07 — Semantic Analysis: Genesis (English → Mandarin)

Curriculum: Genesis Core passage: Genesis 1:1–2:3 Destination language: Mandarin Chinese (Simplified script, CUV Shen-edition register) Generated for: TRI Phase 1, Step 1

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Preliminary Note on Original Language

The curriculum parameters instruct analysis “in the original Koine Greek.” This is the correct instruction for New Testament curricula (e.g., the baseline Romans package) but does not apply to Genesis. Genesis was composed in Biblical Hebrew (with a handful of Aramaic-adjacent proper nouns), not Koine Greek. This analysis therefore treats the Masoretic Hebrew text as the base original language, per standard translation practice and consistent with how the baseline Romans package treats Koine Greek as authoritative for the New Testament.

Where a Hebrew term was translated into Greek in the Septuagint (LXX) using vocabulary that reappears in the New Testament — and therefore already has an established Mandarin rendering in the baseline translation_memory.json — this is flagged explicitly, and the baseline rendering is reused exactly, per the hard rule governing this package. Key convergence points: Genesis 15:6 (LXX ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην) is the direct Old Testament source of Romans 4:3’s “imputed righteousness” (算为义); Genesis 12:1–3’s בְּרָכָה (“blessing”) underlies the LXX/NT εὐλογία lineage; and אֱלֹהִים / יהוה underlie the NT θεός / κύριος terms already governed by the baseline.

All Mandarin renderings below follow CUV (和合本) Shen-edition (神版) conventions, matching the baseline register, script (Simplified), and transliteration standard (Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks).

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PART A — CORE PASSAGE: Genesis 1:1–2:3 (Verse-by-Verse)

Genesis 1:1

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
בְּרֵאשִׁית	bereshit	”in a/the beginning”	Absolute temporal starting point of the created order; not “beginning of a cycle"	"In the beginning,” “When God began to…”	Marks an absolute, non-cyclical start of time and matter — foundational to a linear, historical view of reality rather than a recurring cosmic cycle.	起初 (qǐchū). Medium risk: must not be softened into a phrase suggesting one epoch among many recurring ages (an idea with resonance in Chinese cyclical-dynastic historiography, already flagged in the baseline under “Fulfillment of Prophecy” re: 治乱循环). Teaching note required: this is the singular start of all time, not a phase in a repeating cosmic cycle.
בָּרָא	bara	”created”	Bringing something into existence; used in the Hebrew Bible exclusively of God as subject when referring to ultimate origination (contrast עָשָׂה/yatsar below, used of forming from existing material)	“created,” “made”	The verb underlying the doctrine of Creation Ex Nihilo: God originates the cosmos by his own will and word, not by working pre-existing divine matter.	创造 (chuàngzào). Critical risk. Mandarin 造 (zào, “make/form”) is used indiscriminately in everyday and even biblical Chinese for בָּרָא, עָשָׂה, and יָצַר alike, flattening a distinction the Hebrew text draws carefully. Every occurrence of 创造 in a Genesis 1 context must be taught as “bringing into being from nothing,” not merely “assembling/shaping.” See Glossary entries for 创造 vs. 造.
אֱלֹהִים	Elohim	”God” (grammatically plural form, used with singular verbs of the one true God)	Generic word for “god/gods” in Hebrew and Semitic languages generally; here functioning as the proper reference to the one true Creator	”God”	The subject of all creative action; establishes monotheism against a backdrop where the same word-family denotes many gods elsewhere in the Ancient Near East.	神 (Shén). Critical risk — reuse baseline exactly. Per baseline god entry, this package standardizes on 神, not 上帝. Genesis 1 is the single most important passage for this decision: it must be unambiguous from the first verse that “神” here denotes the one Creator, not a member of the folk pantheon (city gods, kitchen god) for which 神 is also the common noun. Doctrinal note required at first occurrence.
הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ	hashamayim veha’aretz	”the heavens and the earth”	A totality merism: “heavens and earth” together = the entire ordered cosmos	”the heaven and the earth,” “the heavens and the earth,” “the sky and the land”	Signals the comprehensive scope of what God created — nothing preexists outside this divine act except God himself.	天地 (tiāndì). Low risk. Standard, transparent compound; minor teaching note that 天地 does not imply an impersonal cosmic order (as in some folk-Daoist usage of 天 alone) but the totality of what the personal Creator made.

Genesis 1:2

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ	tohu vavohu	”formless and empty/void”	A hendiadys describing a state of non-order, unshaped and uninhabited — not a substance in itself but an absence of the structure God is about to impose	”without form and void,” “formless and empty,” “a formless wasteland”	Describes the initial, unformed state of the material God had just created (v.1), prior to his ordering work across the six days. Sets up creation-as-ordering, not creation-as-struggle-against-eternal-chaos.	Critical risk. CUV renders this as 空虚混沌 (kōngxū hùndùn). 混沌 (hùndùn) is the single most theologically dangerous word in this verse for a Mandarin readership: it is the name of the primordial chaos-egg in the Pangu creation myth (盘古开天) and a major technical term in Daoist cosmogony (Zhuangzi, Huainanzi), where an impersonal, self-existing chaos spontaneously differentiates into an ordered cosmos with no personal creator required. Using 混沌 without a clarifying note risks readers hearing Genesis 1 as a variant of the Pangu myth — a self-organizing chaos, not chaos entirely subsequent to and dependent on a prior, personal, ex-nihilo creative act (v.1). Mandatory translator note: the 混沌 of Genesis 1:2 is already-created material, already under God’s sovereign hand (v.2b), not an eternal, self-generating source of order.
חֹשֶׁךְ	choshekh	”darkness”	Absence of light; can be neutral (pre-creation state) or morally loaded elsewhere (judgment, evil)	“darkness”	Neutral, pre-ordering condition here — not evil in itself; distinguished later from evil/moral darkness.	黑暗 (hēi’àn). Low risk. Note: avoid implying moral evil at this point in the narrative; darkness here is simply un-illumined space, subsequently named “night” (v.5) as part of the created order.
תְּהוֹם	tehom	”the deep”	The primeval waters/ocean depths	”the deep,” “the deep waters”	The watery mass God will separate and order (vv. 6–10); in surrounding ANE mythology often personified as a hostile chaos-deity (e.g., Tiamat); Genesis strikingly de-mythologizes it into inert material entirely under God’s command.	渊 (yuān). Medium risk. Teaching note: unlike neighboring ANE myths (and unlike some folk-religious “water spirit” associations), 渊 here is not a personified rival power but ordinary matter obedient to God’s word.
רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים	ruach Elohim	”Spirit/wind of God”	רוּחַ ranges over “wind,” “breath,” and “spirit” depending on context; here paired with אֱלֹהִים it denotes God’s own animating presence	”the Spirit of God,” “a wind from God,” “the breath of God”	The active divine presence hovering over creation, preparing it for God’s ordering word — widely read in Christian tradition as the Holy Spirit’s role in creation (cf. Job 33:4; Psalm 104:30).	Critical risk. Recommend 神的灵 (Shén de líng), the literal CUV rendering, rather than reflexively substituting the New Testament compound 圣灵 (Shènglíng). Per baseline, 圣灵 is reserved for πνεῦμα ἅγιον and must never stand as bare 灵 (which in folk usage denotes ancestral or nature spirits). Genesis 1:2 uses the distinct Hebrew phrase רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, not “Spirit of Holiness” — so 神的灵 preserves both the literal sense and the mandatory “never bare 灵” rule, while a teaching note should draw the canonical link forward to 圣灵 doctrine without conflating the two renderings.
מְרַחֶפֶת	merachefet	”hovering, fluttering”	A participle elsewhere describing a bird hovering protectively over its young (Deuteronomy 32:11)	“was hovering over,” “moved over,” “was moving/brooding over”	Conveys tender, active, purposeful divine presence — not passive proximity. CUV’s more generic 运行 (“moving/operating”) loses this nurturing-bird imagery.	运行 (yùnxíng) per CUV, but Medium risk: flag for translator note that the Hebrew image is closer to “brooding like a bird over a nest” (孵护般地盘旋) than mechanical “operation,” to avoid an impersonal-force reading of the Spirit’s activity.

Genesis 1:3–5 (Day One — establishes the day-refrain formula)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים	vayomer Elohim	”and God said”	Introduces each creative act; creation occurs by divine speech-command, not by struggle, combat, or emanation	”And God said,” “Then God said”	Creation by word/decree alone is the linguistic backbone of Ex Nihilo doctrine: God speaks and it is (cf. Psalm 33:6, Hebrews 11:3). Repeated 8x across the six days (vv. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26).	神说 (Shén shuō). High risk. Must always retain the sense of sovereign, effectual command — “and it was so” (v.7, 9, 11, 15, etc.) always follows — not a wish, request, or ritual incantation (a risk given the prevalence of spoken ritual formulas — 咒/符 — in Chinese folk-religious practice). Teaching note: God’s word is not a magic formula manipulating impersonal cosmic forces but the effective decree of the sovereign personal Creator.
אוֹר	or	”light”	Physical light; the first thing God commands into existence, prior to the sun (created day 4)	“light”	Light as an ordered, good creation distinct from and prior to any luminary — signals God’s sovereignty even over what appear to be natural/cosmic phenomena.	光 (guāng). Low risk.
וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב	vayar Elohim ki tov	”and God saw that [it was] good”	טוֹב ranges from functional/aesthetic “good, fitting, pleasing” to moral “good, righteous"	"God saw that it was good,” “God saw that this was good”	Repeated evaluative refrain (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) climaxing in “very good” (v. 31) — creation is declared inherently good by its Maker, establishing a Genesis-based doctrine of the essential goodness of the material world, which later grounds common grace (created goodness persists even after the Fall, Genesis 8:22, 9:1-17).	神看着是好的 (Shén kànzhe shì hǎo de). Medium risk. Teaching note: this “good” is a moral-theological verdict from the Creator, not aesthetic pleasure alone nor a provisional judgment later reversed by the Fall — the material creation’s goodness is not annulled by human sin (cf. Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace doctrine).
וַיַּבְדֵּל	vayavdel	”and he separated/divided”	To distinguish and set apart two things previously undifferentiated	”separated,” “divided”	The verb of ordering — God’s creative work is fundamentally an act of differentiating and structuring, distinct from combining pre-existing chaos through struggle.	分开 (fēnkāi). Low risk.
וַיִּקְרָא	vayiqra	”and he called/named”	To assign a name, which in the ancient world signals authority and definition over the thing named	”called,” “named”	God’s naming of light/darkness as “day”/“night” (and later “heaven,” “earth,” “seas”) expresses his sovereign authority to define the nature and function of what he has made — a motif that recurs when God renames Abram→Abraham (17), Jacob→Israel (32).	称…为 (chēng…wéi). Low risk.
יוֹם / לַיְלָה	yom / laylah	”day” / “night”	יוֹם ranges from a literal 24-hour day to an unspecified period (“in the day that…”); here paired with “evening and morning” it denotes an ordinary day	”day” / “night”	The refrain “there was evening and there was morning, the [Nth] day” (vv. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31) establishes the creation week as the pattern grounding the seventh-day rest (2:1–3) and, later, the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:11 explicitly cites this passage).	日 / 夜 (rì / yè). Medium risk. Note for teaching: the historical/literal-vs-literary debate over יוֹם’s referent in this passage is a live scholarly question outside the scope of this glossary, but at minimum the Mandarin rendering must preserve the ordinary “evening-morning” bounding language rather than abstracting it into a vague “epoch” (时代) that would erase the refrain’s rhetorical link to the seventh-day rest.

