Core Glossary
Job — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package, Phase 1 Step 1)
This glossary compiles every load-bearing theological term surfaced in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the core passage (Job 19:23-27) and all 42 chapters of Job. Terms already fixed in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json are marked “Inherited from Romans TM” and MUST reuse that exact Hmong string; they are listed here for full-book traceability only, not for re-decision. New terms surfaced by this Job analysis are marked “NEW — Job package” and are proposed as permanent additions to this Language Package’s own translation memory, pending the same TM-revision review process the Romans baseline established.
Risk tier definitions are inherited unchanged from assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json (Critical / High / Medium / Low, as defined there).
Table 1 — New Terms Surfaced in Job (proposed permanent TM additions)
| # | English Term | Hebrew (transliteration) | Hmong Rendering | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J1 | Satan / the Adversary | הַשָּׂטָן (ha-satan) | Xatas | Critical | 1, 2 | Transliterated proper name (parallel strategy to Abba); must never be rendered with bare dab (generic spirit), which would erase both his singular identity and his subordination to God. First-use gloss required. |
| J2 | Sons of God / heavenly council | בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים (benei ha-elohim) | cov tub tim tswv saum ntuj | Medium | 1, 38 | Distinguish from ancestor-spirit realm; these are God’s own court members. |
| J3 | Integrity / blameless | תָּם (tam) | tus ncaj ncees thiab siab dawb paug | High | 1, 2, 27, 29, 31 | Keep lexically distinct from the Romans TM’s forensic raug suav tias ncaj ncees (imputed righteousness); this is lived moral wholeness, not legal reckoning. |
| J4 | Hedge / protective boundary | שׂוּךְ (suk) | txoj kab tiv thaiv | Low-Medium | 1 | Comprehension-level image supporting Satan’s Limited Power doctrine. |
| J5 | Curse (God) / revile | קָלַל / בֵּרֵךְ euphemism (qalal / barak) | cem Vajtswv | High | 1, 2, 3 | Must be taught as verbal renunciation/blasphemy, not a magical incantation with independent ritual efficacy. Distinguish from foom koob hmoov (ordinary material blessing, already sanctioned in Romans TM notes) and from cursing circumstance/day (foom tsis zoo rau, Medium), which Job does but never directs at God. |
| J6 | Sheol / realm of the dead | שְׁאוֹל (she’ol) | tub tuag teb | Critical | 3, 7, 11, 14, 17, 26 | Must not be assimilated into the ritually-accessible ancestor-spirit world; teach as a place of waiting for God’s future action, not a parallel realm reachable via ritual (ua neeb). |
| J7 | Redeemer (kinsman-redeemer, personal) | גֹּאֵל (go’el) | tus txhiv | Critical | 19 (core passage) | Agent-noun built on Romans TM kev txhiv (redemption). Positive clan-redeemer cultural bridge exists but risks under-teaching the eschatological/typological-Christ weight; must always be taught as a unit with vv.26-27. |
| J8 | Stand upon the earth (eschatological) | עַל־עָפָר יָקוּם (al-aphar yaqum) | yuav sawv saum lub ntiajteb | Critical | 19 (core passage) | Preserve concrete, embodied, historical sense; footnote the Hebrew’s dust/grave-dust ambiguity rather than resolving it. |
| J9 | In/from my flesh (resurrection hope) | מִבְּשָׂרִי (mibbesari) | hauv kuv lub cev nqaij tawv (+ mandatory footnote on ambiguity) | Critical | 19 (core passage) | Do not silently resolve the embodied/disembodied ambiguity; must not read as disembodied ghost-return. |
| J10 | See / behold God | אֶחֱזֶה אֱלוֹהַ (echezeh Eloah) | kuv yuav pom Vajtswv | High | 19 (core passage) | Distinguish explicitly from shamanic trance-vision (txiv neeb “seeing” into the spirit world); this is future, resurrection-anchored, God-initiated beholding. |
| J11 | Mediator / arbiter / umpire | מוֹכִיחַ (mokiach) | tus nruab nrab | High | 9 | Positive dispute-mediation cultural bridge exists; must be cross-taught with J7 and J14 as one cumulative Mediator/Redeemer Hope thread, not three unrelated ideas. |
| J12 | Legal contention / lawsuit before God | רִיב / מִשְׁפָּט (rib / mishpat) | kev tuav plaub ntug | Medium | 13 | Good village-court cultural bridge; teach that Job’s “case” resolves through God’s self-revelation (chs.38-42), not a courtroom-style victory. |
| J13 | Live again (resurrection question) | חָיָה (chayah, in 14:14) | yuav muaj sia dua tau lawm los tsis tau | High | 14 | Teach in explicit sequence with core passage (ch.19) and ch.42; Job’s doubt here is answered by his later certainty, not a contradictory position. |
| J14 | Interpreter / mediator-intercessor (angelic) | מֵלִיץ (melitz) | ib tug tim tswv uas pab thov Vajtswv | High | 33 | Second explicit Mediator-figure; cross-reference J11 and J7 as a cumulative doctrinal thread. |
| J15 | Ransom | כֹּפֶר (kopher) | nqi txhiv | High | 33 | Built on Romans TM kev txhiv; teach as a partial OT anticipation fulfilled completely only in Christ’s hilastērion (Romans TM Critical entry), not a competing mechanism. |
| J16 | Discipline / suffering-as-instruction | מוּסָר (musar) | kev qhuab ntuas | Medium | 5, 33, 36 | One legitimate biblical purpose for suffering among several; must not become the single explanatory key to all suffering in the book. |
| J17 | Prosper (of the wicked) | צָלַח (tsalach) | vam meej | High | 21 | Central term of “Retribution Theology Challenged”; directly confronts the Hmong traditional-religion assumption that prosperity indicates spirit-favor/good fate and suffering indicates ritual/moral failure. Requires explicit contrastive teaching. |
| J18 | Widow | אַלְמָנָה (almanah) | poj ntsuam | Low-Medium | 22, 24, 29, 31 | Positive cultural resonance with Hmong clan-obligation ethics; comprehension-level only. |
| J19 | Orphan / fatherless | יָתוֹם (yatom) | menyuam ntsuag | Low-Medium | 22, 24, 29, 31 | Paired with J18; same notes. |
