Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Jeremiah (English → Mandarin)
How to Read This Table
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Term | English gloss of the load-bearing term |
| Hebrew (Translit.) | Original Hebrew word and transliteration; LXX Greek noted where relevant |
| Mandarin | Required Mandarin rendering |
| Pinyin | Pronunciation guide |
| Risk | Critical / High / Medium / Low, per baseline risk definitions |
| Doctrine | Curriculum doctrine category this term primarily serves |
| Status | Reused (baseline) = must match baseline exactly / New (Jeremiah) = proposed new entry |
| Chapters | Primary chapter(s) of occurrence |
| Term | Hebrew (Translit.) | Mandarin | Pinyin | Risk | Doctrine | Status | Chapters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new covenant | בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה (berit chadashah) / LXX διαθήκη καινή | 新约 | xīnyuē | Critical | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 31 (core), 33 |
| covenant | בְּרִית (berit) | 约 | yuē | High | The New Covenant; Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | Reused (baseline) | 3, 11, 31, 33, 34 |
| the LORD (YHWH) | יְהוָה (YHWH) | 耶和华 | Yēhéhuá | Critical | The New Covenant; all doctrines (oracle formula) | New (Jeremiah) | throughout |
| God (Elohim) | אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) | 神 | Shén | Critical | The New Covenant; God’s Sovereign Plans | Reused (baseline) | throughout |
| declares the LORD (oracle formula) | נְאֻם־יְהוָה (ne’um-YHWH) | 这是耶和华说的 / 耶和华说 | zhè shì Yēhéhuá shuō de | High | True Prophecy (authentication of divine speech) | New (Jeremiah) | throughout |
| word of the LORD | דְּבַר־יְהוָה (devar-YHWH) | 耶和华的话 / 神的话 | Yēhéhuá de huà | High | False Prophets versus True Prophecy | New (Jeremiah) | 1, 14, 23, 26, 28, 36 |
| law / instruction (torah) | תּוֹרָה (torah) | 律法 | lǜfǎ | High | The New Covenant | Reused (baseline) | 31 (core), 6:19, 9:13 |
| heart | לֵב (lev) | 心 | xīn | High | The New Covenant; Individual Responsibility | New (Jeremiah) | 4, 17, 24, 31 (core), 32:39 |
| know (relational/covenantal) | יָדַע (yada) | 认识 | rènshi | High | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 9, 24, 31 (core) |
| forgive | סָלַח (salach) | 赦免 | shèmiǎn | Medium | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 31 (core), 33:8, 36:3 |
| remember (sin) no more | זָכַר (zakhar) | 不再记念 | bù zài jìniàn | Medium | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 31 (core) |
| iniquity | עָוֹן (avon) | 罪孽 | zuìniè | Medium | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | New (Jeremiah) | 31 (core), 5:25, 14:20 |
| sin | חַטָּאָה (chatta’ah) | 罪 | zuì | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness; Individual Responsibility | Reused (baseline) | throughout |
| people (of God) | עַם (am) | 子民 | zǐmín | Medium | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 31 (core) |
| house of Israel / house of Judah | בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל / בֵּית יְהוּדָה | 以色列家 / 犹大家 | Yǐsèliè jiā / Yóudà jiā | Low | The New Covenant | Partial reuse (以色列 baseline; 家/犹大 new) | 31 (core), 33 |
| Judah (proper name) | יְהוּדָה (Yehudah) | 犹大 | Yóudà | Low | (proper name) | New (Jeremiah) | throughout |
| Egypt (proper name) | מִצְרַיִם (Mitzrayim) | 埃及 | Āijí | Low | (proper name) | New (Jeremiah) | 31 (core), 42-44, 46 |
| husband (covenant metaphor) | בָּעַל (ba’al) | 丈夫 | zhàngfu | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | New (Jeremiah) | 3, 31:32 |
| Baal (idol name) | בַּעַל (Ba’al) | 巴力 | Bālì | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry | New (Jeremiah) | 2, 7, 11, 19, 23, 32 |
