Core Glossary
1 Thessalonians — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package, Phase 1 Step 1)
Risk Tier Definitions (inherited unchanged from Romans baseline)
| Tier | Definition |
|---|---|
| Critical | Doctrinally load-bearing term with a strong, specific collision with Hmong traditional religion (animism/shamanism/ancestor veneration/fate/divination) that could invert or neutralize the doctrine if unaddressed. |
| High | Real potential for confusion with a specific traditional-religious concept or practice; manageable with a documented disambiguating strategy (qualifier phrase, catechetical note). |
| Medium | Partial semantic mismatch, register gap, or comprehension gap with no direct collision with a competing religious system. |
| Low | Already-stable, safe rendering in existing Hmong Christian usage with minimal ambiguity. |
Part A — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline Translation Memory
These strings are fixed and must appear character-for-character wherever they occur in 1 Thessalonians curriculum content. No re-gloss permitted.
| Romans TM Key | English Term | Hmong Rendering | Risk (inherited) | Chapters Used in 1 Thess |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| god | God | Vajtswv | Low | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| lord | Lord | tus Tswv | Low | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| jesus_christ | Jesus Christ | Yexus Khetos | Low | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| father_god | Father (God) | Leej Txiv | Low | 1, 3 |
| son_of_god | Son of God | Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv | Low | 1 |
| holy_spirit | Holy Spirit | Vaj Ntsuj Plig | Critical | 1, 4, 5 |
| human_spirit_soul | human spirit (anthropological) | ntsuj plig | High | 5 |
| gospel | Gospel | Txoj Moo Zoo | Low | 1, 2 |
| apostle | Apostle | tus Tub Txib | Medium | 2 |
| servant_slave_doulos | Servant/Slave | qhev | High | 1 |
| grace | Grace | txiaj ntsim | Critical | 1, 5 |
| peace | Peace | kev thaj yeeb | Low | 1, 5 |
| faith_believe | Faith/Believe | kev ntseeg / ntseeg | Medium | 1, 3, 5 |
| nations_gentiles | Nations/Gentiles | lwm Haiv Neeg | Low | 2, 4 |
| wrath_of_god | Wrath of God | kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv | High | 1, 5 |
| idol | Idol | dab mlom | High | 1 |
| death | Death | txoj kev tuag | Low | 4 |
| sanctification | Sanctification | kev raug ua kom dawb huv | High | 4, 5 |
| eternal_life | Eternal Life | txoj sia nyob mus ib txhis | Low | 5 (implicit, salvation context) |
| glory | Glory | lub yeeb koob | Low | 2 |
| election_choose | Election/Choose | kev xaiv (Vajtswv xaiv raws li nws lub siab nyiam) | Critical | 1, 5 |
| power | Power | hwjchim (qualified: Vajtswv hwjchim) | High | 1 |
| salvation_save | Salvation/Save | kev cawm dim / cawm | High | 5 |
| kingdom_of_god | Kingdom of God | lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv | Low | 2 |
| endurance | Endurance | kev ua siab ntev | Low | 1, 5 |
| boasting | Boasting | kev khav theeb | Low | 2 |
| in_christ_union_formula | ”in Christ” formula | nyob hauv Khetos | High | 4 |
| love | Love | kev hlub | Low | 1, 3, 4, 5 |
| hope | Hope | kev cia siab | Low (elevated attention in this curriculum) | 1, 4, 5 |
| thanksgiving | Thanksgiving | ua tsaug | Low | 5 |
Part B — New Terms Introduced by 1 Thessalonians (Proposed TM Additions)
All entries below are proposed for formal TM-revision review before permanent adoption, per 12_ai_translation_requirements.md §9. Fields follow the Romans baseline registry schema.
B.1 Critical Risk
| # | English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Doctrine | Chapters | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coming/Return of the Lord (parousia) | παρουσία / parousia | Tus Tswv rov qab los | The Return of Christ | 2, 3, 4, 5 | Bare rov qab los without Tus Tswv qualifier — rejected, loses royal-arrival sense and risks conflation with ancestor-spirit “return” (dab rov qab); sawv rov qab (rise again) — rejected, confuses with resurrection vocabulary. | THE central term of the letter and of the “Return of Christ” doctrine. Must always be taught with its Greco-Roman royal-state-visit background; qualifier Tus Tswv never dropped. |
| 2 | Resurrection (of Christ / of believers) | ἀνάστασις, ἀνίστημι / anastasis, anistēmi | sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los | Resurrection of Believers | 4 | Rendering as mere continued soul-existence/spirit-wandering — rejected, loses the bodily, historical, once-for-all claim; framing as “going to the ancestors” — rejected, replaces the resurrection claim with existing animist afterlife cosmology. | Christ’s resurrection (4:14) is the guarantee-pattern; must be rendered identically whether of Christ or of believers. |
| 3 | Sleep (euphemism for believers’ death) | κοιμάομαι / koimaomai | tsaug zog (piv txog kev tuag, tos sawv rov qab los) | Resurrection of Believers / Hope in Grief | 4 | Bare “sleep” with no resurrection-anchor — rejected, risks being heard as literal soul-wandering-during-sleep per animist belief (basis of hu plig soul-calling ritual). | Must always co-occur in the same teaching unit with the resurrection clause (v.14) to prevent the animist misreading. |