Genesis 1:6–8 (Day Two)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
רָקִיע	raqia	”expanse, firmament”	A spread-out, beaten-thin surface (from a root meaning “to hammer/spread out flat metal”); functions here as the sky separating waters above from waters below	”firmament,” “expanse,” “vault,” “sky”	Continues the ordering-by-separation pattern (v.4, 7); the cosmos is being progressively structured into inhabitable zones.	空气 (kōngqì, lit. “air,” CUV’s traditional rendering) — modern renderings prefer 穹苍/天空. Low risk, mainly a translation-history note: CUV’s 空气 (“air/atmosphere”) reflects 19th-century cosmology more than the Hebrew architectural image of a beaten-out dome; no doctrinal collision, but a clarifying note on the image (a solid, spread-out expanse, not merely “air” in the modern gaseous sense) aids comprehension.
מַיִם	mayim	”waters”	The waters, here divided into “waters above” and “waters below” the expanse	”waters”	Reinforces the theme of ordering formerly undifferentiated matter (see תְּהוֹם, 1:2) into structured zones.	水 (shuǐ). Low risk.

Genesis 1:9–13 (Day Three)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
יַבָּשָׁה	yabashah	”dry land”	Dry ground as distinct from sea	”dry land,” “land”	God’s separating word again produces habitable land — sets the stage for all subsequent life.	旱地 (hàndì). Low risk.
יַמִּים	yammim	”seas”	Large bodies of water	”seas”	Continues ordering theme; seas are subordinate, named, bounded creations, not independent chaos-powers (contrast ANE sea-god myths).	海 (hǎi). Low risk.
דֶּשֶׁא / עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיע זֶרַע / עֵץ עֹשֶׂה פְּרִי	deshe / esev mazria zera / etz oseh peri	”vegetation” / “seed-bearing plants” / “fruit-bearing trees”	Categories of plant life, each defined by its capacity for self-propagation	”vegetation… seed-bearing plants… fruit trees”	Establishes self-sustaining reproductive capacity built into creation from the start — creation is designed to continue and multiply, a theme resumed in the “be fruitful and multiply” blessing (1:22, 28).	青草…菜蔬…树木 (qīngcǎo… càishū… shùmù). Low risk.
לְמִינֵהוּ / לְמִינָהּ	l’minehu / l’minah	”according to its kind”	Denotes a stable category of reproduction — each kind reproduces true to its own type	”according to its kind,” “after their kind”	Repeated refrain (vv. 11, 12, 21, 24, 25) underscoring an ordered, differentiated creation with built-in stability of kinds — relevant background for later distinctions among created beings culminating in humanity’s distinct status (v. 26–27).	各从其类 (gè cóng qí lèi). Low risk.

Genesis 1:14–19 (Day Four)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
מְאֹרֹת	me’orot	”lights, luminaries”	Light-bearing objects (sun, moon, stars)	“lights,” “luminaries”	Notably, the sun and moon are not named directly (contrast the common ANE practice of naming/deifying them as Shamash, Sin, etc.) — they are simply “lights,” functional creations under God’s authority, deliberately created after light itself (v.3), undercutting any reading of them as independent divine sources of light or fate.	光体 (guāngtǐ). Medium risk. Teaching note: the studied avoidance of naming sun/moon (contrast the Chinese folk-astrological tradition of 日神/月神 and the zodiacal fate-reading tradition) should be highlighted — these are creations, not deities or fate-determining powers.
מוֹעֲדִים	mo’adim	”appointed times, seasons”	Fixed, recurring points for religious festivals or agricultural seasons	”seasons,” “appointed times”	The luminaries mark time for humanity’s benefit and worship, not for divination of fate.	节令 (jiélìng). Medium risk. Must be distinguished from calendrical/astrological fate-casting (as in traditional Chinese almanac divination, 黄历择日); these are functional markers under divine ordination, not omens.
מֶמְשָׁלָה	memshalah	”rule, dominion”	Delegated authority to govern or regulate	”to govern,” “to rule over”	The sun and moon “rule” day and night in a strictly delegated, functional sense — establishing a pattern of derived, not autonomous, authority that anticipates humanity’s own delegated dominion (v. 26, 28).	管理 (guǎnlǐ). Low risk.

Genesis 1:20–23 (Day Five)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה	nefesh chayyah	”living creature, living soul”	נֶפֶשׁ denotes the whole living being (not an immaterial “soul” detachable from the body, as in later Greek dualism); חַיָּה = “living"	"living creatures,” “living things”	First appearance of a phrase that will recur of the animals (1:20, 21, 24) and, critically, of Adam himself (2:7) — establishing continuity between animal and human “life” even as 1:26–27 will mark humanity’s unique distinction (image of God).	有生命的物 (yǒu shēngmìng de wù) here; note the 2:7 occurrence below. Medium risk. Teaching note: נֶפֶשׁ here does not mean a detachable immortal “soul” in the Platonic/Buddhist sense (灵魂 as a transmigrating essence); avoid translations suggesting animals or Adam possess a soul that could be reincarnated (see 复活/resurrection forbidden-substitution rules in the baseline, which similarly guard against transmigration readings).
שֶׁרֶץ	sheretz	”swarming things”	Creatures that teem/swarm, especially aquatic and small creatures	”swarms,” “swarming creatures”	Emphasizes abundance and fecundity built into creation from the start.	滋生 (zīshēng, verb “to swarm/multiply”). Low risk.
עוֹף	of	”flying creature, bird”	Winged creatures generally	”birds,” “flying creatures,” “winged fowl”	Part of the ordered filling of sky and sea.	飞鸟 (fēiniǎo). Low risk.
תַּנִּינִם	tanninim	”great sea creatures, sea monsters”	Large aquatic creatures; elsewhere the same word can denote mythic chaos-monsters/serpents (e.g., Isaiah 27:1, Psalm 74:13)	“great sea creatures,” “great whales,” “sea monsters”	Genesis deliberately lists these among God’s ordinary, good creations rather than treating them (as ANE myth does) as primordial chaos-powers God must defeat — reinforcing that nothing in creation rivals God’s sovereignty.	大鱼 (dà yú). Medium risk. Teaching note: this term’s mythic-monster associations elsewhere make its demythologized, “just another good creature” placement here theologically significant; worth flagging so the point is not lost in translation.

Genesis 1:24–25 (Day Six, part 1 — land animals)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
חַיְתוֹ־אֶרֶץ	chayto-eretz	”beasts of the earth”	Wild land animals	”wild animals,” “beasts of the earth”	Continues the ordered filling of the land.	野兽 (yěshòu). Low risk.
בְּהֵמָה	behemah	”livestock, cattle”	Domesticable land animals	”livestock,” “cattle”	Anticipates the human vocation of stewardship/domestication under the coming dominion mandate (v.26, 28).	牲畜 (shēngchù). Low risk.
רֶמֶשׂ	remes	”creeping things”	Small crawling creatures	”creeping things,” “creatures that move along the ground”	Completes the taxonomy of land creatures prior to humanity’s creation.	昆虫/爬行物 (kūnchóng / páxíng wù). Low risk.

Genesis 1:26–27 (Day Six, part 2 — the creation of humanity; core doctrinal center of the passage)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
נַעֲשֶׂה	na’aseh	”let us make”	1st-person plural cohortative of עָשָׂה (“make”); the plural form is grammatically striking since Elohim otherwise takes singular verbs	”Let us make”	The plural “us” has been read in Christian tradition (though disputed among Hebrew scholars as to authorial intent) as an early intimation of the plurality within the Godhead, consonant with fuller Trinitarian revelation; at minimum it marks a moment of deliberate divine self-consultation before creation’s climactic act.	我们要 (wǒmen yào). High risk. Teaching note required: some readers, encountering “we” applied to a monotheistic God, may assume a scribal or textual inconsistency, or (in a culturally Chinese folk-pantheon frame) a council of gods. Must be taught within the doctrine of the Trinity/plurality-in-unity, not left unexplained.
אָדָם	adam	”man, mankind, humanity” (also the proper name “Adam”)	Ranges from the collective “humankind” (as here and in 1:27, “male and female”) to the specific proper name of the first man (from 2:19 onward); etymologically linked to אֲדָמָה (adamah, “ground/soil”) — a wordplay lost in Mandarin	”man,” “mankind,” “humankind,” “Adam”	Signals humanity’s dual nature: exalted as bearer of God’s image (v.26–27) yet materially derived “from the ground” (2:7) — humble origin combined with unique dignity. This tension is foundational to the Image of God doctrine.	人 (rén) for the collective sense here; 亚当 (Yàdāng) for the proper name from 2:19 onward. High risk. Teaching note: the Hebrew pun (adam/adamah, “man”/“ground”) linking humanity’s dignity to humanity’s humble, dust-derived origin has no equivalent wordplay in Mandarin (人 and 地 are unrelated); this connection should be made explicit in commentary rather than assumed to be self-evident from the translated text.
צֶלֶם	tselem	”image”	A physical representation, statue, or replica that represents and, in ancient royal ideology, extends the presence/authority of the one it depicts (cf. royal statues placed in conquered territories)	“image,” “likeness”	Foundational term for the Image of God doctrine: humanity is made to represent God’s authority and character on earth, as a king’s image/statue represented his rule in a province he could not physically occupy. This grounds human dignity, equality (all humans equally bear it, not only rulers, contra ANE royal ideology which reserved “divine image” language for kings), and the prohibition of murder (9:6).	形像 (xíngxiàng). Critical risk. Must be carefully distinguished from Buddhist devotional images/statues (佛像, fóxiàng) and folk-temple idols (神像, shénxiàng) — 形像 here does not mean a carved or venerated cultic object, but humanity itself functioning as God’s living representative. Every occurrence in a doctrinal context (1:26, 27; 5:1, 3; 9:6) requires a clarifying note distinguishing “bearing God’s image” from “possessing/worshiping an idol-image.”
דְּמוּת	demut	”likeness, pattern, resemblance”	A more abstract term than צֶלֶם, denoting similarity of form/pattern rather than a concrete replica	”likeness,” “pattern”	Paired with צֶלֶם as a hendiadys reinforcing (not adding a separate category to) the single doctrine of the divine image — the two terms together emphasize both the concreteness (image) and the qualitative resemblance (likeness) of humanity to God, without implying humanity shares God’s essence or divine nature.	样式 (yàngshì). High risk. Teaching note: must not be taught as implying ontological identity with God (a risk in a culture where sage-attainment traditions — see baseline’s Neo-Confucian 成圣 note — sometimes blur the line between “resembling” and “becoming” the sage/divine ideal). Humanity resembles God’s moral character and functions as his representative; humanity does not become divine.
וְיִרְדּוּ	v’yirdu	”and let them have dominion”	To rule, govern, exercise authority over subordinates	”and let them rule,” “and let them have dominion”	Delegated stewardship of creation, exercised under God’s ultimate authority (echoing מֶמְשָׁלָה, v.16) — not autonomous ownership or exploitation, but representative rule on God’s behalf.	管理 (guǎnlǐ). Medium risk. Teaching note: this is derived, accountable authority (cf. Genesis 9:6’s later grounding of the murder prohibition in the image of God), not license for exploitative domination — an important corrective in any reading that might otherwise justify unchecked exploitation of creation.
זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה	zachar u’nekevah	”male and female”	Biological sex categories	”male and female”	Both sexes, without distinction or hierarchy, equally and fully bear God’s image — a foundational text for the doctrine of human equality regardless of sex.	男 / 女 (nán / nǚ). Medium risk. Teaching note: the text grounds equal dignity of male and female in shared image-bearing, prior to and independent of the distinct male/female roles introduced narratively in Genesis 2.

