Romans-package-to-Proverbs Extension: Full-Book Semantic Analysis (Hmong)

§0. Methodological Note

Proverbs’ Hebrew wisdom idiom operates on different anthropological and covenantal assumptions than Paul’s Greek argumentation in Romans, but it inhabits the same destination-language risk field: Hmong traditional religion’s animism, ancestor veneration, shamanism (txiv neeb), and fate/fortune (hmoov) concepts collide with Proverbs’ vocabulary just as sharply as with Romans’ — in some cases more sharply, because Proverbs repeatedly links wisdom/righteousness to material blessing and long life, which sits directly on top of the Hmong offering-for-blessing exchange logic (fij dab, fij xwm kab) that the Romans package already flagged as a collision zone (cf. baseline entries grace, blessing/koob hmoov, living_sacrifice). This document treats every such convergence explicitly.

Citation convention: this package adopts the established Hmong Bible tradition’s title for Proverbs, Paj Lug (which, notably, is also the ordinary Hmong word for “proverb,” a strong positive cultural bridge — see Glossary term U). Citations follow the Romans baseline’s chapter:verse format: Paj Lug [chapter]:[verse].

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PART A — CORE PASSAGE VERSE-BY-VERSE ANALYSIS: Paj Lug 3:1-12

Proverbs 3:1

ESV: “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,”

• teaching / instruction — Hebrew: תּוֹרָה (torah) — Literal meaning: “direction, instruction” (from yarah, “to point/direct”). Semantic range: covers everything from a single piece of parental guidance to, in its fullest canonical sense, the Mosaic Law. English variants: “teaching,” “law,” “instruction.” Contextual theological meaning: here it is the father’s accumulated wisdom-teaching to his son, the didactic frame of the whole book — NOT the Sinai covenant code, though it shares the root. Hmong rendering & risk: kev qhia (ntawm niam thiab txiv) — NEW term, distinct from the baseline’s reserved Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes), which must remain exclusive to the Mosaic/divine Law sense (see Prov 28:4,7,9; 29:18 below, where the fuller sense does apply). Risk: Medium — comprehension-level distinction required so students do not assume every Proverbs “law/teaching” reference equals the Sinai Law.
• commandments — Hebrew: מִצְוֹת (mitzvot, sg. mitzvah) — Literal meaning: “things commanded.” Semantic range: directives, precepts, whether divine or parental. English variants: “commands,” “precepts.” Contextual theological meaning: paired with torah as the father’s authoritative household instruction. Hmong rendering & risk: tej lus samhwm — NEW term. Risk: Medium — same collision-avoidance rationale as above; must not be confused with Txoj Kevcai.
• heart — Hebrew: לֵב (lev) — Literal meaning: the inner organ regarded as the seat of will, thought, and moral disposition (parallel to Hmong siab, “liver,” the culturally standard seat of will/emotion). Semantic range: mind, will, conscience, inner self. English variants: “heart,” “mind.” Contextual theological meaning: the son is to internalize, not merely memorize, the teaching. Hmong rendering & risk: lub siab — REUSED from baseline (conscience, will_of_god entries). Risk: Low — already-stable idiom.

Proverbs 3:2

ESV: “for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.”

• length of days / years of life — Hebrew: אֹרֶךְ יָמִים וּשְׁנוֹת חַיִּים (orekh yamim u-shenot chayyim) — Literal meaning: “length of days and years of life(s).” Semantic range: longevity, covenant-blessing formula found throughout Torah and Wisdom literature. English variants: “long life,” “many years.” Contextual theological meaning: wisdom is here tied to holistic covenant flourishing, the same formula used of obedience to the Law in Deuteronomy. Hmong rendering & risk: hnub nyoog ntev thiab txoj sia ntev — NEW descriptive phrase. Risk: Medium — must be taught as a general wisdom-order pattern (cf. Job/Ecclesiastes’ qualifications), never as an ironclad transactional guarantee, to avoid prosperity-gospel drift (cf. 12_ai_translation_requirements.md §3.1 sectarian-stream prohibition).
• peace — Hebrew: שָׁלוֹם (shalom) — Contextual theological meaning: wholeness, right relationship, well-being. Hmong rendering & risk: kev thaj yeeb — REUSED from baseline exactly. Risk: Low.

Proverbs 3:3

ESV: “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.”

• steadfast love / covenant loyalty — Hebrew: חֶסֶד (hesed) — Literal meaning: loyal, covenant-bound kindness. Semantic range: mercy, loyalty, devotion, kindness that flows from a binding relationship (not mere emotion). English variants: “steadfast love,” “mercy,” “lovingkindness,” “faithful love.” Contextual theological meaning: distinct from both New-Testament agapē (baseline love) and from eleos (baseline mercy) — hesed specifically denotes covenant-loyalty-love. Hmong rendering & risk: kev hlub ruaj khov — NEW term, deliberately distinct from baseline kev hlub (agapē) and txoj kev khuv leej (eleos/mercy). Risk: Medium-High — must be kept lexically distinct from both existing entries or Proverbs’ covenant-loyalty nuance collapses into generic affection or generic compassion.
• faithfulness / truth — Hebrew: אֱמֶת (emet) — Semantic range: truth, reliability, faithfulness. Hmong rendering & risk: qhov tseeb — REUSED from baseline exactly, with a teaching note that here it also carries the “faithfulness/reliability” nuance, not only “factual truth.” Risk: Low-Medium.
• bind… write on the tablet of your heart — figurative internalization metaphor (echoing Deut 6:8 phylactery custom). Hmong rendering & risk: muab khaws cia rau hauv lub siab (descriptive, non-literal rendering). Risk: Low — comprehension gap only (no Hmong body-binding custom equivalent); requires an explanatory footnote, not a doctrinal fix.