| J20 | Purity / cleanness before God (transcendent) | זָכָה / טָהוֹר (zakah / tahor) | kev dawb huv ntawm Vajtswv | Critical | 25 | Same collision point already flagged Critical in the Romans TM sanctification entry (folk ritual purity from spirit-contamination); teach as pointing toward a righteousness that must be given, not achieved by ritual cleansing. |
| J21 | Sea-chaos monster (Rahab) | רַהַב (Rahab) | Lahaj | Medium | 26 | Transliterated proper name; mild collision-adjacency with dragon/serpent-spirit folklore, inherited fully by J24 (Leviathan). |
| J22 | Oath / self-curse of innocence | שָׁבַע formula (“as God lives”) | kev twv lus | High | 27, 31 | Hmong customary oaths (twv lus) carry perceived ritual/supernatural binding force; teach Job’s oath as a solemn moral appeal to God’s truthful character, not an incantation. Density peaks in ch.31 — sustained teaching required. |
| J23 | Wisdom | חָכְמָה (chokmah) | tswvyim | Low | 12, 28 | Existing, stable Hmong term; no collision. |
| J24 | Fear of the LORD (reverent awe) | יִרְאָה (yirah) | kev hwm thiab ntshai Vajtswv | Medium | 4, 28 | Distinguish from anxious appeasement of a capricious spirit; biblical fear-of-the-LORD is reverent, relational awe compatible with intimacy. |
| J25 | Robe of righteousness (clothing metaphor) | לָבַשׁ צֶדֶק (lavash tsedeq) | kuv naav txoj kev ncaj ncees ib yam li ib txoj tsho | Low-Medium | 29 | Lived-character image; do not confuse with Romans TM forensic-imputation vocabulary. |
| J26 | Behemoth | בְּהֵמוֹת (Behemoth) | Npehemauj | Medium | 40 | Transliterated proper name; teach as a real/quasi-mythic creature entirely under God’s control, not an independent spirit-being. |
| J27 | Leviathan | לִוְיָתָן (Leviathan) | Leviyathaj | High | 26 (as Rahab), 41 | Higher collision risk than J26 due to parallel dragon/serpent-spirit veneration traditions (dab zaj, nab loj); teach explicitly as a created being mastered by God, not an autonomous supernatural rival. |
| J28 | Theophany-storm / whirlwind | סְעָרָה (se’arah) | cua daj cua dub | Medium | 38 | Teach as a controlled, coherent divine self-manifestation, not a capricious storm-spirit requiring appeasement. |
| J29 | Repentance / relenting | נִחַמְתִּי, נָחַם (nacham) | kev ntxeev dua siab thiab lees paub tias kuv tsis muaj peevxwm nkag siab tag nrho Vajtswv | High | 42 | Central term of Repentance and Restoration doctrine; must not be taught as transactional ritual appeasement of an offended party — this is humbled worship, not restitution for the specific sins alleged by the friends. |
| J30 | Restore (fortunes) | שׁוּב (shuv) | pub rov qab | Medium | 42 | Do not let the doubled material blessing be taught as proof that righteousness mechanically guarantees prosperity — that would silently reintroduce the retribution theology the book dismantles. |
| J31 | Book / scroll (personal legal record) | סֵפֶר (sepher) | phau ntawv | Medium | 19 (core passage) | Keep lexically distinct from Vaj Lug Kub (Romans TM scripture entry, reserved for canonical Scripture). |
| J32 | Almighty (divine title) | שַׁדַּי (Shaddai) | Vajtswv Tus Muaj Hwjchim Loj Kawg Nkaus | Medium | pervasive (dialogue chs. 3-37 esp.) | New fixed collocation built on the Romans TM mandatory Vajtswv hwjchim qualifier; never render Shaddai with bare hwjchim. |
| J33 | Abaddon (place of destruction) | אֲבַדּוֹן (Abaddon) | Anpadoo / qhov chaw puas tsuaj tag nrho | Medium | 26 | Near-synonym intensifying J6 (Sheol); inherits its collision risk. |
| J34 | Root of the matter (idiom) | שֹׁרֶשׁ הַדָּבָר (shoresh ha-davar) | qhov tseeb hauv qab ntawm tej no | Low | 19 | Comprehension-level idiom. |
Table 2 — Romans-Baseline Terms Reused Verbatim in Job (Inherited, Full-Book Traceability)
| Romans TM Entry | Hmong Rendering (fixed, unchanged) | Risk (as set in Romans TM) | Job Chapters Where Reused | Job-Specific Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
god | Vajtswv | Low | all | Also the base for the new Shaddai collocation (J32). |
lord | tus Tswv | Low | 1, 2, 38, 42 | Maps YHWH in Job’s narrative frame. |
power | (Vajtswv) hwjchim | High | 5, 9, 12, 21, 26, 36-41 | Never bare; extended into the new Shaddai fixed collocation (J32). |
righteousness_of_god_righteous | Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees / tus ncaj ncees | Critical | 4, 9, 25, 33-35 | Must stay distinct from J3 (tam, lived integrity) and J25 (clothing metaphor). |
justify_reckon_as_righteous | ua kom ncaj ncees / raug suav tias ncaj ncees | Critical | 9:2, 25:4 | ”How can a man be justified/righteous before God?” — same forensic-vs-moralism risk as Romans. |
sin_act_and_condition | txhaum / kev txhaum | High | 1, 2, 4-5, 8, 22, 34 | Underlies the whole retribution-theology debate. |
wrath_of_god | kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv | High | 9, 16, 19:29, 20, 21, 42:7 | Climactic fulfillment at 42:7 falls on the friends, not Job — key doctrinal reversal. |
human_spirit_soul | ntsuj plig | High | 7, 32 (mortal-breath sense) | Kept distinct from Vaj Ntsuj Plig per Romans convention. |
holy_spirit | Vaj Ntsuj Plig | Critical | 32 (divine-inspiration sense), 33:4 | Verse-by-verse judgment required to distinguish from the anthropological sense above. |
hope | kev cia siab | Low (Romans) / elevated to Medium in Job context | 4, 6-7, 14, 17, 19 | Job’s hope is a lived struggle (despair in ch.17 vs. certainty in ch.19), not a flat constant — teaching note required. |
redemption | kev txhiv | Medium | 19, 33 | Base for the new agent-noun J7 (tus txhiv, Redeemer) and J15 (nqi txhiv, ransom). |
witness | tus timkhawv | Low (Romans) / elevated to Medium in Job context | 16 | Applied to a heavenly witness/advocate — cross-reference the cumulative Mediator thread (J11, J14, J7). |
creation | tej uas raug tsim los | Low | 9-10, 12, 26, 38-41 | Extensively reused in the divine speeches; comprehension-level illustrative notes needed for unfamiliar flora/fauna/astronomy references, not a doctrinal risk. |
death | txoj kev tuag | Low | 3, 7, 14, 18, 30 | Stable, no new risk. |
