Semantic Analysis — Mark 1–16 (Koine Greek → Maithili)

Methodology Note

This analysis follows the baseline Romans Language Package (maithili) as the controlling authority. Any term already recorded in translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json is reused exactly as established there; this document does not re-litigate those choices but notes where a Romans-established term recurs in Mark and whether its Markan context introduces any new nuance requiring a translator note. New terms — vocabulary Mark introduces that Romans does not — receive full field treatment: Original / Transliteration / Literal meaning / Semantic range / English variants / Contextual theological meaning / Maithili rendering risk.

The core passage, Mark 10:35–45, receives verse-by-verse treatment first. The full book then follows chapter by chapter, chapter 1 through chapter 16, so that every chapter’s load-bearing vocabulary is accounted for even where a chapter contributes no new terms.

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PART A — CORE PASSAGE: Mark 10:35–45 (verse by verse)

Mark 10:35

Greek: Καὶ προσπορεύονται αὐτῷ Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης οἱ υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου λέγοντες αὐτῷ, Διδάσκαλε, θέλομεν ἵνα ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσωμέν σε ποιήσῃς ἡμῖν.

• Διδάσκαλε (Didaskale) — vocative of διδάσκαλος

  • Literal meaning: “Teacher,” one who instructs.
  • Semantic range: Instructor, rabbi-equivalent honorific address; in Mark used repeatedly as direct address to Jesus (4:38; 9:17,38; 10:17,20,35; 12:14,19,32; 13:1).
  • English variants: Teacher (ESV/NIV), Master (KJV).
  • Contextual theological meaning: Recognizes Jesus’ unique authority to instruct and to grant requests — ironic here, since James and John address him rightly as Teacher but misunderstand what he teaches.
  • Maithili rendering: गुरु (guru) — following established North Indian Bible-translation precedent for direct address to Jesus as “Teacher.”
  • Risk: High. गुरु is the central authority-figure of the region’s guru-shishya (master-disciple) tradition, reinforced by Mithila’s active Shaiva/Tantra initiation (dīkṣā) culture, where a guru’s authority is transmitted through a lineage and requires ritual initiation. Jesus as “गुरु” must be marked as categorically unique — his teaching authority is inherent (see ἐξουσία, Mark 1:22, 27) and requires no diksha, no hereditary/lineage transmission, and no ongoing guru-cult devotion. Requires translator note at first major occurrence (1:22 or here).

• θέλομεν (thelomen) — “we want/wish” (θέλω)

  • Literal meaning: to will, wish, desire.
  • Semantic range: volitional desire, ranging from simple preference to determined intent.
  • English variants: want, wish, desire.
  • Contextual theological meaning: James and John’s assertive, presumptuous approach (“we want you to do for us whatever we ask”) — contrasts with the posture of humble request modeled elsewhere (e.g., blind Bartimaeus, 10:51).
  • Maithili rendering: चाहब (cāhab) — native Maithili verb “to want.”
  • Risk: Low. No doctrinal collision; ordinary volitional verb.

• αἰτήσωμέν (aitēsōmen) — “we might ask” (αἰτέω)

  • Literal meaning: to ask, request, petition.
  • Semantic range: request from an equal or a superior; distinct from εὐχή (formal prayer-vow).
  • English variants: ask, request.
  • Maithili rendering: माँगब (māṅgab) — native Maithili “to ask/request.”
  • Risk: Low.

Mark 10:36

Greek: ὁ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Τί θέλετέ με ποιήσω ὑμῖν;

• No new load-bearing theological term; reuses θέλω (see above). Jesus’ response models patient, clarifying engagement rather than rebuke — worth noting for translators as tone-setting for the pericope but not a distinct lexical item.

Mark 10:37

Greek: οἱ δὲ εἶπαν αὐτῷ, Δὸς ἡμῖν ἵνα εἷς σου ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ εἷς ἐξ ἀριστερῶν καθίσωμεν ἐν τῇ δόξῃ σου.

• δόξῃ σου (doxē sou) — “your glory” (δόξα)

  • Literal meaning: splendor, honor, radiance.
  • Semantic range: visible magnificence; reputation/honor; in LXX/NT, God’s manifest radiant presence.
  • English variants: glory.
  • Contextual theological meaning: James and John assume Jesus’ “glory” refers to an enthroned, triumphant messianic kingdom with visible rank — precisely the misunderstanding the whole pericope corrects: Jesus’ glory is reached through the cross, not around it.
  • Maithili rendering: REUSE from Romans TM: महिमा (mahimā), High risk — see baseline. No new nuance beyond confirming the term must not be limited to “worldly triumph/rank,” which is exactly the false assumption this verse dramatizes.

• ἐκ δεξιῶν… ἐξ ἀριστερῶν (ek dexiōn… ex aristerōn) — “at [your] right… at [your] left”

  • Literal meaning: seats of highest honor flanking a ruler/king.
  • Semantic range: positions of rank and privileged access in a royal court.
  • English variants: right hand, left hand.
  • Contextual theological meaning: A request for the two chief places of honor in the coming kingdom — status-seeking dressed as discipleship.
  • Maithili rendering: दहिन्ना हाथ… बाम हाथ (dahinnā hāth… bām hāth) — native Maithili terms for right/left hand.
  • Risk: Medium. Must retain the royal-court honor-seating image without importing regional court/durbar hierarchy imagery so vividly that the passage reads as commending court etiquette rather than exposing wrongful ambition.

Mark 10:38

Greek: ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε. δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω, ἢ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθῆναι;

• ποτήριον (potērion) — “cup”

  • Literal meaning: a drinking vessel/bowl.
  • Semantic range: a literal cup; figuratively (OT idiom, e.g., Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17) “the cup” of God’s wrath/appointed suffering one must drink.
  • English variants: cup.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Jesus’ impending suffering and death, the cup of divine judgment he alone can fully drink (cf. 14:36, Gethsemane).
  • Maithili rendering: कटोरा (kaṭorā).
  • Risk: High. कटोरा is a common household bowl-word with no inherent religious weight, which is an advantage, but the metaphor itself risks assimilation to (a) a ritual offering-vessel (नैवेद्य पात्र) used in puja, or (b) shared ceremonial drinking (आचमन/तीर्थ-जल) in regional devotional practice. Requires a translator note: “the cup” here names Jesus’ appointed suffering and death, not a ritual vessel or a shared blessing-drink.

• βάπτισμα (baptisma) / βαπτίζομαι (baptizomai) — “baptism” / “to be baptized”

  • Literal meaning: immersion, dipping, washing.
  • Semantic range: John’s water rite of repentance (1:4-5,8-9); here used metaphorically for Jesus’ passion — being “immersed” in suffering and death.
  • English variants: baptism, baptize.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Jesus extends the literal water-rite term to name his own coming immersion into suffering and death, which his disciples will imperfectly share.
  • Maithili rendering: बपतिस्मा (baptismā) — transliteration, following established North Indian Christian usage.
  • Risk: High. Must be clearly distinguished from regional ritual bathing for purification (स्नान), including sacred river/pond bathing customs practiced locally (e.g., festival bathing rites). Baptism marks identification with Christ’s death and resurrection and entry into the believing community; it is not a purificatory ablution repeated for ongoing ritual cleanliness. This verse’s metaphorical extension (baptism = suffering) additionally requires its own note distinguishing the metaphor from the literal water-rite established in chapter 1.

• δύνασθε (dynasthe) — “are you able” (δύναμαι)

  • Literal meaning: to be able, to have the capacity.
  • Maithili rendering: सकब (sakab), native Maithili “to be able.” Risk: Low.

