Core Glossary
Malachi — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package, Phase 1)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md across all four chapters of Malachi, including the core-passage verse-by-verse study of Malachi 3:1-4. Terms already fixed in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json are marked “REUSED FROM ROMANS TM” and their exact Hmong string is reproduced unchanged, per the hard rule that established renderings must be reused exactly. All other terms are marked “NEW — Malachi package” and are logged here as candidates for the next TM-revision cycle; none may be treated as permanent without that formal review for Critical/High items, per 12_ai_translation_requirements.md §2.4.
Risk tier definitions are inherited unchanged from bible_term_registry.json’s registry_metadata.risk_tier_definitions (Critical / High / Medium / Low, as defined for animism/shamanism/ancestor-veneration/fate collision severity).
| # | English Term | Hebrew / LXX Greek | Transliteration | Hmong Rendering | Status | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LORD (master/adon) | הָאָדוֹן / κύριος | ha’adon / kyrios | tus Tswv | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Low | General / Cross-cutting | 3 | Kept typographically distinct from “tus TSWV” (the covenant name). |
| 2 | LORD (covenant name YHWH) / LORD of hosts | יְהוָה (צְבָאוֹת) / κύριος (παντοκράτωρ) | YHWH (tseva’ot) / kyrios (pantokratōr) | tus TSWV (kav ib tsoom tub rog saum ntuj) | NEW — Malachi package | Medium | God’s Unchanging Love; General | 1-4 | All-caps convention marks the divine covenant name; avoids bare hwjchim to prevent shamanic-power collision. |
| 3 | messenger (human/eschatological forerunner) | מַלְאָכִי / ἄγγελός μου | mal’akhi / angelon mou | tus xa xov | NEW — Malachi package | Critical | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 1, 2, 3 | Must never be rendered with or near Yaj Saub folk-messianic vocabulary; mandatory teaching note at every occurrence. |
| 4 | messenger of the covenant | מַלְאַךְ הַבְּרִית / ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθήκης | mal’akh habberit / ho angelos tēs diathēkēs | tus xa xov ntawm txoj kev cog lus | NEW — Malachi package | Critical | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 3 | Compounds the messenger-collision risk with genuine identity ambiguity (human/angelic/divine); never resolve silently. |
| 5 | covenant | בְּרִית / διαθήκη | berit / diathēkē | txoj kev cog lus | NEW — Malachi package | High | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant; Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 2, 3 | Distinct from the existing baseline “lus cog tseg” (promise, unilateral pledge); no dedicated Romans TM entry existed for this concept. |
| 6 | prepare the way | פִּנָּה־דֶרֶךְ / ἐπιβλέψεται ὁδὸν | pinnah derekh / epiblepsetai hodon | npaj txoj kev | NEW — Malachi package | Low | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 3 | Concrete road-imagery; no collision. |
| 7 | temple | הֵיכָלוֹ / τὸν ναὸν | heikhal / naos | lub tuam tsev | NEW — Malachi package | Low-Medium | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 3 | Comprehension gap only. |
| 8 | the day of his coming | יוֹם בּוֹאוֹ / ἡμέρα εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ | yom bo’o / hēmera eisodou autou | hnub uas nws yuav los | NEW — Malachi package | High | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 3 | Teach as the same event-horizon as “Hnub ntawm tus TSWV” (#29). |
| 9 | endure / stand | מְכַלְכֵּל / הָעֹמֵד / ὑποστήσεται | mekhalkel / ha’omed / hypostēsetai | thev tau / sawv ruaj | NEW — Malachi package | Low | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 3 | Descriptive; no collision. |
| 10 | refiner’s fire | אֵשׁ מְצָרֵף / πῦρ χωνευτηρίου | esh metsaref / pyr chōneutēriou | cub taws uas ua kom tej kub tej nyiaj dawb huv | NEW — Malachi package | Medium | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 3 | Shares “dawb huv” root with baseline Sanctification entry; must be taught as God’s own purification, not folk ritual-cleansing. |
| 11 | fuller’s soap | בֹּרִית מְכַבְּסִים / πόα πλυνόντων | borit mekhabbesim / poa plynontōn | kua ntxuav khaub ncaws kom dawb | NEW — Malachi package | Low | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 3 | Comprehension gap only (unfamiliar craft). |
| 12 | sit (as refiner) | יָשַׁב / καθιεῖται | yashab / kathieitai | zaum | NEW — Malachi package | Low | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 3 | Judicial/craftsman seated posture. |
| 13 | purify / refine | טִהַר / זִקַּק / καθαρίζω | tahar / ziqqaq / katharizō | ua kom dawb huv | NEW — Malachi package | High | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 3 | Reuses Sanctification-entry morpheme deliberately; same folk-ritual-purity collision risk. |
| 14 | sons of Levi | בְּנֵי־לֵוִי / υἱοὺς Λευι | bene Levi / huious Leui | cov Levis | NEW — Malachi package | Low | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 2, 3 | Plural-marking convention follows “cov Yudas.” |
| 15 | offering / sacrifice | מִנְחָה / θυσία | minchah / thysia | khoom fij | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM (root) | High | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 1, 3 | Must be taught as literal OT cultic offering — distinct from NT “living sacrifice” metaphor and from shamanic fij dab. |
| 16 | righteousness | צְדָקָה / δικαιοσύνη | tsedaqah / dikaiosynē | Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees / tus ncaj ncees | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Critical | Justification/Righteousness continuity; Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 3, 4 | Purification precedes right action in 3:3; distinguish forensic sense from 4:2’s vindication/healing sense. |
| 17 | pleasing / acceptable | עָרְבָה / ἀρέσει | arbah / aresei | txaus siab rau | NEW — Malachi package | Low | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 3 | No collision. |
| 18 | as in the days of old | כִּימֵי עוֹלָם / καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος | kime olam / kathōs hai hēmerai tou aiōnos | ib yam li tej hnub thaum ub | NEW — Malachi package | Low | God’s Unchanging Love for His People | 3 | Shares root with baseline “eternal_life” (aiōn). |
| 19 | I have loved / I have hated (election sense) | אָהַבְתִּי / שָׂנֵאתִי / ἠγάπησα / ἐμίσησα | ahavti / saneti / ēgapēsa / emisēsa | kev hlub / tsis xaiv (kev xaiv) | love: REUSED FROM ROMANS TM; hate: NEW — Malachi package | Critical (hate term) | God’s Unchanging Love for His People; Election continuity with Romans 9:13 | 1 | Direct OT source for Romans 9:13; must pair with baseline Election entry’s mandatory volitional clause; never use hmoov vocabulary. |
