Micah — Phase 1 Semantic Analysis (Hmong Language Package)

§0. Governing Notes

Source-language correction. The curriculum brief requests analysis “in the original Koine Greek.” Micah is a Hebrew prophetic book (8th century BC); its original language is Biblical Hebrew, not Koine Greek. This document analyzes the Masoretic Hebrew text as the primary original, and cites the Septuagint (LXX) Greek transliteration secondarily only where it clarifies a term’s reception history or connects to a New Testament quotation (e.g., Micah 5:2 in Matthew 2:6). This correction is made in the interest of doctrinal and linguistic accuracy and does not contradict any baseline instruction; the baseline’s Greek-sourced NT terms remain untouched and are reused verbatim wherever Micah’s Hebrew concept overlaps with a Romans TM entry.

Continuity rule. Every term already fixed in assets/translation_memory.json (Romans baseline) MUST be reused exactly, character-for-character, wherever the same referent appears in Micah (e.g., Vajtswv, tus Tswv, kev cawm dim / cawm, dab mlom, cov seem, kev thaj yeeb, lus cog tseg, kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv, txoj kev khuv leej, kev cia siab, Vaj Ntsuj Plig, Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes)). Where Micah’s Hebrew concept is related but not identical to the NT sense (e.g., Hebrew hesed vs. Greek eleos; Hebrew mishpat vs. Greek dikaiosynē), this is flagged explicitly as a semantic-range note rather than silently collapsed.

New terms. Any term below with no Romans TM entry is a NEW ENTRY, proposed for this curriculum and logged for future TM-revision review per governing document §2.4/§9. Proper-noun transliterations follow the phonetic and orthographic pattern already established for Yexus Khetos, Yudas, Kilis, Yixalayees, and are likewise logged as provisional pending native-speaker/theologian confirmation.

Register. Formal, reverent, literary Hmong, consistent with §5 of the governing AI translation requirements document; no colloquial drift.

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PART A — Core Passage: Micah 6:6-8, Verse-by-Verse

Micah 6:6

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?”

Field	Content
Term	come before / approach
Original	קדם (qadam)
Transliteration	qadam
Literal meaning	”to come in front of, meet, approach”
Semantic range	ceremonial approach to a superior; cultic approach to deity; anticipatory meeting
English variants	”come before,” “approach,” “present myself”
Contextual theological meaning	Rhetorical opening of Micah’s mock-liturgy: a worshiper asking what ritual offering is the correct “admission price” to stand before God. Sets up the entire pericope’s critique of transactional worship.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low-Medium. Descriptive verb; Hmong “tuaj cuag / tuaj ntsib” carries no traditional-religion collision, but must not be rendered with a shamanic-consultation idiom (e.g., language used for approaching a txiv neeb for a ritual reading), which would reinforce rather than critique the transactional framing Micah is dismantling. NEW ENTRY.

Field	Content
Term	LORD
Original	יהוה (YHWH)
Transliteration	YHWH
Literal meaning	The covenant name of God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14)
Semantic range	Personal covenant name of Israel’s God, distinct from generic Elohim
English variants	”LORD” (small caps convention), “Yahweh,” “Jehovah” (rejected)
Contextual theological meaning	Micah’s covenant lawsuit (ch. 6) is brought specifically by YHWH, the covenant-keeping God who delivered Israel from Egypt (6:4) — not an impersonal deity.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low. Reuse baseline tus Tswv (TM entry “lord,” inherited) exactly, consistent with existing Hmong Bible tradition’s rendering of the covenant name. Forbidden: any divine-name substitution transliteration (e.g., “Yehauvas”), per baseline §3.1 prohibition against NWT-style divine-name patterns — that prohibition is reaffirmed here for the OT text itself, not only NT quotations of it.

Field	Content
Term	bow myself
Original	כפף (kaphaph)
Transliteration	kaphaph
Literal meaning	”to bend down, bow, stoop”
Semantic range	physical prostration in worship or submission; humbling posture before a superior
English variants	”bow myself,” “bow down,” “prostrate myself”
Contextual theological meaning	Physical posture matching cultic approach; paired with qadam to describe the worshiper’s expected ritual submission before offering sacrifice.
Destination-language rendering risk	Medium-High. Bowing/prostration is also the physical posture used in Hmong ancestor-veneration and spirit-offering rites (khoom plig, fij dab). The object of the bowing must always be explicitly stated as Vajtswv (never left implicit), following the same disambiguation strategy the baseline requires for pehawm (worship_serve_cultic, TM entry, “object of pehawm must always be stated”). NEW ENTRY, but structurally parallel to an existing baseline qualifier-pattern.

Field	Content
Term	God on high
Original	אֱלֹהֵי מָרוֹם (Elohei marom)
Transliteration	Elohim / marom
Literal meaning	”God of the height/exalted place”
Semantic range	transcendence, exaltation above creation; NOT a spatial “sky-god”
English variants	”God on high,” “the Most High God,” “the exalted God”
Contextual theological meaning	Emphasizes God’s transcendent majesty, heightening the absurdity of trying to “pay” such a God with livestock.
Destination-language rendering risk	Medium. Elohim reuses baseline Vajtswv exactly (Low risk on its own). The qualifier “on high” must be rendered with a descriptive phrase (e.g., “tus Vajtswv uas muaj hwjchim thiab yeeb koob nyob puag ntuj siab tshaj plaws”) and must NOT collapse into bare Ntuj (heaven/sky), which the baseline’s own “god” entry already rejects as “impersonal sky/heaven… lacks personal deity sense.” NEW ENTRY, reinforcing an existing baseline exclusion.