| idols | הֶבֶל / אֱלִיל (hevel/elil) | 偶像 | ǒuxiàng | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry | New (Jeremiah) | 2, 10, 16, 44 |
| covenant unfaithfulness / harlotry (metaphor) | זָנָה (zanah) | 淫乱 / 行淫 | yínluàn / xíng yín | Critical | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry | New (Jeremiah) | 2, 3 |
| circumcise the heart | מוּל לְבַבְכֶם | 心里的割礼 | xīnlǐ de gēlǐ | Medium | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 4:4 |
| judgment | (contextual; שָׁפַט root) | 审判 | shěnpàn | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | New (Jeremiah) | 4, 21, 25, 39 |
| wrath / anger | חֵמָה / אַף (chemah/aph) | 忿怒 | fènnù | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | New (Jeremiah) | 25, and throughout |
| cup of wrath | כּוֹס (kos) | 忿怒的杯 | fènnù de bēi | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness; God’s Sovereign Plans | New (Jeremiah) | 25 |
| watchman | צֹפֶה (tsofeh) | 守望的人 | shǒuwàng de rén | Low | False Prophets versus True Prophecy | New (Jeremiah) | 6 |
| false “peace” | שָׁלוֹם (shalom, ironic use) | 平安 | píng’ān | Medium | False Prophets versus True Prophecy | Reused (baseline) | 6, 8, 14 |
| peace / welfare (genuine) | שָׁלוֹם (shalom) | 平安 | píng’ān | Medium | God’s Sovereign Plans; Hope of Restoration | Reused (baseline) | 29, 33 |
| temple | הֵיכָל / בַּיִת (heikhal/bayit) | 圣殿 | shèngdiàn | Medium | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | New (Jeremiah) | 7, 26 |
| burnt offering / sacrifice | עֹלָה (olah) | 燔祭 | fánjì | Medium | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness | New (Jeremiah) | 7 |
| weeping / lament | בָּכָה (bakhah) | 哭 / 哀哭 | kū / āikū | Low | The Weeping Prophet and the Cost of Faithful Ministry | New (Jeremiah) | 8, 9, 13, 20 |
| false prophet | נָבִיא שֶׁקֶר (navi sheqer) | 假先知 | jiǎ xiānzhī | High | False Prophets versus True Prophecy | New (Jeremiah) | 14, 23, 28 |
| prophet | נָבִיא (navi) | 先知 | xiānzhī | Low | False Prophets versus True Prophecy | Reused (baseline) | throughout |
| prophecy | (contextual) | 预言 | yùyán | Medium | False Prophets versus True Prophecy; Hope of Restoration | Reused (baseline) | throughout |
| the living God | אֵל חַי (El chai) | 活神 / 永生的神 | huó Shén / yǒngshēng de Shén | High | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry | New (Jeremiah) | 10 |
| trust | בָּטַח (batach) | 倚靠 / 信靠 | yǐkào / xìnkào | Medium | Individual Responsibility | New (Jeremiah) | 17 |
| faith | (cf. πίστις conceptually) | 信心 | xìnxīn | High | Individual Responsibility | Reused (baseline) | (conceptual cross-reference) |
| potter and clay | יוֹצֵר / חֹמֶר (yotser/chomer) | 窑匠 / 陶土 | yáojiàng / táotǔ | Medium | God’s Sovereign Plans for His People | New (Jeremiah) | 18 |
| righteous Branch | צֶמַח צַדִּיק (tsemach tsaddiq) | 公义的苗裔 | gōngyì de miáoyì | Critical | Messianic Promise (cross-ref. baseline); Hope of Restoration | New (Jeremiah) | 23, 33 |
| the LORD our righteousness | יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ (YHWH Tsidqenu) | 耶和华我们的义 | Yēhéhuá wǒmen de yì | Critical | Hope of Restoration; cross-ref. baseline 义 | New (Jeremiah) | 23, 33 |
| righteousness | צֶדֶק / צְדָקָה (tsedeq/tsedaqah) | 义 | yì | Critical | Hope of Restoration; The New Covenant | Reused (baseline) | 23, 33 |
| seventy years | (numeric prophecy) | 七十年 | qīshí nián | Medium | Fulfillment of Prophecy (cross-ref. baseline) | New (Jeremiah) | 25 |
| plans / purposes | מַחֲשָׁבָה (machashavah) | 意念 / 计划 | yìniàn / jìhuà | High | God’s Sovereign Plans for His People | New (Jeremiah) | 29 |