| 4 | Grief/Mourning | λύπη, λυπέομαι / lypē, lypeomai | kev quaj ntsuag / kev nyuaj siab | Hope in Grief | 4 | Suppression-framing (“do not grieve at all”) — rejected, contradicts Paul’s actual instruction (grieve, but not hopelessly); unmarked reuse of funeral-ritual vocabulary without the hope-contrast — rejected, collapses Paul’s redefinition of grief’s ground into an unmodified restatement of existing funeral custom. | Collides directly with the highly ritualized Hmong mourning tradition (qeej path-recitation, multi-day funeral rites); doctrine requires explicit teaching that grief is not forbidden but re-grounded in resurrection hope. |
| 5 | Trumpet of God | σάλπιγξ θεοῦ / salpinx theou | raj xyu ntawm Vajtswv | The Return of Christ / Resurrection of Believers | 4 | Any qeej-associated vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN; the qeej is the specific reed-pipe instrument played to guide a deceased person’s soul along a recited path to the ancestors in traditional Hmong funerals, and using it here would fuse Christ’s resurrection-summoning trumpet with an existing funeral soul-guidance rite. | Non-negotiable prohibition; use only the neutral generic-instrument term raj xyu. |
| 6 | Not destined for wrath but salvation (compound clause) | οὐκ ἔθετο ἡμᾶς εἰς ὀργὴν ἀλλὰ εἰς περιποίησιν σωτηρίας | Vajtswv tsis xaiv peb rau kev npau taws, tiamsis rau kev tau txais kev cawm dim | The Day of the Lord | 5 | — | Compound of three Romans-TM Critical/High terms (election_choose, wrath_of_god, salvation_save); all three qualifiers retained together. |
| 7 | Sanctify wholly — spirit, soul, and body | ὁλοτελεῖς … πνεῦμα καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα | dawb huv tag nrho: ntsuj plig, lub siab, thiab lub cev | Sanctification | 5 | Mapping onto the Hmong multi-soul (plig) framework as several separable, ritually-manageable souls — rejected, this is a description of one indivisible person under three aspects, not several wanderable souls. | Requires dedicated teaching note distinguishing biblical trichotomy from animistic multiple-soul cosmology; ntsuj plig here retains its Romans-established human_spirit_soul sense (High risk on its own). |
B.2 High Risk
| # | English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Doctrine | Chapters | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Caught up (rapture) | ἁρπάζω / harpazō | raug muab coj tsa nce mus rau saum huab cua | The Return of Christ / Resurrection of Believers | 4 | Framing analogous to shamanic trance soul-flight (txiv neeb journeying to negotiate with spirits) — rejected, this is a bodily, visible, communal, one-time, Christ-initiated event, not a solitary ritual specialist’s trance. | Requires explicit contrast-teaching against the txiv neeb soul-journey framework. |
| 9 | The dead in Christ (compound) | οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ | cov uas tuag nyob hauv Khetos | Resurrection of Believers | 4 | — | Compounds death and in_christ_union_formula (both Romans TM); both must be retained exactly. |
| 10 | Archangel | ἀρχάγγελος / archangelos | tus thawj tubtxib saum ntuj | The Return of Christ | 4 | Assimilation into the generic dab spirit-taxonomy — rejected, angels are created, obedient servants of God, categorically distinct from ancestral/nature/malevolent spirits. | Requires explicit teaching distinguishing angels from any class of dab. |
| 11 | Satan | Σατανᾶς / Satanas | Xatas | Christian Living / The Return of Christ | 2, 3 | Common-noun rendering via generic dab vocabulary — rejected, would collapse a singular, personal, named chief adversary into the plural, negotiable dab pantheon. | Retain as a transliterated proper name, never a dab-family common noun; ties to “the tempter” (3:5). |
| 12 | Holiness / holy ones (saints) | ἁγιωσύνη, ἅγιοι / hagiosynē, hagioi | kev dawb huv; cov ntseeg dawb huv | Sanctification | 3 | Treating “saints” as a ritual-purity classification separating “clean” from “unclean” persons — rejected. | Shares collision risk with the Romans sanctification entry; must be taught as a Spirit-wrought status/process term. |
| 13 | Prophecy (do not despise) | προφητεία / prophēteia | lus qhia yav tom ntej los ntawm Vaj Ntsuj Plig | Sanctification | 5 | Equating with divination/fortune-telling (txiv neeb-style foretelling about fate/hmoov) — rejected, biblical prophecy is Spirit-given, exercised within the church, and subject to communal testing, not private divination for personal advantage. | Directly parallels the hmoov collision already Critical in the Romans baseline (election/foreknowledge); requires explicit contrast-teaching. |
| 14 | Do not quench the Spirit | τὸ πνεῦμα μὴ σβέννυτε | tsis txhob tua Vaj Ntsuj Plig lub qhov cig | Sanctification | 5 | Dropping the Vaj prefix in this clause — forbidden, per the Romans holy_spirit entry’s mandatory-prefix rule. | Direct application of the existing Romans-TM mandatory qualifier rule to a new verbal context (quenching/extinguishing). |
| 15 | The Day of the Lord | ἡμέρα κυρίου / hēmera kyriou | hnub ntawm tus Tswv | The Day of the Lord | 5 | Framing as a calendrically-discernible, ritually-appointed auspicious/inauspicious day (as in geomancer/shaman day-selection practice) — rejected, Paul’s Day of the Lord is sudden, unannounced, undivinable, and unrepeatable. | Requires explicit contrast with the Hmong auspicious-day/divination framework. |