Mark 10:39

Greek: οἱ δὲ εἶπαν αὐτῷ, Δυνάμεθα. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Τὸ ποτήριον ὃ ἐγὼ πίνω πίεσθε, καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα ὃ ἐγὼ βαπτίζομαι βαπτισθήσεσθε·

• Reuses ποτήριον and βάπτισμα (see 10:38). Theological note: Jesus confirms James and John will share his cup and baptism (both later suffered for the faith — James martyred, Acts 12:2), yet this partial sharing does not grant them the seating-rights they requested. Important for translators: the verb tense (future passive πίεσθε/βαπτισθήσεσθε) must not be softened into a mere possibility.

Mark 10:40

Greek: τὸ δὲ καθίσαι ἐκ δεξιῶν μου ἢ ἐξ εὐωνύμων οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὸν δοῦναι, ἀλλ᾽ οἷς ἡτοίμασται.

• ἡτοίμασται (hētoimastai) — “has been prepared” (ἑτοιμάζω, perfect passive)
  • Literal meaning: to make ready, prepare in advance.
  • Semantic range: preparation of a place, meal, or destiny; in eschatological contexts, divine pre-arrangement (cf. Matt 25:34).
  • English variants: prepared, appointed.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Places of honor are not Jesus’ to grant on request but rest in the Father’s sovereign prior arrangement — an implicit assertion of the Father’s distinct will within perfect unity with the Son.
  • Maithili rendering: तैयार कएल गेल अछि (taiyār kael gel achi) — native Maithili passive construction (परallels the baseline’s justification phrase, कएल जाएब).
  • Risk: Medium. Must not be rendered so as to suggest impersonal fate/destiny (see baseline’s rejection of भाग्य/प्रारब्ध for “election” and “providence”); this is the Father’s personal, purposive arrangement, consistent with the baseline’s परमेश्वरक विधान (providence) framework.

Mark 10:41

Greek: Καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ δέκα ἤρξαντο ἀγανακτεῖν περὶ Ἰακώβου καὶ Ἰωάννου.

• ἀγανακτεῖν (aganaktein) — “began to be indignant” (ἀγανακτέω)
  • Literal meaning: to be greatly displeased, indignant, angry.
  • Semantic range: strong displeasure, often mixed with a sense of injured status.
  • English variants: indignant, angry, greatly displeased.
  • Contextual theological meaning: The other ten disciples’ indignation reveals that they share James and John’s status-ambition, not moral superiority — setting up Jesus’ universal correction in vv.42-45.
  • Maithili rendering: खिसिआएब (khisiāeb) — native Maithili verb for anger/indignation.
  • Risk: Low. Mainly needs to preserve that this is shared ambition, not righteous anger.

Mark 10:42

Greek: καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς, Οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν κατακυριεύουσιν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ μεγάλοι αὐτῶν κατεξουσιάζουσιν αὐτῶν.

• τῶν ἐθνῶν (tōn ethnōn) — “of the Gentiles/nations”

  • Maithili rendering: REUSE from Romans TM: अन्यजाति (anyajāti), Medium risk. Here used in its broader “the nations/pagan world” sense (rulers-of-the-nations), not the Jew/Gentile ecclesial-unity sense central to Romans — note this shift of register for translators, but no new term required.

• κατακυριεύουσιν (katakyrieuousin) — “lord it over, dominate” (κατακυριεύω, built on κύριος)

  • Literal meaning: to exercise mastery/dominion over, to subjugate.
  • Semantic range: oppressive, self-serving domination — the negative, worldly counterpart to legitimate lordship.
  • English variants: lord it over, dominate, rule harshly.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Names exactly the kind of “lordship” worldly rulers practice — self-exalting control — which Jesus (the true κύριος/Lord, cf. baseline “lord” प्रभु) explicitly rejects as the model for his own community.
  • Maithili rendering: प्रभुता जमाएब (prabhutā jamāeb) — literally “to impose/establish lordship,” built deliberately on the baseline’s प्रभु root.
  • Risk: High. Because this verb shares its root with the Critical-risk term प्रभु (“Lord,” reserved for Christ’s exclusive supreme Lordship in the baseline), translators must take particular care that प्रभुता जमाएब is unmistakably framed as illegitimate, self-serving domination — “the way the Gentiles do it” — and never read as describing Christ’s own Lordship. A clear negative frame (verb tense, “not so among you” in v.43) must accompany every occurrence.

• κατεξουσιάζουσιν (katexousiazousin) — “exercise authority over” (built on ἐξουσία)

  • Literal meaning: to exercise power/authority oppressively over.
  • Semantic range: similar to κατακυριεύω; emphasizes official/positional authority abused.
  • Maithili rendering: अधिकार जमाएब (adhikār jamāeb) — “to impose authority.”
  • Risk: High. See ἐξουσία entry (Mark 1) for the base term; here the compound verb must clearly read as the corrupted, self-serving form of authority Jesus forbids among his disciples, contrasted with his own inherent, legitimate ἐξουσία.

Mark 10:43

Greek: οὐχ οὕτως δέ ἐστιν ἐν ὑμῖν· ἀλλ᾽ ὃς ἂν θέλῃ μέγας γενέσθαι ἐν ὑμῖν, ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος,

• διάκονος (diakonos) — “servant”
  • Literal meaning: one who serves, attends, waits on another (originally, table service).
  • Semantic range: household/table servant; by NT extension, one who ministers to others’ needs; later a formal church office (deacon), not yet in view here.
  • English variants: servant, minister.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Greatness in Jesus’ community is redefined as active, voluntary service to others, inverting the honor-seeking of vv.35-37.
  • Maithili rendering: सेवक (sevak).
  • Risk: Medium. सेवक carries real social-status weight in Mithila’s jajmani service-caste system, where certain castes are traditionally assigned hereditary household/ritual service roles. Translators must mark this as voluntary Christlike service freely chosen by anyone seeking true greatness, not caste-assigned servitude imposed by birth — the text inverts status voluntarily, not by social compulsion.

Mark 10:44

Greek: καὶ ὃς ἂν θέλῃ ἐν ὑμῖν εἶναι πρῶτος, ἔσται πάντων δοῦλος·

• δοῦλος (doulos) — “slave, bondservant”
  • Literal meaning: one owned by and totally obligated to a master; the strongest servitude term available in Koine Greek.
  • Semantic range: chattel slave; metaphorically, one wholly given over to another’s will (including “slave of God/Christ” as a positive self-designation, e.g., Rom 1:1’s δοῦλος, rendered in Paul’s self-introduction).
  • English variants: slave, bondservant, servant (softened).
  • Contextual theological meaning: The most extreme possible reversal — true “firstness” is total self-giving slavehood to all, modeled supremely by Christ himself in v.45.
  • Maithili rendering: दास (dās).
  • Risk: High. दास is already a familiar, largely positive term in Mithila’s Vaishnava bhakti idiom, where devotees adopt “das” as a self-designation of devoted submission to their chosen deity (parallel to the region’s celebrated devotional-poetic tradition, e.g., names ending in -das). This is a double-edged inheritance: it usefully signals total self-giving devotion, but risks being heard as a merit-accruing devotional posture (“I make myself low to gain favor/blessing”) rather than Jesus’ point — a call to genuinely lose status for others’ sake, following Christ’s own pattern of self-emptying, with no merit accrued. Translator note required distinguishing bhakti-das devotional submission (oriented toward personal merit/closeness to the deity) from gospel-shaped slavehood (oriented toward others’ good, patterned on Christ’s ransom in v.45, without any framing of self-earned standing).

Mark 10:45

Greek: καὶ γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἦλθεν διακονηθῆναι ἀλλὰ διακονῆσαι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν.

• ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (ho huios tou anthrōpou) — “the Son of Man”

  • Literal meaning: “the son of the man,” a Semitic idiom that can mean simply “a human being” (cf. Ps 8:4) but here functions as Jesus’ preferred self-designation, drawing on Daniel 7:13-14’s exalted, authoritative, suffering-and-vindicated figure.
  • Semantic range: ranges from generic “human being” idiom to the specific, capitalized apocalyptic-messianic title Jesus claims for himself throughout Mark (2:10,28; 8:31,38; 9:9,12,31; 10:33,45; 13:26; 14:21,41,62).
  • English variants: Son of Man, “the Human One” (some modern renderings), “a son of man” (generic, wrong here).
  • Contextual theological meaning: Jesus’ distinctive self-title uniting full humanity (able to suffer, serve, die) with the divine authority and coming glory of Daniel 7 — the title under which he both serves and is later vindicated (14:62).
  • Maithili rendering: मनुष्यक पुत्र (manuṣyak putra) — deliberately parallel in structure to the baseline’s परमेश्वरक पुत्र (Son of God), using the same -क genitive.
  • Risk: Critical. This is Mark’s central Christological title (used 14 times) and must never be flattened to a generic phrase for “a human being” in translation; it must consistently read as Jesus’ distinctive self-designation carrying both the humility of full humanity (fitting a suffering servant, cf. Mark’s whole Gospel arc) and the Daniel 7 authority to judge and reign, confirmed at 14:62. Requires human theologian review at every occurrence, with a standing translator note explaining the term’s double freight (humility + divine authority) at its first occurrence (2:10).

• διακονηθῆναι / διακονῆσαι (diakonēthēnai / diakonēsai) — “to be served” / “to serve” (from διακονέω, same root as διάκονος above)

  • Maithili rendering: सेवा लेब / सेवा करब (sevā leb / sevā karab) — “to receive service” / “to give service,” built on सेवक’s root सेवा for consistency.
  • Risk: Medium. See διάκονος note above; the contrast (not to be served, but to serve) is the theological center of the passage and must be rendered with maximal clarity — Jesus, though possessing all ἐξουσία (authority), chooses total self-giving service.

• δοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ (dounai tēn psychēn autou) — “to give his life/soul”

  • ψυχή (psychē) — Literal meaning: breath, life, the animating self; often “soul” but here meaning one’s whole life laid down.
    • Semantic range: physical life (breath/animation); the whole self/person; in some NT contexts, the inner “soul” distinguished from body/spirit; here specifically “life” in the sense of one’s entire existence surrendered in death.
    • English variants: life, soul.
    • Maithili rendering: प्राण (prāṇ) — “life, vital breath/self” — deliberately not आत्मा.
    • Risk: High. आत्मा is reserved in the baseline for careful, controlled doctrinal use (it appears only within पवित्र आत्मा, “Holy Spirit”) precisely because of its strong association with the transmigrating self of Hindu reincarnation theology (see baseline’s resurrection/पुनर्जन्म warning). Using आत्मा here for “give his soul” risks suggesting Jesus released a migrating soul rather than laying down his whole embodied life once, historically, for others. प्राण (life-breath, one’s vital self) avoids this collision while still conveying “the whole self given up.”

• λύτρον (lytron) — “ransom”

  • Literal meaning: the price paid to redeem/release a slave, captive, or hostage (a technical term from the Greco-Roman slave-manumission and hostage-ransom economy).
  • Semantic range: a specific payment securing release from bondage or captivity; by extension in the LXX, the price of redemption for a life owed (cf. Exod 21:30, 30:12).
  • English variants: ransom, redemption price.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Christ’s death is the price paid to free “the many” from bondage to sin and death — a substitutionary, once-for-all payment, not a repeatable ritual offering.
  • Maithili rendering: छुटकारा मोल (chuṭkārā mol) — “the price/cost of release,” combining छुटकारा (already sanctioned in the baseline TM specifically “for redemption in specific rescue-narrative contexts”) with मोल (native Maithili word for “price/cost/value”).
  • Risk: Critical. This is the single highest-stakes term in the core passage. It must (a) never be flattened into a vague “help” or “deliverance” losing the specific payment/price component; (b) never be assimilated into a karma-debt/ritual-expiation framework (प्रायश्चित्त — repeated ritual offerings that offset accumulated karmic debt), which would make Christ’s death one payment among many rather than the single, sufficient, historical payment; and (c) never be reduced to a merely economic transaction devoid of substitutionary/sacrificial weight. A genuinely helpful (not merely risky) cultural bridge exists in the historical reality of bonded-labor/debt-bondage arrangements once common in Mithila’s agrarian economy (a laborer bound until a debt is paid off by another) — this may be used carefully in teaching notes as an illustration of a price paid by another to secure release, provided it is explicitly marked as illustration, not equivalence, and the ritual/karmic-debt reading is explicitly excluded. Requires human theologian review at every occurrence.

• ἀντὶ πολλῶν (anti pollōn) — “for/instead of many”

  • Literal meaning: ἀντί = “in place of, instead of, in exchange for” (a substitutionary preposition, stronger than ὑπέρ “on behalf of”); πολλῶν = “many” (genitive plural).
  • Semantic range: ἀντί consistently marks direct substitution/exchange in Koine Greek (cf. “eye for/ἀντί eye”); πολλοί (“many”) in Semitic idiom often means “the whole, all without exception” (as in Isaiah 53:11-12, the Servant Song this verse directly echoes), not “many but not all.”
  • English variants: for many, in place of many, as a substitute for many.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Directly echoes Isaiah 53’s Suffering Servant, who “bore the sin of many” — Christ’s death is a vicarious substitution, standing in the place of a great multitude, deliberately connecting this saying to the Servant Song background for the whole Gospel’s portrait of Jesus as the Suffering Servant.
  • Maithili rendering: बहुतक बदलामे (bahutak badalāme) — “in exchange/place of many,” using बदलामे (native Maithili “in exchange for/instead of”) to render ἀντί’s substitutionary force precisely (not merely “for the sake of many,” which would read as ὑπέρ).
  • Risk: Critical. Must preserve the substitutionary “instead of” sense (not diluted to a vaguer “for the benefit of”), and must be rendered identically at Mark 14:24 (“poured out for [ὑπὲρ] many” — note the different preposition there, requiring its own translator note on the ὑπέρ/ἀντί distinction) to preserve the Gospel’s intentional echo between the ransom-saying (10:45) and the Last Supper word (14:24). Requires human theologian review and cross-reference flagging between these two verses.

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PART B — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER STUDY, MARK 1–16

