch.10) and disintegrative (ch.19) registers.
Sacrifice Zebach
Approved rendering: khoom fij
Transliteration: zebach
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)
Rejected alternatives: unqualified reuse implying a general devaluation of ritual offering as such — forbidden; the critique targets Saul’s specific substitution of ritual for obedience, not sacrifice per se, assimilation to fij dab / fij xwm kab (shamanic spirit-appeasement offerings) — forbidden without explicit disambiguation
[NEW, reuses Romans-baseline fij domain]. Every occurrence must be marked as legitimate Mosaic worship, illegitimate ritual-substitute-for-obedience (ch.13, 15), or distinguished from Christ’s later unrepeatable atonement — never left ambiguous.
Obey Shama
Approved rendering: mloog lus
Transliteration: šāmaʿ
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)
Rejected alternatives: presenting obedience as merely comparatively better than sacrifice rather than categorically required — forbidden, treating mloog lus and khoom fij as interchangeable devotional options — forbidden; this is the single most doctrinally load-bearing verb in the doctrine
[NEW, reuses root present in Romans-baseline obedience_of_faith]. ‘To obey is better than sacrifice’ (15:22); must be textually and typographically foregrounded whenever paired with khoom fij.
Divination Qesem
Approved rendering: kev ua khawv koob saib yaig
Transliteration: qesem
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22); The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: softening to generic ‘wrongdoing’ or ‘seeking guidance’ — forbidden; must preserve the direct, named, sin-equating force of 15:23 against a real, living Hmong shamanic practice
[NEW]. ‘Rebellion is as the sin of divination’ (15:23); direct, unavoidable collision with living Hmong shamanic divination practice (txiv neeb, saib yaig, ua khawv koob); paired with mandatory contrast-teaching against legitimate prophetic revelation.
Medium Necromancer
Approved rendering: tus pojniam ua khawv koob hu dab tuag
Transliteration: baʿălaṭ-ʾôḇ
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: presenting the medium’s channel as effective/legitimate — forbidden; converts must never be taught this is a viable alternate channel to divine guidance, presenting the encounter as harmless folk superstition with no real spiritual reality — forbidden; the text treats it with narrative seriousness
[NEW]. The single most direct collision in the entire book with a real, living Hmong shamanic/spiritist necromantic practice (28:7-25). Must be named plainly and condemned, exactly as dab mlom names idolatry plainly; contrast explicitly with 28:6’s legitimate-but-now-silent means.
Heart Leb
Approved rendering: lub siab
Transliteration: lēḇāḇ / lēḇ
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David
Rejected alternatives: flattening to mere sentiment/mood/preference — forbidden; must be taught as God’s exhaustive, unerring knowledge of inward moral character
[NEW, bridges to Romans-baseline will_of_god idiom]. The single most load-bearing term of the core passage (16:7): God’s choice of David rests on knowledge of inward character rather than outward stature. Must always carry explicit contrastive co-text against ‘outward_appearance’ below.
Lords Righteous Acts
Approved rendering: Yawmsaub txoj kev ncaj ncees
Transliteration: ṣiḏqôṯ YHWH
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
[NEW, reuses Romans-baseline righteousness_of_god_righteous with Yawmsaub substituted per the Yawmsaub/tus Tswv distinction]. Recounts God’s saving-faithful acts in Samuel’s farewell address (12:7), contrasted with Israel’s demand for a king.
Spirit Of The Lord Rushed Upon
Approved rendering: Vaj Ntsuj Plig ntawm Yawmsaub los rau saum…nrog zog heev
Transliteration: rûaḥ YHWH; wattiṣlaḥ
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David; Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: Vaj prefix ever dropped — forbidden, exactly as in the Romans baseline
[NEW]. God’s personal, empowering presence resting upon a divinely appointed leader (10:6,10; 11:6; 16:13; 19:20,23). Phrasing must remain consistent across every occurrence of this Spirit-coming-upon motif in the book.