B.3 Medium Risk
| # | English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Doctrine | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Word of the Lord / Word of God | λόγος κυρίου / λόγος θεοῦ | Vajtswv Txoj Lus / tus Tswv Txoj Lus | General/Cross-cutting | 1, 2, 4 | Positive alignment with existing Hmong Bible tradition-name; comprehension gap only regarding “a specific word” category. |
| 17 | Vessel (anthropological sense — control one’s own body) | σκεῦος / skeuos (1 Thess 4:4 sense) | kav tau nws lub cev | Sanctification | 4 | Distinct from Romans TM entry #56 (vessel_of_mercy_wrath) — same Greek word, different referent; must not be merged. |
| 18 | Sexual immorality | πορνεία / porneia | kev nkauj kev nraug / kev deev luag | Sanctification | 4 | Cultural-sensitivity/comprehension risk regarding Hmong marriage customs; no direct traditional-religion collision identified. |
| 19 | Meeting (of the Lord) | ἀπάντησις / apantēsis | mus tos txais tus Tswv | The Return of Christ | 4 | Positive cultural bridge (welcoming a returning/honored leader); comprehension-level note recommended (reunion imagery, not departure/abandonment of earth). |
| 20 | Peace and security (ironic, false confidence) | εἰρήνη καὶ ἀσφάλεια | kev thaj yeeb thiab kev nyab xeeb | The Day of the Lord | 5 | Reuses peace (Romans TM) ironically; teaching note required to distinguish from genuine salvific peace. |
| 21 | Holy kiss | φίλημα ἅγιον / philēma hagion | culturally-adapted warm-greeting gloss + explanatory footnote | Christian Living | 5 | Cultural-adaptation comprehension gap (kissing not a standard Hmong greeting), not a doctrinal collision. |
| 22 | Full assurance/conviction | πληροφορία / plērophoria | kev ntseeg tas nrho lub siab | General/Cross-cutting | 1 | Builds on established ntseeg root; no collision. |
B.4 Low Risk
| # | English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Church/assembly | ἐκκλησία | pawg ntseeg | 1, 2 | Comprehension-level, stable. |
| 24 | Imitators / example | μιμηταί / τύπος | cov uas coj lawv li / tus qauv | 1 | Discipleship metaphor. |
| 25 | Boldness | παρρησία | kev txaus siab hais lus | 2 | Comprehension-level. |
| 26 | Impurity, deceit | ἀκαθαρσία, δόλος | kev tsis dawb huv, kev dag ntxias | 2 | Negative pairing with sanctification vocabulary. |
| 27 | Nursing mother / infants metaphor | τροφός, νήπιοι | niam yug pub mis / me nyuam | 2 | Maternal imagery. |
| 28 | Crown of boasting | στέφανος καυχήσεως | mom kub ntawm kev khav theeb | 2 | Builds on boasting (Romans TM). |
| 29 | Establish, comfort/exhort | στηρίζω, παρακαλέω | txhawb kom ruaj, txhawb siab | 3, 4 | Pastoral vocabulary. |
| 30 | Labor, in vain | κόπος, κενός | kev dag zog, tsis tau qab hau | 2, 3 | Comprehension-level. |
| 31 | Walk, please (God) | περιπατεῖν, ἀρέσκειν | taug kev / ua lub neej, ua kom Vajtswv txaus siab | 4 | Conduct idiom. |
| 32 | Instruction/command | παραγγελία | tej lus qhia tseg | 4 | Comprehension-level. |
| 33 | Brotherly love | φιλαδελφία | kev hlub cov kwvtij ntseeg | 4 | Builds on love (Romans TM). |
| 34 | Taught by God | θεοδίδακτοι | Vajtswv qhia lawv ntawm nruab siab | 4 | Comprehension-level. |
| 35 | Thief in the night | κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί | tub sab uas tuaj thaum hmo ntuj | 5 | Concrete image, transfers cleanly. |
| 36 | Birth pains | ὠδίν | mob plab yug menyuam | 5 | Idiom, transfers well. |
| 37 | Sons of light/day vs. night/darkness | υἱοὶ φωτός/ἡμέρας vs. νυκτός/σκότους | cov tub ki ntawm qhov kaj/hnub vs. qhov tsaus/hmo ntuj | 5 | Dualistic metaphor; brief note to avoid folk light/dark-spirit conflation. |
| 38 | Sober, watchful | νήφω, γρηγορέω | ceev faj thiab tsis qaug cawv, zov tos tsis pw tsaug zog | 5 | Ethical-vigilance metaphor. |
| 39 | Armor of faith/love/hope-of-salvation | θώραξ, περικεφαλαία | lub tsho hlau thaiv, lub kaus mom hlau thaiv | 5 | Military metaphor; reuses faith, love, hope, salvation (Romans TM). |
| 40 | Admonish, patient/longsuffering | νουθετέω, μακροθυμέω | ntuas, ua siab ntev tos | 5 | Builds on endurance root. |
| 41 | Rejoice always, pray without ceasing | χαίρετε πάντοτε, ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε | zoo siab tas mus li, thov Vajtswv tsis txawj tu | 5 | Devotional triad with thanksgiving (Romans TM). |
| 42 | Test everything, abstain from evil | πάντα δοκιμάζετε, ἀπὸ παντὸς εἴδους πονηροῦ ἀπέχεσθε | sim txhua yam, nyob deb ntawm txhua yam kev phem | 5 | Comprehension-level ethical instruction. |
| 43 | Comfort one another (with these words) | παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους | sib txhawb nqa siab / sib nplig siab | 4 | Climactic pastoral-purpose clause of the core passage. |
Escalation Summary
- Critical-tier terms (7): parousia, resurrection, sleep-euphemism-for-death, grief/mourning, trumpet of God, the wrath/salvation compound, sanctify-wholly/trichotomy — all require mandatory human theologian review before any publication, with no automated-review bypass, per the Romans baseline routing rule inherited unchanged.