Field	Content
Term	burnt offerings
Original	עוֹלוֹת (olot, sg. olah)
Transliteration	olah
Literal meaning	”that which goes up” (in smoke); a sacrifice wholly consumed on the altar
Semantic range	the whole burnt offering of the Levitical sacrificial system (Lev. 1); total dedication offering, no portion returned to the offerer
English variants	”burnt offerings,” “whole burnt offerings,” “holocausts”
Contextual theological meaning	The most costly, total category of OT sacrifice — Micah escalates from this baseline through rams, oil, and finally the (rhetorically rejected) firstborn child, to show that no quantity or category of ritual offering can substitute for justice, mercy, and humility (v.8).
Destination-language rendering risk	High. Must reuse the baseline sacrificial domain word fij (khoom fij) but explicitly marked, per baseline §3.1/§2.2 rule #8, as neither Christ’s atonement (qhov theej txhoj kev txhaum) nor the NT “living sacrifice” ethical metaphor (khoom fij uas muaj txoj sia nyob), but as literal historical Israelite temple ritual which Micah himself is relativizing. Proposed rendering: khoom fij hlawv tag nrho (“an offering burned completely”). Teaching note required: this is the true, God-instituted OT sacrificial system (not shamanic fij dab), yet even it cannot replace covenant faithfulness — a point that must be preserved, not softened into “ritual doesn’t matter at all.” NEW ENTRY.

Field	Content
Term	calves a year old
Original	עֲגָלִים בְּנֵי שָׁנָה (‘agalim bene shanah)
Transliteration	egel ben shanah
Literal meaning	”calves, sons of a year”
Semantic range	a prime, unblemished young sacrificial animal — the choicest tier of offering
English variants	”calves a year old,” “yearling calves”
Contextual theological meaning	Represents the finest, most valuable category of animal offering, continuing the escalation motif.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low-Medium. Comprehension-level only (no calf-sacrifice cultural referent in Hmong tradition, but the concept of a prime/valuable animal offering is culturally accessible via existing Hmong sacrificial-animal practice for spirits/ancestors — requires distinguishing note, not lexical fix). NEW ENTRY.

Micah 6:7

“Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Field	Content
Term	thousands of rams / ten thousand rivers of oil
Original	אֵילִים / נַחֲלֵי־שָׁמֶן (‘elim / nachale-shamen)
Transliteration	elim / nachale shamen
Literal meaning	”rams” / “streams, torrents of oil”
Semantic range	hyperbolic quantity language; oil (grain-offering libation) as a separate cultic category from animal sacrifice
English variants	”thousands of rams,” “ten thousand rivers of oil,” “torrents/streams of oil”
Contextual theological meaning	Continues the rhetorical escalation to absurd, physically impossible quantities — no conceivable volume of ritual offering satisfies what God actually requires.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low-Medium. Comprehension gap only (oil-libation offering unfamiliar; hyperbolic “ten thousand rivers” idiom transfers reasonably as exaggerated abundance). Illustrative teaching note recommended, parallel in method to the baseline’s grafted-olive-tree note (TM entry grafted_olive_tree). NEW ENTRY.

Field	Content
Term	firstborn / fruit of my body
Original	בְּכוֹרִי / פְּרִי בִטְנִי (bekori / peri vitni)
Transliteration	bekor / peri beten
Literal meaning	”my firstborn (son)” / “fruit of my womb/belly”
Semantic range	the most precious, non-negotiable category of human life; historically associated in the ancient Near East with child sacrifice to deities such as Molech
English variants	”my firstborn,” “the fruit of my body,” “my firstborn son”
Contextual theological meaning	The rhetorical climax of the escalation — Micah voices (and immediately, in v.8, categorically rejects) the horrific logic that ever-greater sacrifice, up to human/child sacrifice, might satisfy God. This is not a divine requirement being described; it is the false logic of ritual-escalation being unmasked and refused.
Destination-language rendering risk	Critical. This verse must never be rendered or taught in a way that suggests God ever requires or condones child sacrifice — the verse’s entire rhetorical force depends on this being read as the reductio ad absurdum Micah rejects, answered decisively by v.8. This is simultaneously the passage’s most valuable teaching point for a Hmong audience, because it directly confronts the ritual-escalation logic embedded in traditional propitiation practice (“a bigger/costlier offering secures greater favor”) — the same logic underlying the baseline’s Critical-risk treatment of hilastērion (propitiation) and living_sacrifice. Mandatory teaching note required; content must make explicit that v.8 immediately and permanently answers “no” to this question. NEW ENTRY, Critical tier, human theologian review required.

Field	Content
Term	transgression
Original	פֶּשַׁע (pesha)
Transliteration	pesha
Literal meaning	”breach, revolt, rebellion” — a willful breaking of relationship/authority
Semantic range	covenant rebellion; distinct from chattah (missing the mark) and avon (iniquity/guilt); the strongest of the OT’s three primary sin-words
English variants	”transgression,” “rebellion,” “trespass”
Contextual theological meaning	Names the worshiper’s guilt not as accidental fault but as willful covenant breach — the very thing no sacrifice, however costly, can of itself remove.
Destination-language rendering risk	High. Reuses baseline txhaum / kev txhaum (TM entry “sin_act_and_condition,” inherited exactly), but this flattens three distinct Hebrew sin-words (pesha, chattah, avon — see also Micah 7:18-19) into one Hmong term. A teaching note is required at first occurrence distinguishing “rebellion against covenant” (pesha) from “missing the mark” (chattah, later in this verse) and “guilt/iniquity” (avon, ch. 7), so the rhetorical escalation is not lost even though the target-language lexeme is shared.