Genesis 1:28 (The Creation/Dominion Mandate)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
וַיְבָרֶךְ	vayevarekh	”and he blessed”	To bestow favor, fruitfulness, and well-being, typically spoken by a superior (God, a father, a king) over a subordinate	”and he blessed them”	First occurrence of the divine blessing formula that will become the engine of the whole book (cf. 1:22; 9:1; 12:2–3; 17:16, 20; 22:17; 27:27–29; 49:1–28) — blessing here specifically enables the fruitful multiplication and flourishing of the image-bearers.	赐福 (cì fú). Critical risk. See dedicated Glossary entry on 祝福/赐福/福 — the character 福 sits inside the identical semantic field flagged in the baseline under “gospel” (福音) as folk fortune-seeking vocabulary (祈福, “praying for fortune,” temple fú-charms). Every doctrinal occurrence of “bless/blessing” in Genesis must be taught as God’s sovereign, personal gift of favor and fruitfulness to his image-bearers and covenant people — not an impersonal, transactable fortune that can be prayed into or earned through ritual (as at a folk-temple fú-shrine).
פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ	peru u’r’vu	”be fruitful and multiply”	Command/blessing to reproduce and increase in number	”be fruitful and multiply,” “have many children”	Restates the reproductive design already built into plant and animal life (1:11–12, 22), now extended as a mandate to humanity specifically as God’s image-bearing stewards.	生养众多 (shēngyǎng zhòngduō). Low risk.
וּמִלְאוּ	u’milu	”and fill”	To fill up, populate	”and fill the earth”	Humanity is to spread God’s image-bearing presence throughout the whole earth — an early missional trajectory that anticipates the later spread of covenant blessing to “all nations” (12:3).	遍满 (biànmǎn). Low risk.
וְכִבְשֻׁהָ	v’kivshuha	”and subdue it”	To bring under control, master, tame — can carry connotations of forceful subjugation elsewhere (e.g., military conquest)	“subdue it,” “have dominion over it,” “master it”	Paired with “have dominion” (v.26) to describe humanity’s active cultivating stewardship of the earth’s raw material — not exploitative conquest, but ordered development consistent with God’s own ordering pattern across the six days.	治理 (zhìlǐ). Medium risk. Teaching note: must be taught within the accountable-stewardship frame established by צֶלֶם/דְּמוּת above, not as unrestrained subjugation.

Genesis 1:29–30 (Provision of food)

No new load-bearing theological terms; reuses לְמִינֵהוּ (“according to its kind”), נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה (“living creature”). Establishes God’s ongoing provision for all his creatures as an extension of his goodness (see טוֹב, v.4 above) — an early instance of the created order’s built-in provision that will later ground the doctrine of common grace (God’s sustaining kindness extended to all creatures, not only the redeemed).

Genesis 1:31

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
טוֹב מְאֹד	tov me’od	”very good”	Superlative of the repeated “good” refrain (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25)	“very good,” “exceedingly good”	The completed creation, evaluated as a whole, receives God’s highest verdict — establishing a doctrine of the fundamental goodness of the material creation prior to any sin, which grounds the later doctrine that creation’s corruption (ch.3) is not original to it but an intrusion.	甚好 (shén hǎo). Medium risk. Teaching note: this “very good” verdict must be taught as the original, God-declared condition against which the Fall (ch.3) is understood as a catastrophic corruption — not evidence that evil was present in creation from the start (a live concern in any dualistic worldview that treats matter/darkness as inherently negative).

Genesis 2:1–3 (The Seventh Day)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
וַיְכֻלּוּ	vayechulu	”were finished, completed”	To bring to completion	”were finished,” “were completed”	Marks the intentional, purposeful conclusion of the creative work — creation is not an endless, unfinished process (contrast some cyclical cosmogonies) but a completed act with a definite terminus.	造齐 (zàoqí)/完毕 (wánbì). Low risk.
שָׁבַת	shabat	”rested, ceased”	To cease from labor; the verbal root of “Sabbath” (שַׁבָּת)	“rested,” “ceased,” “he rested”	God’s rest is not recovery from exhaustion (contrast some ANE creation myths where a weary deity rests after cosmic battle) but the deliberate savoring/enjoyment of a completed, good work — establishing the pattern later codified as the Sabbath commandment (Exodus 20:11).	安息/歇了 (ānxī / xiēle). High risk. Teaching note: must be distinguished from Daoist/Buddhist 静/清净 (“stillness/quietude” attained through meditative withdrawal or ascetic discipline) — God’s rest is the contented completion of purposeful, good work, not an escape from active engagement with the world, and it becomes the pattern for humanity’s own rhythm of work and rest, not a call to permanent withdrawal.
וַיְקַדֵּשׁ	vayeqadesh	”and he sanctified/made holy”	To set apart for a special, consecrated purpose or status	”and he sanctified it,” “and he made it holy,” “and he hallowed it”	God’s own act of setting the seventh day apart from the other six establishes the first instance of the “holy” category in Scripture — applied here to time itself, prior to any place, person, or people being called holy.	定为圣日 (dìng wéi shèng rì) / 分别为圣. High risk. Reuses the conceptual field of the baseline’s 圣洁 (holy) and 成圣 (sanctification) entries — this is their point of origin in the canon. Teaching note: as with 成圣 in the baseline, this “setting apart” must not be confused with a self-generated ritual purity or meditative attainment; it is God’s own sovereign declarative act, applied here to the seventh day, and later (Exodus 20) extended as a pattern for Israel’s own consecrated rest.
בֵּרֵךְ	berekh	”blessed” (of the day)	See בָּרַךְ above (1:28)	“blessed the seventh day”	God blesses not only living creatures (1:22, 28) but a unit of time — the seventh day itself becomes a locus of divine favor and gift, not merely an absence of work.	赐福 (cì fú). Critical risk — see dedicated glossary entry; reuse the same rendering and same collision warning as 1:22/1:28 above for consistency.
יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי	yom hashevi’i	”the seventh day”	The seventh and final day of the creation week	”the seventh day”	Establishes the creation-week pattern underlying the entire biblical rhythm of six days of labor and one day of consecrated rest — theological bedrock for the Sabbath commandment and, typologically, for the doctrine of eschatological rest (cf. Hebrews 4).	第七日 (dì qī rì). Low risk.

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PART B — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SURVEY OF THE WHOLE BOOK

Chapter 1

Covered fully above as the Core Passage (1:1–2:3 spans into chapter 2). No additional treatment required.

Chapter 2 (remainder, 2:4–25)