Chapter 1 — Beginnings: Gospel, Repentance, Baptism, Authority

• εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) — REUSE from Romans TM: सुसमाचार (susamācār), High risk. Mark 1:1 (“the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God”) establishes this as the title of the whole book — translators should note Mark uses this term as a book-title/genre-marker as well as a message, a nuance not present in Romans’ usage.
• υἱοῦ θεοῦ (huiou theou) — REUSE: परमेश्वरक पुत्र, Critical — first occurrence 1:1 (textually disputed in some manuscripts but present in the majority tradition and standard critical texts used for translation); flag for theologian review given text-critical note required.
• μετάνοια / μετανοέω (metanoia/metanoeō) — “repentance / to repent”
  • Literal meaning: a change of mind; turning around.
  • Semantic range: moral-spiritual reorientation toward God, turning from sin; distinct from mere regret (μεταμέλομαι).
  • English variants: repent, repentance, turn.
  • Contextual theological meaning: John’s and Jesus’ opening message (1:4,15) — an inward turning of mind and life toward God’s reign, prerequisite to receiving the gospel.
  • Maithili rendering: मन फेरब (man pherab) — noun form मनफिराव (man-phirāv) — native Maithili construction using the verb फेरब/फिरब (“to turn”).
  • Risk: High. Standard Hindi Christian usage often defaults to पश्चाताप (a Sanskritic term strongly colored by ritual penance/expiation practices — pilgrimage, fasting, gifts to Brahmins — that offset karmic debt). पश्चाताप is rejected here as primary rendering because repentance in Mark is an inward turning of mind/allegiance toward God, not a ritual act discharging accumulated guilt. मन फेरब/मनफिराव is preferred as a native, non-ritual construction; पश्चाताप may be glossed as a familiar synonym but flagged in translator notes as needing this clarification wherever used.
• βάπτισμα / βαπτίζω (baptisma/baptizō) — see full treatment under 10:38 above; first (literal, non-metaphorical) occurrence here, 1:4-11. Maithili: बपतिस्मा. Risk: High — establish the disambiguating note here at first occurrence (distinguishing from ritual purificatory bathing) so it can simply be reused, not re-argued, at 10:38-39 and 16:16.
• πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον (pneuma to hagion) — REUSE: पवित्र आत्मा, Critical — descends on Jesus at baptism (1:10) as dove; no new nuance, reuse baseline note.
• ἐξουσία (exousia) — “authority”
  • Literal meaning: the right/freedom to act; delegated or inherent jurisdiction.
  • Semantic range: legal/official authority; personal authoritative bearing; ranges from human institutional authority to divine authority.
  • English variants: authority, power.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Mark 1:22, 27 — the crowds are astonished that Jesus teaches “as one having authority, and not as the scribes,” and that even unclean spirits obey his authoritative command. This is a foundational Markan theme (his authority over teaching, demons, sickness, sin, nature) climaxing in 10:42’s contrasted worldly counterfeit.
  • Maithili rendering: अधिकार (adhikār).
  • Risk: Medium-High. Must be kept distinct from सामर्थ्य (baseline term reserved for “power of God,” dynamis) and especially from शक्ति (forbidden in the baseline for its strong Shakta-goddess associations). अधिकार conveys the right to act/command, appropriate for exousia’s legal-jurisdictional sense, distinguishing Jesus’ inherent, self-evident authority from the derivative, tradition-based authority of the scribes.
• ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα / δαιμόνιον (akatharton pneuma / daimonion) — “unclean spirit / demon”
  • Literal meaning: a spirit ritually/morally impure; a lesser evil spiritual being.
  • Semantic range: used near-interchangeably in Mark for hostile spiritual beings that possess/afflict people, contrasted with the Holy Spirit.
  • English variants: unclean spirit, evil spirit, demon.
  • Contextual theological meaning: Jesus’ authority extends over the spirit world; his exorcisms are a sign the kingdom of God is breaking into Satan’s domain (cf. 3:23-27).
  • Maithili rendering: दुष्ट आत्मा (duṣṭa ātmā) — “evil/wicked spirit.”
  • Risk: High. The everyday Maithili/regional term for such afflicting spirits is भूत-प्रेत, tied to the region’s active folk-exorcism tradition (ojha/sokha ritual practitioners using mantra and technique). Using भूत-प्रेत risks reducing Jesus’ exorcisms to a folk-exorcist parallel — one practitioner among many working by technique — rather than a unique manifestation of divine authority defeating Satan’s kingdom by simple, unmediated command. दुष्ट आत्मा is preferred as more theologically controlled; भूत-प्रेत may appear only in an explanatory note acknowledging the cultural parallel while marking Jesus’ categorical difference (command, not technique).
• συναγωγή (synagōgē) — “synagogue”
  • Literal meaning: a gathering/assembly; the building where the Jewish community gathered for scripture-reading, prayer, and teaching.
  • Semantic range: both the assembly and its building; distinct from the Jerusalem temple (see Mark 11 note below).
  • English variants: synagogue.
  • Maithili rendering: आराधनालय (ārādhanālay) — “worship-hall,” a standard Sanskritic term already used in Hindi Bible tradition.
  • Risk: Medium. Must be clearly distinguished from a Hindu मन्दिर (image-centered temple worship, already forbidden in the baseline for “church”); the synagogue is a non-image-based assembly for scripture and prayer, architecturally and theologically distinct.
• λεπρός / καθαρίζω (lepros/katharizō) — “leper / to cleanse” (1:40-45)
  • Literal meaning: one afflicted with a skin disease classified as ritually defiling (Lev 13-14); to make ritually and physically clean.
  • Semantic range: here specifically ritual-purity cleansing, a distinct semantic domain from moral holiness (ἅγιος/πवित्र).
  • Maithili rendering: कोढ़ (koṛh, leprosy)/कोढ़ी (leper); शुद्ध करब (śuddha karab, to cleanse).
  • Risk: Medium. Note carefully: unlike “holy” (where the baseline correctly rejects शुद्ध in favor of पवित्र to avoid ritual-purity reduction), here शुद्ध करब is contextually correct, because the underlying Levitical category genuinely is ritual-purity restoration, not moral sanctification. Translators must understand this is a different semantic domain from पवित्र and should not import the baseline’s holiness-caution here.

Chapter 2 — Son of Man, Forgiveness, Sabbath, Sinners

• ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (Son of Man) — first occurrence, 2:10, 2:28. Full treatment given at 10:45 above; establish translator note here at this, its true first occurrence. Maithili: मनुष्यक पुत्र. Risk: Critical.
• ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας (aphienai hamartias) — “to forgive sins”
  • Literal meaning: to send away, release, remit (a debt or offense).
  • Semantic range: interpersonal pardon; here, decisively, God’s own prerogative to remit the guilt of sin, claimed by Jesus as evidence of his divine authority (2:5-10).
  • Maithili rendering: पाप क्षमा करब (pāp kṣamā karab) — पाप REUSE from Romans TM (High), क्षमा (kṣamā, common Sanskritic “forgiveness/pardon”).
  • Risk: High. Must convey a decisive divine declaration removing guilt, exercised uniquely by Jesus’ own authority (ἐξουσία, 2:10) — not the repeated ritual atonement/expiation offerings (प्रायश्चित्त) of Levitical or regional devotional practice, which “cover” sin through ongoing ritual action rather than a singular declarative pardon.
• σάββατον (sabbaton) — “Sabbath” (2:23-28)
  • Literal meaning: the seventh-day rest, rooted in creation (Gen 2:2-3) and the Exodus covenant (Exod 20:8-11).
  • Maithili rendering: विश्रामदिन (viśrāmdin) — “rest-day,” a native descriptive compound.
  • Risk: Medium. Must not be confused with a fixed weekday devoted to a particular deity (common in regional practice, e.g., specific weekdays associated with Shiva or Hanuman devotion); Sabbath is a Mosaic covenant institution of rest, and Jesus’ teaching (“the Sabbath was made for man,” 2:27) reframes its purpose without abolishing its covenantal origin.
• ἁμαρτωλοί / τελῶναι (hamartōloi/telōnai) — “sinners / tax collectors” (2:15-17)
  • Maithili rendering: पापी (pāpī, from पाप REUSE) / महसूल लेनिहार (mahasūl lenihār, tax/toll collector).
  • Risk: Low-Medium. Note for translators: this social stigma is rooted in first-century collaboration with Roman occupation, a specific political-religious dimension; avoid over-mapping this category onto local caste-based social exclusion, which operates on different social logic and would misrepresent the historical situation.
• νηστεύω (nēsteuō) — “to fast” (2:18-20)
  • Maithili rendering: उपवास (upavās) — standard Sanskritic term.
  • Risk: Medium. उपवास is strongly associated with Hindu vrata (vow-fasting) practices oriented toward securing merit or blessing from a deity (e.g., Chhath, Ekadashi). Jesus’ teaching frames fasting as fitting mourning in the bridegroom’s absence, not a merit-earning vow; translator note required.
• Φαρισαῖοι / γραμματεῖς (Pharisaioi/grammateis) — “Pharisees / scribes”
  • Maithili rendering: फरीसी (transliteration) / शास्त्री (śāstrī, “one learned in the shastras/scriptures”).
  • Risk: Medium. शास्त्री may evoke a Hindu shastra-scholar; note that NT “scribes” were a specific Second Temple Jewish legal-scriptural office. The functional analogy (a learned-scholar class) is a reasonable bridge as long as it is not read as doctrinal equivalence.