| 20 | priest | כֹּהֵן / ἱερεύς | kohen / hiereus | tus povthawj | NEW — Malachi package | Medium | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 1, 2 | Kept distinct from baseline “tus ua haujlwm pab Vajtswv” (NT leitourgos) and absolutely from “txiv neeb” (shaman). |
| 21 | table of the LORD | שֻׁלְחַן יְהוָה / τράπεζα κυρίου | shulchan YHWH / trapeza kyriou | lub rooj noj mov ntawm tus TSWV | NEW — Malachi package | Low | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 1 | Household-honor imagery. |
| 22 | fear / honor | יִרְאָה / כָּבוֹד | yir’ah / kavod | kev ntshai / kev hwm | NEW — Malachi package (root shared with baseline “hwm”) | Medium | God’s Unchanging Love for His People | 1 | Father-son/master-servant honor code; must be God-anchored. |
| 23 | great King / the nations | מֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל / βασιλεὺς μέγας | melekh gadol | tus Vajntxwv Loj / lwm Haiv Neeg | Vajntxwv: NEW; nations: REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Low | God’s Unchanging Love for His People | 1 | Shares “Vaj” root with baseline kingdom_of_god. |
| 24 | instruction / law | תּוֹרָה / νόμος | torah / nomos | Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes) | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Critical | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 2, 4 | Mandatory qualifier never dropped; here covers priestly teaching function broadly. |
| 25 | treachery / unfaithfulness | בָּגַד | bagad | kev fav xeeb / tsis ncaj ncees rau kev cog lus | NEW — Malachi package | High | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant; Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 2 | Single Hebrew root spans both cultic and marital betrayal; use consistently across both contexts. |
| 26 | profane the sanctuary / daughter of a foreign god | חִלֵּל קֹדֶשׁ / בַּת־אֵל נֵכָר | chillel qodesh / bat-el nekhar | kev ua qias lub chaw dawb huv / dab mlom | NEW / idol term REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | High | Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant | 2 | Idolatry dimension must remain explicit, per baseline idol-entry instruction. |
| 27 | divorce | שִׁלֵּח | shillach | kev nrauj | NEW — Malachi package | High | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 2 | Values-gap with Hmong customary clan-negotiated divorce practice; needs explicit catechesis. |
| 28 | marriage covenant / wife of your youth | אֵשֶׁת בְּרִיתֶךָ / γυνὴ διαθήκης σου | eshet beritekha | koj tus poj niam raws li txoj kev cog lus sib yuav | NEW — Malachi package | High | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 2 | Compounds covenant entry (#5) with marriage qualifier. |
| 29 | witness | עֵד / μαρτύς | ed / martys | tus timkhawv | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Low | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 2 | Clean, direct reuse. |
| 30 | godly offspring | זֶרַע אֱלֹהִים | zera Elohim | cov me nyuam ncaj ncees ntawm Vajtswv | NEW — Malachi package | Medium | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 2 | Must not collapse into bare fertility/lineage idea. |
| 31 | sorcerers | מְכַשֵּׁפִים / φαρμακούς | mekhashefim / pharmakous | cov ua khawv koob rau luag | NEW — Malachi package | Critical | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 3 | Extremely sensitive pastoral collision with shamanic-heritage converts; mandatory contextual framing note. |
| 32 | oppress (vulnerable) | עָשַׁק / καταδυναστεύω | ashaq / katadynasteuō | quab yuam / tsim txom cov pluag | NEW — Malachi package | Low-Medium | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 3 | No collision. |
| 33 | tithe | מַעֲשֵׂר / ἐπιδέκατα | ma’aser / epidekata | feem kaum | NEW — Malachi package | High | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 3 | Behaviorally load-bearing; avoid both legalism and prosperity-drift in teaching. |
| 34 | rob God | קָבַע | qava | nyiag Vajtswv tug | NEW — Malachi package | High | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 3 | Strong accusation; frame as covenant unfaithfulness, not fundraising pressure. |
| 35 | blessing (material) | בְּרָכָה / εὐλογία | berakah / eulogia | koob hmoov | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM (explicit carve-out) | Medium | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 3 | Correct context per baseline’s own reserved-usage rule; guard against prosperity-gospel drift. |
| 36 | windows of heaven / devourer | אֲרֻבּוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם / אֹכֵל | arubbot hashamayim / okhel | qhov rai saum ntuj / kab noj qoob loo | NEW — Malachi package | Low | Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage | 3 | Agricultural imagery, comprehension-level only. |
| 37 | book of remembrance | סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן / βιβλίον μνημοσύνου | sefer zikkaron / biblion mnēmosynou | phau ntawv nco txog | NEW — Malachi package | Low-Medium | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 3 | Unfamiliar court-record imagery, comprehension gap only. |
| 38 | spare / compassion | חָמַל / φείδομαι | chamal / pheidomai | txoj kev khuv leej | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM (mercy) | Medium | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 3 | Kept distinct from txiaj ntsim (grace) per baseline instruction. |
| 39 | righteous / wicked (ungodly) | צַדִּיק / רָשָׁע | tsaddiq / rasha | tus ncaj ncees / tus tsis hwm Vajtswv | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Critical / Medium | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 3 | Direct conceptual bridge to Romans’ righteous/ungodly contrast. |
| 40 | the Day of the LORD | יוֹם יְהוָה / ἡμέρα κυρίου | yom YHWH / hēmera kyriou | Hnub ntawm tus TSWV | NEW — Malachi package | Critical | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord; The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 4 | Highest-severity Yaj Saub collision point in the book; mandatory teaching note at every occurrence. |
| 41 | burning like an oven | כַּתַּנּוּר בֹּעֵר / ὡς κλίβανος καιόμενος | katannur bo’er / hōs klibanos kaiomenos | zoo li lub qhov cub taws kub heev | NEW — Malachi package | Low | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 4 | Pairs with 3:2’s refiner’s-fire imagery as judgment-side of same motif. |