Field	Content
Term	sin of my soul
Original	חַטַּאת נַפְשִׁי (chattat naphshi)
Transliteration	chattah / nephesh
Literal meaning	”sin” (missing the mark) / “of my soul, self, life, whole being”
Semantic range	nephesh = the whole living self/person/life-force, broader than the Greek anthropological pneuma; not one soul-fragment among several
English variants	”sin of my soul,” “sin of my life,” “my sin”
Contextual theological meaning	Intensifies “my transgression” into the totality of the person’s guilt before God — the whole self, not a compartmentalized fault.
Destination-language rendering risk	High. chattah reuses baseline txhaum / kev txhaum (Low collision on its own). However, nephesh must not be rendered with the baseline’s fixed anthropological entry ntsuj plig (human_spirit_soul, TM #6), because Hmong traditional religion holds a person to possess multiple ntsuj plig (souls), of which only some may wander or be at fault; rendering nephesh this way risks implying only one “soul-part” is guilty while others remain unimplicated, undermining the verse’s totalizing force. Recommended rendering: kuv tus kheej (“my whole self”) or kuv txoj sia (“my life”), not ntsuj plig. NEW ENTRY, flagged collision, human theologian + native-speaker review required.

Micah 6:8

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Field	Content
Term	told you / declared to you
Original	הִגִּיד (higgid)
Transliteration	higgid
Literal meaning	”to declare, make known, tell plainly”
Semantic range	authoritative disclosure, often of a previously hidden or now-clarified matter
English variants	”he has told you,” “he has shown you,” “he has declared to you”
Contextual theological meaning	Answers the rhetorical escalation of vv.6-7 decisively: God has already, plainly revealed what He requires — it is not a mystery requiring ever-greater ritual guesswork.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low. Descriptive revelation-verb; no traditional-religion collision. NEW ENTRY, straightforward.

Field	Content
Term	O man
Original	אָדָם (‘adam)
Transliteration	’adam
Literal meaning	”man, mankind, humanity” (common noun, not the proper name here)
Semantic range	generic address to humanity / the individual worshiper
English variants	”O man,” “O mortal,” “human one”
Contextual theological meaning	Universalizes the answer beyond Micah’s immediate audience to humanity generally.
Destination-language rendering risk	Medium. Must be rendered as a generic address (e.g., koj, tus neeg) and explicitly NOT as the baseline’s proper name Adas (Romans TM entry “original_sin_adam_christ_typology”), which refers to the historical first man in the Genesis/Romans 5 federal-headship argument. Conflating the two would import unrelated Adam-typology into Micah’s exhortation. NEW ENTRY, flagged to avoid cross-reference confusion.

Field	Content
Term	require
Original	דָּרַשׁ (darash)
Transliteration	darash
Literal meaning	”to seek, inquire, demand, require”
Semantic range	active seeking/demanding, often used of seeking God or God seeking covenant faithfulness
English variants	”require,” “seek,” “demand”
Contextual theological meaning	Frames what follows not as a suggestion but as God’s actual, ongoing covenantal expectation.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low-Medium. Descriptive; Hmong xav tau / thov kom conveys the demand sense adequately. NEW ENTRY.

Field	Content
Term	do justice
Original	עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט (asoth mishpat)
Transliteration	mishpat
Literal meaning	”judgment, verdict, that which is deemed right in a legal/social dispute”; “to do/practice mishpat” = to act with fair, right judgment toward others, especially the vulnerable
Semantic range	social and judicial justice; giving each party their due; the practical, active outworking of right relationship in community — distinct from tsedaqah (righteousness as a moral/relational quality) though the two overlap and are often paired
English variants	”justice,” “judgment,” “what is right,” “just dealing”
Contextual theological meaning	Names the first of Micah’s three positive requirements; concretely, this indicts precisely the corrupt courts, false weights, and land-seizure condemned in chs. 2-3, 6:9-16 — justice is not abstract but socially enacted. Core term for the doctrine Justice, Mercy, and Humility.
Destination-language rendering risk	Critical. This term must be kept lexically distinct from the baseline’s forensic-imputed Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees / raug suav tias ncaj ncees (righteousness_of_god / justify_reckon_as_righteous, TM entries, Critical), which are reserved for the Romans doctrine of imputed justification by faith. Mishpat here is ethical/social justice-in-practice (right judgment toward neighbor), not the accounting-metaphor of imputation. Proposed rendering: kev txiav txim ncaj (“to render/practice right judgment”) — deliberately built on the same ncaj root (to preserve the lexical family connecting justice, righteousness, and justification as a coherent Hmong theological vocabulary) while avoiding the fixed suav tias reckoning-clause, which belongs exclusively to the justification doctrine. NEW ENTRY, Critical tier, human theologian review required to confirm this distinction is preserved consistently across all curriculum content, per the governing document’s non-contradiction mandate.

Field	Content
Term	love kindness / love mercy
Original	אַהֲבַת חֶסֶד (‘ahabat chesed)
Transliteration	’ahab / chesed
Literal meaning	”to love” / “covenant loyalty, steadfast love, faithful kindness”
Semantic range	chesed denotes God’s (and, derivatively, humanity’s) covenant-loyal, faithful, active love — richer than simple pity or compassion; it implies ongoing relational commitment and faithfulness, not a single act of mercy
English variants	”love kindness,” “love mercy,” “delight in steadfast love,” “love faithfulness”
Contextual theological meaning	Names the second requirement: not merely occasional acts of compassion but a settled, covenantal disposition of loyal love toward others, mirroring God’s own chesed toward Israel (cf. 7:18-20). Core term for Justice, Mercy, and Humility and Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness.
Destination-language rendering risk	High. 'ahab reuses baseline kev hlub (love, TM entry, Low risk, inherited exactly). chesed reuses baseline txoj kev khuv leej (mercy, TM entry, Medium risk, inherited exactly) but the baseline mercy entry was scoped to Greek eleos (compassion toward the miserable); Hebrew chesed carries an additional, load-bearing covenant-loyalty/faithfulness nuance not fully captured by “compassion” alone. Teaching note required distinguishing chesed’s covenantal-faithfulness dimension from mere pity, while retaining the fixed TM rendering txoj kev khuv leej (no re-gloss permitted per baseline §2.1).