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
תוֹלְדוֹת	toledot	”generations, account, genealogical record”	Introduces a new narrative unit, often a genealogy, but also a broader “account/history of origins"	"generations,” “account,” “history”	Gen 2:4 (“This is the account of the heavens and the earth…”) functions as a literary hinge introducing the more detailed, ground-level narrative of humanity’s creation, complementing rather than contradicting ch.1’s cosmic overview. The same word structures the whole book (5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10, 27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2), making it a key organizing term for Genesis as a whole.	记 / 后代 (jì / hòudài), rendered contextually as “这是…的来历” (CUV). Low risk, mainly structural.
עֵדֶן	Eden	proper noun, possibly related to a root meaning “delight/pleasure”	The garden’s location	”Eden”	The place of humanity’s original, unbroken fellowship with God — the narrative backdrop against which the Fall (ch.3) and the subsequent exile from Eden (3:24) are understood as loss of that fellowship.	伊甸 (Yīdiàn). Low risk (proper noun).
עֵץ הַחַיִּים	etz hachayyim	”tree of life”	A specific tree granting ongoing life/immortality	”tree of life”	Access to unending life in fellowship with God, forfeited at the Fall (3:22–24) and restored typologically at the culmination of Scripture (Revelation 22:2) — an important forward-looking thread for the doctrine of the Fall’s consequences.	生命树 (shēngmìng shù). Medium risk. Teaching note: distinguish from Daoist immortality-elixir/peach-of-immortality motifs (仙桃, 长生不老药) — this is fellowship-based, gift-given life from God, not an alchemical or self-cultivated immortality technique.
עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע	etz hada’at tov vara	”tree of the knowledge of good and evil”	דַּעַת = experiential, relational “knowing,” not merely intellectual information	”tree of the knowledge of good and evil”	The single prohibition marking the boundary of creaturely trust versus autonomous moral self-determination — eating from it means seizing for oneself the authority to define good and evil independently of God, the root issue in the Fall (ch.3).	分别善恶树 (fēnbié shàn è shù). High risk. Teaching note: דַּעַת (“knowing”) here is not neutral information-acquisition but a claim to moral autonomy — critical for correctly framing the doctrine of the Fall as fundamentally a crisis of trust and authority, not merely a rule violation.
נְשָׁמָה / נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה	nishmat chayyim / nefesh chayyah	”breath of life” / “living being”	נְשָׁמָה = breath, specifically the breath God personally breathes into Adam; נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה recurs from 1:20-24	”the breath of life… a living being,” “breath of life… living soul”	2:7 states man became a נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה only after God personally breathed into the dust-formed body — unlike the animals, whose life is simply spoken into existence (1:24), man’s life-giving breath is described as an intimate, personal divine act, reinforcing humanity’s unique dignity within the shared category of “living being.”	生气 / 有灵的活人 (shēngqì / yǒu líng de huórén). High risk. Teaching note: 有灵的活人 uses 灵 in a compound describing embodied human life generally — this is not the same as 灵魂 in the sense of a detachable, transmigrating soul-essence found in Chinese folk religion and Buddhism, nor is it 圣灵. Must be taught as “a living, breathing being,” not an immortal soul-substance capable of being reincarnated.
יָצַר	yatsar	”formed, fashioned”	To shape/mold, especially as a potter shapes clay — distinct from בָּרָא (bring into being)	“formed,” “fashioned,” “molded”	Used specifically of God’s shaping Adam’s body “from the dust of the ground” (2:7) — humanity’s material origin is from existing matter (dust), shaped by God’s hands-on craftsmanship, distinct from the ex nihilo origination of the cosmos itself (1:1, בָּרָא). This distinction matters for the doctrine of humanity’s creatureliness: made by God from existing material, not co-eternal with him nor self-originated.	造 (zào). High risk. Directly connected to the Chapter 1 note on 创造 vs. 造: this verse is the clearest place to teach the difference — the cosmos as a whole was brought into being from nothing (בָּרָא/创造), while man’s body specifically was shaped from already-created dust (יָצַר/造). Losing this distinction in Mandarin (where 造 covers both) risks obscuring the ex nihilo doctrine’s scope.
עֵזֶר (כְּנֶגְדּוֹ)	ezer (k’negdo)	“helper (corresponding to/matching him)“	עֵזֶר denotes one who supplies aid/rescue, used elsewhere of God himself as Israel’s “helper” (e.g., Psalm 121:2) — not a subordinate assistant	”a helper suitable for him,” “a helper corresponding to him,” “a companion”	Establishes the woman’s essential, complementary partnership with the man — the same word used of God’s own help to his people elsewhere in the canon, guarding against any reading of עֵזֶר as denoting inferiority or mere utility.	帮助者 (bāngzhùzhě) / 配偶 (pèi’ǒu). Medium risk. Teaching note: because עֵזֶר is elsewhere used of God’s own help to Israel, translators should resist any Mandarin phrasing that reduces her role to a subordinate servant (e.g., avoid connotations carried by 婢/仆 [handmaid/servant]); 配偶 (“spouse/counterpart”) or a carefully glossed 帮助者 preserves the partnership sense.
עֶצֶם מֵעֲצָמַי וּבָשָׂר מִבְּשָׂרִי	etzem me’atzamai u’vasar mibsari	”bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”	Idiom of the closest possible kinship/identity	”bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”	Adam’s exclamation over Eve establishes marital union as the deepest form of human kinship, grounding the “one flesh” theology of marriage (2:24).	我骨中的骨，我肉中的肉 (wǒ gǔ zhōng de gǔ, wǒ ròu zhōng de ròu). Low risk.
אִישׁ / אִשָּׁה	ish / ishah	”man” / “woman”	אִשָּׁה is presented as morphologically derived from אִישׁ in the narrative’s own etymological wordplay (2:23)	“man” / “woman”	The Hebrew wordplay (ish/ishah) linguistically enacts the “bone of my bones” unity just declared — a wordplay with no equivalent phonetic pun in Mandarin.	男人 / 女人 (nánrén / nǚrén). Medium risk. Teaching note: the phonetic pun is untranslatable; a commentary note should make explicit that the Hebrew text itself performs a naming-wordplay to reinforce the unity/derivation theme, which the Mandarin reader will not otherwise perceive.
עֲרוּמִּים	arummim	”naked”	Unclothed; here explicitly stated to be without shame	”naked,” “they were naked”	The concluding note that the man and woman were “naked and felt no shame” (2:25) sets up the immediate ironic reversal in 3:7, where the same root (עָרוֹם/עָרוּם, involving a wordplay with “crafty” in 3:1) marks the loss of innocence at the Fall.	赤身 (chìshēn). Medium risk. Teaching note: flag the wordplay bridge to chapter 3 (arummim “naked” / arum “crafty,” of the serpent) — see Chapter 3 below.

Chapter 3 — The Fall and the Origin of Sin

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
נָחָשׁ	nachash	”serpent”	An ordinary snake, described here as “more crafty than any beast” — later canonical revelation (Revelation 12:9; 20:2) identifies this figure as Satan	”serpent,” “snake”	The narrative’s chosen vehicle for the temptation; the text itself does not name “Satan” here, but the whole canon reads this serpent as the deceiver.	蛇 (shé). Medium risk. Teaching note: Mandarin folk culture carries its own rich snake-spirit lore (e.g., the sympathetic snake-spirit of 白蛇传, “Legend of the White Snake”) that is tonally very different from Genesis 3’s deceptive tempter — clarify that this serpent is not an ambiguous or sympathetic spirit-being but the origin-point of a real, malicious deception, later identified with Satan.
עָרוּם	arum	”crafty, cunning, shrewd”	Can be neutral-to-positive (“prudent,” Proverbs 12:16) or, as here, sinister (“cunning, deceptive”)	“crafty,” “cunning,” “subtle,” “shrewd”	Sets up the wordplay with עֲרוּמִּים (“naked,” 2:25) — the “crafty” (arum) serpent brings about the couple’s shift from innocent nakedness to shame-filled nakedness.	狡猾 (jiǎohuá). Low risk, but note the wordplay connection above is lost and should be supplied in commentary.
וַתֵּרֶא … וַתִּקַּח … וַתֹּאכַל	vatere…vatiqqach…vatokhal	”and she saw…and she took…and she ate”	The narrative anatomy of temptation: desire (seeing), decision (taking), and act (eating)	“she saw…took…ate”	Models the mechanics of sin’s entry: perceived desirability, seizure of what God had withheld, and consummated disobedience — foundational for the doctrine of the Fall as a specific historical act of willful disobedience, not an abstract “condition.”	她见…就摘下…吃了 (tā jiàn…jiù zhāixià…chīle). Medium risk.
חֵטְא / עֲוֹן (implied by narrative, term first named explicitly 4:7)	chet / avon	”sin, transgression” / “iniquity, guilt”	חֵטְא = “missing the mark,” moral failure against a standard; עָוֹן = “crookedness,” guilt/culpability	”sin” / “iniquity”	Though the noun חֵטְא is not used until 4:7, the Fall narrative of ch.3 is the event these later terms describe: humanity’s first transgression against a direct divine command, introducing sin as an inherited condition (cf. Romans 5:12, drawing directly on this narrative).	罪 (zuì). High risk — reuse baseline exactly. As established in the baseline, 罪 must be taught here as a moral offense against a personal God requiring atonement — not merely a legal infraction, and not a source of impersonal karmic retribution (报应) accruing across a lineage, though the notion of inherited consequence (see below, “cursed… all your descendants,” 3:14-19) requires its own careful distinction from karma.
עֶרְוָה / חֲגֹרֹת	ervah / chagorot	”nakedness” / “coverings, loincloths”	Shame-consciousness and the impulse to cover oneself	”their nakedness… coverings”	The couple’s felt need to cover themselves marks the psychological and relational rupture introduced by sin — shame before one another and before God, resolved provisionally by human effort (fig leaves) and then definitively by God’s own provision (3:21, animal skins), an early foreshadowing of substitutionary covering.	遮体 (zhē tǐ) / 树叶做裙子 (CUV). Medium risk.
אָיֶכָּה / אַיֶּכָּה	ayekah	”Where are you?”	God’s question to the hiding Adam — rhetorical, not informational (God knows where Adam is)	“Where are you?”	Signals the relational rupture and God’s initiative in seeking out the fallen pair — even in judgment, God pursues relationship, a motif recurring throughout the book (and the whole canon) as background for the doctrine of grace amid judgment.	你在哪里 (nǐ zài nǎlǐ). Low risk.
אָרוּר	arur	”cursed”	A formal pronouncement of judgment bringing hardship/reversal of blessing	”cursed,” “you are cursed”	Pronounced over the serpent (3:14) and the ground (3:17) — but notably not directly over the man or woman themselves, a careful distinction in the text between the corrupted created order and the ongoing dignity of the image-bearers even under judgment.	咒诅 (zhòuzǔ). High risk. Teaching note: must be distinguished from folk/Daoist ritual curse-casting (下咒) — this is a sovereign judicial pronouncement by the Creator upon the created order in response to sin, not a magical incantation invoked by a human practitioner.
זֶרַע (הָאִשָּׁה)	zera (ha’ishah)	“seed, offspring (of the woman)“	Collective or singular descendant(s); the referent in 3:15 is famously read messianically in Christian tradition as the individual “seed” who will crush the serpent	”offspring,” “seed”	Genesis 3:15’s promise that the woman’s “seed” will crush the serpent’s head, even while being wounded (“strike your heel”), is the first messianic promise in Scripture (the protoevangelium, “first gospel”) — establishing hope of ultimate victory over sin and the deceiver immediately upon the Fall’s judgment, and directly anticipating the Abrahamic “seed” promise (12:7; 22:18) and its ultimate NT fulfillment in Christ (Galatians 3:16).	后裔 (hòuyì). Critical risk — reuse baseline exactly (established under “seed_of_david” for the same Hebrew/Greek word-family). Teaching note: this is the doctrinal root of the entire seed-of-promise trajectory running through Genesis (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah/Shiloh 49:10) into the New Testament; consistency of 后裔 across all these occurrences is essential for the learner to trace the promise-line.
מָוֶת (מוֹת תָּמוּת)	mavet (mot tamut)	“death (you shall surely die)“	Cessation of life, both physical and (implicitly, given the relational rupture already described) spiritual/relational	”you will surely die,” “dying you shall die”	The consequence God had warned of (2:17) is realized not as instant physical death but as the onset of mortality and, immediately, relational estrangement from God (hiding, 3:8) and from one another (mutual blame, 3:12-13) — establishing death as both a future physical certainty and a present spiritual reality, foundational for the doctrine of Sin’s Consequences.	死 (sǐ) / 必定死 (bìdìng sǐ). High risk. Teaching note: death here must be taught with its full biblical range (physical mortality AND relational/spiritual estrangement from God), not reduced to a merely biological event, nor conflated with a cyclical rebirth concept (see baseline’s Critical warning against 轮回/投胎 under “resurrection,” which applies by extension here: death in Genesis 3 begins a linear mortality, not entry into a cycle).