- High-tier terms (8): rapture/caught up, the-dead-in-Christ compound, archangel, Satan, holiness/saints, prophecy, quench-the-Spirit, Day of the Lord — all require mandatory human theologian review before publication.
- New forbidden substitution established in this Language Package: any qeej-associated (Hmong funeral reed-pipe) vocabulary for “the trumpet of God” (1 Thess 4:16) is permanently forbidden, joining the cumulative forbidden-substitutions list inherited from the Romans baseline.
- All chapters (1-5) have contributed new terms; full-book coverage is confirmed with no chapter silently skipped.
Critical Risk Terms
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Vaj Ntsuj Plig
Transliteration: pneuma hagion / pneuma hagiōsynēs
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: bare ntsuj plig (no Vaj prefix) — rejected, denotes an animistic wandering human soul
Inherited from Romans package. Mandatory ‘Vaj’ prefix retained at every 1 Thessalonians occurrence (1:5-6, 4:8, 5:19). Especially load-bearing at 5:19 (‘do not quench the Spirit’) — see new entry ‘quench_the_spirit’ below, and at 5:23’s trichotomy — see ‘sanctify_wholly_spirit_soul_body’.
Grace
Approved rendering: txiaj ntsim
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: koob hmoov (fortune/blessing tied to fate and ritual correctness) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs in the letter opening (1:1) and closing (5:28) greetings.
Election Choose
Approved rendering: kev xaiv (Vajtswv xaiv raws li nws lub siab nyiam)
Transliteration: eklogē / eklegomai
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: hmoov (impersonal fate/fortune) vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:4 (‘knowing, brothers loved by God, your election’); volitional clause mandatory, same as Romans; compounds again at 5:9 within the new ‘not_destined_for_wrath_but_salvation’ entry.
Not Destined For Wrath But Salvation
Approved rendering: Vajtswv tsis xaiv peb rau kev npau taws, tiamsis rau kev tau txais kev cawm dim
Transliteration: ouk etheto hēmas eis orgēn alla eis peripoiēsin sōtērias
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:9. Compounds three already-flagged Critical/High terms (election_choose’s volitional clause, wrath_of_god, salvation_save) in a single sentence; all three qualifiers must be retained together — dropping any one collapses either God’s personal sovereignty or the judicial/salvific contrast Paul is building.
Parousia Return Of Christ
Approved rendering: Tus Tswv rov qab los
Transliteration: parousia
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘rov qab los’ without the ‘Tus Tswv’ qualifier — rejected, loses royal-arrival sense and risks conflation with ancestor-spirit ‘return’ (dab rov qab), ‘sawv rov qab’ (rise again) — rejected, confuses with resurrection vocabulary, transliterated loanword — rejected, would be theologically opaque and forfeit the disambiguating power of the qualifier
NEW ENTRY. THE central term of the letter, occurring at 2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23. Hmong cosmology includes spirits/ghosts ‘returning’ (dab rov qab) and souls being ritually ‘called back’ (hu plig); the qualifier ‘Tus Tswv’ must never be dropped, including in titles, headers, or quiz options. Must always be taught with the Greco-Roman royal state-visit background explicitly.
Wait For Son From Heaven
Approved rendering: tos Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los, uas yuav los saum ntuj
Transliteration: anamenein ton huion autou ek tōn ouranōn
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:10, the letter’s first parousia-expectation reference, compounding ‘son_of_god’ with resurrection and parousia vocabulary before the technical parousia term itself is introduced at 2:19.
Trumpet Of God
Approved rendering: raj xyu ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: salpinx theou
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: any qeej-associated (Hmong funeral reed-pipe) vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, would fuse Christ’s resurrection-summoning trumpet with the specific instrument used to guide a deceased soul to the ancestors in traditional funeral rites
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:16. Non-negotiable rule for this Language Package: the qeej reed-pipe instrument and any related vocabulary must never be used for this term, in translation text, teaching notes, sermon illustration, or quiz distractors. Only the neutral generic-instrument term ‘raj xyu’ is permitted.
Blameless At Coming With Saints
Approved rendering: tsis muaj chaw thuam … thaum Tus Tswv rov qab los … nrog rau tag nrho nws cov ntseeg dawb huv
Transliteration: amemptous … en tē parousia … meta pantōn tōn hagiōn autou
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 3:13. Compounds sanctification vocabulary (dawb huv), the parousia term, and ‘saints/holy ones’ (hagioi) in a single verse; each element carries its own documented collision risk and all must be preserved together. Parallels the second such compounding at 5:23.
Resurrection Of Believers
Approved rendering: sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los
Transliteration: anistēmi / anastasis
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Rejected alternatives: rendering as mere continued soul-existence/spirit-wandering — rejected, loses the bodily, historical, once-for-all claim, framing as ‘going to the ancestors’ — rejected, replaces the resurrection claim with existing animist afterlife cosmology
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:14, 4:16. Must be rendered identically whether of Christ or of believers, since Christ’s own historical, bodily resurrection is the guarantee-pattern for the future resurrection of deceased believers.