Field	Content
Term	walk humbly with your God
Original	הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת עִם־אֱלֹהֶיךָ (hatsnea lekhet ‘im-Eloheicha)
Transliteration	tsana’ (hatsnea) / halak (lekhet)
Literal meaning	”to be modest/humble/circumspect” + “to walk” + “with your God”
Semantic range	halak (“walk”) is the standard OT idiom for one’s whole manner of life/conduct (cf. “walk in the law,” “walk before God”); tsana’ (humble, modest, circumspect) is a rare root emphasizing careful, unassuming, non-self-exalting conduct
English variants	”walk humbly with your God,” “walk carefully/circumspectly with your God”
Contextual theological meaning	Names the third requirement and arguably the interpretive key to the other two: a whole-life posture of humility before God that must underlie both just action and loyal love. Core term for the doctrine Justice, Mercy, and Humility.
Destination-language rendering risk	High. A natural, established Hmong idiom for humility is txo hwj chim (“to lower one’s hwjchim/power-status”), built on the morpheme hwjchim, which the baseline flags (TM entry “power,” dynamis, High risk) as identical to a shaman’s ritual power and forbidden to appear bare/unqualified. Although “humbling one’s hwjchim” is a distinct idiomatic usage from claiming or wielding hwjchim, the shared morpheme risks unintended resonance with the shamanic-power domain if not anchored. Mandatory qualifier strategy: never render bare txo hwj chim; always anchor within the same clause to nrog Vajtswv (“with God”), e.g. taug kev ua neeg txo hwj chim nrog koj tus Vajtswv, structurally paralleling the baseline’s mandatory anchoring pattern for pehawm Vajtswv and Vajtswv hwjchim. NEW ENTRY, High tier, human theologian review required.

Field	Content
Term	your God
Original	אֱלֹהֶיךָ (Eloheicha)
Transliteration	Elohim + 2nd person suffix
Literal meaning	”your God”
Semantic range	covenant-relational possessive address, affirming personal relationship
English variants	”your God”
Contextual theological meaning	Closes the verse by grounding all three requirements in a personal covenant relationship, not abstract ethics.
Destination-language rendering risk	Low. Reuse baseline Vajtswv plus possessive koj tus Vajtswv; no collision.

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PART B — Chapter-by-Chapter Study of the Whole Book

Chapter 1 — Judgment Announced Against Samaria and Jerusalem

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
high places (of the earth) בָּמוֹת (bamot) bamot ”raised platforms/heights”	literal mountain heights (as here, v.3, where God treads); elsewhere in the OT, technical term for illicit worship shrines/altars on hilltops ”high places,” “heights”	Here describes YHWH’s theophanic descent to judge; the same word elsewhere denotes idolatrous worship sites — the term itself is doctrinally “live” across the book.	High. Must be disambiguated by context at every occurrence: literal geographic height (ch.1 theophany) vs. illicit-shrine referent (implied throughout the book’s idolatry critique). A flattened rendering could accidentally suggest God descends to a worship-shrine rather than upon the mountains in judgment. NEW ENTRY.
carved images / idols פְּסִילִים (pesilim) pesilim ”carved/hewn images”	idol statues, typically wood or stone, condemned throughout the Prophets ”carved images,” “idols”	Samaria’s idols will be smashed as part of the judgment (1:7) — reuses the book’s central idolatry-critique.	High. Reuse baseline dab mlom (idol, TM entry, inherited exactly) — already the correct, doctrinally-sound term for spirit-images venerated in Hmong traditional religion; must not be softened.
hire of a prostitute (idolatry as harlotry) אֶתְנַן זוֹנָה (etnan zonah) etnan zonah ”the fee/wages of a prostitute”	metaphor for idolatrous wealth gained through spiritual unfaithfulness ”wages of a prostitute,” “harlot’s earnings”	Samaria’s idol-wealth is likened to money earned through prostitution — covenant unfaithfulness as spiritual adultery, a recurring prophetic metaphor (cf. Hosea).	Medium. Comprehension gap (financial-idolatry metaphor requires cultural bridging note); no direct collision with a Hmong traditional-religion practice, though the “unfaithfulness” theme should be taught alongside covenant-relationship vocabulary already established (lus cog tseg, promise). NEW ENTRY.
mourning rites (baldness, wailing like jackals) קָרְחָה / יְלֵל (qorchah / yelel) qorchah / yelel ”baldness (shaving the head)” / “wailing”	ritual mourning gestures for disaster/death ”baldness,” “wail like jackals,” “mourn”	Micah performs ritual lament over the coming judgment on his own people.	Low-Medium. Comprehension-level only; Hmong funerary/mourning vocabulary (kev quaj ntsuag) transfers descriptively with no doctrinal collision. NEW ENTRY.
Samaria, Jerusalem, Zion (place names) שֹׁמְרוֹן / יְרוּשָׁלַיִם / צִיּוֹן Shomron / Yerushalayim / Tsiyon proper place names	capital cities of the northern (Israel) and southern (Judah) kingdoms; Zion = the temple mount/Jerusalem ”Samaria,” “Jerusalem,” “Zion”	Establishes that judgment falls on both kingdoms’ capitals — no partiality between Israel and Judah.	Low. Provisional transliterations proposed: Xamalis (Samaria), Yeluxalees (Jerusalem, consistent with existing Hmong Bible convention), Xi-oo (Zion). Logged as new proper-noun transliterations for TM-revision review per governing §2.4.