Spirit Of The Lord Departed
Approved rendering: Vaj Ntsuj Plig ntawm Yawmsaub tawm ntawm nws lawm
Transliteration: sûr + rûaḥ YHWH
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
[NEW]. Direct narrative contrast with David’s Spirit-empowerment in the same chapter (16:14); immediately followed by the onset of the ‘evil_spirit_from_the_lord.‘
Foresee Provide King
Approved rendering: twb pom/xaiv lawm
Transliteration: rāʾâh (idiom: rāʾîṯî lî meleḵ)
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David
[NEW]. ‘I have provided/seen for myself a king’ (16:1); God’s choice precedes and exceeds any human process of discernment, contrasted with Samuel’s limited ‘seeing’ in vv.6-7. Must be taught alongside ‘election_choose’ and ‘heart_leb.‘
High Risk Terms
Human Spirit Soul
Approved rendering: ntsuj plig
Transliteration: nep̄eš / rûaḥ (anthropological)
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah (typological friendship, ch.18); General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: Vaj Ntsuj Plig — forbidden for this referent, reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit
Inherited from Romans package. Never receives the ‘Vaj’ prefix. Must also never be used to render Jonathan’s ‘loved him as his own soul’ (18:1,3) — see the dedicated ‘loved_as_own_soul’ entry below, which uses a different periphrasis specifically to avoid this collision.
Servant Slave Doulos
Approved rendering: qhev
Transliteration: doulos; ʿeḇeḏ (courtly self-designation)
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: koom tes (co-worker/partner) — rejected softening, erases total-surrender/submission force
Inherited from Romans package. Used for Samuel’s courtly self-address (‘your servant hears,’ 3:9-10) and elsewhere (25:39-41). Requires the same catechetical distinction between honored, voluntary courtly service and involuntary chattel-slavery already mandated in the Romans baseline, given the strong residual connotation of literal bondage in Hmong social memory.
Idol
Approved rendering: dab mlom
Transliteration: eidōlon; (image domain, e.g. Dagon)
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘statue’ softening — rejected
Inherited from Romans package. YHWH’s supremacy demonstrated over Dagon (ch.5) and ‘foreign gods’ put away by Israel (ch.7).
Power
Approved rendering: hwjchim
Transliteration: dynamis
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
Rejected alternatives: bare, unqualified hwjchim — FORBIDDEN, identical to a shaman’s (txiv neeb) ritual power
Inherited from Romans package. Always qualify as ‘Vajtswv hwjchim.’ Enforcement is, if anything, higher-stakes here than in Romans, since 1 Samuel’s martial narrative register (ch.17) maximizes the temptation toward a ‘contest of magics’ reading.
Salvation Save
Approved rendering: kev cawm dim / cawm
Transliteration: sōtēria / sōzō; yāšaʿ
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge; The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: unanchored ‘dim’ parallel to shamanic ua neeb soul-rescue — rejected without explicit Yawmsaub-anchoring
Inherited from Romans package. Applied to Samuel’s Mizpah deliverance narrative (ch.7) and the ‘all Israel’ deliverance motifs; always anchored explicitly to Yawmsaub as sole agent/means.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: kev raug ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: hagiasmos
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David (background)
Rejected alternatives: treating dawb huv as a repeatable ritual-cleansing state — rejected
Inherited from Romans package. Kept distinct from the new OT-specific ‘consecrate_ritual_ot’ entry below (16:5), which is a one-time ceremonial event historically prior to, and not identical with, this NT progressive moral-transformation sense; the two must never be taught as interchangeable even though they share the identical Hmong string.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: orgē theou
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King (cross-reference)
Rejected alternatives: unqualified ‘npau taws’ associated only with capricious spirit/ancestor anger — rejected without explicit contrast teaching
Inherited from Romans package. Not directly lexicalized in 1 Samuel’s core narrative, but its documented caution against capricious, ritually-appeasable ancestor/spirit-anger framing directly governs the handling of ‘reject_maas’ and ‘lord_relented’ below, both of which describe God’s response to sin in terms that must not collapse into this same folk-religious pattern.