| hope | תִּקְוָה (tiqvah) | 指望 / 希望 | zhǐwàng / xīwàng | Medium | Hope of Restoration after Exile | New (Jeremiah) | 29 |
| return / repent | שׁוּב (shuv) | 归回 / 悔改 | guīhuí / huǐgǎi | High | Hope of Restoration; Individual Responsibility | New (Jeremiah) | 3, 16, 29-31 |
| everlasting love | אַהֲבַת עוֹלָם (ahavat olam) | 永远的爱 | yǒngyuǎn de ài | High | The New Covenant | New (Jeremiah) | 31 |
| firstborn son | בְּכֹר (bekhor) | 长子 | zhǎngzǐ | Medium | The New Covenant (cross-ref. baseline sonship caution) | New (Jeremiah) | 31 |
| individual responsibility (proverb refuted) | (31:29-30 idiom) | 各人担当自己的罪 | gèrén dāndāng zìjǐ de zuì | High | Individual Responsibility | New (Jeremiah) | 31 |
| redeem / redemption | גָּאַל (ga’al) | 赎 / 赎回 | shú / shúhuí | High | Hope of Restoration after Exile | New (Jeremiah) | 32 |
| manumission / release | דְּרוֹר (deror) | 释放 | shìfàng | Low | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness (illustrative) | New (Jeremiah) | 34 |
| scroll (inspired word) | מְגִלָּה (megillah) | 书卷 | shūjuàn | Medium | Inspiration of Scripture (cross-ref. baseline) | New (Jeremiah) | 36 |
| remnant | שְׁאָר / שְׁאֵרִית (she’ar/she’erit) | 余民 | yúmín | Medium | Hope of Restoration after Exile | New (Jeremiah) | 42-44 |
| the queen of heaven | מַלְכַּת הַשָּׁמַיִם (malkat hashamayim) | 天后 | Tiānhòu | Critical | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry | New (Jeremiah) | 7, 44 |
| yoke | עֹל (ol) | 轭 | è | Medium | God’s Sovereign Plans for His People | New (Jeremiah) | 27, 28 |
| called / calling | (cf. qara root, prophetic call) | 蒙召的 / 呼召 | méngzhào de / hūzhào | High | Divine Calling (cross-ref. baseline) | Reused (baseline) | 1 |
| holy / consecrated | קָדַשׁ (qadash) | 分别为圣 | fēnbié wéi shèng | High | The Weeping Prophet (calling/consecration); cross-ref. baseline 圣洁 | Reused (baseline, adapted) | 1 |
| grace / favor | חֵן (chen) | 恩典 | ēndiǎn | Critical | The New Covenant; Hope of Restoration | Reused (baseline) | 31:2 |
| glory | (כָּבוֹד, kavod, contextual) | 荣耀 | róngyào | Medium | Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry | Reused (baseline) | 2:11 |
| nations / gentiles | גּוֹיִם (goyim) | 外邦人 | wàibāngrén | Medium | God’s Sovereign Plans for His People | Reused (baseline) | 1, 46-51 |
| David (proper name) | דָּוִד (David) | 大卫 | Dàwèi | Low | Hope of Restoration; cross-ref. baseline | Reused (baseline) | 23, 33 |
| Israel (proper name) | יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisra’el) | 以色列 | Yǐsèliè | Medium | The New Covenant | Reused (baseline) | throughout |
| Baruch (proper name) | בָּרוּךְ (Baruch) | 巴录 | Bālù | Low | The Weeping Prophet (ministry support) | New (Jeremiah) | 32, 36, 45 |
| Nebuchadnezzar (proper name) | נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר | 尼布甲尼撒 | Níbùjiǎnísā | Low | (proper name) | New (Jeremiah) | 21-52 |
| Babylon (proper name) | בָּבֶל (Bavel) | 巴比伦 | Bābǐlún | Low | God’s Sovereign Plans for His People | New (Jeremiah) | 20-52 |
| Rachel (proper name) | רָחֵל (Rachel) | 拉结 | Lājié | Low | Hope of Restoration (cross-ref. Matthew 2:18) | New (Jeremiah) | 31:15 |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Enforcement
- Terms marked “Reused (baseline)” must be pulled directly from
translation_memory.jsonwith no deviation. Any Phase 2 segment using a variant rendering for these terms must be flagged and corrected before acceptance. - All six Critical-tier “New (Jeremiah)” terms (新约, 耶和华, 淫乱/行淫, 公义的苗裔, 耶和华我们的义, 天后) require human theologian review before being written into an updated translation memory version, per the baseline’s escalation rule for Critical-risk terms.