Chapter 2 — Judgment on Land-Seizure, Oppression, and False Prophets

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
covet / devise evil (on their beds) חָמַד / חָשַׁב רָע (chamad / chashab ra’) chamad / chashab ra‘ “to covet, desire” / “to plan/devise evil”	premeditated social sin, planned exploitation ”covet,” “devise evil,” “plot wickedness”	Corrupt landowners premeditate the seizure of fields and houses from the vulnerable — directly relevant to the doctrine Judgment on Corrupt Leaders.	Medium. Descriptive ethical-sin vocabulary; no traditional-religion collision, but should be taught alongside txhaum (sin) to keep the social-justice dimension concrete rather than abstract. NEW ENTRY.
oppress / seize (fields, houses) עָשַׁק / גָּזַל (ashaq / gazal) ashaq / gazal ”to oppress, extort” / “to seize, rob by force”	economic exploitation of the powerless; violation of land-inheritance law ”oppress,” “seize,” “rob,” “defraud”	Names the concrete social-justice violations that Micah 6:8’s “do justice” directly answers.	Medium. Straightforward ethical-legal vocabulary; comprehension-level, no collision. NEW ENTRY.
remnant שְׁאֵרִית (she’erit) she’erit ”that which remains”	the surviving faithful portion preserved by God through judgment ”remnant”	First occurrence of the book’s recurring hope-motif (2:12), continued in chs. 4, 5, 7.	Low. Reuse baseline cov seem (remnant, TM entry, inherited exactly).
false/comfortable prophecy (“do not preach”) נָטַף (nataph, “to drip/preach smoothly”) nataph ”to drip, to preach in a flowing/pleasing manner”	prophets who tell people only what they want to hear (wine, strong drink) “prophesy,” “preach smooth things”	Satirizes prophets whose message is shaped by what pleases hearers rather than by truth — sets up ch.3’s fuller indictment.	Medium. Comprehension gap; needs teaching note distinguishing true prophetic office (ch.3’s Spirit-empowered Micah) from self-serving false prophecy. NEW ENTRY.

Chapter 3 — Judgment on Corrupt Leaders, Priests, and Diviners

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
eat the flesh of my people (exploitation metaphor) אֹכְלֵי שְׁאֵר עַמִּי (okhle she’ar ‘ammi) okhle she’ar ‘ammi ”eaters of the flesh of my people”	violent cannibalism-imagery metaphor for rulers who devour the people they should shepherd ”eat the flesh of my people,” “devour my people”	Vivid indictment of leaders who exploit rather than protect — the doctrinal center of Judgment on Corrupt Leaders.	Medium. Graphic metaphor; must be preserved (not softened) for rhetorical force, but requires a clarifying note that this is figurative indictment of exploitation, not a literal historical claim. NEW ENTRY.
divination / diviners קֶסֶם / קֹסְמִים (qesem / qosemim) qesem / qosemim ”divination” / “diviners”	ritual practices for discerning hidden knowledge or the future, condemned throughout the Torah and Prophets when practiced apart from YHWH ”divination,” “diviners,” “fortune-telling”	Micah condemns prophets who “divine for money” (3:11) — false prophecy driven by profit rather than by the true word of God.	Critical. Direct, unavoidable collision with Hmong shamanic practice (txiv neeb, ua neeb saib, ritual divination). This is a genuine biblical critique that must be preserved with full doctrinal force — the book explicitly condemns divination-for-hire — but requires very careful framing so the teaching is received as a critique of manipulative, profit-driven false prophecy (paralleled within the text itself, v.11) rather than as a blanket dismissal of all Hmong cultural practice without theological grounding. NEW ENTRY, Critical tier, human theologian review required.
Spirit of the LORD (empowering Micah’s true prophecy) רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruach YHWH) ruach YHWH ”the Spirit/breath of the LORD”	divine empowerment of a true prophet, contrasted with venal false prophets ”the Spirit of the LORD,” “filled with power and the Spirit of the LORD”	Micah’s own authority (3:8) is explicitly Spirit-given, in direct contrast to the diviners just condemned — the passage’s positive counterpart to the Critical-risk divination term above.	Critical. Reuse baseline Vaj Ntsuj Plig (Holy Spirit, TM entry, Critical, inherited exactly) with the mandatory “Vaj” prefix at every occurrence. Teaching note required distinguishing the OT prophetic-empowerment sense of ruach YHWH (temporary/task-specific empowerment of a particular prophet) from the NT doctrine of the Spirit’s permanent indwelling of every believer (Romans 8), while affirming both refer to the same divine Person.