Proverbs 3:4

ESV: “So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.”

• favor — Hebrew: חֵן (chen) — Literal meaning: grace, favor, gracious approval. Semantic range: relational goodwill, charm, the same root that underlies much of the LXX’s charis vocabulary elsewhere in the canon. English variants: “favor,” “grace,” “approval.” Contextual theological meaning: here it is relational favor/good reputation before God and people, not the forensic, unmerited-salvific-grace sense the Romans package reserves txiaj ntsim for. Hmong rendering & risk: kev pom zoo thiab txais yuav — NEW term, deliberately NOT txiaj ntsim. Risk: Medium — [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED flag pattern applies]: teachers must explicitly state this is NOT the Critical soteriological grace term, to prevent doctrinal blending between Proverbs’ this-life relational favor and Romans’ salvific grace.
• good success / good sense — Hebrew: שֵׂכֶל־טוֹב (sekhel tov) — Semantic range: good judgment, sound reputation. Hmong rendering & risk: kev txawj ntse thiab tau ntsej muag zoo. Risk: Low-Medium, comprehension only.

Proverbs 3:5

ESV: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

• trust — Hebrew: בָּטַח (batach) — Literal meaning: to lean on, rely upon, feel secure in. Semantic range: reliance, confidence, security. English variants: “trust,” “rely,” “have confidence in.” Contextual theological meaning: this is the central verb of the doctrine “Trust in the LORD’s Providence” — a relational, personal reliance on YHWH’s character, categorically different from Hmong hmoov fate-acceptance or from securing a spirit’s favor through ritual. Hmong rendering & risk: cia siab rau tus Tswv — NEW term, distinct from both kev ntseeg (faith/believe, baseline) and kev cia siab (hope, baseline). Risk: Critical — this is the anchor term for one of the seven assigned doctrines; must ALWAYS retain the explicit object tus Tswv (never a bare “cia siab” that could drift toward fatalistic self-reliance or hmoov-adjacent resignation), following the same structural pattern the Romans baseline mandates for kev xaiv (election) and kev cawm dim (salvation).
• your own understanding — Hebrew: בִּינָתֶךָ (binatekha, from binah) — Literal meaning: discernment, insight. Semantic range: understanding, discernment, intelligence. Contextual theological meaning: the contrast is not “understanding is bad” but “autonomous self-reliant understanding apart from the LORD is insufficient” — a humility argument tied to fear of the LORD (below). Hmong rendering & risk: koj tus kheej txoj kev nkag siab — see also Glossary term J (kev nkag siab, understanding). Risk: Medium.

Proverbs 3:6

ESV: “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

• acknowledge / know him — Hebrew: דַּעֵהוּ (da’ehu, from yada, “to know”) — Literal meaning: “know him.” Semantic range: relational, experiential knowing (not merely cognitive/informational knowledge). English variants: “acknowledge,” “know,” “recognize.” Contextual theological meaning: whole-life relational submission and recognition of the LORD’s presence in every decision. Hmong rendering & risk: lees paub Vajtswv (hauv txhua yam koj ua). Risk: Medium — comprehension gap: Hmong “paub” (know) defaults to cognitive/informational knowing; teaching note needed to draw out relational-covenantal “knowing.”
• make straight your paths — Hebrew: יְיַשֵּׁר אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ (yeyasher orchotekha) — providence imagery: the LORD’s active, personal governance of the trusting person’s life-course. Hmong rendering & risk: nws yuav ua kom koj txoj kev ncaj nraim — ties directly to Glossary term W (LORD’s providence). Risk: High — see term W below; the same fatalism-collision risk documented for election_choose in the Romans baseline applies here.

Proverbs 3:7

ESV: “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.”

• wise in your own eyes — self-conceited autonomous wisdom, the negative foil to true wisdom. Hmong rendering & risk: txawj ntse raws li koj tus kheej pom (descriptive). Risk: Low-Medium.
• fear the LORD — Hebrew: יִרְאַת יְהוָה (yir’at YHWH) — Literal meaning: “fear/awe of YHWH.” Semantic range: reverential awe, worshipful submission, covenant loyalty expressed as holy dread — NOT servile terror. English variants: “fear of the LORD,” “reverence for the LORD,” “awe of God.” Contextual theological meaning: THIS IS THE ANCHOR TERM of the assigned doctrine “The Fear of the LORD as the Beginning of Wisdom” (cf. Prov 1:7, 9:10, 31:30). Hmong rendering & risk: kev hwm thiab ntshai Vajtswv — NEW term. Risk: CRITICAL — Hmong traditional religion contains a well-developed concept of kev ntshai dab (“fear of spirits/ancestors”), a servile dread of capricious, ritually-appeasable beings, structurally identical to the collision the Romans baseline already documented for wrath_of_god (npau taws). If “fear the LORD” is heard through this lens, hearers will assume the goal is ritual appeasement of an unpredictable deity rather than reverential, trust-filled covenant awe of a faithful Father (cf. baseline Leej Txiv). Mandatory qualifier/teaching pairing: this term must always be taught alongside cia siab rau tus Tswv (trust) and Leej Txiv (Father) to establish that biblical “fear” is filial reverence, not spirit-dread.
• turn away from evil — Hebrew: סוּר מֵרָע (sur mera) — Hmong rendering & risk: tso qhov phem tseg. Risk: Low.