| 42 | sun of righteousness | שֶׁמֶשׁ צְדָקָה / ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης | shemesh tsedaqah / hēlios dikaiosynēs | lub hnub ci ntawm txoj kev ncaj ncees | NEW — Malachi package (root REUSED) | Medium | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 4 | Vindication/healing nuance, distinct from forensic-imputation sense. |
| 43 | healing in its wings | מַרְפֵּא בִּכְנָפֶיהָ / ἴασις ἐν ταῖς πτέρυξιν | marpe bikhnafeha / iasis en tais pterygin | kev kho mob thiab kev noj qab haus huv | NEW — Malachi package | Low | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 4 | Comprehension-level imagery only. |
| 44 | law of Moses | תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה / νόμον Μωυσῆ | torat Mosheh / nomon Mōysē | Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes) | REUSED FROM ROMANS TM | Critical | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 4 | Qualifier mandatory. |
| 45 | Elijah the prophet | אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא | Eliyah hannavi | Eliyas / tus cev Vajtswv Lus | NEW — Malachi package | Critical | The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord | 4 | Never render “prophet” as “Yaj Saub”; mandatory contrastive teaching note at every occurrence. |
| 46 | turn hearts of fathers to children | הֵשִׁיב לֵב־אָבוֹת עַל־בָּנִים | heshiv lev avot al banim | coj cov leej txiv lub siab tig rov qab rau cov me nyuam | NEW — Malachi package | Medium | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 4 | Kept distinct from baseline God-ward “reconciliation” entry; this is horizontal/intergenerational. |
| 47 | curse | חֵרֶם | cherem | kev foom rau kev puas tsuaj tag nrho | NEW — Malachi package | High | The Call to Repentance before the Great Day | 4 | Collides with folk curse-casting (foom tsis zoo); must be taught as God’s covenantal-judicial act, not ritual technique. |
Full-book coverage confirmation: All 47 terms above are drawn from chapters 1 through 4 inclusive; every chapter contributed new or reused load-bearing vocabulary, and no chapter was silently skipped.
Critical Risk Terms
Law Mosaic Divine
Approved rendering: Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes)
Transliteration: nomos / torah
Doctrine: The Law and Its Purpose
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘Txoj Kevcai’ without qualifier — rejected, collapses into kev cai dab qhuas (ancestral spirit-worship customs), imported loanword for ‘law’ — rejected, would be doctrinally inert and evade the needed contrast-teaching
Qualifier ‘(ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes)’ mandatory at every occurrence without exception. Inherited from Romans package. Covers both the priestly teaching-function sense (Mal 2:6-7, torah) and the closing exhortation to ‘remember the law of Moses’ (Mal 4:4, torat Mosheh) — same fixed rendering for both senses, qualifier never dropped.
Righteousness Of God Righteous
Approved rendering: Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees / tus ncaj ncees
Transliteration: dikaiosynē theou / dikaios / tsedaqah / tsaddiq
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 ‘justify_reckon_as_righteous’ entry to preserve the forensic, imputed sense. Inherited from Romans package. In Malachi 3:3, the purified priests’ offerings are ‘in righteousness’ because they have been purified first — purification/grace precedes right action, not the reverse — preserving the same forensic-before-moral sequencing this entry protects for Romans. Also renders ‘the righteous’ (tsaddiq, Mal 3:18) contrasted with ‘the wicked’ (see ungodly entry).
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
Fixed accounting-metaphor phrase for imputation; kept distinct from sanctification/moral-transformation language. Inherited from Romans package. Reinforces the required sequencing note at Malachi 3:3 (see righteousness_of_god_righteous).
Reckon Impute
Approved rendering: suav / suav tias
Transliteration: logizomai
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Forensic-accounting verb underlying imputed righteousness; kept distinct from infused-transformation language. Inherited from Romans package. Available for teaching notes bridging Malachi 3:3’s purification-then-offering sequence to the Romans forensic-imputation doctrine.
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
Volitional verb-phrase mandatory, never a bare noun that could be mistaken for hmoov. Inherited from Romans package. Must co-occur with every use of the new covenant_hate_election_disfavor entry at Malachi 1:2-3, the direct OT source Paul cites at Romans 9:13, so the two Language Packages read as one continuous doctrine.
Propitiation Atoning Sacrifice
Approved rendering: qhov theej txhoj kev txhaum
Transliteration: hilastērion
Doctrine: Grace and Salvation by Faith Alone
Rejected alternatives: transliterated loanword — rejected, bare ‘qhov theej’ without a ‘once for all, sufficient’ qualifying clause — rejected
Must be taught as once-for-all, sufficient, unrepeatable, distinguished from shamanic sacrificial appeasement. Inherited from Romans package. Used in Malachi teaching notes to distinguish Christ’s unique atonement from the literal, repeated OT cultic offerings condemned/restored in Malachi 1 and 3.
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
koob hmoov reserved exclusively for ordinary material ‘blessing’ contexts, never for salvific grace. Inherited from Romans package. Malachi 3:10 (see new blessing_material entry) is precisely the reserved, licensed context this carve-out anticipates; every use of koob hmoov there must carry an explicit cross-reference confirming it is NOT this grace entry and does not license fate/merit logic for salvation.
Messenger Forerunner
Approved rendering: tus xa xov
Transliteration: mal’akhi / angelon mou
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: Yaj Saub or any Yaj Saub-adjacent vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, see yaj_saub_forbidden entry, ‘saub’-root vocabulary (seer/visionary) generally — rejected, structurally activates the folk-messianic association
NEW — Malachi package. Built deliberately from message-transmission vocabulary (‘one sent with a report’) rather than seer/visionary vocabulary, to structurally avoid the ‘saub’ root embedded in Yaj Saub. Mandatory [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: distinguish from Yaj Saub] flag and explicit contrastive teaching note required at every occurrence (Mal 1:1’s wordplay on the prophet’s own name; Mal 3:1’s eschatological forerunner; Mal 2:7’s distinct priestly-teaching sense — the last must be explicitly marked as a non-eschatological internal-consistency case, not conflated with 3:1).