Chapter 4 — Eschatological Hope: The Mountain of the LORD’s House

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
latter days בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים (be’acharit hayyamim) ‘acharit hayyamim ”in the after-part of the days”	eschatological horizon; the future consummation of God’s purposes ”latter days,” “the last days,” “in days to come”	Introduces the vision of universal pilgrimage to God’s house — the positive counterpart to the judgment oracles.	Low-Medium. Comprehension gap (eschatological time-idiom); no collision. NEW ENTRY.
the law (torah/instruction going out from Zion) תּוֹרָה (torah) torah ”instruction, teaching, law”	broader than only the Mosaic legal code; here, God’s authoritative instruction going out to all nations in the eschatological age ”the law,” “instruction,” “teaching”	Directly parallels the baseline’s Law doctrine — nations will come to Zion to receive God’s torah, fulfilling the Law’s revelatory purpose on a universal scale.	Critical. Reuse baseline Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes) (law_mosaic_divine, TM entry, Critical, inherited exactly) with its mandatory qualifier, even though this occurrence’s referent is broader (“instruction” more than strictly Mosaic code) — the same kevcai-root collision risk with ancestral-custom vocabulary applies. Teaching note required to explain the broadened eschatological sense without abandoning the qualifier.
word of the LORD דְּבַר־יְהוָה (devar YHWH) devar YHWH ”the word/matter of the LORD”	authoritative divine speech, whether prophetic oracle or, cumulatively, the whole of Scripture ”the word of the LORD”	Paired with torah as the content that will draw the nations to Zion.	Low. Proposed rendering Vajtswv Txoj Lus — the very phrase used to name the Hmong Bible-translation tradition itself (cf. governing document §5), making this a strong, pre-existing, doctrinally safe anchor. NEW ENTRY, logged though effectively pre-established by the tradition’s own name.
swords into plowshares (disarmament imagery) חֶרְבוֹתָם לְאִתִּים (charvotam le’ittim) charvot / ‘ittim ”their swords” / “into plowshares/hoes”	agricultural repurposing of weapons symbolizing universal peace ”swords into plowshares,” “spears into pruning hooks”	Vivid image of the peace that will characterize God’s eschatological reign — reinforces the doctrine Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness.	Low. Concrete agrarian imagery transfers well to a Hmong farming context; no collision. NEW ENTRY.
each under his vine and fig tree אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וּתְאֵנָתוֹ (ish tachat gafno u-te’enato) gafn / te’enah ”vine” / “fig tree”	idiom for peaceful, secure agrarian prosperity, each household undisturbed ”each man under his vine and fig tree”	Concrete picture of covenant shalom (peace) — reuse baseline peace vocabulary.	Low. Vine/fig tree botanically less familiar than rice/local fruit trees, but the idiom of settled agrarian security transfers with a brief illustrative note; no collision. Peace itself reuses baseline kev thaj yeeb (TM entry, inherited exactly). NEW ENTRY (imagery only).
walk in the name of the LORD our God (vs. nations walking in the name of their gods) נֵלֵךְ בְּשֵׁם־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (nelekh be-shem YHWH Eloheinu) halak be-shem ”we will walk in the name of”	covenant identity/loyalty expressed as one’s defining “name”-allegiance ”walk in the name of the LORD our God”	Direct contrast between Israel’s covenant loyalty to YHWH and the nations’ loyalty to their own gods — doctrinally important because it treats other “gods” as real objects of others’ allegiance without granting them ontological parity with YHWH.	Medium. Requires careful phrasing so it is read as a contrast of loyalty/allegiance (to the true God vs. to false gods/idols, reusing dab mlom vocabulary where relevant) rather than as an endorsement of religious pluralism. NEW ENTRY, flagged for review.

Chapter 5 — The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
Bethlehem Ephrathah בֵּית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה (Beit-Lechem Efratah) Beit-Lechem Efratah ”house of bread, Ephrathah (clan name)“	small, seemingly insignificant Judean town, ancestral home of David ”Bethlehem Ephrathah”	The prophecy’s deliberate emphasis on smallness/insignificance heightens the wonder of what will come from it — directly quoted in Matthew 2:6 of Christ’s birth.	Low-Medium. Provisional transliteration Npelehee Efalathas, logged as new for TM-revision review. Comprehension-level only.
ruler מוֹשֵׁל (moshel) moshel ”one who rules, a ruler”	a governing figure, here specifically the awaited Davidic king ”ruler,” “one who is to rule,” “governor”	Names the coming figure’s royal, Davidic office — fulfilled in Christ’s kingship, though the OT horizon itself does not yet use NT titles.	High. Must not be prematurely collapsed into the baseline’s NT title Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv (Son of God) or Yexus Khetos, which belong to the fulfilled, revealed New Testament confession; here the term should be rendered descriptively (tus uas yuav kav) with a forward-pointing teaching note connecting to the NT fulfillment, preserving both the OT’s own literary integrity and the messianic trajectory. NEW ENTRY, High tier, human theologian review required for the fulfillment-teaching framing.
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days וּמוֹצָאֹתָיו מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם (u-motsa’otav miqqedem mi-yme ‘olam) qedem / ‘olam ”from of old, from antiquity” / “from days of eternity”	language of ancient or eternal origin — debated among interpreters as referring either to the ruler’s ancient Davidic ancestry or to a deeper, pre-existent origin ”from of old,” “from everlasting,” “from ancient days,” “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”	The clause’s eternity-language is theologically weighty and is read by Christian tradition as pointing toward the divine pre-existence later affirmed of Christ (cf. John 1:1-14), though the Hebrew itself permits (and likely primarily intends) reference to the ancient Davidic royal line.	Critical. Must be rendered so as to preserve BOTH valid readings without overclaiming beyond the text: render literally (txij thaum ub los, txij tim ub tas mus li) and supply a teaching note presenting the historic Christian (messianic/pre-existence) reading as the fulfillment trajectory, while noting the term’s OT-historical primary reference to ancient royal lineage. Must never be flattened into simple human ancestry language that erases the messianic weight, nor overclaimed as an explicit Trinitarian statement the Hebrew text does not itself make. NEW ENTRY, Critical tier, human theologian review required.
shepherd (his flock) רָעָה (ra’ah) ra’ah ”to shepherd, tend, pasture”	pastoral care/rule imagery for a king’s governance of his people ”he shall shepherd,” “he shall stand and feed his flock”	Describes the coming ruler’s governance in terms of protective, nurturing care rather than domination — echoed in Micah 7:14 and throughout Scripture’s shepherd-king motif.	Low. Proposed rendering: tus yug yaj (shepherd) / yug (to shepherd/tend). Concrete pastoral imagery, culturally accessible; no collision. NEW ENTRY.
he shall be their peace וְהָיָה זֶה שָׁלוֹם (ve-hayah zeh shalom) shalom ”peace, wholeness, well-being”	comprehensive covenantal peace/security, personified in the ruler himself ”he shall be their peace,” “this one shall be peace”	Anticipates the NT identification of Christ himself, not merely his teaching, as believers’ peace (cf. Ephesians 2:14).	Low. Reuse baseline kev thaj yeeb (peace, TM entry, inherited exactly).
cut off sorceries/witchcraft from your hand כְּשָׁפִים (kesaphim) kesaphim ”sorceries, witchcraft”	occult ritual practices for manipulating spiritual power or fate, condemned throughout the Torah ”sorceries,” “witchcraft”	Part of the purging of idolatry and occult practice that accompanies the coming king’s reign (5:12) — extends the ch.3 divination critique into direct condemnation of magical practice.	Critical. Same collision class as ch.3’s qesem (divination); directly names practices with functional overlap to certain Hmong shamanic ritual categories. Requires the same careful, non-dismissive theological framing: the text condemns manipulative occult power-seeking as incompatible with trust in God’s promised king, not Hmong ethnic identity or culture as such. NEW ENTRY, Critical tier, human theologian review required.