King Melek
Approved rendering: vajntxwv
Transliteration: meleḵ
Doctrine: The Transition from Judges to Monarchy; The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: neutral administrative-title framing with no contrast to Yawmsaub’s own kingship — rejected, loses 8:7’s rejection framing
[NEW]. Must always be taught in explicit contrast to ‘kingdom_of_god’. Carries live political-messianic resonance in Hmong diaspora communities (cf. 19th/20th-century vajntxwv nationalist claimant traditions); teaching notes must clarify Israel’s monarchy is a unique, covenant-historical institution, not a template for any nation’s political aspirations.
Kingdom Human Israel
Approved rendering: lub nceeg vaj (Yixayeel)
Transliteration: mamlāḵâh
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv reused for the human kingdom — forbidden, must remain lexically distinct from the baseline kingdom_of_god entry
[NEW]. The qualifier ‘(Yixayeel)’ is mandatory at every occurrence.
Inquire Of The Lord
Approved rendering: nug Yawmsaub
Transliteration: šāʾal + YHWH
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King; Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: conflation with saib yaig / ua khawv koob — forbidden; must remain the positive counterpart to divination and the medium of Endor
[NEW]. Establishes the legitimate/illegitimate guidance contrast pair central to the book’s engagement with living Hmong spiritist practice (14:37; 22:10,13; 23:2,4; 28:6; 30:8).
Burnt Offering
Approved rendering: khoom fij kub hlawv tag
Transliteration: ʿōlâh
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)
[NEW]. Reuses the flagged fij domain; requires the same disambiguating strategy as ‘sacrifice_zebach’ (6:14-15; 7:9; 13:9-12).
Guilt Offering
Approved rendering: khoom fij them txhaum
Transliteration: ʾāšām
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)
[NEW]. A specific sacrificial category distinct from general zebach (6:3-17); reinforces the sacrificial system’s structured, God-given logic, contrasted with ch.15’s critique of empty ritual.
Herem Utterly Destroy
Approved rendering: muab ua kom puas tsuaj tag nrho
Transliteration: ḥērem
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)
Rejected alternatives: rendering with the fij (offering) root — forbidden, would wrongly merge holy-war destruction with sacrificial worship, use as a paradigm for personal vengeance or ordinary warfare — forbidden
[NEW]. A holy-war total-destruction ban, divinely commanded and non-repeatable (15:3,9,15,18-21); Saul’s partial obedience (sparing Agag and the best spoil) is the concrete failure triggering his rejection. Must be taught as unique to Israel’s specific redemptive-historical conquest.
Household Idols Teraphim
Approved rendering: dab mlom hauv tsev
Transliteration: tərāp̄îm
Doctrine: Obedience versus Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22); The Danger of Rejecting God as King
[NEW, reuses Romans-baseline idol domain]. Reinforces the pairing of covenant-disobedience with the forbidden-religion category (15:23); in ch.19 Michal’s use of the teraphim as a decoy must not be read as endorsing household idol-possession.
Consecrate Ritual Ot
Approved rendering: ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: qāḏaš (hitpael: hitqaddəšû)
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David (background)
Rejected alternatives: conflating with the Romans-baseline NT progressive Spirit-wrought sanctification without a distinguishing teaching note — forbidden
[NEW, reuses Romans-baseline sanctification collision domain]. Genuinely a one-time OT ceremonial ritual-purity event (16:5) prior to a sacrificial meal; the two senses share the identical Hmong string but must never be taught as interchangeable across the whole-Bible curriculum.
Lord Relented
Approved rendering: Vajtswv nyuaj siab (tab sis nws tsis hloov nws lub siab)
Transliteration: niḥam
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: implying God’s relenting is ritually appeasable/reversible by sacrifice or ritual correction — forbidden, presenting as instability/fickleness of God’s character — forbidden, must be paired with 15:29’s explicit denial of divine change
[NEW]. Anthropopathic language for God’s grieved response to human sin (15:11,35); must be taught as genuine relational grief, not capricious ancestor/spirit-anger.