Sleep Euphemism Death
Approved rendering: tsaug zog (piv txog kev tuag, tos sawv rov qab los)
Transliteration: koimaomai
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘sleep’ with no resurrection-anchor — rejected, risks being heard as literal soul-wandering-during-sleep per animist belief, the basis of hu plig soul-calling ritual
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:13, 4:14, 4:15. Must always co-occur, in the same teaching unit, with the resurrection clause of 4:14; never taught in isolation.
Grief Mourning
Approved rendering: kev quaj ntsuag / kev nyuaj siab
Transliteration: lypē / lypeomai
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Rejected alternatives: suppression-framing (‘do not grieve at all’) — rejected, contradicts Paul’s actual instruction, unmarked reuse of funeral-ritual vocabulary without the hope-contrast — rejected, collapses Paul’s redefinition of grief’s ground into an unmodified restatement of existing funeral custom
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:13. Collides directly with the highly ritualized, multi-day Hmong mourning tradition (kev quaj ntsuag, qeej path-recitation). Paul redefines grief’s theological ground (hope vs. hopelessness), not its legitimacy or emotional expression; this distinction must be made explicit in every teaching unit.
Sanctify Wholly Spirit Soul Body
Approved rendering: dawb huv tag nrho: ntsuj plig, lub siab, thiab lub cev
Transliteration: holoteleis … pneuma kai psychē kai sōma
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: mapping onto the Hmong multi-soul (plig) framework as several separable, ritually-manageable souls — rejected, this describes one indivisible person under three aspects, not several wanderable souls
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:23. Hmong traditional anthropology holds a multi-soul view (several separable, wanderable plig, ritually ‘called back’ via hu plig); Paul’s threefold pneuma/psychē/sōma benediction must be taught as one integrated person sanctified together, never as three quasi-independent entities requiring separate ritual management. Requires a dedicated teaching note in every use.
Quench The Spirit
Approved rendering: tsis txhob tua Vaj Ntsuj Plig lub qhov cig
Transliteration: to pneuma mē sbennute
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: dropping the ‘Vaj’ prefix in this clause — FORBIDDEN, per the inherited holy_spirit entry’s mandatory-prefix rule
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:19. Direct application of the Romans-established mandatory ‘Vaj’ prefix rule to a new verbal context (quenching/extinguishing); dropping the prefix would confuse the Spirit’s manifest activity with an extinguishable wandering human soul.
High Risk Terms
Human Spirit Soul
Approved rendering: ntsuj plig
Transliteration: pneuma (anthropological)
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: Vaj Ntsuj Plig — forbidden for this referent, reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs in the trichotomy of 5:23 (‘spirit and soul and body’); sits inside the new Critical-risk compound entry ‘sanctify_wholly_spirit_soul_body’ below, where Hmong multi-soul (plig) cosmology raises the collision risk beyond the baseline High tier for this term alone.
Servant Slave Doulos
Approved rendering: qhev
Transliteration: doulos
Doctrine: General / Ecclesial Office
Rejected alternatives: koom tes (co-worker/partner) — rejected softening, erases total-surrender force
Inherited from Romans package. Root reused at 1:9 in verbal form douleuein — see new entry ‘serve_god_as_bondservant’ below for that specific context.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: orgē theou
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: unqualified ‘npau taws’ associated only with capricious spirit/ancestor anger — rejected without explicit contrast teaching
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:10 (‘wrath to come’) and 5:9 (compound clause) — see new entry ‘not_destined_for_wrath_but_salvation’ below.
Idol
Approved rendering: dab mlom
Transliteration: eidōlon
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘statue’ softening — rejected, must not soften the term
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:9, anchoring the letter’s explicit conversion narrative (‘turned to God from idols’); paired with new entry ‘living_and_true_god’ below.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: kev raug ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: hagiasmos
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: treating dawb huv as a repeatable ritual-cleansing state — rejected
Inherited from Romans package. 4:3 (‘this is God’s will, your sanctification’) is a programmatic thesis statement for this book’s assigned Sanctification doctrine; same rendering and same folk ritual-purity collision caution apply, escalated further by the 5:23 trichotomy — see ‘sanctify_wholly_spirit_soul_body’ below.
Power
Approved rendering: hwjchim
Transliteration: dynamis
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: bare, unqualified hwjchim — FORBIDDEN, identical to a shaman’s (txiv neeb) ritual power
Inherited from Romans package. Always qualify as ‘Vajtswv hwjchim’. Occurs at 1:5, paired directly with ‘Vaj Ntsuj Plig’ in the same clause (‘in power and in the Holy Spirit’).
Salvation Save
Approved rendering: kev cawm dim / cawm
Transliteration: sōtēria / sōzō
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: unanchored ‘dim’ (escape) parallel to shamanic ua neeb soul-rescue — rejected without explicit Christ-anchoring
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs in the 5:8 armor metaphor (‘helmet of the hope of salvation’) and the 5:9 compound clause.
In Christ Union Formula
Approved rendering: nyob hauv Khetos
Transliteration: en Christō
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Rejected alternatives: bare spatial ‘hauv’ with no fixed co-text — rejected, misses the participatory, mystical-union sense
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 4:16 in the compound ‘the dead in Christ’ — see new entry ‘dead_in_christ’ below.
Satan
Approved rendering: Xatas
Transliteration: Satanas
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: common-noun rendering via generic dab vocabulary — rejected, would collapse a singular, personal, named chief adversary into the plural, negotiable dab pantheon
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 2:18. Hmong cosmology recognizes many classes of spirit-beings (dab: ancestral, household, nature, malevolent) but no single named, personal, chief-adversary figure. Retain as a transliterated proper name, never a dab-family common noun; teach explicitly as a singular, defeated-but-active personal enemy, not a negotiable spirit.