Proverbs 3:8

ESV: “It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

• healing — Hebrew: מַרְפֵּא (marpe) — Literal meaning: healing, medicine. Semantic range: physical health, restoration. Contextual theological meaning: wisdom’s holistic-life-blessing idiom (a common Hebrew Wisdom trope), NOT a claim of miraculous/ritual cure. Hmong rendering & risk: kev noj qab nyob zoo rau koj lub cev. Risk: High — DIRECT COLLISION RISK: Hmong shamanic healing (ua neeb kho mob) is a ritual-efficacy healing framework mediated by spirits; without explicit teaching, “wisdom brings healing” could be assimilated into that framework (i.e., wisdom-keeping functioning as a healing ritual) rather than understood as a general wisdom-idiom for whole-life flourishing. Mandatory teaching note distinguishing this from shamanic healing practice.
• refreshment… bones — Hebrew: שִׁקּוּי לְעַצְמֹתֶיךָ (shiquy le-atzmotekha) — “moistening/drink for your bones.” Hmong rendering & risk: kev txaus siab rau koj cov txha. Risk: Low-Medium, comprehension gap only.

Proverbs 3:9

ESV: “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce;”

• honor — Hebrew: כַּבֵּד (kabbed) — Literal meaning: “to make heavy/weighty,” i.e., to give due weight/glory. Semantic range: honor, glorify, respect. Contextual theological meaning: the positive counterpart to baseline’s tus tsis hwm Vajtswv (ungodly = “one who does not honor God”). Hmong rendering & risk: hwm Vajtswv — REUSED root from baseline entry ungodly (#41, “tus tsis hwm Vajtswv”), now used positively. Risk: Low-Medium.
• firstfruits — Hebrew: רֵאשִׁית (reshit) — Semantic range: the first and best portion of the harvest, offered in acknowledgment of the LORD’s provision. Hmong rendering & risk: thawj phaus qoob loo / cov ua ntej — REUSED from baseline exactly (firstfruits entry, TM). Risk: Low-Medium — agricultural imagery is culturally accessible in an agrarian Hmong context (rice harvest).

Proverbs 3:10

ESV: “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”

• barns filled with plenty / vats bursting with wine — Hebrew: שָׂבָע (sova, abundance) / תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, new wine) — agricultural covenant-blessing imagery. Hmong rendering & risk: koj tej txhab qoob yuav muaj puv nkaus, thiab koj tej thoob cawv yuav puv nyoos (descriptive). Risk: CRITICAL — this verse pairs directly with 3:9’s firstfruits-giving in an apparent give-and-receive sequence that sits precisely on top of the Hmong offering-for-blessing exchange logic (fij dab, fij xwm kab: give an offering to a spirit to secure protection/prosperity). Without explicit teaching that this is a general wisdom-order principle flowing from a Father’s free, personal generosity — not a formulaic ritual payment mechanically producing guaranteed material return — hearers will very naturally assimilate 3:9-10 into the pre-existing spirit-appeasement transactional framework. Mandatory teaching note required; escalate to human theologian review per the “Trust in the LORD’s Providence” and prosperity-drift concerns already flagged in the Romans baseline (koob hmoov restriction).

Proverbs 3:11

ESV: “My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof,”

• discipline — Hebrew: מוּסָר (musar) — Literal meaning: correction, instruction through discipline. Semantic range: fatherly correction, training, chastening — NOT punitive vengeance. English variants: “discipline,” “correction,” “chastening.” Contextual theological meaning: paternal, loving correction, directly tied to God’s fatherhood (baseline Leej Txiv) rather than a capricious punisher. Hmong rendering & risk: kev qhuab ntuas — NEW term. Risk: High — must be explicitly distinguished from the Hmong folk-religious framework of ancestor/spirit punishment for ritual offense (structurally parallel to the wrath_of_god collision already documented in the Romans baseline); mandatory pairing with Leej Txiv (Father) imagery to preserve the loving, not vindictive, sense.
• reproof — Hebrew: תּוֹכַחַת (tokhachat) — Semantic range: rebuke, correction, verbal reproof. Hmong rendering & risk: kev thuam qhia / kev ntuas. Risk: Medium — paired term with musar, same teaching-note requirement.