servant_slave_doulos | qhev | High | 1, 31 | Ch.31’s application (equal dignity of master and servant before the Creator) reinforces rather than complicates the Romans-package teaching note. |
governing_authority | cov muaj hwjchim kav teb chaws | High | 25, 34 (concept-adjacent, applied to God’s own cosmic rule) | Distinguish God’s own self-governance from the Romans-package’s delegated-civil-authority sense. |
impartiality_of_god | tsis saib ntsej muag | Low | 34:19 | Clean, stable, no new risk — reinforces Divine Justice doctrine. |
reconciliation | kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv) | Medium | 42:8-10 | Job’s intercession for his friends; must retain the mandatory God-ward direction. |
scripture | Vaj Lug Kub | Low | (contrast term only, see J31) | Must be kept distinct from Job’s own personal scroll (J31, phau ntawv). |
boasting | kev khav theeb | Low | (friends’ claims to superior wisdom, general) | Minor, comprehension-level. |
endurance | kev ua siab ntev | Low | pervasive (thematic) | Job’s proverbial patience; stable reuse. |
truth | qhov tseeb | Low | 19, 27 | Job’s insistence on truthful, non-flattering speech throughout his defense. |
unrighteousness | kev tsis ncaj ncees | Low | 27:4 (denied of Job’s own speech) | Stable, no new risk. |
Governing Note
This glossary, together with analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, constitutes the complete Phase 1 Step 1 lexical inventory for the Hmong Job Language Package. All 42 chapters of Job have been surveyed for load-bearing theological vocabulary; every Romans-baseline term reused here retains its Romans TM rendering, risk tier, and mandatory qualifier conventions unchanged. All 34 newly-surfaced Job-specific terms (Table 1) are proposed, not yet enacted, TM additions and require the same human-theologian/native-speaker review routing specified in assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json before being finalized as permanent entries in a future translation_memory.json revision for this curriculum.
Critical Risk Terms
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Vaj Ntsuj Plig
Transliteration: pneuma hagion / pneuma hagiōsynēs
Doctrine: Sanctification and Life in the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: bare ntsuj plig (no Vaj prefix) — rejected, denotes an animistic wandering human soul
Fixed collocation; ‘Vaj’ prefix mandatory at every occurrence. Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders the divine sense of Hebrew ruach at 32:8, 33:4 (Elihu’s claim of Spirit-given insight); translators must judge verse-by-verse whether a given ruach occurrence is this divine sense or the anthropological sense (human_spirit_soul entry), never defaulting automatically to one reading.
Righteousness Of God Righteous
Approved rendering: Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees / tus ncaj ncees
Transliteration: dikaiosynē theou / dikaios
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘kev ncaj ncees’ without the reckoning qualifier — rejected, reads as self-achieved moralism
Must always be paired with the reckoning/imputation entry. Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders Hebrew tsedeq/tsaddiq at 4:17, 9:2, 25:4, 33-35 (the friends’ and Job’s righteousness-before-God arguments); must stay lexically distinct from Job’s lived-integrity term (integrity_blameless_tam) — the friends’ retribution-theology argument depends precisely on illegitimately collapsing the two.
Justify Reckon As Righteous
Approved rendering: ua kom ncaj ncees / raug suav tias ncaj ncees
Transliteration: dikaioō / logizomai
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: ‘ua zoo’ (do good) framing — rejected, reintroduces works-righteousness at 4:5
Fixed accounting-metaphor phrase for imputation. Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders the forensic question ‘how can a man be righteous/justified before God?’ (9:2, 25:4); same forensic-vs-moralism risk as Romans.
Election Choose
Approved rendering: kev xaiv (Vajtswv xaiv raws li nws lub siab nyiam)
Transliteration: eklogē / eklegomai
Doctrine: Election and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: hmoov (impersonal fate/fortune) vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, collapses personal divine choice into fatalism and erases human moral responsibility (9:19-23)
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: not directly lexicalized in Job’s own text, but its Critical-tier hmoov-vocabulary prohibition extends fully to Job 1:21 (‘the LORD gives and the LORD takes away’) and to the prosper_of_the_wicked entry (ch.21) — God’s purposeful, personal sovereignty and Job’s own worship of it must never be rendered with hmoov (fate) vocabulary.
Flesh Neutral Descent Body
Approved rendering: lub cev nqaij tawv
Transliteration: sarx (neutral)
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Rejected alternatives: bare nqaij used unmarked for both senses — rejected, collapses neutral and moral senses of flesh
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: serves as the base compound for the resurrection-hope phrase ‘hauv kuv lub cev nqaij tawv’ (in_from_my_flesh_resurrection_hope entry, 19:26), Job’s climactic bodily-resurrection anticipation.
Propitiation Atoning Sacrifice
Approved rendering: qhov theej txhoj kev txhaum
Transliteration: hilastērion
Doctrine: Grace and Salvation by Faith Alone
Rejected alternatives: transliterated loanword — rejected, would be opaque and prevent needed contrast-teaching against shamanic appeasement, bare ‘qhov theej’ without a ‘once for all, sufficient’ qualifying clause — rejected, reads as one appeasement among many
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: the fulfillment-target for Job’s own partial OT anticipation, Elihu’s ‘ransom’ (kopher, ransom_kopher entry, 33:24); Job’s kopher must always be taught as pointing toward, never competing with or duplicating, this Critical entry’s once-for-all atonement.