- 耶和华 vs. 神 co-occurrence: because Jeremiah moves fluidly between YHWH’s personal name and the generic Elohim/theos term within the same verse or passage (e.g., 31:33), every lesson introducing this material must include a short explanatory note that these are the same one God under two Hebrew designations, to prevent readers from inferring two separate divine referents.
- 新约 (new covenant) requires a standing footnote in every Phase 2 document: distinguishing the covenant relationship Jeremiah prophesies from the New Testament book collection that takes its name from this promise.
- 天后 (queen of heaven) requires mandatory dual review (human theologian AND native speaker cultural review) before any Phase 2 use, given its live collision with the contemporary folk deity Mazu’s title.
- This glossary extends, and does not contradict,
translation_memory.jsonv1 andbible_term_registry.jsonfrom the Romans baseline. Upon Phase 1 Step 17 approval, all “New (Jeremiah)” entries should be merged into an updated translation memory version (v2) with incremented version number, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: ēndiǎn
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 造化, 福气, 阴德
Original: חֵן
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: NEVER use 功德, 阴德, 福气, or 造化. [Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: grounds Israel’s restoration (31:2-3, ‘the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness’) and forgiveness (33:8). Must be paired with 永远的爱 (everlasting love, new Jeremiah entry) as the twin, unearned grounds of New Covenant restoration — resisting the temptation, strong at this exact narrative moment after decades of exile, to read restoration as Israel having finally ‘paid off’ its guilt through suffering (a merit-ledger reading native to the destination culture’s folk-Buddhist 功德/阴德 worldview).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 义
Transliteration: yì
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
Original: צֶדֶק / צְדָקָה
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: 义 is also a Confucian Five Constant Virtue, a social-ethical duty cultivated by moral effort. [Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: intensified risk here because 义 also appears embedded in two new royal/messianic compound titles, 公义的苗裔 (righteous Branch, 23:5; 33:15) and 耶和华我们的义 (the LORD our righteousness, 23:6; 33:16). Every occurrence of any of these three terms requires the standing Confucian-virtue distinguishing note — biblical righteousness here is a status or rule that flows from YHWH himself, never a virtue self-cultivated by king or people.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 成圣
Transliteration: chéngshèng
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修身, 修炼
CRITICAL: direct borrowing of the Neo-Confucian technical term for self-cultivation into sagehood through personal moral effort. [Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the identical fencing logic applies to the New Covenant’s heart-transformation promise (31:33, ‘I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts’) and to the deceitful-heart diagnosis (17:9): God’s inward work is a unilateral gift, never an achievement of self-cultivation (修身/修炼) parallel to 心性 (Confucian cultivable moral-nature).
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: Jīdū
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 弥勒, 救世主式泛称
CRITICAL: NEVER conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya). [Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the new Jeremiah titles 公义的苗裔 (righteous Branch) and 耶和华我们的义 (the LORD our righteousness) MUST be explicitly cross-referenced to this term and to 大卫的后裔 (seed of David) so readers recognize the same messianic hope-line across Testaments, not a separate or future figure among several candidates.
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Shén
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 上帝, 天, 老天爷
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
CRITICAL: [Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah adds a NEW critical dimension not present in the NT-epistolary Romans baseline: Jeremiah 31:33 pairs 耶和华 (YHWH, new entry) and 神 (Elohim) within the same short covenant formula (‘I will be their God, and they shall be my people’). Every lesson introducing this material must state explicitly that these are the same one God under two Hebrew designations, not two separate divine referents — a genuinely new collision risk this package documents for the first time.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神的儿子
Transliteration: Shén de érzi
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
CRITICAL: NEVER use 天子 (‘Son of Heaven’). [Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: required as a distinguishing anchor for the new entry 长子 (firstborn son, Israel corporately, 31:9) — a different referent from Christ’s unique, eternal Sonship. A cross-referencing note is mandatory wherever both terms appear in the same lesson to prevent Christological confusion.