Chapter 3 — Blasphemy against the Spirit, Beelzebul, the Twelve

• βλασφημία εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον (blasphēmia eis to pneuma to hagion) — “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (3:28-29)
  • Literal meaning: defamatory, contemptuous speech directed at God; here specifically attributing the Spirit’s work to Satan.
  • Semantic range: the unforgivable sin — a settled, willful rejection of the Spirit’s testimony to Christ, not a single momentary outburst.
  • Maithili rendering: पवित्र आत्माक निन्दा (pavitra ātmāk nindā) — निन्दा (nindā, slander/contemptuous speech) qualified by REUSE पवित्र आत्मा (Critical).
  • Risk: Critical. निन्दा alone is generic “insult/slander” and must always be qualified (पवित्र आत्माक निन्दा) to retain its weight as the one sin Jesus calls unforgivable; must not be softened into mere disrespect. Human theologian review required at every occurrence.
• Βεελζεβούλ (Beelzeboul) — proper name, transliterate बील्ज़बूल. Risk: Low (proper name); note it identifies Satan/prince of demons, not a regional deity — brief gloss sufficient.
• Σατανᾶς (Satanas) — REUSE-adjacent new term: शैतान (śaitān), a loanword already pervasive in South Asian religious idiom via Perso-Arabic influence. Risk: Low-Medium. Broadly intelligible as “the Adversary/the Devil”; note it is a proper title, not a common noun for generic evil.
• γραμματεῖς (scribes) — reuse ch.2 term शास्त्री.
• Note: “apostles” (ἀπόστολοι, 3:14) — REUSE from Romans TM: प्रेरित (Medium). Mark’s usage (the Twelve appointed and named) is the founding-narrative sense behind the Romans term; no new nuance.

Chapter 4 — Parables, the Mystery of the Kingdom, Faith amid Fear

• παραβολή (parabolē) — “parable”
  • Literal meaning: a placing-alongside; a comparison, illustrative story.
  • Semantic range: a broad category from short proverbs to extended narrative comparisons; in Mark 4, a deliberately double-edged teaching device.
  • Maithili rendering: दृष्टान्त (dṛṣṭānta) — standard Sanskritic term for an illustrative teaching-story, already used across Hindi Bible tradition and Indian rhetorical/religious teaching generally (including Puranic teaching narratives).
  • Risk: Medium. The familiar cultural bridge (teaching through illustrative story is a shared regional convention) is largely helpful, but translators must preserve Mark 4:11-12’s distinctive claim that parables both reveal and conceal depending on the hearer’s response — a use of story deliberately different from typical devotional dṛṣṭānta, which usually aims at uniform edification for every hearer.
• μυστήριον (mystērion) — “mystery, secret” (4:11)
  • Literal meaning: a secret, hidden thing now disclosed.
  • Semantic range: in Mark, the previously hidden reality of God’s kingdom now graciously disclosed to Jesus’ followers.
  • Maithili rendering: रहस्य (rahasya).
  • Risk: High. रहस्य risks assimilation to Mithila’s historically active Tantric/Puranic esoteric-knowledge traditions (reinforced by the region’s Shakta shrine culture, already flagged in the baseline), where secret/rahasya knowledge is disclosed only to ritually qualified initiates through a guru-lineage. Mark’s μυστήριον is disclosed by God’s sovereign grace to Jesus’ followers, not earned through esoteric practice, hierarchical initiation, or lineage transmission. Requires translator note.
• φόβος (phobos) vs. faith (πίστις) — 4:40-41, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” — REUSE faith term विश्वास (High, baseline). No new lexical item; note the thematic pairing of fear and faith recurs across Mark (see 5:36; 6:50; 9:23-24; 16:8) and should be rendered consistently with विश्वास wherever “faith” is in view.
• βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ (kingdom of God) — REUSE: परमेश्वरक राज्य, Medium (baseline). Central to ch.4’s parables (the seed growing secretly, mustard seed); no new nuance beyond noting the “breaking-in-now, growing-later” tension these parables uniquely dramatize.

Chapter 5 — Legion, Faith and Healing, Talitha Koum

• λεγιών (legiōn) — “Legion,” proper name of the demonic host (5:9). Transliterate लीजियन. Risk: Low (proper name); gloss as a Roman military unit-size, signifying the overwhelming number of spirits, not a title requiring doctrinal caution.
• σέσωκέν σε (sesōken se) — “has saved/healed you” (5:34, from σῴζω)
  • Literal meaning: to save, rescue, heal, make whole.
  • Semantic range: Mark uses σῴζω for both physical healing (the woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage) and, elsewhere, for ultimate salvation (8:35; 10:26; 13:13; cf. Romans’ σωτηρία).
  • Maithili rendering: REUSE root उद्धार-family for the salvific sense; but for the physical-healing sense here, नीक कएल (nīk kael, “made well”) or चंगा कएल (cangā kael, “made whole/healed”) is more natural.
  • Risk: High. Translators must recognize Mark’s deliberate wordplay — the same Greek verb spans physical healing and eternal salvation, hinting that Jesus’ healings are signs of the fuller salvation he brings. If Maithili uses two different words for the two senses (as is natural, since उद्धार is reserved for the Critical soteriological sense per baseline), a translator note should flag the underlying single-verb wordplay so the theological resonance is not entirely lost, even though the literal rendering must differ.
• Talitha koum (Ταλιθα κουμ, 5:41) — Aramaic phrase, transliterate as तलिता कूम with gloss “little girl, arise” (reusing REUSE resurrection-adjacent vocabulary loosely, though this is not the technical resurrection term — this is a raising from apparent death, not the once-for-all resurrection; keep terminology distinct, see ch.16 note). Risk: Medium — clarify this is a resuscitation to ordinary mortal life, not the same category as Christ’s resurrection (πुनरुत्थान).

Chapter 6 — Sending, Herod, Feeding, “It is I”

• No major new theological vocabulary beyond reuse: ἐξουσία (authority, reuse ch.1) given to the Twelve (6:7); προφήτης (prophet) — REUSE from Romans TM: भविष्यद्वक्ता, Low (6:4, “a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown”).
• ἐγώ εἰμι (egō eimi) — “I am / it is I” (6:50, walking on water)
  • Literal meaning: “I am.”
  • Semantic range: an ordinary self-identification formula in Greek, but in this narrative context (walking on the sea, echoing OT theophany imagery of God’s mastery over the waters, cf. Job 9:8; Ps 77:19) it functions as a veiled divine self-disclosure, paralleling the LXX’s rendering of God’s name at Exodus 3:14.
  • Maithili rendering: ई हम छी (ī ham chī) — “it is I,” using the honorific existential verb form.
  • Risk: Critical. The theological weight of this saying lies almost entirely in its narrative echo of divine self-disclosure over the chaotic sea, which a plain lexical rendering cannot fully carry. Requires a translator note connecting this moment to the fuller “I am” saying at 14:62 and to Jesus’ mastery over nature (see Doctrine: Jesus’ Authority over Nature). Honorific verb register must be consistently dignified.