Proverbs 3:12

ESV: “for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

• loves — Hebrew: אָהַב (ahav) — Hmong rendering & risk: kev hlub — REUSED from baseline exactly. Risk: Low.
• delights in — Hebrew: רָצָה (ratsah) — Literal meaning: “is pleased with, takes delight in.” Semantic range: favor, pleasure, acceptance. Hmong rendering & risk: zoo siab rau. Risk: Low-Medium.
• as a father the son — direct fatherhood analogy. Hmong rendering & risk: reuses baseline Leej Txiv conceptual frame (though the human father-son relationship here is illustrative, not the divine title itself). Risk: Medium — POSITIVE BRIDGE: this verse is the strongest available anchor for teaching that kev qhuab ntuas (discipline, v.11) is loving fatherly correction, not vindictive spirit-punishment; curriculum writers should deliberately cross-reference Leej Txiv and adoption_as_sons from the Romans baseline here.

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PART B — FULL-BOOK CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SURVEY (Proverbs 1-31)

Chapter 1

Prologue; purpose of the book; the call of personified Wisdom in the streets (1:20-33).

• fear of the LORD (beginning of knowledge) (1:7) — Hebrew yir’at YHWH — see full treatment under 3:7 above (term A). First occurrence of the book’s programmatic inclusio (closes at 31:30). Risk: Critical.
• Wisdom personified — Hebrew: חָכְמָה (chokmah), here grammatically feminine and personified as a woman crying out in the streets (1:20-33). Literal meaning: skill, wisdom, shrewdness. Semantic range: practical skill, moral discernment, cosmic order, and here a literary personification of God’s wisdom attribute. English variants: “Wisdom,” “Lady Wisdom.” Contextual theological meaning: anchor term for the assigned doctrine “Wisdom Personified”; culminates in ch. 8’s pre-creation discourse. Hmong rendering & risk: Tus Tswvyim (personified, capitalized-equivalent classifier “Tus” marking a distinct rhetorical/personal referent, paralleling the baseline’s Vaj prefix strategy for the Holy Spirit) vs. plain tswvyim for the abstract quality. Risk: CRITICAL — female personification of a divine attribute risks syncretistic assimilation into Hmong folk-religious female spirit-figures (dab poj niam, ancestral female spirits venerated in household ritual); mandatory teaching note that Wisdom is a literary personification of an attribute of the one God, not an independent goddess-being, while also not foreclosing the historic Christian reading that sees Wisdom’s discourse (esp. ch. 8) as anticipating Christ the Logos — this typological question should be flagged [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: Christological typology of Wisdom, ch.8] rather than resolved unilaterally in curriculum text.
• Wisdom’s outpoured spirit (1:23) — Hebrew: רוּחִי (ruchi, “my spirit,” i.e., Wisdom’s own spirit/disposition) — Contextual theological meaning: Wisdom offers to “pour out her spirit” on those who heed her reproof. Hmong rendering & risk: NEW, flagged [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] — must NOT be rendered Vaj Ntsuj Plig (reserved exclusively for the Holy Spirit per baseline) nor bare ntsuj plig (reserved for the human soul); recommend a wisdom-specific periphrasis such as “nws txoj kev txawj ntse thiab kev qhuab ntuas” (her wisdom and instruction). Risk: Critical.
• simple — Hebrew: פֶּתִי (peti) (1:4, 22) — the naive, untaught person, distinct from the hardened fool. Hmong rendering & risk: tus tsis paub qab hau (NEW). Risk: Medium.
• scoffer / mocker — Hebrew: לֵץ (letz) (1:22) — one who scorns correction. Hmong rendering & risk: tus thuam luag (NEW). Risk: Medium.
• fool — Hebrew: כְּסִיל (kesil) (1:22) — the entrenched, obstinate fool. Hmong rendering & risk: ruam — REUSED from baseline merism entry (cov Kilis thiab cov neeg txawv teb chaws, cov txawj ntse thiab cov ruam). Risk: Low.
• proverb — Hebrew: מָשָׁל (mashal) (1:1, 6) — a pithy, memorable saying using comparison/parallelism. Hmong rendering & risk: paj lug (NEW) — strong positive cultural bridge to the rich existing Hmong oral-proverb tradition. Risk: Low.
• teaching/instruction (parental) — reuses term G from core passage (3:1). First occurrence 1:8.

Chapter 2

Wisdom’s protective power; the call to seek wisdom like silver; deliverance from the evil man and the adulterous woman.

• understanding / discernment — Hebrew: תְּבוּנָה / בִּינָה (tebunah / binah) (2:2, 3, 6, 11) — Hmong rendering & risk: kev nkag siab (NEW). Risk: Medium — comprehension-level idiom (“entering the liver/heart”); no collision.
• strange/adulterous woman — Hebrew: אִשָּ�ה זָרָה / נָכְרִיָּה (ishah zarah / nokriyah) (2:16) — literal “foreign/strange woman.” Semantic range: an adulteress or illicit sexual partner outside covenant marriage; also functions as Folly’s personification foil to Wisdom (see ch. 9). Hmong rendering & risk: tus poj niam txawv (NEW). Risk: Medium — register/comprehension note, not a traditional-religion collision.
• wicked (person) — Hebrew: רָשָׁע (rasha) (2:22) — Hmong rendering & risk: tus siab phem (NEW). Risk: Low-Medium.
• All other terms (fear of the LORD implicit at 2:5, wisdom, path imagery) reuse ch. 1/core-passage entries.