Chapter 4 — Cain and Abel; Sin’s Consequences Unfold

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
מִנְחָה	minchah	”offering, gift”	A general term for a gift/tribute, here specifically an offering brought to God	”offering,” “gift”	Both Cain and Abel bring מִנְחָה, but only Abel’s is accepted (4:4-5) — the narrative does not specify the exact reason with precision (though Hebrews 11:4 links it to faith), establishing worship/offering as an act requiring right disposition, not merely correct ritual form.	供物 (gòngwù). Medium risk. Teaching note: distinguish from transactional temple-offering practices aimed at securing favor or averting misfortune (祈福/还愿 offerings common in Chinese folk temple practice) — acceptance here hinges on the offerer’s heart/faith, not on the mechanics of the gift itself.
חַטָּאת	chatta’t	”sin” (also, elsewhere, “sin offering”)	First explicit use of the noun form of “sin” in Scripture (4:7), personified as “crouching at the door,” desiring to master Cain	”sin,” “sin is crouching at your door”	God’s warning to Cain (4:6-7) that sin desires mastery, and the exhortation “you must master it” (or “you must overcome/rule over it”), frames sin as an active, will-engaging force to be resisted, not a passive taint or destiny.	罪 (zuì). High risk — reuse baseline exactly. Same critical note as ch.3 above; this passage adds nuance that sin has an agency-engaging, willful-mastery dimension that must be actively resisted, an important corrective to any fatalistic reading.
דָּם	dam	”blood”	Life-substance; “your brother’s blood cries out” personifies the shed blood as testifying against Cain	”blood”	Establishes blood/bloodshed as morally significant testimony before God from the earliest post-Fall generation, later codified explicitly in the Noahic covenant’s blood-prohibition (9:4-6) and grounding the whole sacrificial system.	血 (xuè). Medium risk.
נָע וָנָד	na va nad	”restless wanderer”	A fugitive, without settled home	”a restless wanderer,” “a fugitive and a wanderer”	Cain’s judgment — exile and homelessness — is the relational/geographic outworking of sin’s consequences, paralleling and intensifying Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden (3:23-24).	流离飘荡 (liúlí piāodàng). Low risk.
אוֹת (לְקַיִן)	ot (l’Qayin)	“sign (for Cain)“	A protective mark or sign; the text does not describe its physical form	”a mark,” “a sign,” “a mark of protection”	Even under judgment, God shows restraining mercy toward Cain, protecting him from vigilante vengeance (4:15) — an early instance of the doctrine of common grace: God’s providential kindness extended even to the unrepentant and guilty, restraining the full outworking of sin’s chaos.	记号 (jìhao). Medium risk. Teaching note: popularly known in English as “the mark of Cain,” but the text does not describe it as a stigma of shame; rather it functions protectively, which should be clarified to avoid a folk-superstition misreading (e.g., as an ominous curse-mark comparable to a folk taboo-mark) rather than an act of restraining divine mercy.
קָרָא בְּשֵׁם יהוה	qara b’shem YHWH	”called on the name of the LORD”	To invoke/worship God by his covenant name	”called on the name of the LORD,” “began to worship the LORD”	First explicit mention (4:26, of Seth’s line, at the birth of Enosh) of organized calling on God’s covenant name in worship — establishing a faithful worshiping line (contrasted with Cain’s line) that will run through the book (see ch.5) toward Noah, Abraham, and beyond, an early thread of the Covenant Faithfulness across Generations doctrine.	求告耶和华的名 (qiúgào Yēhéhuá de míng). Medium risk.

Chapter 5 — Genealogy from Adam to Noah

No major new theological vocabulary; this chapter’s significance is its explicit reuse and extension of Chapter 1’s Image of God terms: 5:1 restates “in the likeness of God he made him” (בִּדְמוּת אֱלֹהִים, using דְּמוּת exactly as in 1:26), and 5:3 states Adam fathered Seth “in his own likeness, after his own image” (using both דְּמוּת and צֶלֶם) — establishing that the divine image, though marred by the Fall, is transmitted intergenerationally rather than lost, a key data point for the doctrine of the Image of God’s persistence after sin. New term: הִתְהַלֶּךְ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים (“walked with God,” of Enoch, 5:22, 24) — reused later of Noah (6:9); denotes close covenant fellowship, not mystical absorption. 与神同行 (yǔ Shén tóngxíng). Medium risk: distinguish from Daoist “following the Dao” (循道/得道) attainment-language; this is relational fellowship with a personal God, not alignment with an impersonal cosmic principle.

Chapter 6 — Noah, Divine Judgment, and the First Explicit Covenant

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
חָמָס	chamas	”violence”	Physical/social violence and oppression	”violence,” “the earth was filled with violence”	Names the specific corruption of the pre-flood world (6:11, 13) — universal moral corruption as the proximate cause of judgment, an important data point for Sin’s Consequences.	强暴 (qiángbào). Low risk.
וַיִּנָּחֶם	vayinachem	”and he was grieved, relented”	To feel regret/sorrow, or to change course in response to circumstances (used anthropomorphically of God)	“the LORD regretted,” “God was grieved”	God’s grief over human corruption (6:6) expresses genuine relational engagement with his creation’s moral condition, not indifferent detachment — theologically must be read alongside God’s unchanging character (cf. providence doctrine) as anthropomorphic expression of real relational grief, not evidence of divine fallibility or a change in God’s fundamental purposes.	后悔 (hòuhuǐ) / 忧心 (yōuxīn), CUV: 心中忧伤 (v.6). High risk. Teaching note: must not be read as implying God is capricious or lacks foreknowledge/sovereignty (which would undercut the Providence doctrine); classic theological treatments read this as anthropomorphic language conveying real relational grief, consistent with unchanging divine purpose.
חֵן (בְּעֵינֵי יהוה)	chen (b’einei YHWH)	“favor (in the eyes of the LORD)“	Unearned favor/grace bestowed by a superior on someone who has not earned it by achievement	”found favor in the eyes of the LORD,” “found grace”	Noah’s rescue is explicitly attributed to God’s chen, not to Noah’s own merit accumulation — the Old Testament root of the New Testament’s charis/grace doctrine, and the first explicit occurrence of the concept underlying the baseline’s Critical “grace” entry.	蒙恩 (méng ēn). Critical risk — direct conceptual link to baseline’s 恩典 entry. As with the baseline’s grace entry, this must never be taught as if Noah earned rescue through accumulated merit (功德) — the text is careful to note Noah’s righteousness (צַדִּיק, “righteous,” 6:9; 7:1) as a description of his character, not a merit-transaction that purchased God’s favor; his favor precedes and grounds his righteous obedience, not the reverse.
תֵּבָה	tevah	”ark, box”	A large floating vessel/chest (the same word, notably, describes the basket in which infant Moses is placed, Exodus 2:3 — “a small ark of deliverance”)	“ark”	God’s means of preserving Noah’s family and representative creation through judgment — a vehicle of both judgment (on the wider world) and deliverance (for those within it), establishing an early pattern of judgment-and-preservation later echoed in the Exodus narrative and, in the NT, read typologically of salvation through Christ (1 Peter 3:20-21).	方舟 (fāngzhōu). Low risk (established, unambiguous term; distinct from 约柜, the later “ark of the covenant,” a different Hebrew word and object — flag for translators not to conflate the two).
בְּרִית	brit	”covenant”	A binding, relational agreement/promise, here initiated unilaterally by God (“I will establish my covenant with you,” 6:18)	“covenant”	First explicit use of בְּרִית in Scripture — God’s gracious, self-obligating promise to preserve Noah and his family, establishing the covenant-making pattern (divine initiative, gracious promise) that will structure the entire book’s theology from here through the Abrahamic covenant (ch.15, 17) and beyond.	约 (yuē). High risk — reuse baseline exactly. As in the baseline, this must be taught as a relational, divinely initiated promise, not a negotiated contract between equal parties (合同/契约) — Noah does not negotiate terms; God unilaterally establishes and keeps the covenant.

Chapter 7

No new theological vocabulary beyond מַבּוּל (mabbul, “flood, deluge” — 洪水, hóngshuǐ, Low risk, straightforward term for the judgment-waters); reuses תֵּבָה, בְּרִית, חֵן from ch.6.

Chapter 8

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
עֹלָה	olah	”burnt offering”	A sacrificial offering wholly consumed by fire, ascending as smoke	”burnt offering”	Noah’s first act upon emerging from the ark is worship through sacrifice (8:20) — reestablishing the worship pattern begun in ch.4 immediately upon receiving deliverance, modeling grateful response to grace rather than presumption.	燔祭 (fánjì). Low risk (technical term, no significant folk-collision, though later ritual-sacrifice vocabulary throughout Genesis should be flagged for consistency with any later Pentateuch-curriculum glossary).
רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ	reyach nichoach	”pleasing/soothing aroma”	Literally “aroma of rest/appeasement” — an anthropomorphic idiom for God’s acceptance of the offering	”a pleasing aroma,” “a sweet-smelling savor”	Signals divine acceptance and, immediately following, God’s resolution never again to destroy the earth by flood (8:21-22) — grace and covenant faithfulness extended even to a still-sinful humanity (“even though the inclination of man’s heart is evil,” 8:21), a foundational text for common grace.	馨香之气 (xīnxiāng zhī qì). Medium risk. Teaching note: must not be read as God being literally placated/fed by the smoke (as in some ANE and folk-ritual conceptions of sacrifice as divine nourishment, echoed in some Chinese folk-ancestor-offering practices where food offerings sustain the spirit); the idiom expresses relational acceptance, not literal appeasement through sustenance.

Chapter 9 — The Noahic Covenant

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
קֶשֶׁת	qeshet	”bow” (rainbow)	Literally a “bow” (as in a weapon); repurposed here as the visible sign of the covenant	”rainbow,” “bow”	The rainbow functions as God’s self-given, unilateral reminder of his covenant promise (9:12-17), not a human-directed ritual object or omen-reading device — the covenant sign points back to God’s own commitment, not forward to human fortune.	虹 (hóng). Low risk, though a brief teaching note distinguishing this from folk-omen readings of rainbows/natural phenomena in Chinese popular religion is worthwhile.
צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים (reiterated)	tselem Elohim	”image of God”	See Ch.1 entry	”the image of God”	9:6 grounds the prohibition of murder explicitly in humanity’s continuing status as image-bearers even after the Fall — the image is marred, not destroyed, by sin, and every human life retains inviolable dignity on this basis.	形像 (xíngxiàng). Critical risk — reuse Ch.1 entry and warning exactly. This is the first explicit ethical application of the Image of God doctrine (grounding the sanctity of human life in law), essential for the doctrine’s full development.
בְּרִית (עוֹלָם)	brit (olam)	“covenant (everlasting)“	See Ch.6; here explicitly universal in scope (with “every living creature,” 9:10) and everlasting in duration	”everlasting covenant,” “covenant… forever”	The first covenant explicitly extended to all humanity and all creatures, not a select group — establishing the doctrine that God’s providential covenant faithfulness (preserving the natural order, seasons, etc.) is universal common grace, prior to and distinct from the particular covenant later made with Abraham (ch.12, 15, 17).	约 / 永远的约 (yuē / yǒngyuǎn de yuē). High risk — reuse baseline 约 exactly, extended with 永远的 for the everlasting-scope qualifier.