The Tempter
Approved rendering: tus uas ntxias kev sim siab
Transliteration: ho peirazōn
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: generic spirit-of-misfortune framing — rejected, must be identified with Satan, not treated as a separate or generic entity
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 3:5. Must always be explicitly identified with ‘Xatas’ (same collision risk); never presented as a separate or generic malevolent-spirit category.
Archangel
Approved rendering: tus thawj tubtxib saum ntuj
Transliteration: archangelos
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: assimilation into the generic dab spirit-taxonomy — rejected, angels are created, obedient servants of God, categorically distinct from ancestral/nature/malevolent spirits
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:16. Descriptive periphrasis chosen because no transliteration tradition exists for this term; requires explicit teaching that angels are not venerated, feared, or ritually negotiated with, unlike dab.
Serve God As Bondservant
Approved rendering: ua qhev rau Vajtswv
Transliteration: douleuein
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: koom tes (co-worker/partner) — rejected, same reason as the Romans qhev entry
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:9. New context for the Romans-established ‘qhev’ root — here directed at God the Father (conversion context) rather than Christ (apostolic-office context, Romans 1:1). Same catechetical caution applies: voluntary, honored bondservice, not degrading chattel slavery.
Living And True God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv uas muaj txoj sia thiab tseeb
Transliteration: theō zōnti kai alēthinō
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:9, paired directly with ‘dab mlom’ (idol) as the positive term of the conversion-narrative contrast; must retain the life/truth qualifiers to sharpen the idol/God distinction.
Caught Up Rapture
Approved rendering: raug muab coj tsa nce mus rau saum huab cua
Transliteration: harpagēsometha
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Rejected alternatives: framing analogous to shamanic trance soul-flight (txiv neeb journeying to negotiate with spirits) — rejected, this is a bodily, visible, communal, one-time, Christ-initiated event, not a solitary ritual specialist’s trance
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:17. Requires explicit contrast-teaching against the txiv neeb soul-journey framework in every teaching unit, not assumed self-evident.
Dead In Christ
Approved rendering: cov uas tuag nyob hauv Khetos
Transliteration: hoi nekroi en Christō
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:16. Compounds two already-flagged elements (death, in_christ_union_formula); both must be retained exactly. Teaches that ‘first’ (rising before the living are caught up) answers the Thessalonians’ anxiety about the dead being disadvantaged.
Holiness Saints
Approved rendering: kev dawb huv / cov ntseeg dawb huv
Transliteration: hagiosynē / hagioi
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: treating ‘saints’ as a ritual-purity classification separating ‘clean’ from ‘unclean’ persons — rejected
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 3:13. Directly related to the inherited ‘sanctification’ entry; shares the same dawb huv collision risk with folk ritual-purity. ‘Saints’ must be taught as a Spirit-wrought status/process term.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: lus qhia yav tom ntej los ntawm Vaj Ntsuj Plig
Transliteration: prophēteia
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: equating with divination/fortune-telling (txiv neeb-style foretelling about fate/hmoov) — rejected, biblical prophecy is Spirit-given, exercised within the church, and subject to communal testing, not private divination for personal advantage
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:20-21. Directly parallels the hmoov-family collision already Critical in the Romans baseline for election/foreknowledge; requires explicit contrast-teaching against txiv neeb divination roles.
Day Of The Lord
Approved rendering: hnub ntawm tus Tswv
Transliteration: hēmera kyriou
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: framing as a calendrically-discernible, ritually-appointed auspicious/inauspicious day (as in geomancer/shaman day-selection practice) — rejected, Paul’s Day of the Lord is sudden, unannounced, undivinable, and unrepeatable
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:2. Hmong ritual life places heavy significance on geomancer/shaman-selected auspicious and inauspicious days; must be taught with explicit contrast to this divination framework in every occurrence.
Medium Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: tus Tub Txib
Transliteration: apostolos
Doctrine: General / Ecclesial Office
Inherited from Romans package. Implicit at 2:6 for Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.
Faith Believe
Approved rendering: kev ntseeg / ntseeg
Transliteration: pistis / pisteuō
Doctrine: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Part of the programmatic 1:3 triad (faith/love/hope) and the 5:8 armor metaphor.
Full Assurance
Approved rendering: kev ntseeg tas nrho lub siab
Transliteration: plērophoria
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:5. Builds on established ‘ntseeg’ root; comprehension-level compound, no collision.
Meeting Of The Lord
Approved rendering: mus tos txais tus Tswv
Transliteration: apantēsis
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:17. Positive cultural bridge (welcoming an honored/returning leader); comprehension-level note recommended clarifying this pictures reunion-with-a-returning-king, not abandonment of earth.
Always With The Lord
Approved rendering: yuav nrog tus Tswv nyob mus li
Transliteration: pantote syn kyriō esometha
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:17, the climactic pastoral point of the core passage. Must not be read as merely ‘souls existing somewhere with the Lord’ indistinguishably from the general Hmong assumption of ongoing soul-existence in relation to ancestors; must retain its distinctly Christ-centered, resurrection-grounded, embodied sense.
God Brings Dead With Him
Approved rendering: Vajtswv yuav coj lawv nrog Yexus los
Transliteration: axei syn autō
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:14. New imagery; comprehension-level risk only — the corporate/relational picture contrasts helpfully with the individualized, ancestor-ward soul-journey of Hmong funeral cosmology and should be taught contrastively.