Messenger Of The Covenant
Approved rendering: tus xa xov ntawm txoj kev cog lus
Transliteration: mal’akh habberit / ho angelos tēs diathēkēs
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: silent resolution as merely human forerunner — rejected, forecloses a live interpretive question, silent resolution as flatly identical to the LORD without qualification — rejected, same reason
NEW — Malachi package. Compounds the messenger_forerunner Yaj Saub-collision risk with genuine exegetical ambiguity (human forerunner vs. a distinct, possibly theophanic/messianic figure) inside the core passage itself (Mal 3:1). Mandatory [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: identity of the messenger of the covenant] flag at every occurrence; identity question must never be resolved silently in either direction.
Covenant Hate Election Disfavor
Approved rendering: tsis xaiv / ntxub (kev xaiv)
Transliteration: saneti / emisēsa
Doctrine: God’s Unchanging Love for His People
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘ntxub’ (personal animosity/vendetta) alone with no election-frame — rejected, activates a serious clan-conflict category rather than comparative covenant disfavor, any hmoov (impersonal fate) vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, same prohibition as the inherited election_choose entry
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 1:3). Render as ‘tsis xaiv’ (not-chosen) with the secondary gloss ‘raws li kev xaiv’ (in the sense of election) rather than a bare emotion-verb. This is the direct OT source-text Paul quotes for election in Romans 9:13; must always co-occur with the inherited election_choose entry’s mandatory volitional clause, making Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:13 read as one continuous doctrine, never two different mechanisms.
Sorcerers
Approved rendering: cov ua khawv koob rau luag
Transliteration: mekhashefim / pharmakous
Doctrine: The Call to Repentance before the Great Day
Rejected alternatives: transliterated loanword — rejected, doctrinally inert, fails to achieve the text’s intended shock, softened euphemism (‘those who practice unusual customs’) — rejected, under-translates a real named sin-category
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:5). Extremely sensitive pastoral collision: many Hmong Christian converts come from families actively engaged in shamanic practice (txiv neeb, ua neeb). Must condemn manipulative/harmful occult sorcery specifically, matching the biblical referent, without being heard as a blanket condemnation of every family member who has ever consulted a shaman. Mandatory [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: pastoral framing for converts from shamanic households] flag required at every occurrence.
Day Of The Lord
Approved rendering: Hnub ntawm tus TSWV
Transliteration: yom YHWH / hēmera kyriou
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: any framing resembling a Yaj Saub liberation-day expectation — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:1,5). The single most climactic eschatological phrase in the book and the highest-severity Yaj Saub collision point. Mandatory [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: distinguish from Yaj Saub liberation-day expectation] teaching note required at every occurrence, never resolved silently. Must be taught as the same event-horizon as day_of_his_coming (Mal 3:2).
Elijah The Prophet
Approved rendering: Eliyas
Transliteration: Eliyah hannavi / Ēlian ton Thesbitēn
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: Yaj Saub — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, see yaj_saub_forbidden entry
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:5). Proper name transliterated per established Hmong Bible proper-name convention (cf. Yexus Khetos, Povlauj). Always paired with the prophet_generic entry for his office, never with Yaj Saub. Fulfilled typologically in John the Baptist (Matt 11:14; 17:10-13) — a teaching note representing both the Jewish literal-Elijah-returns expectation and the Christian typological-fulfillment reading is required, with the Christian reading identified as this curriculum’s own confessional stance.
Prophet Generic
Approved rendering: tus cev Vajtswv Lus
Transliteration: navi / prophētēs
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: Yaj Saub — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN under all circumstances, despite surface similarity of role, any ‘saub’-root (seer/visionary) vocabulary — rejected, same structural collision
NEW — Malachi package. Literal ‘one who carries/relays God’s word’; deliberately built from message-relay vocabulary rather than seer/visionary vocabulary to structurally avoid the ‘saub’ morpheme embedded in Yaj Saub. Mandatory [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: prophet vocabulary and the Yaj Saub collision] flag and explicit contrastive teaching note required at every occurrence of ‘prophet’ in this book, most acutely at Mal 4:5 (Elijah).
Yaj Saub Forbidden
Approved rendering: N/A — permanently excluded from use as a translation or gloss for any biblical term in this package
Transliteration: Yaj Saub (native Hmong folk-messianic term)
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: ALL uses, direct or adjacent, are forbidden — this entry exists solely to document and enforce the exclusion
NEW — Malachi package; special forbidden-term registry entry, not a translation option. Yaj Saub is a well-known Hmong oral-tradition messianic/prophetic folk figure foretold to arise and lead the Hmong people to liberation and a promised kingdom, historically invoked in millenarian resistance movements (e.g., the Chao Fa movement). Because Malachi is saturated with forerunner/messenger/prophet/Day-of-the-LORD vocabulary, this native lexeme is structurally off-limits throughout the entire package, however fluent or ‘natural-sounding’ it might appear as a rendering for messenger_forerunner, messenger_of_the_covenant, elijah_the_prophet, prophet_generic, or day_of_the_lord. Neither this term nor any ‘saub’-root (seer/visionary) vocabulary derived from it may be used anywhere in Phase 2 generation. This is the single highest-priority escalation item in the entire Language Package.
High Risk Terms
Foreknow Predestine
Approved rendering: twb paub ua ntej lawm / twm chaw ua ntej lawm
Transliteration: proginōskō / proorizō
Doctrine: Election and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: hmoov (fate) vocabulary — rejected, same collision risk as election_choose
Must be taught alongside the Election entry with explicit contrast to impersonal hmoov. Inherited from Romans package. Available for teaching notes connecting Malachi 1:2-3’s election-love/disfavor to the Romans 8:28-30 golden chain.