Grace
Approved rendering: txiaj ntsim
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace and Salvation by Faith Alone
Rejected alternatives: koob hmoov (fortune/blessing tied to fate and ritual correctness) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN for this sense; would invert sola gratia (3:24, 4:4-5, 11:6)
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: the koob hmoov reservation (ordinary material blessing only, never salvific favor) extends directly to Job 42:10-12’s doubled restoration (restore_fortunes entry) — the restoration must never be taught as a mechanical, merit-earned payout, which would collapse toward this permanently forbidden koob hmoov/grace substitution.
Satan Adversary
Approved rendering: Xatas
Transliteration: ha-satan
Doctrine: Satan’s Limited Power under God’s Sovereignty
Rejected alternatives: bare dab (generic spirit/idol) — FORBIDDEN, collapses the singular, subordinate cosmic Adversary into the populous, autonomous Hmong spirit category requiring ongoing ritual propitiation, erasing his unique identity and his subordination to God
NEW ENTRY — transliterated proper name, parallel strategy to the Romans TM’s retained ‘Abba’ loanword. First-use gloss mandatory: ‘tus pheej kom Vajtswv rau Yauj txim’ (the one who accuses Job before God). Appears within God’s own heavenly council and requires explicit divine permission before acting (1:12, 2:6); this bounded, permission-dependent status is the doctrinal point and must never be diluted by any dab-rooted paraphrase.
Purity Before God Transcendent
Approved rendering: kev dawb huv ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: zakah / tahor
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: treating dawb huv as folk ritual purity from spirit-contamination — rejected, same collision already flagged Critical in the Romans TM sanctification entry
NEW ENTRY — Bildad’s rhetorical question, ‘How can one born of woman be pure?’ (25:4). Same collision point already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline; must be taught as pointing toward humanity’s universal need for a righteousness that is given, not achieved by ritual cleansing — the same trajectory answered at 19:25’s Redeemer hope and, cross-book, at Romans 3:21-26’s propitiation doctrine.
Sheol Realm Of Dead
Approved rendering: tub tuag teb
Transliteration: she’ol
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
Rejected alternatives: ritually-accessible ancestor-spirit-realm framing — rejected, Sheol must be a place of waiting for God’s future action, not a parallel realm reachable via ua neeb soul-calling or ancestor offerings
NEW ENTRY — tracked across chs.3, 7, 11, 14, 17, 26. High potential for merging with the Hmong shamanic ancestor-spirit realm; must always be explicitly taught as a place of waiting for God’s future action (resurrection, judgment), never a parallel spirit-world the living can ritually visit, negotiate with, or manipulate.
Redeemer Kinsman Redeemer
Approved rendering: tus txhiv
Transliteration: go’el
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: treating as an ordinary clan legal-redeemer with no eschatological weight — rejected as under-teaching, though the cultural bridge itself is retained and positive
CORE PASSAGE TERM (19:25) — NEW ENTRY. Agent-noun built on the Romans TM redemption root. Strong positive cultural bridge (a clan elder who redeems a kinsman from debt-bondage) exists, but the risk is under-teaching the eschatological weight: must ALWAYS be taught as a unit with stand_upon_the_earth, in_from_my_flesh_resurrection_hope, and see_behold_god (vv.26-27), never in isolation.
Stand Upon The Earth
Approved rendering: yuav sawv saum lub ntiajteb
Transliteration: al-aphar yaqum
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: flattening into a purely spiritual/figurative ‘vindication feeling’ — rejected, must retain the concrete, historical, standing-on-earth sense
CORE PASSAGE TERM (19:25) — NEW ENTRY. The doctrinal center of gravity for the Mediator/Redeemer Hope doctrine, anticipating Christ’s incarnation and return. Must carry a mandatory footnote honestly preserving the Hebrew’s dust/grave-dust ambiguity rather than resolving it dogmatically in either direction.
In From My Flesh Resurrection Hope
Approved rendering: hauv kuv lub cev nqaij tawv
Transliteration: mibbesari
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: disembodied ghost-return reading — rejected, would collide with rather than illuminate Hmong ancestor-spirit beliefs, silently resolving the embodied/disembodied Hebrew ambiguity in either direction without a footnote — rejected as overclaiming precision the text does not have
CORE PASSAGE TERM (19:26) — NEW ENTRY. Reuses the Romans TM flesh_neutral_descent_body compound. Mandatory footnote required noting the Hebrew preposition’s genuine embodied/disembodied ambiguity; one of the OT’s clearest anticipations of bodily resurrection hope.
Permission Bounded Hostile Agency Periphrasis
Approved rendering: tsuas yog raws li Vajtswv tso cai xwb
Transliteration: n/a (periphrasis surfaced via linguistic gap analysis)
Doctrine: Satan’s Limited Power under God’s Sovereignty
Rejected alternatives: autonomous-spirit-aggression framing — rejected, Hmong spirit-affliction narratives typically involve either autonomous spirit aggression or negotiated ritual placation, neither of which matches a hostile agent bounded by a sovereign’s revocable permission
NEW ENTRY — surfaced in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.1 to address a true vocabulary gap: no Hmong term exists for permission-bounded hostile agency. This fixed descriptive formula must be attached to every action Satan takes in chs.1-2, functioning as the doctrine’s structural fence; this is the single most safeguard-critical periphrasis in the whole package given its Critical doctrine assignment.
High Risk Terms
Human Spirit Soul
Approved rendering: ntsuj plig
Transliteration: pneuma (anthropological)
Doctrine: Sanctification and Life in the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: Vaj Ntsuj Plig — forbidden for this referent, reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit
Never capitalized/prefixed with ‘Vaj’. Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders the anthropological sense of Hebrew ruach at 7:7 (Job’s own breath/life-spirit) and 32:8 (breath-of-life sense where distinct from the divine-inspiration sense); kept lexically distinct from Vaj Ntsuj Plig at every occurrence.
Sin Act And Condition
Approved rendering: txhaum / kev txhaum
Transliteration: hamartia
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders Hebrew chet/avon/pesha throughout the friends’ retribution-theology arguments (chs.1-2, 4-5, 8, 13, 22, 34); underlies the whole retribution-theology debate — Hmong custom’s framing of wrongdoing as reparable social/ritual fault must be explicitly distinguished from the book’s central challenge that suffering does not always indicate hidden sin.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: orgē theou
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Rejected alternatives: unqualified ‘npau taws’ associated only with capricious spirit/ancestor anger — rejected without explicit contrast teaching
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: warned proleptically at 19:29 and falls with full force at 42:7 — notably upon the confident retribution-theologian friends, not upon the sufferer Job, a striking reversal that must be preserved in teaching as the book’s explicit verdict against simplistic retribution theology.