Chapter 10 — Table of Nations

No major new theologically load-bearing terms beyond גּוֹיִם / לְשֹׁנוֹתָם (goyim / l’shonotam, “nations… according to their languages”) — establishes the diversity of post-flood humanity as the backdrop for both the judgment at Babel (ch.11) and, ultimately, the promise that Abraham’s line will bring blessing to all these nations (12:3). 万国/邦国 (wànguó/bāngguó). Low risk, foundational for the later reuse of the baseline’s 外邦人 (gentiles) term once Israel becomes a distinct nation from ch.12 onward.

Chapter 11 — The Tower of Babel

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
מִגְדָּל	migdal	”tower”	A tall defensive/monumental structure	”tower”	The tower-building project (11:4) reflects humanity’s ambition to secure collective name/security (“let us make a name for ourselves”) independent of God — a corporate echo of the individual autonomy-seeking at the Fall.	塔 (tǎ). Low risk.
בָּלַל	balal	”confused, mixed up”	To mix/confound, here specifically of language — the narrative’s own wordplay origin for the place-name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, phonetically resembling בָּלַל)	“confused,” “the LORD confused their language”	God’s judgment on prideful, God-defying human unity — scattering the peoples and confusing their language, which becomes the backdrop against which Pentecost’s reversal (Acts 2, outside this curriculum’s scope but relevant background) and the Abrahamic call to become a blessing to “all nations” (12:3) are read.	变乱 (biànluàn) — CUV “耶和华在那里变乱天下人的言语.” Medium risk. Teaching note: the Hebrew wordplay (Babel/balal) is lost in Mandarin (巴别/变乱 do not sound alike); supply in commentary.

Chapter 12 — The Call and Covenant of Abram

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
לֶךְ־לְךָ	lekh-lekha	”go for yourself,” “go forth”	An emphatic imperative of departure, with the reflexive “for yourself” intensifying personal address	”Go from your country,” “Leave your country”	God’s initiating summons to Abram to leave everything familiar (land, kin, father’s house) — the paradigmatic instance of the Divine Calling doctrine already established in the baseline (蒙召的/呼召), here applied for the first time to an individual’s whole-life reorientation in response to a personal divine summons, not an impersonal destiny.	你要离开 (nǐ yào líkāi), conceptually connected to 蒙召的/呼召. High risk — reuse baseline “calling” concept. Per baseline, must not be rendered with language evoking 天命 (Mandate of Heaven) — Abram is not elevated to legitimate rule by an impersonal cosmic mandate but personally addressed and sent by a relational God.
בְּרָכָה (אֶעֶשְׂךָ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל…וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ)	berakhah	”blessing”	See Ch.1 entry (בָּרַךְ)	“I will bless you… and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”	The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise doctrine’s founding text: God’s blessing on Abram is explicitly designed to overflow to “all the families of the earth” (12:3) — the universal scope of the promise anticipates and grounds Romans’ “no distinction, Jew and Gentile” theology (already established in the baseline’s Universal Scope and Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrines) many centuries in advance.	祝福/福 (zhùfú/fú). Critical risk — see dedicated glossary entry. This is the single most important occurrence of the blessing vocabulary in the whole book for doctrinal purposes: every rendering must retain (a) God’s blessing as personal, gracious gift rather than folk fortune, and (b) its explicitly universal downstream scope, resisting any translation that narrows it to Abram’s ethnic line alone.
מִזְבֵּח	mizbeach	”altar”	A structure for offering sacrifice	”altar”	Abram’s repeated altar-building (12:7, 8) marks each stage of the promise’s unfolding with worship, establishing a pattern of covenant-response worship that recurs throughout the patriarchal narratives.	祭坛 (jìtán). Low risk.

Chapter 13

No new theologically load-bearing terms; reuses מִזְבֵּח, בְּרָכָה. Reiterates the land-promise component of the Abrahamic Covenant (“all the land you see I will give to you and your offspring [זֶרַע] forever,” 13:15) — reuse 后裔 exactly per baseline.

Chapter 14 — Melchizedek

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק	Malki-tsedeq	”my king is righteousness” (proper name, “king of righteousness”)	Proper name of the king-priest of Salem	”Melchizedek”	A mysterious king-priest who blesses Abram and receives a tithe from him (14:18-20), later cited as a type of Christ’s eternal priesthood (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5-7) — an important typological seed for later Christological doctrine, though outside Genesis’s immediate scope, worth flagging for curriculum cross-reference.	麦基洗德 (Màijīxǐdé). Medium risk (proper noun with outsized doctrinal-typological weight; teaching note recommended pointing forward to its NT significance).
אֵל עֶלְיוֹן	El Elyon	”God Most High”	A divine title emphasizing supremacy over all other claimed powers	”God Most High,” “the Most High God”	Melchizedek’s blessing (14:19-20) identifies his God with Abram’s God — an early inter-cultural affirmation that the one true God, not a tribal deity, is sovereign “Most High” over all — relevant background to the doctrine of Providence and Sovereignty.	至高的神 (zhìgāo de Shén). High risk. Teaching note: must be clearly identified as the same 神 established in the baseline’s “god” entry (not a distinct or rival high-god figure), reinforcing monotheism across cultural/priestly lines.
כֹּהֵן	kohen	”priest”	One who mediates between God and people, offering sacrifice/blessing	”priest”	First occurrence of “priest” in Scripture, applied to a non-Israelite figure prior to the Israelite priesthood’s establishment — significant for understanding priesthood as a broader category of mediatorial office that God can recognize even outside the later Levitical system.	祭司 (jìsī). Medium risk. Teaching note: distinguish from Buddhist monastic clergy (和尚) or Daoist priests (道士) — 祭司 denotes a specific mediatorial office recognized by the one true God, not a generic “religious professional” title transferable to any tradition’s clergy.
מַעֲשֵׂר	ma’aser	”tenth, tithe”	A tenth-part offering	”a tithe,” “a tenth”	Abram’s voluntary tithe to Melchizedek (14:20) establishes an early pattern of grateful, worshipful giving in response to divine deliverance, later formalized in Israel’s law.	十分之一 (shí fēn zhī yī). Low risk.

Chapter 15 — The Abrahamic Covenant Ratified

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Contextual theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוה	v’he’emin ba-YHWH	”and he believed/trusted in the LORD”	הֶאֱמִין = to consider reliable, to put one’s trust/confidence in	”he believed the LORD,” “Abram put his faith in the LORD”	Abram’s response to God’s promise of innumerable offspring is described as trust/belief directed at God’s own word and character, not proof or performance — establishing the Old Testament pattern later expounded at length in Romans 4 as the paradigm of justification by faith.	信 (xìn) — conceptually anchors the baseline’s 信心 (faith) entry. High risk — reuse baseline conceptual framework. As with 信心 in the baseline, the object of trust (Abram trusts YHWH specifically, regarding a specific promise) must remain explicit; this is not generic religious piety.
וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה	vayachshevehah lo tsedaqah	”and he credited/reckoned it to him as righteousness”	חָשַׁב = “to reckon, count, credit” (an accounting/ledger term); צְדָקָה = “righteousness"	"and he credited it to him as righteousness,” “and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”	This is the single most doctrinally decisive verse in the Old Testament for the doctrine of justification — the direct source-text for Romans 4:3 and the baseline’s “imputed_righteousness” entry. Righteousness here is credited/reckoned to Abram on the basis of his trust in God’s promise, not earned through works or moral cultivation.	算为义 (suàn wéi yì). Critical risk — MANDATORY reuse of baseline term exactly, with cross-reference note. This term must be flagged for every occurrence with a note explicitly linking Genesis 15:6 to Romans 4:3, since this is the OT text Paul cites as his primary proof-text for justification by faith. Any deviation from 算为义 here would sever the most important intertextual link in the entire curriculum between Genesis and Romans. Every occurrence also inherits the baseline’s warning against 修成正果 (Buddhist/Daoist attainment-through-cultivation) and against reading 义 as the Confucian virtue achieved by moral effort.
כָּרַת בְּרִית	karat brit	”cut a covenant”	Idiom for covenant-making, from the ritual of cutting/dividing sacrificial animals	”made a covenant,” “cut a covenant”	The covenant ceremony (15:9-18), including the smoking firepot and flaming torch passing between the divided animal pieces, is a self-obligating divine oath — notably, Abram is put into a deep sleep (15:12) and does not himself pass between the pieces; God alone binds himself unilaterally, underscoring that the Abrahamic covenant rests entirely on God’s own faithfulness, not a bilateral negotiation.	立约 (lìyuē). High risk — reuse baseline 约 exactly. Teaching note: God’s unilateral self-binding in this ceremony (Abram sleeps through it) is a uniquely important data point for teaching covenant as a gracious divine promise, not a contract negotiated between equal parties.

Chapter 16 — Hagar and Ishmael

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
מַלְאַךְ יהוה	malakh YHWH	”angel/messenger of the LORD”	A figure who speaks and acts with God’s own authority, at times seemingly identified with God himself (16:13)	“the angel of the LORD”	God’s personal, compassionate attention extends even to Hagar, an Egyptian slave woman outside the covenant line — an early instance of God’s providential care reaching beyond the elect line, relevant to both Providence and (proleptically) the eventual inclusion of the nations.	耶和华的使者 (Yēhéhuá de shǐzhě). Medium risk.
אֵל רֳאִי	El Roi	”God who sees (me)“	A divine title coined by Hagar herself in response to her experience	”the God who sees me”	Establishes God’s personal attentiveness even to the socially marginal and powerless — an important corrective against any reading of divine providence as concerned only with covenant elites.	看见我的神 (kànjiàn wǒ de Shén). Low risk (descriptive title, low collision risk, high pastoral significance).