Chapter 7 — Tradition, Defilement, Corban, Ephphatha

• παράδοσις τῶν πρεσβυτέρων (paradosis tōn presbyterōn) — “tradition of the elders”
  • Maithili rendering: पुरनका लोकनिक परम्परा (purankā lokanik paramparā) — descriptive phrase using native plural-honorific लोकनि.
  • Risk: Medium. Jesus’ critique targets human religious tradition/oral law elevated above God’s actual commandment — a specific, bounded critique. Translators must avoid letting this read as a blanket dismissal of all Maithil cultural custom or ancestral practice broadly, which would overreach the text’s actual claim.
• κοινόω (koinoō) — “to defile, make common/unclean” (7:15-23)
  • Semantic range: distinct from ἀκάθαρτος (unclean spirit); here about moral defilement originating from the heart (καρδία), not from external ritual contact.
  • Maithili rendering: भ्रष्ट करब (bhraṣṭa karab, “to corrupt/defile”) or अशुद्ध करब.
  • Risk: Medium. Central theological point (7:20-23): true defilement is internal/moral (evil thoughts, sexual immorality, murder, etc.) not dietary/external — a significant reframing of ritual-purity categories that must not be blunted.
• κορβᾶν (korban) — transliterate कोरबान (7:11), a vow dedicating goods to God’s use, exploited to avoid supporting one’s parents. Risk: Low, needs explanatory gloss, not renaming.
• Ephphatha (Ἐφφαθά, 7:34) — Aramaic, transliterate एफ्फाथा, gloss “be opened.” Risk: Low, healing-narrative term.
• Gentile mission foreshadowed (Syrophoenician woman, 7:24-30) — REUSE अन्यजाति (Gentiles, Medium, baseline); note Mark here shows Gentile inclusion enacted narratively before Romans’ doctrinal exposition of it — a useful cross-curricular link for translators moving between Mark and Romans materials.

Chapter 8 — Confession, First Passion Prediction, Cross-Bearing

• Χριστός (Christos) — REUSE: मसीह, Critical (baseline “messiah”). Peter’s confession (8:29, “You are the Christ”) is the narrative hinge of Mark; treat with full Critical-tier care as in baseline.
• ζύμη (zymē) — “leaven” (8:15, “leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod”) — metaphor for corrupting influence. Maithili: खमीर (khamīr, common Maithili/Hindi word for leaven/yeast). Risk: Low, standard metaphor, minimal collision.
• Σατανᾶς (Satan) — reuse ch.3 term शैतान; here Jesus rebukes Peter as “Satan” (8:33) for opposing the necessity of the cross — a striking, theologically loaded usage requiring a translator note that this is a sharp rebuke of Peter’s resistance to the passion, not a claim about Peter’s ultimate identity.
• σταυρός / σταυρόω (stauros/staurŏō) — “cross / to crucify” (8:34, first occurrence: “take up his cross”)
  • Literal meaning: the vertical wooden stake/crossbeam structure used for Roman execution.
  • Semantic range: the literal execution instrument; by extension, the whole event/reality of Christ’s crucifixion; and (as here) a metaphor for costly, death-facing discipleship.
  • Maithili rendering: क्रूस (krūs) — transliteration, established Christian usage.
  • Risk: Critical. Must retain the specific, historical Roman-execution referent (never generalized into an abstract “burden” or “trial” symbol) so that its full weight is available at the crucifixion narrative itself (ch.15). “Take up his cross” (8:34) must not collapse into vague self-improvement language; it names willingness to follow Jesus even to death.
• ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτόν (aparnēsasthō heauton) — “let him deny himself” (8:34)
  • Maithili rendering: अपन आपकेँ इनकार करब (apan āpkeṁ inkār karab).
  • Risk: High. Must be distinguished from regional ascetic renunciation (वैराग्य/सन्यास) traditions strongly present in Mithila’s Shaiva monastic centers, which pursue detachment from desire for the practitioner’s own spiritual advancement/liberation. Biblical self-denial is relational and christocentric — losing one’s status/life for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s — not a technique of detachment pursued for personal enlightenment.
• ψυχή (psychē, “life/soul”) — 8:35-37, “whoever would save his life will lose it…” — same term as 10:45; reuse प्राण (Critical/High, established at 10:45); flag cross-reference.
• δόξα (glory) — REUSE महिमा (High, baseline); 8:38, Son of Man coming “in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” — anticipates transfiguration (ch.9) and the parousia (ch.13).

Chapter 9 — Transfiguration, Beloved Son, Gehenna

• μετεμορφώθη (metemorphōthē) — “he was transfigured” (9:2)
  • Literal meaning: changed in form/appearance.
  • Semantic range: a temporary visible manifestation of hidden glory; distinct from a permanent bodily change.
  • Maithili rendering: रूपान्तरण (rūpāntaraṇ) — “change of form.”
  • Risk: Critical. This scene risks direct assimilation to a very famous, theologically loaded regional parallel: Krishna revealing his cosmic Vishvarupa (universal form) to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita — a deity’s true, previously hidden form disclosed within a devotional narrative. Mark’s transfiguration must be clearly distinguished: this is not a deity unveiling one form among several, nor an avatar’s self-revelation available to any sufficiently devoted seeker, but a unique, unrepeatable revelation of the eternal glory the incarnate Son (see baseline देहधारण) already and always possesses, confirmed by the Father’s own voice and the Law and Prophets (Moses, Elijah) bearing witness to him alone. Requires human theologian review, comparable in weight to the baseline’s incarnation/avatar caution.
• ἀγαπητός (agapētos) — “beloved” (9:7, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him”) — paired with REUSE परमेश्वरक पुत्र-family (Son of God/my Son, Critical).
  • Maithili rendering: प्रिय (priya).
  • Risk: Medium. प्रिय is also the standard term of devotional address in Vaishnava bhakti poetry (the “beloved” of Radha-Krishna devotional literature, Vidyapati’s own register). Keep firmly filial/paternal (“beloved Son” spoken by the Father) rather than allowing a romantic-devotional coloring to enter.
• γέεννα (geenna) — “Gehenna, hell” (9:43-48)
  • Literal meaning: the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, historically a site of child sacrifice and later refuse-burning; by NT usage, the place/state of final divine judgment.
  • Semantic range: final, unquenchable, conscious judgment — distinct from a temporary purgation.
  • Maithili rendering: नरक (narak).
  • Risk: High. In Hindu cosmology, नरक typically denotes one or more temporary punitive realms endured before rebirth within the samsaric cycle — a stop within an ongoing process, not a final state. Mark’s γέεννα denotes final, unquenchable, irreversible judgment. This requires the same category of translator note the baseline already applies to resurrection vs. reincarnation (पुनरुत्थान vs. पुनर्जन्म): नरक must be explicitly marked as final and non-cyclical wherever the term is used doctrinally.
• σκανδαλίζω (skandalizō) — “to cause to stumble/sin” (9:42-47) — Maithili: ठोकर खिआएब (ṭhokar khiāeb, “cause to stumble”). Risk: Medium, ensure the moral-spiritual sense (leading another into sin) is clear, not merely physical stumbling.

Chapter 10 — Divorce, Children and the Kingdom, Eternal Life, [Core Passage 35-45 above], Bartimaeus

(Verses 35-45 receive full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A above. The following covers the chapter’s remaining load-bearing vocabulary.)