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’ (God’s power). Inherited from Romans package. Deliberately AVOIDED as the rendering for ‘hosts’ in YHWH tseva’ot (see new yhwh_lord_of_hosts entry) precisely because of this flagged collision; retained here only as the general baseline power-vocabulary reference point.
Living Sacrifice
Approved rendering: khoom fij uas muaj txoj sia nyob
Transliteration: thysia zōsa
Doctrine: Christian Living and Unity in the Church
Rejected alternatives: unqualified ‘fij’ identical to offering language for ancestors/spirits (fij dab, fij xwm kab) — rejected without explicit ethical-devotion framing
Must be distinguished from both shamanic appeasement and Christ’s unrepeatable atonement. Inherited from Romans package. The root ‘khoom fij’ also renders Malachi’s literal OT cultic offering (minchah/qorban, Mal 1:8,11,13; 3:3-4) and must be explicitly context-tagged at every occurrence — [OT-cultic] here vs. [Christ’s-atonement] vs. [ethical-devotion] — per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.2, and never assimilated to fij dab.
Idol
Approved rendering: dab mlom
Transliteration: eidōlon
Doctrine: Original Sin and Universal Guilt
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘statue’ softening — rejected, must not soften the term
Actual Hmong term for spirit-images venerated in traditional religion; doctrinally correct as-is. Inherited from Romans package. Serves as the fixed rendering for the idolatry referent in Malachi 2:11’s ‘daughter of a foreign god’ (bat-el nekhar); must not be softened into neutral ‘foreign wife’ language — the idolatry dimension must remain explicit.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: kev raug ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: hagiasmos
Doctrine: Sanctification and Life in the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: treating dawb huv as a repeatable ritual-cleansing state — rejected
Dawb huv also = ritual purity from spirit-contamination in folk practice; must be taught as progressive, Spirit-wrought moral transformation. Inherited from Romans package. The new purify_refine entry (Mal 3:3, ‘ua kom dawb huv’) deliberately reuses this exact morpheme for lexical consistency and carries the identical folk-ritual-purity collision risk; the same teaching safeguard applies without modification.
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
Paul’s wrath is righteous/judicial, not appeasable by ritual, unlike traditional spirit-anger. Inherited from Romans package. The new curse entry (Mal 4:6, cherem) requires the identical disambiguation strategy: God’s covenantal-judicial pronouncement, never a ritual technique operating by folk curse-casting (foom tsis zoo) mechanics.
Covenant General
Approved rendering: txoj kev cog lus
Transliteration: berit / diathēkē
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
Rejected alternatives: lus cog tseg (the inherited ‘promise’ entry) used interchangeably — rejected, flattens the bilateral-but-God-initiated covenant relationship into a mere unilateral pledge, generic clan-pact vocabulary with no divine framing — rejected, risks a merely renegotiable social-contract reading
NEW — Malachi package; no dedicated Romans TM entry existed for this exact concept. Positive bridge exists via Hmong clan-alliance/marriage-pledge custom, but that bridge risks flattening God’s unbreakable, gracious covenant into a renegotiable social contract — a teaching note distinguishing the two is required at every occurrence. Underlies covenant_with_levi and marriage_covenant below.
Covenant With Levi
Approved rendering: txoj kev cog lus nrog cov Levis
Transliteration: berit Levi
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package; specific application of covenant_general to Malachi 2:4-8. Names the specific historic pact (‘for life and peace’) now broken by priestly corruption; inherits covenant_general’s disambiguation requirements in full.
Marriage Covenant
Approved rendering: koj tus poj niam raws li txoj kev cog lus sib yuav
Transliteration: eshet beritekha / gynē diathēkēs sou
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
Rejected alternatives: bare social-contract idiom for marriage — rejected, loses the covenant weight Malachi assigns it
NEW — Malachi package; compounds covenant_general with a marriage qualifier (Mal 2:14). Deliberately reuses the same covenant vocabulary as messenger_of_the_covenant, binding the marriage doctrine to the book’s central covenant theme; must not be flattened to a bare social-contract idiom.
Day Of His Coming
Approved rendering: hnub uas nws yuav los
Transliteration: yom bo’o / hēmera eisodou autou
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:2). Must be taught alongside the day_of_the_lord entry as the same eschatological event-horizon, and explicitly kept apart from any Yaj Saub liberation-day expectation.
Purify Refine
Approved rendering: ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: tahar / ziqqaq / katharizō
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
Rejected alternatives: treating this as a repeatable ritual-cleansing rite — rejected
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:3). Deliberately reuses the exact morpheme from the inherited sanctification entry for lexical consistency; carries the identical folk-ritual-purity collision risk and requires the same teaching safeguard — this is God’s own refining/moral action upon the priesthood, not a repeatable shamanic cleansing rite. This is the specific act that purifies the ‘sons of Levi’ (see sons_of_levi entry).
Treachery Unfaithfulness
Approved rendering: kev fav xeeb / tsis ncaj ncees rau kev cog lus
Transliteration: bagad
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package. Single Hebrew root spans both cultic unfaithfulness to God (Mal 2:10-11) and marital unfaithfulness to a wife (Mal 2:14-16); the same Hmong phrase must be used consistently in both contexts, or the deliberate wordplay uniting the worship-corruption and marriage-corruption material as one covenant-faithlessness problem will be lost.
Profane The Sanctuary
Approved rendering: kev ua qias lub chaw dawb huv
Transliteration: chillel qodesh
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
Rejected alternatives: softened ‘foreign wife’ framing for the associated ‘daughter of a foreign god’ idiom, with idolatry dropped — rejected, see inherited idol entry
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 2:11). Shares the ‘dawb huv’ morpheme with the folk ritual-purity collision already flagged for refiners_fire/purify_refine; here the referent is corporate covenant holiness. Used together with the inherited idol entry (dab mlom) for the idolatrous-intermarriage referent, which must remain explicit and never softened.
Divorce
Approved rendering: kev nrauj
Transliteration: shillach
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
Rejected alternatives: imposing external legal categories foreign to the text — rejected
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 2:16, ‘I hate divorce, says the LORD’). Hmong customary practice historically permits relatively accessible divorce/remarriage negotiated through clan elders; a genuine values-gap (not a spirit-world collision) requiring explicit catechesis that God’s revealed will opposes casual marital dissolution.