Chapter 17 — Circumcision, the Covenant Sign

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
אֵל שַׁדַּי	El Shaddai	”God Almighty” (etymology debated; traditionally “Almighty,” possibly related to a root for “mountain” or “power”)	A divine title emphasizing overwhelming power and sufficiency	”God Almighty,” “the Almighty God”	Introduced precisely at the moment God promises the physically impossible (a child to a 99-year-old man and 90-year-old woman, 17:1, 17) — grounding the promise’s credibility in God’s unlimited power, directly relevant to the doctrine of Providence and Sovereignty.	全能的神 (quánnéng de Shén). High risk. Teaching note: distinguish from a generic “powerful deity” among many in a folk pantheon — this title asserts unrivaled, unlimited power specifically in service of covenant-keeping faithfulness.
בְּרִית מִילָה / מוּל	brit milah / mul	”covenant of circumcision” / “to circumcise”	The physical sign marking covenant membership in Abraham’s line	”the covenant of circumcision,” “circumcised”	The first physical, bodily sign of covenant membership — establishing that the Abrahamic covenant, while gracious in origin, entails a visible marker of belonging and obedience, later reinterpreted in the New Testament as fulfilled by circumcision “of the heart” (Romans 2:29, within the baseline curriculum’s scope).	割礼 (gēlǐ). High risk. Teaching note: important not to present this as a self-generated meritorious work earning the covenant (the covenant and promise precede and ground the command to be circumcised, 17:1-8 precedes 17:9-14) — it is a responsive sign of an already-given promise, not its precondition.
בְּרִית עוֹלָם	brit olam	”everlasting covenant”	Perpetual, unceasing covenant	”everlasting covenant,” “covenant… forever”	Reiterates and intensifies the permanence of God’s covenant commitment to Abraham’s line (17:7, 13, 19) — contrasted in the baseline’s Davidic Covenant doctrine note with the revocable Mandate of Heaven governing Chinese dynastic legitimacy: this is an unconditional, perpetual divine promise, not a conditional mandate that can be withdrawn for unworthiness.	永远的约 (yǒngyuǎn de yuē). High risk — reuse Ch.9 rendering.
אַבְרָהָם / שָׂרָה	Avraham / Sarah	”father of many [nations]” / “princess”	Renamed from אַבְרָם (Avram, “exalted father”) and שָׂרַי (Sarai)	“Abraham” / “Sarah”	The divine renaming signals a decisive, sovereign redefinition of identity and destiny — paralleling later renamings (Jacob→Israel, ch.32) as a recurring motif of God’s authority to define his covenant people’s identity.	亚伯拉罕 / 撒拉 (Yàbólāhǎn / Sālā). Low risk (established proper nouns; note name-meaning significance for teaching).

Chapter 18

No major new load-bearing terms beyond the rhetorical question הֲיִפָּלֵא מֵיהוה דָּבָר (hayipale me-YHWH davar, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”, 18:14) — a foundational statement for the doctrine of Providence and the Sovereignty of God, directly parallel to the baseline’s providence entry (神的护理). 耶和华岂有难成的事吗 (Yēhéhuá qǐ yǒu nán chéng de shì ma). High risk: must be taught as confident trust in God’s specific covenant-keeping power (in context, providing a child to Sarah), not a generic folk-fatalistic affirmation that “whatever happens is heaven’s will” (avoid 天意 per baseline’s Providence warning).

Chapter 19 — Judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah

Reuses עָוֹן/חֵטְא (sin/iniquity) vocabulary established in ch.3-4; no new theologically load-bearing terms requiring separate glossary entries. Reinforces Sin’s Consequences doctrine: God’s judgment on entrenched, unrepented communal sin, paired (18:22-33) with Abraham’s intercessory pleading — an early instance of intercession vocabulary that anticipates the baseline’s 代求 (intercession) entry, though the specific term is not introduced here.

Chapter 20

No new theologically load-bearing terms; reuses covenant/promise vocabulary. Notable minor term: נָבִיא-adjacent description of Abraham as one through whom God speaks and who is protected as such (20:7, implicitly prophetic status, though the noun נָבִיא itself is not used) — flagged only as background for the later formal “prophet” (先知) category, not requiring a new glossary entry here.

Chapter 21 — Birth of Isaac

No new theologically load-bearing terms beyond the name יִצְחָק (Yitschaq, “he laughs,” from Sarah’s laughter at the promise, 18:12; 21:6) — 以撒 (Yǐsā). Low risk (proper noun); reinforces the Abrahamic Covenant’s fulfillment-through-impossibility theme already established under El Shaddai (ch.17).

Chapter 22 — The Binding of Isaac

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
נִסָּה	nissah	”tested, tried”	To put to the test, to prove the genuineness of something (not to tempt toward evil, a distinct Hebrew concept)	“God tested Abraham”	Establishes that God’s testing of faith (distinct from Satanic temptation to sin) aims to demonstrate/refine genuine trust, not to induce failure — an important distinction for the doctrine of faith’s authenticity under trial.	试验 (shìyàn). Medium risk. Teaching note: distinguish from folk/karmic “trial by ordeal” framings; this is a relationally purposeful test by a God who already knows the outcome but brings Abraham’s faith to visible, historical demonstration (cf. James 2:21-23’s use of this very episode).
יהוה יִרְאֶה	YHWH Yireh	”The LORD will see/provide”	A name Abraham gives the site, based on God’s provision of the substitute ram	”The LORD will provide”	Establishes God as the one who sees the need and provides the substitute — profound typological background for substitutionary atonement (the ram dies in Isaac’s place), directly relevant to later doctrine of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice, though formal atonement doctrine belongs to a later curriculum.	耶和华以勒 (Yēhéhuá Yǐlè). Medium risk (proper name/place, but doctrinally rich; teaching note on substitutionary typology recommended).
אַיִל	ayil	”ram”	The male sheep provided as Isaac’s substitute	”a ram”	The literal substitute that spares Isaac’s life — the entire episode is widely read in Christian tradition as typologically anticipating Christ as the ultimate substitutionary sacrifice.	公羊 (gōngyáng). Low risk in itself, though flag the typological weight for teaching.

Chapter 23

No new theologically load-bearing terms; land-purchase/burial narrative. Reinforces the concrete, historical rootedness of the land-promise component of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Chapter 24 — Isaac’s Bride

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת	chesed ve’emet	”steadfast love/covenant loyalty and faithfulness/truth”	חֶסֶד = loyal, covenant-bound love and kindness, often untranslatable by a single English word (also rendered “lovingkindness,” “mercy,” “grace”); אֱמֶת = “truth, faithfulness, reliability"	"steadfast love and faithfulness,” “kindness and faithfulness,” “mercy and truth”	Abraham’s servant prays that God would show חֶסֶד to his master (24:12, 14) — this word-pair becomes the primary Old Testament vocabulary for Covenant Faithfulness across Generations, God’s reliable, loyal love that keeps his promises across the patriarchal generations regardless of human failure.	慈爱和诚实 (cí’ài hé chéngshí) / 恩慈 (ēncí). High risk. Teaching note: חֶסֶד must be distinguished from the Confucian virtue of 仁 (rén, “benevolence” as a cultivated ethical disposition owed within properly ordered relationships) — biblical חֶסֶד is God’s own self-obligated covenant loyalty flowing from his prior promise, not a virtue humans cultivate through moral self-effort, though it does also describe faithful human covenant-loyalty (as here, hoped for in the servant’s mission). Distinct from, but conceptually adjacent to, the baseline’s 恩典 (grace) entry — care should be taken not to collapse חֶסֶד and חֵן into a single undifferentiated Mandarin gloss, since covenant loyalty (חֶסֶד, typically enacted toward those already in relationship) and unmerited initiating favor (חֵן, often toward the undeserving) are related but distinguishable emphases.

Chapter 25 — Esau, Jacob, and the Birthright

New term: בְּכֹרָה (bekhorah, “birthright/firstborn status”) — 长子的名分 (zhǎngzǐ de míngfèn). Medium risk: the firstborn’s special inheritance/blessing status, which Esau despises and forfeits (25:34), sets up the recurring Genesis theme that covenant blessing flows by God’s sovereign choice (later explicit in 25:23, “the older shall serve the younger”) rather than by natural birth-order entitlement — directly relevant to the doctrine of Providence and Sovereignty, and the seed of the later doctrine of election (already in the baseline as 拣选, though Genesis does not use that specific term here).

Chapter 26

No new theologically load-bearing terms; the Abrahamic covenant promise is reiterated to Isaac (26:2-5) using established vocabulary (בְּרָכָה, זֶרַע/后裔).

Chapter 27 — Jacob Steals the Blessing

No new theologically load-bearing terms; reuses בְּרָכָה (blessing) with heightened dramatic weight, showing that the patriarchs themselves regarded the spoken blessing (祝福) as consequential and (once given) irrevocable (27:33-37) — reinforcing the Critical-risk teaching note on 祝福/福 established under Chapter 1 and Chapter 12: blessing here functions as an efficacious, once-given divine-human speech-act, not a fortune that can be freely re-negotiated.

Chapter 28 — Jacob’s Vision at Bethel

New terms: סֻלָּם (sulam, “ladder/stairway” — 梯 (tī), Low risk) connecting heaven and earth in Jacob’s dream (28:12), and בֵּית־אֵל (Beit-El, “house of God” — 伯特利 (Bótèlì), Low risk, proper noun). Theological significance: God renews the Abrahamic covenant promise to Jacob personally (28:13-15) using established covenant/blessing/land/seed vocabulary, reinforcing Covenant Faithfulness across Generations — the same promise made to Abraham (ch.12) and confirmed to Isaac (ch.26) is now confirmed to Jacob without any change in its content, demonstrating God’s faithfulness to his word across three generations regardless of the recipients’ moral failures (Jacob has just deceived his father and fled his brother’s wrath).

Chapters 29–31 — Jacob’s Marriages and Years with Laban

No new theologically load-bearing terms; reuses בְּרָכָה (God blessing Jacob’s flocks, e.g. 30:27, 30) and general providence themes (God’s active involvement in Jacob’s prosperity despite Laban’s manipulation) without introducing new vocabulary requiring separate entries. Reviewed and explicitly noted as reusing established terms.

Chapter 32 — Jacob Becomes Israel

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
יִשְׂרָאֵל	Yisrael	”he strives/struggles with God” or “God strives/prevails” (etymology explained in-text as “you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed,” 32:28)	The new name given to Jacob after his night-long wrestling encounter with God (32:24-30)	“Israel”	Marks a decisive transformation of identity — not merely a name change but a re-definition of covenant identity, becoming the eponymous ancestor of the covenant nation; reuse the baseline’s exact rendering.	以色列 (Yǐsèliè). Medium risk — reuse baseline exactly. Teaching note: the wrestling narrative (a physical struggle with a divine figure who both blesses and wounds, 32:25, 29) should be taught carefully as a picture of costly, transformative covenant relationship rather than as combat between equals — God graciously allows himself to be “overcome” in blessing, not because Jacob possesses independent power over God.
פְּנוּאֵל / פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים	Peniel / panim el panim	”face of God” / “face to face”	Jacob’s naming of the place, reflecting his sense of having seen God directly and survived (32:30)	“Peniel,” “I have seen God face to face”	An extraordinary claim of direct encounter with God — relevant background for later biblical tension around seeing God’s face and living (cf. Exodus 33:20), and for the developing doctrine of God’s gracious self-disclosure to the patriarchs.	毗努伊勒 (Pínǔyīlè) / 面对面 (miànduìmiàn). Low risk (proper noun / descriptive phrase).