Ark Of The Covenant
Approved rendering: Lub Thawv Sib Cog Lus
Transliteration: ʾărôn (hab-bərîṯ)
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge; The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Rejected alternatives: teaching the Ark as inherently talismanic/magical — forbidden; its significance is entirely derivative of Yawmsaub’s covenant presence
[NEW]. Israel’s superstitious treatment of the Ark (ch.4, bringing it as a talisman rather than trusting God himself) is narratively critiqued, not modeled; guards against assimilation into the Hmong animistic category of a power-imbued ritual object.
Battle Is The Lords
Approved rendering: kev tsov rog no yog Yawmsaub li
Transliteration: milḥāmâh + YHWH
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
[NEW]. The interpretive key to ch.17 (17:47); must be taught alongside the mandatory ‘Vajtswv hwjchim’ qualifier.
Medium Risk Terms
Faith Believe
Approved rendering: kev ntseeg / ntseeg
Transliteration: pistis / pisteuō
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
Inherited from Romans package. Must always be anchored explicitly to Yawmsaub as object in ch.17 to avoid generic-belief drift, exactly as required in Romans.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: kev txiav (raws li Txoj Kevcai Mauxes)
Transliteration: peritomē; ʿārēl (contrastive: uncircumcised)
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
Inherited from Romans package. Used contrastively at 17:26,36 to mark Goliath as a covenant-outsider (‘uncircumcised Philistine’); comprehension gap only.
Lord Of Hosts
Approved rendering: Yawmsaub tus Tswv muaj Tub Rog Saum Ntuj
Transliteration: YHWH Ṣəḇāʾôṭ
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
[NEW]. Establishes God’s sovereign military-cosmic authority (1:3; 4:4; 15:2); climactic reuse at 17:45, ‘I come in the name of the LORD of hosts.’ Comprehension-level compound; no traditional-religion collision.
Living God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv tus muaj txoj sia nyob
Transliteration: ʾĕlōhîm ḥayyîm
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
[NEW]. Reuses the ‘txoj sia’ root from the Romans-baseline eternal_life entry. David’s rebuke of Goliath’s blasphemy against ‘the armies of the living God’ (17:26,36); contrasts with ‘dab mlom’ (idol).
Like The Nations
Approved rendering: zoo li lwm Haiv Neeg
Transliteration: kəḵol-haggôyim
Doctrine: The Transition from Judges to Monarchy; The Danger of Rejecting God as King
[NEW]. Reuses the Romans-baseline nations_gentiles term (lwm Haiv Neeg) in a new collocation describing Israel’s demand to conform to pagan surrounding kingship patterns (8:5,20).
Prophet Nabi
Approved rendering: yaj saub
Transliteration: nāḇîʾ
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: txiv neeb (Hmong shaman title) — forbidden under any circumstance for a legitimate biblical prophetic office
[NEW — TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: confirm established currency of yaj saub in current Hmong Christian usage before publication]. Must remain lexically distinct from txiv neeb and from divination vocabulary (kev ua khawv koob saib yaig).
Seer Roeh
Approved rendering: tus xub pom
Transliteration: rōʾeh
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. Older synonym for prophet (9:9); must be contrasted with illegitimate ‘seeing’ of diviners/mediums even though the surface perception-verb is similar.
Man Of God
Approved rendering: tus tibneeg ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: ʾîš hāʾĕlōhîm
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: txiv neeb — forbidden, despite surface functional similarity as a spiritually-empowered intermediary
[NEW]. The office’s legitimacy and source (Yawmsaub, not ancestral/nature spirits) is the essential distinguishing point (2:27; 9:6-10).
Judge Shophet
Approved rendering: tus txiav txim
Transliteration: šāp̄aṭ / šōp̄ēṭ
Doctrine: The Transition from Judges to Monarchy; Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. Bridges to the Hmong village-court idiom but must be taught with the added prophetic/charismatic-deliverer sense unique to the judges period, not merely a legal magistrate.
Priest Kohen
Approved rendering: pov thawj
Transliteration: kōhēn
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: txiv neeb (shaman) — forbidden, per the Romans-baseline priestly_minister precedent
[NEW]. Comprehension-level office term (1:1-4:22; 14; 21-23; 30); no competing Hmong cultic-priestly office causes confusion here.