Tithe
Approved rendering: feem kaum
Transliteration: ma’aser / epidekata
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
Rejected alternatives: re-imposing as a salvation-earning legalistic requirement — rejected, over-spiritualizing away v.10’s material-blessing content — rejected
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:8-10). Behaviorally load-bearing and doctrinally central; must be taught as a Sinai-covenant provision-command for God’s house, historically and typologically instructive for NT generosity, sitting between the two ditches of legalism and prosperity-gospel drift (see blessing_material entry).
Rob God
Approved rendering: nyiag Vajtswv tug
Transliteration: qava
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
Rejected alternatives: softening to mere ‘negligence’ — rejected, mutes the text’s confrontational force
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:8). A strong, potentially shocking accusation; requires careful pastoral framing as covenant unfaithfulness in giving, never as a fundraising-campaign slogan or pressure tactic.
Curse
Approved rendering: kev foom rau kev puas tsuaj tag nrho
Transliteration: cherem / arsis
Doctrine: The Call to Repentance before the Great Day
Rejected alternatives: framing as, or leaving ambiguous with, a ritual curse humans can perform — rejected
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:6b). Traditional Hmong religious practice includes ritual curse-casting (foom tsis zoo) between rivals/clans; must be explicitly taught as God’s own covenantal-judicial pronouncement, not a ritual curse operating by the same mechanics as folk curse-casting — mirrors the inherited wrath_of_god entry’s disambiguation strategy exactly.
Medium Risk Terms
Ungodly
Approved rendering: tus tsis hwm Vajtswv
Transliteration: asebēs / rasha
Doctrine: Grace and Salvation by Faith Alone
Rejected alternatives: softened ‘irreligious’ — rejected, mutes the doctrinal shock
The shock that God justifies the undeserving is central to grace-alone doctrine. Inherited from Romans package. Serves as the fixed rendering for ‘the wicked’ (rasha) contrasted with ‘the righteous’ at Malachi 3:18; structurally analogous usage, must not be softened to merely ‘irreligious.‘
Mercy
Approved rendering: txoj kev khuv leej
Transliteration: eleos / chamal
Doctrine: Election and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: txiaj ntsim (grace) used interchangeably for mercy — rejected, mercy and grace are theologically distinct emphases
Kept lexically distinct from txiaj ntsim/grace per the baseline note. Inherited from Romans package. Renders Malachi 3:17, ‘as a man spares his son who serves him’ (chamal).
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
Must be explicitly directed God-ward. Inherited from Romans package. Must be kept terminologically DISTINCT from the new turn_hearts_of_fathers_to_children entry (Mal 4:6), which is horizontal/intergenerational, not God-ward; reusing this exact phrase for both would blur a distinction this baseline itself insists on maintaining.
Priestly Minister
Approved rendering: tus ua haujlwm pab Vajtswv
Transliteration: leitourgos
Doctrine: Christian Living and Unity in the Church
Rejected alternatives: txiv neeb (shaman) vocabulary — forbidden, would conflate Christian ministry with shamanism
Cultic-priestly nuance deliberately muted since no exact Hmong priestly-office term exists outside the shamanic role. Inherited from Romans package. Must be kept lexically DISTINCT from the new priest_kohen entry (Mal 1-2), which denotes the actual, historic hereditary Aaronic/Levitical cultic office condemned for corruption — a stronger, more literal cultic sense than this muted NT leitourgos rendering.
Yhwh Lord Of Hosts
Approved rendering: tus TSWV / tus TSWV kav ib tsoom tub rog saum ntuj
Transliteration: YHWH / YHWH tseva’ot / kyrios pantokratōr
Doctrine: God’s Unchanging Love for His People
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘hwjchim’ for ‘hosts’ — rejected, identical to a shaman’s ritual power (already Critical-flagged in the Romans TM’s power entry), Aramaic/Hebrew transliteration (‘Yehauvas’/‘Yahweh’) — rejected, breaks continuity with existing Hmong Bible tradition’s ‘tus Tswv’ usage and echoes the forbidden JW NWT divine-name-substitution pattern
NEW — Malachi package. Deliberately renders ‘of hosts’ with ‘kav’ (to command/rule) + ‘tub rog saum ntuj’ (heavenly armies) rather than a power-noun, to avoid the hwjchim collision. The all-caps ‘TSWV’ convention marks the covenant divine name and must be kept typographically distinct from plain ‘tus Tswv’ (the inherited lord entry, rendering ha’adon) at every occurrence. Recurs as the self-authenticating speaker formula (‘says the LORD’) throughout all four chapters.
Refiners Fire
Approved rendering: cub taws uas ua kom tej kub tej nyiaj dawb huv
Transliteration: esh metsaref / pyr chōneutēriou
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
Rejected alternatives: substituting an unrelated local purification craft for the metallurgical image — rejected, would re-import folk ritual-cleansing connotations
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:2-3). Shares the ‘dawb huv’ root with the inherited sanctification entry’s folk-ritual-purification collision risk; must be taught as God’s own metallurgical/moral purification, not spirit-contamination cleansing. Retained as literal description with an illustrative note (heating ore to separate impurity from precious metal) per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §2.1, rather than substituted with a false-equivalent native craft.
Priest Kohen
Approved rendering: tus povthawj
Transliteration: kohen / hiereus
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
Rejected alternatives: txiv neeb (shaman) — FORBIDDEN under all circumstances, would conflate an actual OT cultic office with shamanic mediation
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 1-2). Must be kept lexically distinct both from the inherited priestly_minister entry (muted NT leitourgos sense) and absolutely from txiv neeb — the forbidden mapping applies with even greater force here since this term denotes an actual, historic hereditary Aaronic/Levitical cultic office, not a metaphorical ministry description. Must never appear within several clauses of txiv neeb-adjacent vocabulary.