Chapter 33

No new theologically load-bearing terms; reunion of Jacob and Esau, reuse of established covenant/blessing vocabulary.

Chapter 34 — Dinah

No new theologically load-bearing terms relevant to the eight designated doctrines; reviewed and explicitly noted as introducing no new vocabulary requiring glossary treatment.

Chapter 35 — Covenant Renewed at Bethel

No new theologically load-bearing terms; God reconfirms the name “Israel” and the covenant promise (35:9-12) using established vocabulary (אֵל שַׁדַּי, בְּרָכָה, זֶרַע/后裔). Reviewed and explicitly noted as reusing established terms.

Chapter 36 — Esau’s Genealogy

No new theological vocabulary; purely genealogical. Reviewed and explicitly noted as introducing no new terms.

Chapter 37 — Joseph Sold into Slavery

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
חֲלוֹם	chalom	”dream”	A night-vision, here specifically a vehicle of divine revelation about the future (37:5-11)	“dream”	Begins the extended Joseph narrative in which God’s providential plan unfolds through ordinary and extraordinary means, including prophetic dreams — foundational to the doctrine of Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering.	梦 (mèng). Medium risk. Teaching note: must be distinguished from folk dream-divination practice (占梦, interpreting dreams as omens to be decoded through a fixed symbolic system, as in traditional Chinese dream-books/梦书) — in Genesis, dream-revelation and its interpretation come specifically from God (explicit in 40:8; 41:16, “it is not in me; God will give the answer”), not from a human diviner’s technique.
שִׂנְאָה	sin’ah	”hatred”	Intense hostility/enmity	”hated him,” “they hated him”	The brothers’ hatred (37:4, 5, 8) — rooted in favoritism and jealousy — is the proximate human evil through which God’s larger providential purpose will nonetheless be worked out (cf. 50:20), establishing from the outset the tension between human sin and divine providence that structures the entire Joseph narrative.	恨 (hèn). Medium risk.

Chapter 38 — Judah and Tamar

No new theologically load-bearing terms relevant to the eight designated doctrines; reviewed and explicitly noted as introducing no new vocabulary requiring glossary treatment (though narratively significant for the Judah/messianic line, addressed more directly in ch.49).

Chapter 39 — Joseph in Potiphar’s House

New phrase (not a single lexical term but a recurring theological formula): וַיהוה הָיָה אֶת־יוֹסֵף (va-YHWH hayah et-Yosef, “and the LORD was with Joseph,” 39:2, 21, 23) — 耶和华与约瑟同在 (Yēhéhuá yǔ Yuēsè tóngzài). High risk. This formula recurs at Joseph’s lowest points (as a slave, then as a falsely imprisoned man) and is the narrative’s own theological commentary asserting continuous divine providence precisely amid ongoing suffering and injustice, not only after deliverance — central to the doctrine of Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering. Must not be softened into a general good-luck formula (avoid any resonance with folk “having good fortune/贵人相助” framing that would locate the cause in impersonal luck or fated favor rather than the personal, purposive presence of God).

Chapter 40 — Joseph Interprets Dreams

Reuses חֲלוֹם (dream, see ch.37). New term: פִּתְרוֹן (pitaron, “interpretation”) — 解释/解梦 (jiěshì/jiěmèng). Medium risk: as with ch.37’s dream-vocabulary, must be distinguished from folk dream-divination technique; Joseph explicitly attributes interpretive ability to God alone (40:8), not to a learned divinatory craft.

Chapter 41 — Joseph Exalted in Egypt

No major new theologically load-bearing terms beyond reuse of חֲלוֹם/פִּתְרוֹן; reinforces the providence formula established in ch.39 (41:38-39, Pharaoh recognizing “the Spirit of God” in Joseph — רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, reusing the exact phrase from Genesis 1:2, translated 神的灵 for consistency per the Core Passage entry above; High risk, reuse Ch.1 rendering and warning exactly, noting the remarkable canonical echo of the creation-Spirit language being recognized even by a pagan Egyptian king).

Chapters 42–44 — Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

No new theologically load-bearing terms across these three chapters; they continue the Joseph narrative’s dramatic tension using established vocabulary (חֲלוֹם/dream fulfillment implicitly, sin/guilt consciousness among the brothers, 42:21-22, reusing established עָוֹן/חֵטְא-family vocabulary). Reviewed and explicitly noted as reusing established terms; no new glossary entries required.

Chapter 45 — Joseph Reveals Himself: The Providence Formula Stated Explicitly

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
לֹא־אַתֶּם שְׁלַחְתֶּם אֹתִי הֵנָּה כִּי הָאֱלֹהִים	lo-atem sh’lachtem oti henah ki ha’Elohim	”it was not you who sent me here, but God”	A direct theological interpretation, spoken by Joseph himself, of his entire ordeal	”it was not you who sent me here, but God,” “So it was not you who sent me here, but God”	The narrative’s clearest first statement of the Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering doctrine: human agents (the brothers) acted with real, culpable evil intent, and yet God’s sovereign purpose was simultaneously and non-contradictorily being accomplished through their very actions — establishing a compatibilist model of divine sovereignty and genuine human moral responsibility that will be restated even more sharply in 50:20.	不是你们打发我到这里来，是神 (bùshì nǐmen dǎfa wǒ dào zhèlǐ lái, shì Shén). Critical risk. Teaching note: this must be carefully distinguished from a fatalistic reading in which the brothers bear no real guilt (an easy misreading given surface resonance with impersonal-fate language such as 命运/天意, both flagged as forbidden-adjacent in the baseline’s Providence and Election entries) — Joseph’s statement affirms both realities at once: real human evil/guilt, and God’s sovereign, purposive, good overruling of it. This is the doctrinal high-water mark of the entire book for the Providence and Sovereignty doctrine.

Chapters 46–47 — Jacob’s Family Settles in Egypt

No new theologically load-bearing terms; reuses established covenant/blessing/providence vocabulary as the family relocates under Joseph’s providential provision. Reviewed and explicitly noted as reusing established terms.

Chapter 48 — Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

No new theologically load-bearing terms beyond reuse of בְּרָכָה (blessing, see Ch.1, Ch.12 entries) in the patriarchal blessing-transmission pattern, here crossing the expected birth-order (Jacob deliberately blesses the younger Ephraim above the older Manasseh, 48:13-20), reinforcing the ch.25 theme that covenant blessing flows by sovereign divine/patriarchal choice rather than natural entitlement.

Chapter 49 — Jacob’s Blessing on the Twelve Tribes

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
שֵׁבֶט / שֹׁלֵט	shevet / sholet	”scepter, staff / ruler”	Symbol of royal authority	”the scepter,” “the ruler’s staff”	Jacob’s blessing on Judah (49:10) — “the scepter shall not depart from Judah… until he comes to whom it belongs” — is a key messianic-royal prophecy, understood in later canonical development as pointing to the Davidic (and ultimately messianic) line, directly continuing the Genesis 3:15/12:3/22:18 seed-of-promise trajectory into a specifically royal register.	杖/权杖 (zhàng/quánzhàng). Medium risk. Teaching note: connect explicitly to the seed-of-promise thread (后裔) established from Genesis 3:15 onward, and forward to the baseline’s Davidic Covenant doctrine entry, so learners see Genesis 49:10 as an early link in that chain.
שִׁילֹה	Shiloh	proper noun/term of disputed etymology, traditionally read as a messianic title (“until Shiloh comes”) or as a place name	Debated: possibly “to whom it belongs,” “tribute,” or the place-name Shiloh	”until Shiloh comes,” “until he comes to whom it belongs”	Whatever its precise etymology, the verse’s referent is widely read in Christian tradition as pointing toward the coming Messiah from Judah’s line — worth flagging for its interpretive difficulty and doctrinal weight.	细罗 / 示罗 (Xìluó/Shìluó), transliterated per CUV, with alternative interpretive rendering “until he comes to whom it belongs” (直等细罗来到, 那时万民都必归顺) also attested. Medium risk — an inherently ambiguous term; flag for theologian review on how to render/annotate given genuine scholarly disagreement over etymology.

Chapter 50 — Joseph’s Final Word: Providence Restated

Term	Transliteration	Literal meaning	Semantic range	English variants	Theological meaning	Mandarin rendering & risk
וְאַתֶּם חֲשַׁבְתֶּם עָלַי רָעָה אֱלֹהִים חֲשָׁבָהּ לְטֹבָה	v’atem chashavtem alai ra’ah, Elohim chashavah l’tovah	”and you thought/planned evil against me, [but] God thought/planned it for good”	חָשַׁב = “to think, plan, intend, reckon” (the same accounting/reckoning root as חָשַׁב in the “reckoned as righteousness” of Genesis 15:6!)	“you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good,” “As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good”	The book’s climactic, most explicit statement of the Providence and Sovereignty of God doctrine and the capstone of the Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering doctrine: real human evil intent (רָעָה) and God’s sovereign good purpose (טוֹבָה) are held together without contradiction — echoing and intensifying 45:8, and directly anticipated by God’s own repeated “saw that it was good” verdict on creation itself (1:4-31), now extended to God’s providential governance of history and suffering, not only of the original creation. Notably reuses the same root (חָשַׁב, “reckon/credit”) that structures Genesis 15:6’s “credited to him as righteousness” — an intriguing lexical echo worth flagging for advanced study, though the theological referents differ (moral evaluation/intention here vs. forensic crediting there).	你们的意思是要害我，但神的意思原是好的 (nǐmen de yìsi shì yào hài wǒ, dàn Shén de yìsi yuán shì hǎo de). Critical risk. This is the doctrinal thesis-statement verse of the entire Joseph narrative and one of the most important verses in Genesis for the Providence doctrine; per the Theological Consistency Rules established in the baseline document, this verse’s Mandarin rendering must be fixed and applied identically across every document in the curriculum that quotes it, given its status as a “high-use pastoral verse” fully comparable to Romans 8:28 in the baseline’s consistency mandate. Teaching note: must not be flattened into an impersonal 天意/命运 formula (“it was just meant to be”) — the text affirms a specific, personal, purposive divine intention (טוֹבָה, “for good”) standing over against specific, culpable human evil intention (רָעָה), not an impersonal cosmic balancing.

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Coverage Confirmation

All fifty chapters of Genesis have been reviewed. Chapters introducing no new theological vocabulary beyond terms already catalogued (Chapters 1 [merged into Core Passage], 5 [reuse-with-extension], 7, 10, 13, 18–21, 23, 25–27, 29–31, 33–36, 38, 40, 42–48) are explicitly noted as such above, per the full-book-coverage mandate. No chapter has been silently omitted.

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See analysis/08_core_glossary.md for the consolidated per-term glossary table with translation risk ratings drawn from this analysis.