Chapter 6 — The Covenant Lawsuit and Corrupt Commerce (beyond the core passage, 6:1-5, 9-16)

(Verses 6-8 receive full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A above.)

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
controversy / plead your case (covenant lawsuit) רִיב (riv) riv ”legal dispute, lawsuit, controversy”	formal covenant-lawsuit genre in which YHWH prosecutes Israel for covenant breach before witnesses (mountains, hills) “the LORD has a controversy,” “plead your case,” “contend”	Frames the whole chapter (and arguably chs. 1-3 as well) as a formal legal indictment, not a spontaneous outburst — YHWH’s judgment follows due covenantal process.	Medium. Legal-court bridge concept, structurally similar to the baseline’s village-court analogy used for katakrima (no_condemnation, TM entry). Proposed rendering: kev sib cav txog kev cog lus (“a dispute concerning the covenant”). NEW ENTRY.
righteous acts of the LORD צִדְקוֹת יְהוָה (tsidqot YHWH) tsedaqah (pl. tsidqot) “righteous acts, righteous deeds”	God’s historical acts of covenant faithfulness (the Exodus, wilderness guidance) recited as evidence in the lawsuit ”the righteous acts of the LORD,” “his saving acts”	Recites God’s past faithfulness (6:4-5) as the covenant backdrop against which Israel’s unfaithfulness is measured.	High. Reuse baseline Vajtswv txoj kev ncaj ncees (righteousness_of_god_righteous, TM entry, inherited exactly), but note the semantic-range difference: here tsedaqah denotes concrete historical acts of covenant faithfulness/deliverance, not the forensic imputed-righteousness sense central to Romans. Teaching note required to prevent readers from assuming this verse teaches justification-by-imputation rather than covenant-historical faithfulness.
false balance / deceitful weights מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה (mo’zne mirmah) mirmah ”scales/balance of deceit”	commercial dishonesty, rigged measuring instruments used to defraud ”false balance,” “deceitful weights,” “wicked scales”	Concrete instance of the injustice Micah 6:8 condemns — economic exploitation through dishonest trade.	Medium. Comprehension-level ethical/commercial vocabulary; no collision, straightforward teaching application to modern economic honesty. NEW ENTRY.
statutes of Omri / works of the house of Ahab חֻקּוֹת עֹמְרִי (chuqqot ‘Omri) Omri / Ahab proper names of northern-kingdom kings notorious for institutionalized idolatry and injustice	historical shorthand for entrenched, state-sponsored wickedness ”the statutes of Omri,” “the works of the house of Ahab”	Names Israel’s specific historical sin as the pattern Judah has now imitated — ties the judgment to concrete historical memory, not abstract wrongdoing.	Low. Proper-noun transliteration (Aumelis, Ahaj), comprehension-level footnote required; no collision. NEW ENTRY.

Chapter 7 — Lament, and the Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness

Term	Original	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning	Rendering risk
the godly/faithful one has perished	חָסִיד (‘chasid’)	chasid	”one characterized by chesed; a loyal, covenant-faithful person”	a person marked by steadfast covenant loyalty, same root as chesed (mercy/kindness, 6:8)	“the godly,” “the faithful,” “the loyal one”	Opens ch.7’s lament: even family loyalty has broken down (7:5-6, quoted by Jesus in Matt. 10:35-36) — the societal collapse that makes God’s own faithfulness (7:18-20) all the more remarkable by contrast.	Medium. Related to chesed (mercy, TM entry txoj kev khuv leej, inherited); propose rendering the person-noun as tus muaj kev ncaj ncees thiab kev hlub ruaj khov rau Vajtswv or more simply tus ncaj ncees with a clarifying note distinguishing this ethical-relational sense from the forensic-imputation sense flagged elsewhere. NEW ENTRY, flagged for cross-reference care.
I will look to / wait for the God of my salvation	אֲצַפֶּה לֵאלֹהֵי יִשְׁעִי (atsappeh l’Elohei yish’i)	tsaphah / yesha	”to watch, look out for” / “salvation, deliverance”	confident, expectant waiting; yesha = deliverance/rescue, cognate with the name Yeshua/Jesus	”I will look to the LORD,” “wait for the God of my salvation,” “hope in God”	Personal confession of hope amid social collapse — reuses the book’s salvation and hope vocabulary as a bridge into the closing doxology of forgiveness.	High. “Wait/look” reuses baseline kev cia siab (hope, TM entry, inherited exactly). “Salvation” reuses baseline kev cawm dim / cawm (salvation_save, TM entry, inherited exactly) — but the baseline’s mandatory qualifier anchors salvation explicitly to Yexus Khetos as agent, which is a post-incarnation NT convention. In this pre-incarnation OT context, the anchor must instead be to Vajtswv as the OT-era Savior, with an explicit forward-pointing teaching note toward Christ’s future fulfillment (paralleling the name-cognate yesha/Yeshua). This is a proposed, curriculum-specific extension of the baseline convention for OT material and is flagged for human theologian review before adoption as a standing rule for future OT Language Packages.
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity	מִי־כָמוֹךָ נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן (mi khamokha nose avon)	nasa avon	”who is like you, lifting/carrying away iniquity”	avon = guilt, iniquity, the weight/consequence of sin; “lift/carry away” = forgiveness as removal of a borne burden	”who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity,” “who forgives sin”	The book’s climactic doxology (7:18-20): God’s uniqueness is precisely His willingness to forgive covenant-breakers — the theological resolution toward which the whole book has moved. Core term for Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness.
Rendering risk	Critical. avon (iniquity) is the third of the book’s three Hebrew sin-words (alongside pesha, 6:7, and chattah), all of which reuse baseline txhaum / kev txhaum — the flattening risk flagged at 6:7 recurs here at the climactic doxology and must be addressed with a summary teaching note connecting all three occurrences. “Pardon/lift away” must be rendered so it reads as active, gracious removal of guilt (not merely overlooking it), reusing conceptual resources adjacent to baseline kev txhiv (redemption) and kev sib haum xeeb (reconciliation) without collapsing into either — genuinely new vocabulary is needed: proposed zam txim thiab tshem kev txhaum mus deb (“to forgive and remove sin far away”), directly anticipating the next clause’s “cast into the depths of the sea” imagery. NEW ENTRY, Critical tier, human theologian review required.
he will not retain his anger forever	לֹא־לָעַד יַחֲזִיק אַפּוֹ (lo la’ad yachaziq appo)	‘aph (anger)	“he will not hold fast/keep his anger forever”	God’s righteous anger is real but temporally bounded by His covenant mercy	”he will not retain his anger forever,” “his anger endures but a moment”	Directly and positively engages the baseline’s wrath-of-God doctrine, showing its resolution in mercy without denying its reality.	High. Reuse baseline kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv (wrath_of_god, TM entry, High risk, inherited exactly) — here used to affirm its limitation, not its absence. Teaching note required to hold both truths together: God’s wrath is real and righteous (ch.1-3, ch.6:7 background), AND it is not God’s final or defining disposition toward His covenant people (7:18-20). This directly serves doctrine 5, Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness, and must never be taught as though wrath were illusory or ritual-appeasable (reinforcing, not contradicting, the baseline’s existing wrath-of-God teaching note).
delight in steadfast love	חָפֵץ חֶסֶד (chafets chesed)	chafets chesed	”he delights in / takes pleasure in covenant loyalty”	God’s own disposition is characterized by pleasure in showing chesed, not reluctant obligation	”he delights in steadfast love,” “he delights in mercy”	Grounds forgiveness not in divine reluctance but in God’s own character and pleasure.	High. Reuses chesed/mercy vocabulary flagged at 6:8; same teaching-note requirement applies regarding the covenant-loyalty dimension beyond mere pity.
cast our sins into the depths of the sea	תַשְׁלִיךְ בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם חַטֹּאותָם (tashlikh bi-metsulot yam chattotam)	metsulah	”the depths/depths of the sea”	vivid image of total, irretrievable removal	”cast our sins into the depths of the sea”	The book’s final, climactic image of complete forgiveness — a strong positive resource for the doctrine of Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness.	Low-Medium. Vivid, comprehension-level imagery; no collision, and genuinely useful teaching resource requiring no disambiguation beyond ensuring chattotam (their sins) again reuses baseline txhaum consistently. NEW ENTRY.
the oath sworn to Abraham (faithfulness/truth)	אֱמֶת / חֶסֶד (‘emet / chesed, “to Abraham,” 7:20)	‘emet	”truth, faithfulness, reliability”	God’s covenant fidelity to His ancient promises	”faithfulness to Abraham,” “the truth you swore to our fathers”	Closes the book by grounding present hope in God’s ancient, unbreakable covenant promise — directly parallel to Romans’ doctrine of God’s irrevocable calling (Romans 11:29, already a baseline note under all_israel_will_be_saved).	Medium. 'emet (truth/faithfulness) reuses baseline qhov tseeb (truth, TM entry, inherited exactly) though the covenantal-fidelity sense here is richer than “factual truth” alone; chesed again reuses txoj kev khuv leej. Covenant itself may draw on baseline lus cog tseg (promise, TM entry, inherited exactly). NEW compound usage, logged for review to confirm the three reused baseline terms cohere without overload in a single closing verse.

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§C. Summary Table — New Terms Requiring TM-Revision Review

New Term	Proposed Hmong Rendering	Risk	Status
mishpat (do justice)	kev txiav txim ncaj	Critical	Pending theologian review
firstborn-for-transgression rhetorical question	(teaching-note governed, no standalone lexical entry)	Critical	Pending theologian review
nephesh (soul/self, 6:7)	kuv tus kheej / kuv txoj sia (NOT ntsuj plig)	High	Pending theologian + native-speaker review
walk humbly with God	taug kev ua neeg txo hwj chim nrog koj tus Vajtswv	High	Pending theologian review
olah (burnt offering)	khoom fij hlawv tag nrho	High	Pending theologian review
qesem/kesaphim (divination/sorcery)	kev ua yees siv / kev saib yaig (condemned sense)	Critical	Pending theologian review
moshel + qedem/olam (Bethlehem ruler, eternal origin)	tus uas yuav kav; txij thaum ub los, txij tim ub tas mus li	Critical	Pending theologian review
avon (pardon iniquity)	zam txim thiab tshem kev txhaum mus deb	Critical	Pending theologian review
OT salvation anchor (pre-incarnation)	kev cawm dim anchored to Vajtswv, forward-pointing to Yexus Khetos	High	Pending theologian review — proposes extension of baseline convention
bamot (high places)	context-disambiguated per occurrence	High	Pending theologian review
torah in eschatological/universal sense (4:2)	Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes), broadened-sense teaching note	Critical	Pending theologian review
Proper nouns (Samaria, Jerusalem, Zion, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Omri, Ahab, etc.)	provisional transliterations as listed above	Low	Pending native-speaker confirmation