Servant Slave Doulos
Approved rendering: qhev
Transliteration: doulos
Doctrine: General / Ecclesial Office
Rejected alternatives: koom tes (co-worker/partner) — rejected softening found in some pulpit paraphrases, erases total-surrender force
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: applied to Job’s own household servants in his oath of innocence (31:13-15), where Job affirms shared creaturely dignity between master and servant before the Creator — reinforces rather than complicates the existing Romans-package teaching note that voluntary honored service is compatible with full human equality before God.
Governing Authority
Approved rendering: cov muaj hwjchim kav teb chaws
Transliteration: exousia
Doctrine: Christian Living and Unity in the Church
Rejected alternatives: unmarked hwjchim framing rulers’ authority as shamanic spiritual power — rejected
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: reused concept-adjacently at 25:2 and 34:10,13 for God’s own cosmic self-governance rather than delegated civil authority; must be clearly distinguished from the Romans-package’s delegated-civil-authority sense to avoid conflating God’s sovereign rule with a human institution.
Power
Approved rendering: hwjchim
Transliteration: dynamis
Doctrine: The Gospel as the Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: bare, unqualified hwjchim — FORBIDDEN, identical to a shaman’s (txiv neeb) ritual power
Always qualify as ‘Vajtswv hwjchim’. Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders Hebrew gevurah/koach, God’s incomprehensible cosmic might, a major textual anchor for the Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God doctrine (chs.5, 9, 12, 21, 26, 36-41); also serves as the direct base for the new Job-specific ‘Shaddai’ fixed collocation (almighty_shaddai entry) — never bare hwjchim in either use.
Leviathan
Approved rendering: Leviyathaj
Transliteration: Leviathan
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
Rejected alternatives: dab zaj / nab loj (native dragon/serpent-spirit vocabulary) — rejected, would import an actively venerated/feared autonomous supernatural-rival referent directly into the text
NEW ENTRY — transliterated proper name (26:12 as ‘Rahab’-adjacent imagery; fully at 41:1-34). Higher collision risk than Behemoth due to parallel Hmong/Southeast Asian dragon-spirit and water-spirit veneration traditions; must be explicitly taught as a created being wholly subordinate to and mastered by God, illustrating that even the most fearsome imaginable chaos-creature is God’s plaything, not an independent supernatural rival.
Integrity Blameless Tam
Approved rendering: tus ncaj ncees thiab siab dawb paug
Transliteration: tam
Doctrine: Faith and Integrity amid Suffering
Rejected alternatives: raug suav tias ncaj ncees (Romans TM forensic imputation phrase) — FORBIDDEN for this referent, would collapse Job’s observed, lived moral wholeness into legal reckoning
NEW ENTRY — Job’s defining quality (1:1, 2:3, reasserted 27, 29, 31), the very quality Satan wagers will collapse and the friends assume guarantees prosperity. Must be kept lexically distinct from the Romans TM’s forensic righteousness vocabulary; merging the two registers would blur the very question the book is built to explore — does righteous character guarantee blessing? (No.)
Curse God Revile
Approved rendering: cem Vajtswv
Transliteration: qalal / barak (euphemism)
Doctrine: Faith and Integrity amid Suffering
Rejected alternatives: treating as a magical incantation with independent ritual efficacy — rejected, Hmong belief that spoken curses carry real ritual power must not be imported into the doctrinal reading
NEW ENTRY — the wife’s temptation (2:9). Must be taught as verbal renunciation/blasphemy — a relational, moral act of rejecting God — never a ritual technique expected to compel a supernatural outcome. Must be kept distinct from curse_day_circumstance (3:1), which Job does, but never directs at God.
Mediator Arbiter Umpire
Approved rendering: tus nruab nrab
Transliteration: mokiach
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
NEW ENTRY — Job’s anguished wish (9:32-33) for a neutral third party able to arbitrate between himself and God; the first explicit articulation of the Mediator/Redeemer Hope doctrine. Positive Hmong clan dispute-mediation cultural bridge exists, but must be cross-taught with heavenly_witness, interpreter_mediator_intercessor_angelic, and redeemer_kinsman_redeemer as one cumulative thread — not an unrelated village-elder analog.
Interpreter Mediator Intercessor Angelic
Approved rendering: ib tug tim tswv uas pab thov Vajtswv
Transliteration: melitz
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
NEW ENTRY — Elihu’s proposed angelic mediator/interpreter, ‘one of a thousand’ (33:23). A second explicit Mediator-figure alongside mediator_arbiter_umpire and redeemer_kinsman_redeemer; must be taught in explicit continuity with, not as a rival concept to, the other Mediator threads.
Ransom Kopher
Approved rendering: nqi txhiv
Transliteration: kopher
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: presenting as a rival/competing atonement mechanism alongside Christ’s — rejected, must be taught as a partial OT anticipation fulfilled completely only in Christ’s hilastērion
NEW ENTRY — Elihu’s proposal that God may graciously provide ‘a ransom’ preventing a sufferer’s descent to the Pit (33:24). Built directly on the Romans TM redemption root; must never be presented as a separate or competing atonement mechanism from propitiation_atoning_sacrifice.
Live Again Resurrection Question
Approved rendering: yuav muaj sia dua tau lawm los tsis tau
Transliteration: chayah
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
NEW ENTRY — Job’s direct pre-19:25 resurrection question, ‘If a man dies, shall he live again?’ (14:14), held in unresolved tension between longing and doubt. Must be taught in explicit sequence with ch.19 (certainty) and ch.42 (embodied vindication) so this is understood as honest doubt later answered, not a contradictory position.
See Behold God
Approved rendering: kuv yuav pom Vajtswv
Transliteration: echezeh Eloah / chazah
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: unqualified rendering allowing assimilation to shamanic trance-vision — rejected
CORE PASSAGE TERM (19:26-27) — NEW ENTRY. The underlying verb chazah overlaps with the semantic domain of shamanic trance-vision (a txiv neeb ‘sees’ into the spirit world during ritual trance, mus saib ntuj). Must be explicitly taught as future, resurrection-anchored, God-initiated beholding — categorically different from self-induced spirit-sight.