Vessel Anthropological
Approved rendering: kav tau nws lub cev
Transliteration: skeuos (1 Thess 4:4 sense)
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:4. Distinct sense from the Romans TM entry ‘vessel_of_mercy_wrath’ (lub yias uas tau txais txiaj ntsim / kev npau taws) — same Greek word, unrelated referent (anthropological self-control vs. an object of divine mercy/wrath). Must not be confused with or merged into that entry.
Sexual Immorality
Approved rendering: kev nkauj kev nraug / kev deev luag
Transliteration: porneia
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:3. Cultural-sensitivity/comprehension risk given Hmong marriage-custom context; no direct traditional-religion collision identified, but requires careful, non-euphemistic yet pastorally sensitive phrasing.
Low Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv
Transliteration: theos
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. Reused unchanged throughout 1 Thessalonians chapters 1-5.
Lord
Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Load-bearing here as the constant subject of ‘the coming of the Lord’ (Tus Tswv rov qab los) and ‘the Day of the Lord’ (hnub ntawm tus Tswv); those qualifier formulas are new entries below but always retain this exact ‘tus Tswv’ string.
Jesus Christ
Approved rendering: Yexus Khetos
Transliteration: Iēsous Christos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package.
Father God
Approved rendering: Leej Txiv
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Inherited from Romans package. Used in letter opening (1:1) and closing benediction (3:11, 5:23).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:10 (‘wait for his Son from heaven’) — see new compound entry ‘wait_for_son_from_heaven’ below.
Gospel
Approved rendering: Txoj Moo Zoo
Transliteration: euangelion
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs 1:5, 2:2, 2:4, 2:8-9.
Peace
Approved rendering: kev thaj yeeb
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs 1:1 (genuine greeting) and 5:23 (benediction). See new entry ‘peace_and_security_ironic’ below for the distinct, ironic false-confidence sense at 5:3, which must never be confused with this genuine sense.
Nations Gentiles
Approved rendering: lwm Haiv Neeg
Transliteration: ethnē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. At 4:5 qualified as ‘lwm Haiv Neeg uas tsis paub Vajtswv’ (Gentiles who do not know God).
Death
Approved rendering: txoj kev tuag
Transliteration: thanatos
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies the core passage’s ‘koimaomai/nekroi’ vocabulary (4:13-16); see new entries ‘sleep_euphemism_death’ and ‘dead_in_christ’ below.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: txoj sia nyob mus ib txhis
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Inherited from Romans package. Applied implicitly at 4:17’s ‘always be with the Lord’ and 5:9’s ‘obtain salvation.‘
Glory
Approved rendering: lub yeeb koob
Transliteration: doxa
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs 2:6, 2:12, 2:20.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 2:12.
Endurance
Approved rendering: kev ua siab ntev
Transliteration: hypomonē
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Inherited from Romans package. Paired with hope in the programmatic 1:3 triad; underlies 5:14’s ‘patient/longsuffering’ vocabulary.
Boasting
Approved rendering: kev khav theeb
Transliteration: kauchēsis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 2:19, extended into the new compound entry ‘crown_of_boasting’ below.
Love
Approved rendering: kev hlub
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Part of the 1:3 triad, the 5:8 armor metaphor, and the new ‘brotherly_love’ compound (4:9) below.
Hope
Approved rendering: kev cia siab
Transliteration: elpis
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Inherited from Romans package. Lexically Low risk but carries elevated doctrinal weight in this Language Package: this is the letter’s single highest-stakes deployment of ‘hope’ (1:3, 4:13, 5:8), always taught as resurrection-grounded certainty, never mere optimism, per the Romans forbidden-substitution convention extended here.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ua tsaug
Transliteration: eucharistō
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:2, 2:13, and within the new ‘rejoice_pray_thanksgiving’ devotional-triad entry (5:16-18) below.
Church Assembly
Approved rendering: pawg ntseeg
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: General / Ecclesial Office
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:1, 2:14. Established comprehension-level compound (‘group of believers’); no collision.
Crown Of Boasting
Approved rendering: mom kub ntawm kev khav theeb
Transliteration: stephanos kauchēseōs
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 2:19. Builds on inherited ‘boasting’ root; comprehension gap only (crown-of-victory imagery unfamiliar but not colliding).
Word Of The Lord
Approved rendering: Vajtswv Txoj Lus / tus Tswv Txoj Lus
Transliteration: logos kyriou / logos theou
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:8, 2:13, and critically at 4:15 (‘this we declare to you by a word of the Lord’), anchoring the resurrection/parousia teaching’s dominical authority. Positive alignment with existing Hmong Bible tradition-name.
Descend From Heaven
Approved rendering: nqis los saum ntuj los
Transliteration: katabēsetai ap’ ouranou
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:16. Directional/spatial description; no collision. Underscores the parousia as a real, spatial event, not merely a spiritual experience.
Clouds
Approved rendering: saum huab
Transliteration: nephelai
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:17. Positive biblical-continuity theophany image; no collision.
Brotherly Love
Approved rendering: kev hlub cov kwvtij ntseeg
Transliteration: philadelphia
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:9. Builds on the inherited ‘love’ root; comprehension-level extension, no collision.
Taught By God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv qhia lawv ntawm nruab siab
Transliteration: theodidaktoi
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:9. Comprehension-level only; no collision.
Test Everything Abstain Evil
Approved rendering: sim txhua yam / nyob deb ntawm txhua yam kev phem
Transliteration: panta dokimazete … apo pantos eidous ponērou apechesthe
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:21-22. Comprehension-level ethical discernment instruction accompanying the prophecy-testing command; no collision.