Fear Reverence
Approved rendering: kev ntshai
Transliteration: yir’ah / phobos
Doctrine: God’s Unchanging Love for His People
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 1:6). Everyday term; comprehension-level risk only, since the father-son/master-servant honor code, while culturally strong in Hmong society, must be explicitly anchored to God to avoid a merely generic filial-piety reading.
Honor Kavod
Approved rendering: kev hwm
Transliteration: kavod / timē
Doctrine: God’s Unchanging Love for His People
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 1:6), shares its root morpheme with the inherited ungodly entry (‘tus tsis hwm Vajtswv’). Must be God-anchored (‘hwm Vajtswv’) at every occurrence to prevent collapse into generic ancestor-honor practice, which carries its own devotional expectations (offerings, ritual observance) that must not be imported.
Godly Offspring
Approved rendering: cov me nyuam ncaj ncees ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: zera Elohim
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
Rejected alternatives: bare fertility/lineage-continuity idea detached from covenant faithfulness — rejected
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 2:15), drawing on the ‘ncaj ncees’ root shared with the inherited righteousness_of_god_righteous entry. Must not collapse into a bare fertility/lineage idea; the purpose clause for marital faithfulness serves the covenant community’s future, not merely private desire.
Blessing Material
Approved rendering: koob hmoov
Transliteration: berakah / eulogia
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
Rejected alternatives: applying this word to salvific grace — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, see the inherited grace entry
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:10). This is precisely the ordinary material-blessing context the inherited grace entry’s carve-out reserves ‘koob hmoov’ for; it sits directly adjacent to a well-documented prosperity-gospel drift danger and is the single most vigilance-requiring ‘permitted’ term in this package because its visible hmoov root is otherwise permanently forbidden. Every occurrence must carry explicit teaching that this is God’s covenant response to a faithful people, not a transactional ‘give-to-get’ formula, and an explicit cross-reference confirming it is NOT the grace entry.
Sun Of Righteousness
Approved rendering: lub hnub ci ntawm txoj kev ncaj ncees
Transliteration: shemesh tsedaqah / hēlios dikaiosynēs
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:2), root reused from the inherited righteousness_of_god_righteous entry. Must be taught as a distinct nuance (healing vindication) from the forensic-imputation sense central to that Critical-tier entry, so hearers neither import a ‘sun that declares legal righteousness’ reading nor lose the lexical connection entirely.
Turn Hearts Of Fathers To Children
Approved rendering: coj cov leej txiv lub siab tig rov qab rau cov me nyuam
Transliteration: heshiv lev avot al banim / apokatastēsei kardian patros pros huion
Doctrine: The Call to Repentance before the Great Day
Rejected alternatives: reusing the inherited reconciliation entry’s exact phrase (‘kev sib haum xeeb nrog Vajtswv’) — rejected, that entry is explicitly and exclusively God-ward; this is horizontal/intergenerational
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:6). The book’s closing hope: repentance produces restored relationships as a sign preceding the great and dreadful Day. Must be kept terminologically distinct from the inherited reconciliation entry per that entry’s own note.
Low Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Vajtswv
Transliteration: Elohim
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.
Lord
Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: kyrios / ha’adon
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Stable existing usage; applied to God and Christ. Inherited from Romans package. In Malachi 3:1, renders ha’adon (‘the Lord/Master’) and must be kept typographically distinct from the new yhwh_lord_of_hosts entry’s all-caps ‘tus TSWV’ convention so the two distinct Hebrew titles are not collapsed.
Jesus Christ
Approved rendering: Yexus Khetos
Transliteration: Iēsous Christos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Standard transliteration baseline. Inherited from Romans package. Required for teaching notes identifying the NT fulfillment of Malachi’s Messenger/Elijah typology (Matt 11:10, 14; Mark 1:2).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Rejected alternatives: diminished-sonship renderings found in sectarian materials — rejected, must preserve full deity
Honorific parallel to Leej Txiv. Inherited from Romans package. Used when teaching the Christological identification of ‘the Lord’ who comes to His temple (Mal 3:1).
Love
Approved rendering: kev hlub
Transliteration: agapē / ahavti
Doctrine: Christian Living and Unity in the Church
Stable, existing warm-affection Hmong term; no competing traditional-religion referent identified. Inherited from Romans package. Serves as the fixed rendering for Malachi 1:2’s ‘I have loved Jacob,’ the direct OT source Paul cites in Romans 9:13; must always co-occur with the election_choose entry’s mandatory volitional clause when paired with the new covenant_hate_election_disfavor entry.
Nations Gentiles
Approved rendering: lwm Haiv Neeg
Transliteration: ethnē / goyim
Doctrine: The Future of Israel
Clear contrastive term to ‘cov Yudas’. Inherited from Romans package. Used at Malachi 1:11 (‘my name will be great among the nations’).
Jew
Approved rendering: cov Yudas
Transliteration: Ioudaios
Doctrine: The Future of Israel
Established transliteration. Inherited from Romans package. Underlies the proper-noun convention extended in the new judah_and_jerusalem entry (‘Yudas thiab Yeluxalees’).
Witness
Approved rendering: tus timkhawv
Transliteration: martys / ed
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Stable existing legal/testimonial term. Inherited from Romans package. Renders Malachi 2:14, ‘the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth,’ raising the marriage covenant’s stakes above a private social contract.
Promise
Approved rendering: lus cog tseg
Transliteration: epangelia
Doctrine: Election and the Sovereignty of God
Stable existing phrase for a solemn covenant pledge. Inherited from Romans package. Must be kept lexically and visually distinct from the new covenant_general entry (‘txoj kev cog lus’) at every occurrence — ‘promise’ denotes a unilateral pledge, ‘covenant’ the fuller bilateral-but-God-initiated relationship-structure; never used interchangeably even where English text places ‘promise’ and ‘covenant’ close together.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: txoj sia nyob mus ib txhis
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Union with Christ
Stable term. Inherited from Romans package. The underlying root for ‘age/eternity’ (aiōn) is shared with Malachi 3:4’s ‘as in the days of old’ (kime olam / hai hēmerai tou aiōnos, see new as_in_days_of_old entry), reinforcing lexical continuity without requiring conflation of the two distinct referents.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: Christian Living and Unity in the Church
Stable existing Hmong Christian term. Inherited from Romans package. Shares the ‘Vaj’ root with the new great_king entry (Mal 1:14, melekh gadol, ‘tus Vajntxwv Loj’), reinforcing lexical continuity without contradiction.