Oath Self Curse Of Innocence
Approved rendering: kev twv lus
Transliteration: shava’ / chai (“as God lives”)
Doctrine: Faith and Integrity amid Suffering
Rejected alternatives: treating as an incantation whose binding power derives from the ritual formula itself — rejected, matches live Hmong customary twv lus belief and must be actively corrected
NEW ENTRY — Job’s formal oath sworn on God’s own life (27:2-4), fully developed as an extended legal self-curse structure across ch.31 (highest-density occurrence in the book). Must be taught as a solemn moral appeal to God’s own truthful character as witness, never an incantation deriving power from the formula itself; ch.31’s density requires sustained, not one-time, teaching.
Prosper Of The Wicked
Approved rendering: vam meej
Transliteration: tsalach
Doctrine: Retribution Theology Challenged
Rejected alternatives: hmoov-family vocabulary implying prosperity=fate/spirit-favor — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, same prohibition inherited from the Romans TM’s election_choose entry
NEW ENTRY — central term of Retribution Theology Challenged (21:7-16); Job’s direct empirical refutation of the friends’ retribution-theology premise. Directly confronts a LIVE contemporary Hmong assumption (prosperity=spirit-favor/good hmoov, misfortune=ritual/moral failure), not merely an ancient debate; requires explicit contrastive teaching every occurrence.
Repentance Relenting
Approved rendering: kev ntxeev dua siab thiab lees paub tias kuv tsis muaj peevxwm nkag siab tag nrho Vajtswv
Transliteration: nacham / nichamti
Doctrine: Repentance and Restoration
Rejected alternatives: transactional ritual-apology/restitution framing — rejected, Job’s repentance is not appeasement of an offended party nor an admission of the friends’ specific accusations (God vindicates Job’s integrity in the same speech, 42:7-8)
NEW ENTRY — the central term of the Repentance and Restoration doctrine (42:6). Job’s repentance is humbled recognition of the gap between his understanding and God’s incomprehensible sovereignty, a shift in posture toward God, not payment of a ritual debt. Concrete ‘dust and ashes’ rendered separately via ashes_mourning_repentance.
Unexplained Suffering Periphrasis
Approved rendering: kev txom nyem uas tsis muaj laj thawj kom nkag siab tau tag nrho
Transliteration: n/a (Hebrew has no single lexical equivalent; periphrasis surfaced via linguistic gap analysis)
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
Rejected alternatives: single-word neologism coinage — rejected in favor of documented periphrasis, consistent with the Romans baseline’s general preference for periphrasis over invented neologism
NEW ENTRY — surfaced in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.1 to address a true vocabulary gap: Hmong has no single lexical item naming suffering-without-a-findable-cause as a legitimate theological category rather than an unresolved ritual deficit. Fixed catechetical phrase to be introduced at first occurrence (chs.1-2) and reused consistently thereafter.
Forensic Vindication Periphrasis
Approved rendering: raug Vajtswv qhia tias yog tus ncaj ncees tiag
Transliteration: n/a (periphrasis surfaced via linguistic gap analysis)
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: kev tuav plaub ntug (court-victory domain) alone — rejected, implies an ordinary dispute outcome, Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees (righteousness domain) alone — rejected, implies moral status rather than a public act of clearing
NEW ENTRY — surfaced in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.1 to address a true vocabulary gap: no existing Hmong noun captures ‘publicly and finally cleared of a false accusation by a higher authority.’ Use consistently at 19:25-27 and 42:7-9.
Medium Risk Terms
Redemption
Approved rendering: kev txhiv
Transliteration: apolytrōsis
Doctrine: Grace and Salvation by Faith Alone
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: serves as the base root for two new Job-specific derivatives — the agent-noun ‘tus txhiv’ (Redeemer; see redeemer_kinsman_redeemer entry, Critical) and ‘nqi txhiv’ (ransom; see ransom_kopher entry, High); all three must be taught as one connected word-family culminating in Christ’s fulfillment, never as unrelated concepts.
Reconciliation
Approved rendering: kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv)
Transliteration: katallagē
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘kev sib haum xeeb’ with no God-ward anchor — rejected, defaults to merely horizontal/interpersonal reconciliation
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: applied at 42:8-10 to Job’s intercession for his friends’ reconciliation with God — a small enactment of the larger Mediator/Redeemer Hope theme; the mandatory explicit God-ward direction already required by the Romans baseline must be retained.
Hope
Approved rendering: kev cia siab
Transliteration: elpis
Doctrine: Sanctification and Life in the Spirit
Inherited from Romans package; RISK ELEVATED to Medium in this Job package (Low in Romans). Job’s hope is a lived struggle — despair-of-hope at its lowest ebb (17:15, ‘where then is my hope?’) versus settled certainty (19:25) — not a flat, constant emotional state; requires a dedicated teaching note distinguishing the two poles, cross-referenced to the i_know_settled_certainty entry.
Faith Believe
Approved rendering: kev ntseeg / ntseeg
Transliteration: pistis / pisteuō
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: must be distinguished from Job’s stronger epistemic claim at 19:25 (‘kuv paub tseeb,’ i_know_settled_certainty entry) — Job’s certainty about his Redeemer is settled, experiential knowledge, not generic hopeful belief; the two must not be conflated in teaching.
Almighty Shaddai
Approved rendering: Vajtswv Tus Muaj Hwjchim Loj Kawg Nkaus
Transliteration: Shaddai
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
Rejected alternatives: bare hwjchim as a substitute for the full collocation — FORBIDDEN, would reopen the shamanic-power collision already fixed by the Romans TM’s mandatory hwjchim qualifier
NEW ENTRY — fixed collocation built on the already-established Romans TM ‘power’ entry’s mandatory hwjchim qualifier. Concentrated ~31x in the dialogue speeches (chs.5-37 esp.). Must never be abbreviated to bare hwjchim even under space pressure (titles, quiz options, headers) — this is a structural, atomic-unit rule identical to the Romans baseline’s hwjchim discipline.