Chapter 3

Verses 1-12 receive full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A above. Verses 13-35 continue the wisdom-and-blessing theme:

• wisdom more precious than jewels (3:13-15) — reuses term B (tswvyim).
• tree of life — Hebrew: עֵץ חַיִּים (etz chayyim) (3:18) — Eden-echoing image applied to wisdom. Hmong rendering & risk: tsob ntoo ntawm txoj sia (NEW, ties to txoj sia nyob mus ib txhis baseline eternal-life root, though here it is wisdom, not eschatological eternal life, being described — teaching note needed to distinguish this-life flourishing imagery from the baseline’s eschatological eternal_life entry). Risk: Low-Medium.
• the LORD founded the earth by wisdom (3:19-20) — cosmological wisdom, foreshadowing ch. 8’s pre-creation discourse. Reuses term B/C.
• blessing on the house of the righteous (3:33) — reuses koob hmoov (baseline, material-blessing sense) and baseline tus ncaj ncees.
• favor to the humble (3:34) — reuses term L (favor/chen).
• glory / shame (3:35) — reuses baseline lub yeeb koob (glory).

Chapter 4

Father’s instruction continued; guard your heart; the paths of the righteous and the wicked.

• guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life (4:23) — Hebrew: לֵב / מִשְׁמָר (lev / mishmar) — reuses lub siab (heart) and introduces the “wellspring of life” image, tied to term AB (life). Hmong rendering & risk: tsom kwm koj lub siab, vim txoj sia tuaj ntawm ntawd los. Risk: Medium — good positive teaching bridge, no collision, but must not be read as implying the heart is a literal source of magical vitality (avoiding any accidental overlap with animistic life-force/soul concepts around ntsuj plig).
• No other new terms; reuses B (wisdom), A (fear of the LORD, implicit), P (wicked).

Chapter 5

Extended warning against the adulterous woman; call to marital fidelity.

• Reuses term V (tus poj niam txawv) extensively; no new terms. Explicitly noted as reviewed.

Chapter 6

Warning against surety/debt; the sluggard and the ant; seven things the LORD hates; renewed adultery warning.

• sluggard — Hebrew: עָצֵל (‘atzel) (6:6, 9) — Hmong rendering & risk: tus tub nkeeg (NEW). Risk: Low — anchor term for the assigned doctrine “Diligence versus Sloth.”
• diligence / diligent — Hebrew: חָרוּץ (charuts) (implicit contrast; explicit at 10:4, 12:24, etc.) — Hmong rendering & risk: kev nquag (NEW). Risk: Low — positive existing Hmong agrarian value; no collision.
• lying tongue (6:17, one of the seven things the LORD hates) — Hebrew: לְשׁוֹן שֶׁקֶר (lashon sheqer) — first formal occurrence of the tongue/speech term family. Hmong rendering & risk: nplaig dag — see full treatment under term S (ch. 18). Risk: High.
• Remaining items in the “seven things” list (haughty eyes, bloodshed, wicked scheming, feet swift to evil, false witness, sowing discord) are descriptive vice-catalogue items requiring no new glossary entries; they reuse kev tsis ncaj ncees (baseline unrighteousness) framing.

Chapter 7

Extended narrative warning against the adulteress.

• No new terms; reuses V. Explicitly noted as reviewed.

Chapter 8

Wisdom’s great self-declaration; her role in creation; “The LORD possessed/brought me forth at the beginning of his work” (8:22-31).

• possessed / brought forth — Hebrew: קָנָה (qanah) (8:22) — Literal meaning: “acquired, possessed, brought forth, begot.” Semantic range: ranges from ordinary commercial “acquire” to the more intimate “beget/bring forth.” English variants: “possessed,” “created,” “brought forth,” “begot.” Contextual theological meaning: THE single most doctrinally sensitive verse in the Wisdom-Personified material — historically debated between a purely literary-personification reading and a proto-Christological (Logos) reading. Hmong rendering & risk: NEW, flagged [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED: qanah at 8:22, Christological weight] — provisional rendering Vajtswv tau muaj kuv nyob ntawm nws thaum chiv keeb (“the LORD had me with him from the beginning”), deliberately avoiding both an overly-strong “begot” (which risks unwarranted ontological claims) and an overly-weak “made” (which risks denying Wisdom’s intimate priority). Risk: CRITICAL — mandatory human theologian review before any curriculum content is finalized on this verse.
• riches and honor are with wisdom (8:18) — reuses term T (blessing/reward) and baseline lub yeeb koob (glory/honor).
• All other vocabulary (wisdom, fear of the LORD at 8:13) reuses established terms.

Chapter 9

Two houses, two invitations: Wisdom’s feast versus Folly’s feast.

• Folly personified — Hebrew: אִשַּׁת כְּסִילוּת / “Woman Folly” (9:13-18) — the direct structural counterpart to Wisdom personified. Hmong rendering & risk: Tus Ruam (NEW, personified classifier parallel to Tus Tswvyim). Risk: High — same personification-collision logic as term C, though with lower doctrinal stakes since Folly is unambiguously negative (no Christological-typology question attaches to her).
• house (built by Wisdom, 9:1; contrasted with Folly’s house, 9:14) — Hebrew: בַּיִת (bayit) — Hmong rendering & risk: lub tsev (NEW, generic). Risk: Low.
• Reuses scoffer (O) and simple (N) from ch. 1.