• ἀπολύω (apolyō) — “to divorce, put away” (10:2-12)
  • Maithili rendering: विवाह-विच्छेद (vivāh-vicched, “marriage-severance”); तलाक (talāk) noted as the common colloquial equivalent.
  • Risk: Medium. Jesus roots marriage’s permanence in God’s creation ordinance (10:6-9), not cultural-legal convention. Must not be conflated with Mithila’s Panjikaran lineage-verification marriage customs (already flagged in the baseline) — divorce teaching here concerns marital permanence, an unrelated concern to lineage-purity verification.
• Kingdom of God belongs to children (10:14-15) — REUSE परमेश्वरक राज्य; no new term, but note the theological point (receiving the kingdom like a child = trusting dependence, not merit) connects directly to the grace/works contrast already flagged Critical in the baseline (Romans 4; 11:5-6).
• ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios) — “eternal life” (10:17, 30)
  • Literal meaning: unending life; life of “the age [to come].”
  • Semantic range: the resurrection life of the age to come, received now by faith and consummated bodily at the resurrection.
  • Maithili rendering: अनन्त जीवन (anant jīvan).
  • Risk: Critical. Must not be conflated with मोक्ष (already forbidden in the baseline for “salvation” — liberation/escape from the cycle of rebirth). अनन्त जीवन names unending resurrection life in personal fellowship with God through Christ, a categorically different concept from moksha’s dissolution-of-self or escape-from-cycle framework. Requires theologian review given proximity to core soteriological vocabulary.
• Bartimaeus, “your faith has healed/saved you” (10:52) — reuse σῴζω note from ch.5 (नीक कएल/चंगा कएल for healing sense, REUSE विश्वास for faith); flag cross-reference to ch.5 note.

Chapter 11 — Hosanna, Temple, Authority Question

• ὡσαννά (hōsanna) — transliterate होशाना (11:9-10). Risk: Low. Liturgical acclamation (“save now,” rooted in the उद्धार root); brief gloss connecting to REUSE salvation vocabulary is sufficient, retain transliteration per the baseline’s convention for आमीन/हल्लेलूयाह.
• ἱερόν / ναός (hieron/naos) — “temple” (the literal Jerusalem sanctuary, 11:11,15-17,27; also 13:1-3; 14:58; 15:29,38)
  • Maithili rendering: मन्दिर (mandir).
  • Risk: High. This requires a careful disambiguating note precisely because the baseline forbids मन्दिर for “church” (मण्डली) — that prohibition concerns the New Testament ekklesia, the assembly of believers, and remains fully in force. The Jerusalem temple in Mark, however, is a real, literal Israelite sanctuary building under the old covenant, and मन्दिर is the accurate architectural/functional term for it in Maithili. Every occurrence should carry (at least at first use) a note: “this refers to the historical Jerusalem sanctuary of Israel’s worship under the old covenant, not to a regional Hindu temple devoted to another deity, and never to be confused with मण्डली (the church), which must never be called मन्दिर.”
• ἐξουσία (authority) — reuse ch.1 term अधिकार; 11:28-33, “by what authority are you doing these things?” — the religious leaders’ direct challenge to Jesus’ authority, tying back to 1:22,27 and forward to 10:42’s contrast with worldly domination.
• πίστις (faith) — REUSE विश्वास; 11:22-24, “have faith in God,” moving mountains — reuse, no new nuance beyond noting the hyperbolic idiom (moving mountains) should be rendered for its plain meaning (total confidence in God’s power), not a literal expectation.

Chapter 12 — Vineyard, Cornerstone, Caesar, Greatest Commandment

• κεφαλὴ γωνίας (kephalē gōnias) — “cornerstone” (12:10, citing Psalm 118:22)
  • Maithili rendering: कोनाक मुख्य पाथर (konāk mukhya pāthar, “the chief corner stone”).
  • Risk: Low-Medium. Architectural metaphor for Christ’s rejection-then-vindication; note possible (mild) resonance with regional foundation-stone laying rituals (bhoomi puja) at building projects — low risk, mainly requires the metaphor be explained rather than renamed.
• Καῖσαρ (Kaisar) — “Caesar,” proper name, transliterate कैसर (12:14-17, “render to Caesar…”). Risk: Low. Note the passage’s function (legitimate but limited civil obligation, contrasted with total obligation to God) parallels Romans 13’s civil-authority teaching; cross-reference for translators working across both curricula.
• Resurrection debate with Sadducees (12:18-27) — REUSE पुनरुत्थान (Critical, baseline); no new lexical item, but note Jesus’ argument here (God is God of the living, from the burning bush text) is a distinctive Markan resurrection-apologetic worth flagging for theologian review given the term’s Critical tier.
• ἀγαπήσεις (agapēseis) / ἀγάπη (agapē) — “you shall love / love” (12:28-31, the Great Commandment — love God fully, love neighbor as self)
  • Maithili rendering: प्रेम (prem).
  • Risk: Medium. प्रेम is the central vocabulary of Vaishnava bhakti devotional literature (prem-bhakti toward Krishna/Radha), Mithila’s own celebrated devotional-poetic register (Vidyapati). There is a genuine, careful bridge available (wholehearted, total-self devotion), but translators must mark that the Great Commandment is a covenantal, comprehensive obedience-love (heart, soul, mind, strength) rooted in the Shema and extended to neighbor-love, not the romantic/aesthetic register of bhakti-prem devotional poetry.
• Widow’s offering (12:41-44) — no new theological term; illustrative narrative, low risk.

Chapter 13 — Olivet Discourse: Abomination, False Christs, Watchfulness

• βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως (bdelygma tēs erēmōseōs) — “the abomination of desolation” (13:14, citing Daniel)
  • Maithili rendering: उजाड़क घृणित वस्तु (ujāṛak ghṛṇit vastu, “the detestable thing of desolation”).
  • Risk: Medium. A technical apocalyptic allusion (Daniel 9, 11-12) with no natural regional parallel; low collision risk but requires a substantial exegetical footnote rather than a cultural-bridge caution, since the concept (a desecrating sacrilege in the temple triggering divine judgment) needs explanation, not renaming.
• ψευδόχριστοι / ψευδοπροφῆται (pseudochristoi/pseudoprophētai) — “false christs / false prophets” (13:22)
  • Maithili rendering: झूठ मसीह (jhūṭh masīh) / झूठ भविष्यद्वक्ता (REUSE भविष्यद्वक्ता + झूठ, “false”).
  • Risk: High. Given the regional prevalence of self-declared gurus and babas claiming divine or messianic-like authority (a recurring feature of the North Indian religious landscape), this warning has genuine contemporary force. Translators should frame it as a general call to discernment regarding rival claims to messianic/prophetic status without naming any specific regional tradition or figure — unlike the baseline’s Messianic Promise entry (which explicitly names Ram/Krishna for a different, comparative-theology purpose), this passage functions as a general warning against impostors, and should be handled with that narrower scope.
• ἐκλεκτοί (eklektoi) — “the elect” (13:20,22,27) — REUSE from Romans TM: परमेश्वरक चुनाव-family (election, High, baseline), here in its corporate eschatological sense (those God gathers at Christ’s return). No new lexical item, but flag for translators that this is the same term underlying the baseline’s “election” entry, now applied corporately and eschatologically.
• γρηγορεῖτε (grēgoreite) — “watch! be alert!” (13:33-37)
  • Maithili rendering: जागल रहब (jāgal rahab, “stay awake/alert”), native Maithili.
  • Risk: Low. Ethical-eschatological exhortation; minimal collision risk.