Sons Of God Heavenly Council
Approved rendering: cov tub tim tswv saum ntuj
Transliteration: benei ha-elohim
Doctrine: Satan’s Limited Power under God’s Sovereignty
Rejected alternatives: ancestor-spirit-realm vocabulary — rejected, these are God’s own subordinate court members, not deceased human forebears accessible via ritual
NEW ENTRY — occurs at 1:6 and 38:7 (present at both the heavenly council and creation itself, under God’s authorship). Must be distinguished from the ancestor-spirit realm; reinforces the Satan’s-Limited-Power doctrine by showing these beings act only within God’s court, not as independent agents.
Behemoth
Approved rendering: Npehemauj
Transliteration: Behemoth
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
Rejected alternatives: descriptive paraphrase (‘giant land beast’) — rejected, flattens the text’s rhetorical function as a specific, named, God-controlled creature humbling Job’s claim to contend with the divine
NEW ENTRY — transliterated proper name (40:15-24), parallel strategy to Xatas. Requires an explanatory note that this is a real or quasi-mythic creature entirely under God’s control, illustrating divine power — not an independent spirit-being to be feared or venerated.
Rahab Chaos Monster
Approved rendering: Lahaj
Transliteration: Rahab
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
Rejected alternatives: dragon/serpent-spirit vocabulary — rejected, same rationale as leviathan
NEW ENTRY — transliterated proper name (26:12), distinct from the woman Rahab of Joshua. A primeval chaos-sea monster struck down by God; inherits and proleptically anticipates the fuller Leviathan risk and teaching apparatus.
Abaddon
Approved rendering: Anpadoo / qhov chaw puas tsuaj tag nrho
Transliteration: Abaddon
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
NEW ENTRY — personification/place-name intensifying Sheol (26:6, ‘naked before God’). Near-synonym of sheol_realm_of_dead; inherits its collision risk regarding the ritually-accessible ancestor-spirit realm. Dual transliteration-plus-paraphrase form permitted since the term functions more as an intensifying description than a distinct character.
Curse Day Circumstance
Approved rendering: foom tsis zoo rau
Transliteration: qalal
Doctrine: Faith and Integrity amid Suffering
NEW ENTRY — Job cursing the day of his birth (3:1), carefully distinguished from curse_god_revile. Must be taught side by side with 2:9-10 to show the crucial distinction Job maintains: he curses circumstance, never God.
Discipline Suffering As Instruction
Approved rendering: kev qhuab ntuas
Transliteration: musar
Doctrine: Retribution Theology Challenged
NEW ENTRY — Eliphaz’s claim (5:17) and Elihu’s extension (33:16-19, 36:15) that suffering can function as corrective divine discipline. Must be taught as one legitimate biblical purpose for suffering among several, never as the single explanatory key to all suffering in the book.
Watcher Tester
Approved rendering: tus saib ntsoov thiab sim
Transliteration: notzer
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
NEW ENTRY — Job’s bitter description of God watching/testing him constantly (7:17-18). Must not collapse into a capricious, ritual-testing spirit-figure from folk religion; God’s testing (as in chs.1-2) is purposeful and bounded, not arbitrary.
Legal Contention Lawsuit
Approved rendering: kev tuav plaub ntug
Transliteration: rib / mishpat
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
NEW ENTRY — Job’s formal framing of his complaint as a legal lawsuit before God (13:3, 13:18). Good village-court cultural bridge; must be taught that Job’s ‘case’ resolves through God’s self-revelation (chs.38-42), not through Job winning an ordinary courtroom argument.
Heavenly Witness
Approved rendering: tus timkhawv
Transliteration: ed
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
NEW ENTRY (specific application) — base rendering inherited verbatim from the Romans TM ‘witness’ entry (Low there), elevated to Medium here because the referent (16:19) is a heavenly advocate for Job’s innocence, not an ordinary courtroom testimony-giver. Cross-reference the cumulative Mediator thread.
Book Scroll Personal Legal Record
Approved rendering: phau ntawv
Transliteration: sepher
Doctrine: The Mediator/Redeemer Hope
Rejected alternatives: Vaj Lug Kub (Romans TM scripture entry) — forbidden for this referent, Job’s personal scroll is legal testimony, not inspired canonical revelation
CORE PASSAGE TERM (19:23) — NEW ENTRY. Job’s wish for a permanent written record of his testimony of innocence. Must be kept lexically distinct from the scripture entry.
I Know Settled Certainty
Approved rendering: kuv paub tseeb
Transliteration: yada’ti
Doctrine: Faith and Integrity amid Suffering
Rejected alternatives: kev ntseeg (generic faith/believe) used as a substitute — rejected, this is stronger, settled, experiential certainty, not a hopeful guess
CORE PASSAGE TERM (19:25) — NEW ENTRY. Job’s certain, experiential knowledge that his Redeemer lives, foundational to Faith and Integrity amid Suffering; must be distinguished in teaching from the Romans TM faith_believe entry.
Fear Of The Lord Reverent Awe
Approved rendering: kev hwm thiab ntshai Vajtswv
Transliteration: yirah
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
NEW ENTRY — ‘the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom’ (28:28), first thematically raised by Eliphaz (ch.4). Must be distinguished from anxious appeasement of a capricious ancestral/nature spirit; biblical fear-of-the-LORD is reverent, relational awe compatible with intimacy, not appeasement.
Restore Fortunes
Approved rendering: pub rov qab
Transliteration: shuv
Doctrine: Repentance and Restoration
Rejected alternatives: mechanical-payout framing implying righteousness guarantees prosperity — rejected, would silently reintroduce the retribution theology the book dismantles
NEW ENTRY — God’s restoration and doubling of Job’s fortunes (42:10, 12). Must be taught as God’s free, sovereign gift in response to Job’s restored relationship and humbled worship, never a mechanical payout for endurance; the doubled material blessing itself is rendered via the Romans TM’s koob hmoov (sanctioned there exclusively for ordinary material blessing).
Whirlwind Theophany
Approved rendering: cua daj cua dub
Transliteration: se’arah
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
Rejected alternatives: capricious storm-spirit/nature-spirit framing — rejected, the whirlwind here speaks coherent divine words, unlike an impersonal nature-spirit requiring appeasement
NEW ENTRY — the form of God’s climactic self-revelation (38:1). Must be taught as a genuine but controlled divine self-manifestation under God’s own sovereign initiative.