Chapter 10

Opens the great Solomonic collection (10:1-22:16) of antithetic couplets; no major new terms, but this chapter is the structural hinge for the assigned doctrine “The Contrast of the Wise and the Fool.”

• Extensively reuses: txawj ntse / ruam (wise/fool, baseline merism root), baseline tus ncaj ncees (righteous)/tus siab phem (wicked), term S (tongue, 10:19-21 introduced formally — see ch. 18 for full field treatment), term Q (diligent hand, 10:4), term T (blessing, 10:6, 22), baseline kev hlub (love covers all offenses, 10:12).
• No new theological vocabulary beyond the above reuse; logged as reviewed per full-book-coverage mandate.

Chapter 11

Righteousness delivers from death; honest versus false scales; generosity.

• honest weights/measures — Hebrew: אֶבֶן שְׁלֵמָה (even shelemah, “full/honest stone[-weight]”) (11:1) — Hmong rendering & risk: teev taus ncaj ncees (NEW, minor). Risk: Low — comprehension-level only.
• Otherwise reuses baseline righteous/wicked and term T (blessing/generosity, 11:24-26). Logged as reviewed for new-term purposes beyond the above.

Chapter 12

Righteous household versus wicked; truthful lips; diligent hand; anxiety of heart.

• No new terms beyond minor descriptive vocabulary (anxious heart, 12:25 — folded into existing lub siab idiom, no separate entry needed). Reuses S (tongue, 12:18-19), Q (diligence, 12:24, 27), baseline righteous/wicked. Logged as reviewed.

Chapter 13

Wise son heeds instruction; tongue; wealth gained hastily vs. gradually; discipline of children (“spare the rod,” 13:24).

• Reuses G (teaching/instruction), S (tongue, 13:3), Q (diligence), E (discipline/musar, 13:24) — the corporal-discipline image here should be taught with the same E-term teaching note (loving fatherly correction, cf. 3:11-12), not framed as punitive spirit-appeasement. No new glossary entries. Logged as reviewed.

Chapter 14

The wise woman builds her house; fear of the LORD as fountain of life (14:27); righteousness exalts a nation; compassion to the poor.

• fear of the LORD is a fountain of life (14:27) — reuses term A, key restatement of the doctrine’s positive fruit (contrast to 14:26’s security).
• poor/needy — Hebrew: עָנִי / אֶבְיוֹן (‘ani / evyon) (14:21, 31) — Hmong rendering & risk: cov pluag / cov txom nyem (NEW). Risk: Low.
• Reuses baseline tus ncaj ncees (14:34, righteousness exalts a nation), txoj kev khuv leej (mercy/compassion to the poor, baseline reuse). Wise-woman-builds-house image reuses term AC.

Chapter 15

A soft answer turns away wrath (15:1); the LORD’s eyes are everywhere (omniscience); fear of the LORD teaches wisdom (15:33).

• the LORD’s all-seeing eyes (15:3, 11) — Hebrew: עֵינֵי יְהוָה (‘eynei YHWH) — Hmong rendering & risk: Vajtswv qhov muag saib txhua qhov (NEW, sub-entry of providence family, term W). Risk: Medium-High — ties directly to the providence doctrine; must be taught as personal, purposeful divine attentiveness, not an impersonal cosmic-surveillance/fate concept.
• human anger (wrath) (15:1) — Hebrew: חֵמָה (chemah) — this is HUMAN anger, not divine wrath; Hmong rendering & risk: npau taws WITHOUT the baseline’s ntawm Vajtswv qualifier, since the referent here is human, not divine. Risk: Low-Medium — teaching note required to distinguish this ordinary-anger usage from the baseline’s Critical wrath_of_god entry.
• Reuses term A (fear of the LORD, 15:33) and term B (wisdom).

Chapter 16

Commit your works to the LORD (16:3); the casting of lots (16:33); pride before a fall; the king’s heart in the LORD’s hand is anticipated (cf. 21:1).

• casting lots — Hebrew: גּוֹרָל (goral) (16:33) — “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” Literal meaning: a lot (stone/marked object) used for decision-making. Semantic range: a sanctioned Old Testament decision-mechanism (cf. Urim/Thummim, land division) affirming God’s sovereignty even over apparent chance. Hmong rendering & risk: rho ntawv xaiv (NEW). Risk: High — DIRECT COLLISION RISK with Hmong divinatory practices (consulting spirits/omens for guidance); mandatory teaching note that this text affirms God’s sovereignty over a specific, historically-bounded, sanctioned ancient decision-mechanism, and must NOT be read as validating divination as an ongoing spiritual practice today.
• commit your works to the LORD (16:3) — reuses term I (trust) and term W (providence).
• No other new terms; reuses established providence, pride/humility (baseline kev khav theeb boasting, contrast), wicked/righteous vocabulary.

Chapter 17

Strife; a friend loves at all times; the rod of correction.

• No new terms; reuses kev hlub (love, baseline), E (discipline). Logged as reviewed.

Chapter 18

The tongue: death and life are in its power (18:21); the fool’s lips bring him strife; misplaced trust in riches (18:11).