Word Of The Lord
Approved rendering: Yawmsaub Txoj Lus
Transliteration: dəḇar YHWH
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. The living, spoken prophetic revelation given through Samuel (3:1,7,21; 9:27; 15:10,23).
Ephod
Approved rendering: lub tsho pluas ntawm tus pov thawj
Transliteration: ʾēp̄ôḏ
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. Priestly garment/instrument of legitimate divine inquiry (2:18,28; 14:3,18; 21:9; 22:10,18; 23:6,9; 30:7); positive, legitimate counterpart to illegitimate divination.
Urim
Approved rendering: Ulees (+ gloss: cov pob zeb rho ntawv ntawm tus Pov Thawj Loj)
Transliteration: ʾûrîm
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. Transliteration + mandatory descriptive gloss, first-use footnote required (28:6). God’s silence via Urim must be taught as a consequence of Saul’s own unrepented sin, never evidence such legitimate means are ineffective in principle.
Casting Lots
Approved rendering: kev rho ntawv xaiv
Transliteration: gôrāl
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
Rejected alternatives: hmoov-style fatalistic framing — must be guarded against; this is a divinely-honored discernment method, not a chance mechanism
[NEW]. A legitimate, divinely-honored method of public discernment (10:20-21; 14:41-42); contrasted with illegitimate divination.
Bread Of The Presence
Approved rendering: khob mov ua kev hwm Vajtswv
Transliteration: leḥem hap-pānîm
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. Consecrated bread reserved for priests (21:4-6); comprehension gap only.
Covenant BeriT
Approved rendering: kev sib cog lus
Transliteration: bərîṯ
Doctrine: The Transition from Judges to Monarchy; The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah
Rejected alternatives: conflation with the Romans-baseline unilateral ‘lus cog tseg’ (promise, God to people) — forbidden; this is a mutual, bilateral human pact
[NEW]. Jonathan and David’s covenant of friendship (18:3; 20:8,16-17,42); kept lexically distinct from the baseline promise entry to avoid blurring the direction of obligation.
Vow Neder
Approved rendering: lus cog rau Vajtswv
Transliteration: nēḏer
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge
[NEW]. Direction is person-to-God, the reverse of the Romans-baseline promise entry. Hannah’s godly vow (ch.1) is contrasted with Saul’s rash, endangering vow (ch.14).
Loved As Own Soul
Approved rendering: hlub nws ib yam li nws hlub nws tus kheej
Transliteration: nep̄eš
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah
Rejected alternatives: ntsuj plig — forbidden; would conflate nep̄eš (soul/self) with the human_spirit_soul entry reserved for pneuma-type contexts
[NEW]. Describes Jonathan’s covenant-love for David (18:1,3; 20:17).
Jealousy
Approved rendering: kev khib
Transliteration: qinʾâ
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
[NEW]. Saul’s envy of David’s success (18:8-9), the emotional engine of his subsequent persecution.
Vengeance
Approved rendering: kev pauj taub
Transliteration: nāqam
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
[NEW]. Personal retribution forbidden to David (ch.25), entrusted instead to God’s justice; echoes the judicial, non-capricious framing of the inherited wrath_of_god caution.
Fear Dread
Approved rendering: kev ntshai
Transliteration: yārēʾ / pāḥaḏ
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
[NEW]. Israel’s army’s paralysis before Goliath (17:11,24); the negative pole of the doctrine.
Trust Batach
Approved rendering: vam khom (Yawmsaub)
Transliteration: bāṭaḥ
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
Rejected alternatives: unanchored generic self-confidence/courage reading — forbidden; must always be co-textually anchored to Yawmsaub as its object
[NEW]. David’s reliance explicitly placed in Yawmsaub, not armor, size, or self.
Outward Appearance
Approved rendering: qhov muag / qhov tsos sab nraud
Transliteration: ʿayin
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David
[NEW]. Contrast term to ‘heart_leb’ (16:7); comprehension-level phrase, no traditional-religion collision.