Divine Incomprehensibility Periphrasis
Approved rendering: tsis muaj leej twg yug los ntawm poj niam yeej nkag siab tau tag nrho Vajtswv
Transliteration: n/a (periphrasis surfaced via linguistic gap analysis)
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
NEW ENTRY — surfaced in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.1. Hmong lacks an abstract noun for ‘that which exceeds human capacity to comprehend’ distinct from mere greatness; use this periphrastic formula consistently at every divine-speech occurrence (chs.38-41) rather than a single noun.
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
Established compound (king+lord). Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders Hebrew Elohim/Eloah/El throughout the dialogue speeches (chs. 3-37); no change to rendering required.
Lord
Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Stable existing usage; applied to God and Christ. Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: renders YHWH in Job’s narrative frame (chs.1-2, 38-42); never substituted with a divine-name transliteration (e.g., ‘Yehauvas’), per Romans forbidden-substitution precedent.
Witness
Approved rendering: tus timkhawv
Transliteration: martys
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: base rendering elevated to Medium risk in its specific 16:19 application (see heavenly_witness entry), where Job appeals to a heavenly witness/advocate rather than an ordinary courtroom testimony-giver.
Creation
Approved rendering: tej uas raug tsim los
Transliteration: ktisis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: extensively reused in the divine speeches (chs.38-41) cataloguing the created order; comprehension-level illustrative notes needed for unfamiliar flora/fauna/astronomy references (Pleiades, Orion, ostrich, wild ox) for an agrarian highland-Hmong audience, not a doctrinal collision.
Death
Approved rendering: txoj kev tuag
Transliteration: thanatos
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: stable reuse throughout Job’s lament (chs.3, 7, 14, 18, 30); no new risk.
Impartiality Of God
Approved rendering: tsis saib ntsej muag
Transliteration: aprosōpolēmpsia
Doctrine: The Law and Its Purpose
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: clean, stable reuse at 34:19 (Elihu’s affirmation that God shows no partiality to princes nor favors the rich over the poor); reinforces the Divine Justice doctrine with a term carrying no collision risk.
Scripture
Approved rendering: Vaj Lug Kub
Transliteration: graphē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: contrast term only — must be kept lexically distinct from Job’s own personal legal scroll (book_scroll_personal_legal_record entry, 19:23), which is Job’s individual testimony, not inspired canonical revelation.
Boasting
Approved rendering: kev khav theeb
Transliteration: kauchēsis
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: minor, comprehension-level reuse describing the friends’ repeated claims to superior wisdom/insight (chs.8, 11, 15); no new risk.
Endurance
Approved rendering: kev ua siab ntev
Transliteration: hypomonē
Doctrine: Sanctification and Life in the Spirit
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: stable idiom describing Job’s proverbial patience, thematic across the whole book; no new risk.
Truth
Approved rendering: qhov tseeb
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: describes Job’s insistence on truthful, non-flattering speech (chs.19, 27) and God’s own vindication of Job’s true speech about Him versus the friends’ false speech (42:7-8).
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: kev tsis ncaj ncees
Transliteration: adikia
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Inherited from Romans package. Job usage: stable negative form, denied of Job’s own speech (27:4); no new risk.
Root Of The Matter Idiom
Approved rendering: qhov tseeb hauv qab ntawm tej no
Transliteration: shoresh ha-davar
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
NEW ENTRY — idiom for the underlying truth/cause of Job’s suffering (19:28). Comprehension-level idiom; no doctrinal risk.
Wisdom Chokmah
Approved rendering: tswvyim
Transliteration: chokmah
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
NEW ENTRY — subject of the independent wisdom-poem of ch.28 (‘Where can wisdom be found?’), God’s alone to grant. Existing, stable Hmong term; no collision.
Understanding Tebunah
Approved rendering: kev nkag siab
Transliteration: tebunah
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
NEW ENTRY — paired with wisdom_chokmah in ch.28’s climactic poem; stable, no collision.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Robe Of Righteousness Clothing Metaphor
Approved rendering: kuv naav txoj kev ncaj ncees ib yam li ib txoj tsho
Transliteration: lavash tsedeq
Doctrine: Faith and Integrity amid Suffering
NEW ENTRY — Job’s recollection of his former righteous life (29:14). Vivid lived-character image; must not be confused with the Romans TM’s forensic-imputation vocabulary — this describes Job’s habitual conduct, matching the integrity_blameless_tam sense, not credited legal status.
Hedge Protective Boundary
Approved rendering: txoj kab tiv thaiv
Transliteration: suk
Doctrine: Satan’s Limited Power under God’s Sovereignty
NEW ENTRY — Satan’s own question (1:10) concedes Job’s protection is entirely God-granted and God-controlled. Comprehension-level image; reinforces rather than merely illustrates the Satan’s-Limited-Power doctrine.
Ashes Mourning Repentance
Approved rendering: tshauv
Transliteration: epher
Doctrine: Repentance and Restoration
NEW ENTRY — mourning posture (2:8) reused as repentance posture (42:6), a deliberate literary bracket around the book. Comprehension gap only (no Hmong ash-sitting mourning custom); brief cultural-context note sufficient.
Vapor Breath Vanity
Approved rendering: zoo li huab cua ncaim mus
Transliteration: hebel
Doctrine: The Problem of Suffering and Divine Justice
NEW ENTRY — image of transience/insubstantiality of human life (7:16). Comprehension-level image; no traditional-religion collision identified.
Widow
Approved rendering: poj ntsuam
Transliteration: almanah
Doctrine: Retribution Theology Challenged
NEW ENTRY — standing OT social-justice pairing with orphan_fatherless (chs.22, 24, 29, 31). Positive cultural resonance with Hmong clan-obligation ethics; comprehension-level risk only.
Orphan Fatherless
Approved rendering: menyuam ntsuag
Transliteration: yatom
Doctrine: Retribution Theology Challenged
NEW ENTRY — paired with widow (chs.22, 24, 29, 31); same positive-resonance, comprehension-level notes apply.
Dominion Rule Memshalah
Approved rendering: Vajtswv txoj kev kav
Transliteration: memshalah
Doctrine: The Sovereignty and Incomprehensibility of God
NEW ENTRY — Bildad’s grounding of retribution theology in God’s transcendent dominion over the heavens (25:2). Comprehension-level; conceptually adjacent to, but distinct from, the Romans TM governing_authority entry, since here the referent is God’s own cosmic rule.