• tongue / power of speech — Hebrew: לָשׁוֹן (lashon) / פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) (18:21, and throughout 10:19-21, 12:18-19, 13:3, 15:1-4, 25:11, 26:20-22) — Literal meaning: the physical tongue/mouth; figuratively, speech itself. Semantic range: speech as an instrument of blessing or destruction, gossip, flattery, truthful/false witness. English variants: “tongue,” “mouth,” “words,” “speech.” Contextual theological meaning: THE anchor term for the assigned doctrine “Speech and Self-Control” — Proverbs treats speech as having life-and-death relational consequences. Hmong rendering & risk: nplaig / lus hais (NEW). Risk: HIGH — Hmong traditional religion holds a strong belief in the ritual/spiritual efficacy of spoken words (verbal curses and blessings believed to invoke spirit action, e.g. formal cursing or blessing speech acts tied to the spirit world); without explicit teaching, “death and life are in the power of the tongue” risks being assimilated into this magical-speech framework (words as spells) rather than understood as an ethical-relational wisdom principle about how truthful, kind, or destructive speech shapes community and character. Mandatory teaching note required.
• misplaced trust in riches (18:11) — reuses term I (trust) negatively, direct cross-reference to 3:5 and 28:25-26 (self-reliance warning).

Chapter 19

The sluggard; discipline of a son (19:18); the LORD’s purpose stands despite many plans (19:21).

• the LORD’s purpose/counsel stands (19:21) — Hebrew: עֲצַת יְהוָה (‘atzat YHWH) — Literal meaning: “the counsel/plan of the LORD.” Contextual theological meaning: key providence-doctrine verse. Hmong rendering & risk: Vajtswv txoj kev npaj cia yeej yuav muaj tseeb — see full treatment under term W below. Risk: Critical.
• Reuses R (sluggard), E (discipline).

Chapter 20

Wine and the mocker; the sluggard who will not plow (20:4); the LORD directs a man’s steps (20:24).

• the LORD directs/establishes steps (20:24) — reuses term W (providence), key verse, direct thematic parallel to 3:6 and 16:9.
• Reuses R (sluggard), O (mocker, extended to drunkenness context, 20:1).

Chapter 21

The king’s heart is in the LORD’s hand (21:1); diligence versus haste; the sacrifice of the wicked.

• the king’s heart in the LORD’s hand (21:1) — reuses term W (providence), the single most quoted providence-verse in the book; Hmong rendering & risk: same as term W. Risk: Critical.
• sacrifice of the wicked (21:27) — brief echo of the baseline’s living_sacrifice / atonement disambiguation strategy (Rom 12:1, 3:25); Proverbs’ point here is about heart-sincerity, not atonement mechanics, but the same caution against reading ritual offering as automatically efficacious (echoing the 3:9-10 concern) applies. No new glossary entry; cross-reference note only.
• Reuses Q (diligence/haste contrast, 21:5).

Chapter 22

A good name better than riches; train up a child; do not oppress the poor; the “Thirty Sayings” collection begins (22:17).

• Reuses G/E (train up a child, 22:6), Z (poor, 22:22), U (proverb/sayings collection, 22:17). No new terms.

Chapter 23

Do not envy sinners; discipline of children; drunkenness and gluttony warnings; do not toil to be rich, for riches fly away (23:4-5); adultery warning renewed.

• envy — Hebrew: קִנְאָה (qin’ah) (23:17, cf. 24:1, 24:19) — Hmong rendering & risk: kev khib (NEW, minor). Risk: Low.
• Reuses E (discipline, 23:13-14), V (adultery, 23:27-28), Q/W (do not toil to be rich — direct tension-passage requiring careful joint teaching with the diligence doctrine and the providence doctrine so that diligence is not misread as a guarantee of wealth, echoing the 3:9-10 caution).

Chapter 24

Wisdom builds a house; do not envy the wicked; the sluggard’s field revisited (24:30-34), a vivid parallel to the ch. 6 ant passage.

• No new terms; reuses AC (house), term khib (envy), R (sluggard, extended metaphor). Explicit cross-reference to ch. 6 recommended in curriculum design. Logged as reviewed.

Chapter 25

Honor of kings; the value of self-control (“like a city broken into, without walls,” 25:28); a word fitly spoken.

• self-control — Hebrew: מַעְצָר לְרוּחוֹ (ma’tzor le-rucho, “restraint over his spirit”) (25:28) — Literal meaning: “restraint for his spirit.” Semantic range: self-mastery, restraint of one’s own inner disposition. English variants: “self-control,” “self-restraint.” Contextual theological meaning: THE anchor verse for the “Speech and Self-Control” doctrine’s self-mastery dimension (complementing the tongue-focused verses). Hmong rendering & risk: kev tswj lub siab (NEW). Risk: High — must be taught as Spirit-enabled moral self-governance (echo of the baseline’s sanctification/renewal_of_the_mind categories), not merely stoic willpower, and must avoid any framing that suggests self-control is achieved through ritual/charm rather than character formation.
• word fitly spoken (25:11) — positive counterpart within term S (speech) family.

Chapter 26

Honor unfit for a fool; the sluggard extended (26:13-16); the talebearer/gossip (26:20-22); the dog returns to its vomit.