Uncircumcised
Approved rendering: kev txiav (raws li Txoj Kevcai Mauxes) [contrastive: tsis tau txiav]
Transliteration: ʿārēl
Doctrine: Faith versus Fear (David and Goliath)
[NEW, reused root]. Marks Goliath as a covenant-outsider (17:26,36); comprehension gap only.
Low Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv
Transliteration: ʾĕlōhîm
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: Ntuj (impersonal sky/heaven) — rejected, lacks personal deity sense, dab (spirit) — rejected, denotes false/lesser spirit
Inherited from Romans package. Used generically of Israel’s God throughout 1 Samuel; kept distinct from the covenant Name entry ‘yhwh_lord_name’ (Yawmsaub) below.
Love
Approved rendering: kev hlub
Transliteration: ʾahăḇâh / agapē
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah
Inherited from Romans package. Applied to Jonathan and David’s covenant-friendship (18:1,3; 20:17).
Death
Approved rendering: txoj kev tuag
Transliteration: thanatos; māweṯ
Doctrine: The Transition from Judges to Monarchy
Inherited from Romans package. Closes the doctrine arc at Saul and Jonathan’s deaths (ch.31).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: The Transition from Judges to Monarchy; The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Inherited from Romans package. Must always be kept lexically distinct from the new ‘kingdom_human_israel’ entry below; Israel’s demand for a human king (8:7) is a rejection of God’s own kingship, not a rejection of a rival human institution.
Plague
Approved rendering: kev mob kis
Transliteration: maggēp̄â
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King (background)
[NEW]. Divine judgment on Philistines for mishandling the Ark (ch.5); comprehension-level only.
Sons Of Belial
Approved rendering: cov neeg limhiam / tsis muaj qab hau
Transliteration: bənê bəliyyaʿal
Doctrine: Samuel’s Role as Prophet and Judge (background)
[NEW]. Idiom for morally worthless/wicked men; describes Eli’s sons (2:12) and recurrently Nabal (25:17,25).
Blessing Material
Approved rendering: koob hmoov
Transliteration: bərāḵâh
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: use for salvific grace/txiaj ntsim contexts — forbidden per the inherited Romans-baseline compliance rule
[NEW]. Abigail’s material gift/provision to David (25:27); this is the correct, compliant context for koob hmoov, since it denotes ordinary material blessing, never salvific grace.
Shepherd Typological
Approved rendering: yug yaj
Transliteration: rōʿeh
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah
[NEW]. David’s humble occupation before his anointing (16:11-12; 17:15,20,34); foreshadows his royal-shepherd role and, typologically, Christ the Good Shepherd.
Anointing Horn Oil
Approved rendering: kub yau roj (ib kub yau muaj roj puv nkaus)
Transliteration: qeren + šemen
Doctrine: The Anointed King as a Type of the Messiah (background)
[NEW]. The concrete instrument of consecration (16:1,13); comprehension-level gloss only, since Hmong material culture lacks the horn-as-flask practice.
Ramah Place Name
Approved rendering: Lamas
Transliteration: Rāmâh
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting (proper noun)
[NEW]. Samuel’s hometown (16:13; 7:17; 19:18); standard transliteration, no collision.
This Is He Formula
Approved rendering: yog tus no ntag
Transliteration: zeh hûʼ
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Choice of David (background)
[NEW]. Deictic confirmation-formula (16:12) conveying the unambiguous, final certainty of God’s choice once revealed.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: ʾāḏôn / kyrios
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Reserved for generic honorific address (‘my lord’) to a human or divine superior. In 1 Samuel this term must be kept lexically distinct from ‘yhwh_lord_name’ (Yawmsaub, the covenant Name); flagged Medium in dense royal-court passages (ch.24-26) purely to prevent the two from being confused, never a doctrinal collision.
Glory
Approved rendering: lub yeeb koob
Transliteration: doxa; kāḇôḏ
Doctrine: The Danger of Rejecting God as King
Inherited from Romans package. ‘Ichabod’ (‘no glory,’ 4:21) names the departure of God’s manifest presence from a disobedient priesthood.