Walk Please God
Approved rendering: taug kev / ua lub neej; ua kom Vajtswv txaus siab
Transliteration: peripatein, areskein
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:1. Standard Hebraic ‘walk’ idiom for conduct; no collision.
Thief In The Night
Approved rendering: tub sab uas tuaj thaum hmo ntuj
Transliteration: kleptēs en nykti
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:2. Concrete image, transfers cleanly cross-culturally; no collision.
Birth Pains
Approved rendering: mob plab yug menyuam
Transliteration: ōdin
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:3. Idiom transfers well; comprehension-level only.
Sober Watchful
Approved rendering: ceev faj thiab tsis qaug cawv; zov tos tsis pw tsaug zog
Transliteration: nēphōmen, grēgorōmen
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:6, 5:8. Comprehension-level ethical-vigilance metaphor; no collision.
Armor Of Faith Love Hope
Approved rendering: lub tsho hlau thaiv, yog kev ntseeg thiab kev hlub; lub kaus mom hlau thaiv, yog kev cia siab txog kev cawm dim
Transliteration: thōraka pisteōs kai agapēs, perikephalaian elpida sōtērias
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:8. Reuses faith, love, hope, and salvation (all inherited) within a new military-armor metaphor frame; re-anchors ‘hope’ explicitly to salvation, reinforcing the mandatory Christ/salvation-anchoring convention.
Imitators Example
Approved rendering: cov uas coj lawv li / tus qauv
Transliteration: mimētai, typos
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 1:6-7. Positive discipleship metaphor; comprehension-level only, no collision.
Boldness
Approved rendering: kev txaus siab hais lus
Transliteration: parrēsia
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 2:2. Comprehension-level; no collision.
Nursing Mother Imagery
Approved rendering: zoo li ib tug niam yug pub mis rau nws tej me nyuam
Transliteration: trophos, nēpioi
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 2:7. Culturally resonant maternal metaphor; no collision.
Establish Comfort
Approved rendering: txhawb kom ruaj, txhawb siab
Transliteration: stērizō, parakaleō
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 3:2, 3:13. Positive pastoral vocabulary; comprehension-level only, no collision.
Labor In Vain
Approved rendering: kev dag zog, tsis tau qab hau
Transliteration: kopos, kenos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 2:9, 3:5. Comprehension-level, no collision.
Live Quietly Work
Approved rendering: nyob tso siab lug; saib xyuas nws tej num; ua haujlwm ntawm nws txhais tes
Transliteration: hēsychazein, prassein ta idia, ergazesthai tais chersin
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:11. Practical ethics; no collision.
Admonish Patient
Approved rendering: ntuas, ua siab ntev tos
Transliteration: noutheein, makrothymein
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:14. Builds on the inherited ‘endurance’ root; comprehension-level, no collision.
Rejoice Pray Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: zoo siab tas mus li; thov Vajtswv tsis txawj tu; ua tsaug rau txhua yam
Transliteration: chairete pantote, adialeiptōs proseuchesthe, en panti eucharisteite
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:16-18. Closing devotional triad; ‘give thanks’ reuses inherited ‘thanksgiving’ entry, ‘rejoice’ and ‘pray without ceasing’ are new but comprehension-level only, no collision.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Shout Of Command
Approved rendering: lub suab hais kom sawv (raws li tus thawj tswj hwm hais)
Transliteration: keleusma
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:16. Comprehension gap only (unfamiliar royal/military summons imagery); no competing referent.
Peace And Security Ironic
Approved rendering: kev thaj yeeb thiab kev nyab xeeb
Transliteration: eirēnē kai asphaleia
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:3. Reuses the inherited ‘peace’ root ironically (false, complacent confidence before judgment); requires a teaching note distinguishing this from the genuine ‘kev thaj yeeb’ of salvation used elsewhere (1:1, 5:23).
Comfort One Another
Approved rendering: sib txhawb nqa siab / sib nplig siab
Transliteration: parakaleite allēlous
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 4:18 (climactic), and root recurs at 3:2, 3:13, 4:1, 5:11, 5:14. The term itself is stable, but its placement as the passage’s climactic command must be preserved in every teaching unit — the hinge turning doctrinal content (4:13-17) into pastoral practice.
Impurity Deceit
Approved rendering: kev tsis dawb huv, kev dag ntxias
Transliteration: akatharsia, dolos
Doctrine: Sanctification
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 2:3. Negative-foil pairing built on the dawb huv root shared with sanctification; reinforces the need to keep dawb huv vocabulary anchored to moral/spiritual transformation, not ritual purity.
Sons Of Light Darkness
Approved rendering: cov tub ki ntawm qhov kaj/hnub vs. ntawm qhov tsaus/hmo ntuj
Transliteration: huioi phōtos, huioi hēmeras / nyktos, skotous
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:5. Comprehension-level dualistic identity metaphor; brief note recommended against conflating with any folk-spiritual notion of ‘light spirits’ vs. ‘dark spirits.‘
Holy Kiss
Approved rendering: ib txoj kev sib nyiam sib hnov ntawm cov kwvtij ntseeg dawb huv (piv txog kev cim tos kaj siab lug)
Transliteration: philēma hagion
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW ENTRY. Occurs 5:26. Cultural-adaptation comprehension gap, not a doctrinal collision: kissing is not a standard Hmong greeting custom. Recommended approach is a culturally-equivalent warm-greeting gloss alongside a footnote explaining the original 1st-century custom.