Chapter 14 — Passover, Last Supper, Gethsemane, Trial, “I Am”

• πάσχα (pascha) — “Passover” (14:1,12,14,16)
  • Maithili rendering: फसह (phasah) — transliteration, established Hindi Bible-tradition convention.
  • Risk: Medium. Requires substantial Old Testament background explanation (the Exodus deliverance and Passover lamb typology, fulfilled in Christ, 1 Cor 5:7); no natural regional festival equivalent — must not be equated with any regional spring/harvest festival (e.g., Holi), which would misrepresent its specific redemptive-historical meaning.
• σῶμα / αἷμα (sōma/haima) — “body / blood” (14:22-24, the Last Supper words: “This is my body… this is my blood of the covenant, poured out for many [ὑπὲρ πολλῶν]”)
  • Maithili rendering: देह (deh, body) / लहू (lahū, blood).
  • Risk: Critical. (1) “Poured out for many” (ὑπὲρ πολλῶν) must be rendered so as to preserve its deliberate echo of 10:45’s ransom saying (ἀντὶ πολλῶν) — see the cross-reference flag established at 10:45; note that ὑπέρ (“on behalf of/for the sake of”) and ἀντί (“instead of/in exchange for”) are related but distinguishable prepositions, and translators should use consistent Maithili vocabulary (बहुतक हेतु/बहुतक बदलामे — see 10:45 note) so the intentional Markan link is visible in the destination text. (2) Must not be assimilated to Hindu prasad (consecrated food shared after offering to a deity in temple/puja practice) or to regional Shakta blood-sacrifice traditions at certain shrines; this is a unique, once-for-all covenant memorial of Christ’s atoning death, not a repeatable ritual offering. Requires human theologian review.
• REUSE वाचा (covenant, High, baseline) — “blood of the covenant” (14:24) directly invokes this term; no new lexical item, but flag the direct link to Exodus 24:8 and the baseline’s Davidic-covenant entry for cross-curricular consistency.
• παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi) — “to betray, hand over” (14:10-11,18,21,41-44)
  • Maithili rendering: पकड़ा देब (pakaṛā deb, “to hand over to captors”).
  • Risk: Low-Medium. Mainly a narrative term; ensure both the treachery (धोखा) and the “handing-over” action are conveyed, since the term also describes God’s own handing-over of the Son to death in the divine plan (cf. Rom 8:32’s related concept) — a nuance worth a light note for advanced study material.
• “Abba, Father” (14:36) — REUSE अब्बा + पिता (baseline, High/Critical); Gethsemane’s cup-request (“remove this cup from me,” reuse ποτήριον from 10:38) directly echoes the core passage — flag cross-reference.
• ἐγώ εἰμι (14:62) — “I am [the Christ, the Son of the Blessed]” — climactic occurrence of the divine self-disclosure formula (reuse note from ch.6); here explicit and unambiguous, triggering the high priest’s charge of blasphemy (βλασφημία, reuse ch.3 term). Risk: Critical, human theologian review required, as this is the trial’s theological center — Jesus’ own unambiguous claim to divine identity and Danielic authority (citing Dan 7:13 in the same breath).

Chapter 15 — Crucifixion: King of the Jews, Dereliction Cry, Torn Veil

• βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων (basileus tōn Ioudaiōn) — “King of the Jews” (15:2,9,12,18,26)
  • Maithili rendering: यहूदीक राजा (yahūdīk rājā), using the -क genitive per package convention.
  • Risk: Medium. The mocking irony (a title used derisively by Pilate’s soldiers, yet objectively true) must be preserved — the inscription over the cross (15:26) states, unknowingly, the deepest truth of the narrative. Do not let translation choices flatten the irony.
• σταυρόω (staurŏō) — “to crucify” — reuse ch.8 root क्रूस; verb क्रूस पर चढ़ाएब (krūs par caṛhāeb, “to lift up/hang on the cross”). Risk: Critical — the full historical event the ch.8 metaphor anticipated; theologian review required throughout the crucifixion narrative.
• Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani (15:34) — transliterate एलोई, एलोई, लमा शबक्तनी, with gloss reusing REUSE परमेश्वर: “मोर परमेश्वर, मोर परमेश्वर, अहाँ हमरा किएक त्यागि देल?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)
  • Risk: Critical. This citation of Psalm 22:1 expresses genuine dereliction at the cross and must not be softened, explained away, or muted in translation. It is theologically difficult (bearing on the nature of the atonement — the Son’s experience of God-forsakenness in bearing sin’s penalty) and requires human theologian review; no cultural-collision risk per se, but very high doctrinal sensitivity.
• καταπέτασμα (katapetasma) — “the [temple] curtain/veil” (15:38, torn in two at Jesus’ death)
  • Maithili rendering: मन्दिरक पर्दा (mandirak pardā) — REUSE मन्दिर (see ch.11 note) + पर्दा (curtain/veil, common Maithili word).
  • Risk: High. A major theological symbol (access to God opened through Christ’s atoning death, ending the old order’s mediated separation) requiring explanatory note; low natural cultural-collision risk but high doctrinal significance, warranting High-tier flagging and review.
• Centurion’s confession, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (15:39) — REUSE परमेश्वरक पुत्र (Critical, baseline). Note this is the Gospel’s climactic human confession of Jesus’ divine sonship, spoken (with Markan irony) by a Gentile Roman soldier — connects directly to the baseline’s “Unity of Jews and Gentiles” and “Universal Scope of the Gospel” doctrine entries; flag for theologian review given the Critical tier of the underlying term.

Chapter 16 — Resurrection, Great Commission Material, Ascension

• ἠγέρθη (ēgerthē, “he has risen,” 16:6) — REUSE पुनरुत्थान-family (Critical, baseline); the empty tomb narrative is the direct fulfillment of every resurrection-prediction flagged through chs. 8-10, 14. Requires the baseline’s standing distinction from पुनर्जन्म (reincarnation) to be applied here at the narrative climax.
• Textual note (Mark 16:9-20): The “longer ending” of Mark is absent from the earliest and best manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus) and is textually disputed. Standard translation practice is to include it with a clear bracket/footnote marking its disputed status, following whatever convention the destination Bible tradition’s parent text (the base text used for this curriculum) adopts. This is a translation-process note, not a term-level risk, but must be flagged for Phase 2 formatting.
• Preach the gospel to all creation (16:15) — REUSE सुसमाचार + REUSE सुसमाचार प्रचार (mission, Medium, baseline); “all creation” — सारा सृष्टि (sārā sṛṣṭi, “all creation,” Sanskritic सृष्टि). Risk: Low-Medium, mainly ensure the universal scope is not narrowed (cf. baseline’s “Universal Scope of the Gospel” doctrine).
• σημεῖα (sēmeia) — “signs” (16:17-18, longer ending) — Maithili: चिन्ह (cinha). Risk: Low; brief note that this is not to be confused with astrological “signs” (ज्योतिष चिन्ह), a minor but worthwhile clarification.
• ἀνελήμφθη (anelēmphthē) — “he was taken up” (16:19, ascension)
  • Maithili rendering: स्वर्गारोहण (svargārohaṇ, “ascension into heaven”).
  • Risk: Medium. स्वर्ग (“heaven/svarga”) in Hindu cosmology denotes one heavenly realm among several within an ongoing samsaric cosmology — a temporary reward-abode reached through accumulated merit, eventually exited through further rebirth. The biblical “heaven” to which Christ ascends is God’s eternal dwelling and the place of Christ’s permanent enthronement at the Father’s right hand (16:19, echoing Ps 110:1) — not a temporary way-station within a cycle. Requires translator note distinguishing eternal biblical heaven from temporary svarga-loka.
• “Sat down at the right hand of God” (16:19) — echoes the “right hand” honor-seat imagery of the core passage (10:37,40); note this cross-reference for translators — the place James and John wrongly sought for themselves is, in fact, occupied by the risen, ascended Christ alone.

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This document should be read alongside analysis/08_core_glossary.md, which consolidates every term identified above (new and reused) into a single per-term risk-tiered table for Phase 2 enforcement.