• talebearer / gossip — Hebrew: נִרְגָּן (nirgan) (26:20, 22) — Literal meaning: “whisperer, murmurer.” Semantic range: one who spreads contentious rumor/gossip. Hmong rendering & risk: tus hais lus xyov qab hau (NEW). Risk: Medium — part of the speech-doctrine (S) family; comprehension-level risk, minor collision potential with belief in gossip/curse-speech as spiritually efficacious (see term S note), but primarily an ethical-relational term here.
• Reuses M (fool), R (sluggard, extended metaphor, vivid cross-reference to ch. 6 and ch. 24).

Chapter 27

Do not boast of tomorrow; iron sharpens iron; know well the condition of your flocks.

• Reuses baseline kev khav theeb (boasting, 27:1), Q (diligence/flock-stewardship, 27:23-27). No new terms; friendship/mutual-sharpening image (27:17) is a generic wisdom image requiring no glossary entry. Logged as reviewed.

Chapter 28

Righteous versus wicked rule; trust in the LORD versus trust in riches (28:25-26); “he who trusts in his own heart is a fool” — a direct callback to 3:5.

• trust in one’s own heart (28:26) — reuses term I (trust) negatively and term J (understanding), an explicit intratextual cross-reference back to the core passage’s 3:5 warning; curriculum design should highlight this link directly. Risk: High (same as term I).
• Reuses Q (diligence, 28:19), baseline righteous/wicked.

Chapter 29

Fear [of man] brings a snare, but trust in the LORD keeps one safe (29:25); discipline of children; the scoffer stirs up a city; seeking a ruler’s favor.

• fear [of man] as a snare (29:25) — contrastive use of “fear” distinct from term A (fear of the LORD); here it is ordinary human fear/anxiety, functioning as the negative foil to trust in the LORD. Hmong rendering & risk: kev ntshai tib neeg (generic, NOT the reverential kev hwm thiab ntshai Vajtswv). Risk: Medium — teaching note required to keep the two “fear” concepts (reverential awe of God vs. anxious fear of people) lexically and doctrinally distinct.
• Reuses I (trust, 29:25, key providence-doctrine verse), E (discipline), O (scoffer), L (favor, 29:26).

Chapter 30

The Words of Agur: humility before God’s transcendence (30:1-4); “every word of God is pure/tested” (30:5); numerical riddles; the ant among small creatures called wise (30:24-28).

• word of God (pure/tested) — Hebrew: אִמְרַת אֱלוֹהַ (imrat Eloah) (30:5) — Hmong rendering & risk: Vajtswv Tej Lus (NEW). Risk: Low-Medium — distinct from baseline Vaj Lug Kub (Scripture as a corpus/canon); here it denotes the reliability of God’s spoken word generally. Comprehension-note only.
• who has ascended to heaven…what is his name? (30:4) — rhetorical transcendence-of-God passage, ties directly back to ch. 8’s and 3:19-20’s cosmological wisdom; reuses term B/C conceptually, no new lexical entry needed, but curriculum should cross-reference.
• riddle / numerical proverb — Hebrew: חִידָה (chidah) (implicit in 30:15-33’s “X things” pattern) — Hmong rendering & risk: lus qhia zais (NEW, minor). Risk: Low — literary-genre note only.
• The ant passage (30:24-28) directly reuses term Q (diligence) and cross-references the ch. 6 ant passage.

Chapter 31

The Words of King Lemuel: warning against wine and women for rulers; defending the poor and needy; the poem of the excellent/capable wife (31:10-31), closing with the book’s climactic restatement of the fear of the LORD (31:30).

• excellent / capable wife — Hebrew: אֵשֶׁת חַיִל (‘eshet chayil) (31:10) — Literal meaning: “woman of strength/valor/capability.” Semantic range: a woman of moral strength, practical competence, and household stewardship — a warrior/valor term applied domestically. English variants: “excellent wife,” “virtuous woman,” “wife of noble character.” Contextual theological meaning: the poem is a character-portrait of embodied wisdom and diligence (terms B and Q) in a household setting, not a merit-based valuation formula for a woman’s worth. Hmong rendering & risk: tus poj niam muaj tswvyim thiab txawj ua haujlwm (NEW). Risk: Medium — must be taught as an exemplary character portrait illustrating wisdom/diligence lived out, not as tying a woman’s worth to productivity/output (avoiding both a legalistic-merit misreading and any prosperity-adjacent misapplication).
• “a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (31:30) — the book’s climactic closing restatement of term A, forming an inclusio with 1:7. Hmong rendering & risk: reuses kev hwm thiab ntshai Vajtswv exactly. Risk: Critical — curriculum design must highlight this bookend structure explicitly as the interpretive key to the whole book.
• Reuses Z (poor/needy, 31:8-9), Q (diligence, extensively throughout the poem).

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Summary of Full-Book Coverage

All 31 chapters of Proverbs have been surveyed. Chapters explicitly reusing prior vocabulary with no new theological terms (5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 17, 22, 24, 27) are logged above as “reviewed” per the full-book-coverage mandate; no chapter has been silently omitted. The core passage (3:1-12) receives full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A. Two items are flagged [TRANSLATOR REVIEW NEEDED] pending human theologian resolution: (1) Wisdom’s “poured-out spirit” (1:23) and its relation to the Holy Spirit vocabulary, and (2) the Christological weight of qanah at 8:22.