Scripture
Approved rendering: Vaj Lug Kub
Transliteration: graphē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Settled compound term (‘royal/sacred writing’) already used in existing Hmong Bible tradition. Inherited from Romans package. Used when citing Malachi as part of the Old Testament canon within NT-application teaching notes.
Prepare The Way
Approved rendering: npaj txoj kev
Transliteration: pinnah derekh / epiblepsetai hodon
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:1). Concrete road-clearing imagery for a dignitary’s procession transfers cleanly cross-culturally; no collision.
Endure Stand
Approved rendering: thev tau / sawv ruaj
Transliteration: mekhalkel / ha’omed / hypostēsetai
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:2). Descriptive; no collision.
Fullers Soap
Approved rendering: kua ntxuav khaub ncaws kom dawb
Transliteration: borit mekhabbesim / poa plynontōn
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:2). Comprehension gap only (unfamiliar craft); no collision.
Sit As Refiner
Approved rendering: zaum
Transliteration: yashab / kathieitai
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:3). Depicts a judicial/craftsman seated posture — patient, deliberate oversight, not a hasty destructive act.
Sons Of Levi
Approved rendering: cov Levis
Transliteration: bene Levi / huious Leui
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 2:4-8; 3:3), following the established plural-marking convention already used for ‘cov Yudas’ (the inherited jew entry). Proper-noun/office term; comprehension gap only.
Pleasing Acceptable
Approved rendering: txaus siab rau
Transliteration: arbah / aresei
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:4). Restored worship is not merely correct in form but genuinely delightful to God, reversing 1:10,13’s rejected offerings; no collision.
As In Days Of Old
Approved rendering: ib yam li tej hnub thaum ub
Transliteration: kime olam / kathōs hai hēmerai tou aiōnos
Doctrine: God’s Unchanging Love for His People
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:4). Points to a past pattern of genuine covenant faithfulness as the model for future restoration, connecting to the doctrine that God’s character has not changed even though worship has decayed. Shares its underlying ‘age/eternity’ root with the inherited eternal_life entry.
Table Of The Lord
Approved rendering: lub rooj noj mov ntawm tus TSWV
Transliteration: shulchan YHWH / trapeza kyriou
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 1:7,12). The altar imaged as a royal banquet table; treating it with contempt is treating the covenant King’s own table with contempt. Concrete, culturally resonant guest-honor imagery; no collision.
Great King
Approved rendering: tus Vajntxwv Loj
Transliteration: melekh gadol / basileus megas
Doctrine: God’s Unchanging Love for His People
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 1:14). Universal sovereignty over all peoples, anticipating worship ‘among the nations’ (1:11, see inherited nations_gentiles entry). Shares the ‘Vaj’ root with the inherited kingdom_of_god entry.
Windows Of Heaven Devourer
Approved rendering: qhov rai saum ntuj / kab noj qoob loo
Transliteration: arubbot hashamayim / okhel
Doctrine: Faithfulness in Tithing and Marriage
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:10-11). Vivid rain/harvest-abundance imagery and its negative agricultural-pest counterpart; comprehension-level only, no collision.
Burning Like An Oven
Approved rendering: zoo li lub qhov cub taws kub heev
Transliteration: katannur bo’er / hōs klibanos kaiomenos
Doctrine: The Call to Repentance before the Great Day
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:1). Concrete judgment-fire imagery; should be taught alongside refiners_fire (Mal 3:2-3) as the judgment-side of the same fire-motif whose purifying side is shown in ch. 3.
Healing In Its Wings
Approved rendering: kev kho mob thiab kev noj qab haus huv nyob hauv nws lub hnub qab
Transliteration: marpe bikhnafeha / iasis en tais pterygin autou
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 4:2). Restorative, health-giving power imaged as sunlight’s rays, promised to the God-fearing remnant; comprehension-level imagery only.
Judah And Jerusalem
Approved rendering: Yudas thiab Yeluxalees
Transliteration: Yehudah wiYerushalaim / Iouda kai Ierousalēm
Doctrine: Corrupt Worship and a Broken Covenant
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:4). Established transliteration convention consistent with the inherited jew entry’s ‘cov Yudas.’ The covenant people and their capital/temple city, standing for the whole restored worshiping community.
Malakhi Book Name
Approved rendering: Malakhi
Transliteration: Mal’akhi
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
NEW — Malachi package. Fixed transliteration for the book title and citation short-form (‘Malakhi [chapter]:[verse]’), consistent with the ‘Loos’ precedent established for Romans. The prophet’s own name is a wordplay on ‘my messenger’ (see messenger_forerunner entry); the proper-name form is kept lexically distinct from the appellative ‘tus xa xov’ rendering so hearers do not conflate the human prophet Malachi with the eschatological forerunner-messenger of 3:1.
Low-Medium Risk Terms
Temple
Approved rendering: lub tuam tsev
Transliteration: heikhal / naos
Doctrine: The Coming Messenger and the Day of the Lord
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:1). Comprehension gap only (no functioning Hmong equivalent institution); needs a brief explanatory note tying it to the Jerusalem sanctuary, never to any spirit-shrine.
Oppress Vulnerable
Approved rendering: quab yuam / tsim txom cov pluag
Transliteration: ashaq / katadynasteuō
Doctrine: The Call to Repentance before the Great Day
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:5). Descriptive social-justice vocabulary; ties corrupt worship to corrupt social ethics; no collision.
Book Of Remembrance
Approved rendering: phau ntawv nco txog
Transliteration: sefer zikkaron / biblion mnēmosynou
Doctrine: The Call to Repentance before the Great Day
NEW — Malachi package (Mal 3:16). A royal/administrative record kept of the faithful, evoking ANE court record-keeping; encouragement to the small faithful remnant. Comprehension gap (unfamiliar court-record imagery) only.