New Covenant
Approved rendering: 新约
Transliteration: xīnyuē
Doctrine: The New Covenant
Original: בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה
Category: Covenant
CRITICAL — highest-priority term in this package. 新约 is simultaneously (a) the correct rendering of Jeremiah’s promised covenant relationship and (b) the standard modern Chinese Bible’s name for the entire New Testament book collection (旧约/新约 division). Without a standing clarifying footnote at EVERY occurrence (not merely first introduction), readers will default to hearing ‘the New Testament writings’ and lose the relational-covenant meaning entirely. Standing footnote required: ‘新约 here names the covenant relationship prophesied by Jeremiah — internal, Spirit-written, unbreakable — of which the New Testament writings are the record and fulfillment, not the other way around.‘
Yhwh
Approved rendering: 耶和华
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá
Doctrine: The New Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 神 (as a substitute for the personal name), 主 (as a substitute for the personal name)
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
CRITICAL: the personal, covenant name of Israel’s God, distinct from the generic noun for deity (神/Elohim). Not addressed in the Romans baseline, which is NT-epistolary. Must never be silently collapsed into 神 or 主 within a passage where the Hebrew text specifically uses the personal name — doing so erases the covenant-name intimacy central to Jeremiah 31:31-34’s promise. Requires the standing co-occurrence note documented under the ‘god’ entry above.
Covenant Unfaithfulness
Approved rendering: 淫乱 / 行淫
Transliteration: yínluàn / xíng yín
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Original: זָנָה
Category: Idolatry
CRITICAL: literal prostitution or, metaphorically, unfaithfulness to a covenant relationship; Israel’s idolatry depicted as marital infidelity against covenant-husband YHWH (chs. 2-3). Two dangers must both be guarded against: (1) reducing the metaphor to literal sexual-ethics teaching alone, missing its covenantal-idolatry referent; (2) softening/omitting the metaphor’s force out of politeness, blunting Jeremiah’s central charge. MANDATORY translator’s note at every occurrence naming the covenant-idolatry referent explicitly.
Righteous Branch
Approved rendering: 公义的苗裔
Transliteration: gōngyì de miáoyì
Doctrine: Messianic Promise and the Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 继承人 (flattened ‘heir,’ loses the botanical imagery)
Original: צֶמַח צַדִּיק
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: a botanical metaphor for a coming, legitimate Davidic king who will ‘execute justice and righteousness in the land’ (23:5; 33:15). The botanical ‘sprout/shoot’ image (cf. Isaiah 11:1) is doctrinally load-bearing and must be preserved as imagery, not flattened into an abstract office-title. MUST be cross-referenced explicitly to 基督 (Messiah) and 大卫的后裔 (seed of David); MUST NEVER be confused with 弥勒 (Maitreya).
Lord Our Righteousness
Approved rendering: 耶和华我们的义
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá wǒmen de yì
Doctrine: Messianic Promise and the Davidic Covenant
Original: יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: a divine/messianic royal epithet-name (23:6; 33:16). Directly invokes the Critical term 义; this royal title asserts that the coming king’s legitimacy and Israel’s righteousness both derive entirely from YHWH himself. Must always carry the standing note distinguishing 义 from the Confucian Five Constant Virtues, and must be cross-referenced to 基督/大卫的后裔 so the same messianic hope-line is recognized across Testaments.
Queen Of Heaven
Approved rendering: 天后
Transliteration: Tiānhòu
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: 天上的女神 (considered as an evasive paraphrase; rejected as departing from established CUV translation-tradition precedent), invented transliteration of Ishtar/Astarte (rejected as overstating what the Hebrew text itself claims — it names a functional title, not a specific goddess by proper name)
Original: מַלְכַּת הַשָּׁמַיִם
Category: Idolatry
CRITICAL: 天后 (Tiānhòu) is the ACTUAL, currently-used honorific title of Mazu (妈祖), one of the most widely venerated folk deities in Chinese popular religion (Fujian, Taiwan, overseas Chinese coastal communities), worshipped as a sea-goddess protector. Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:17-19, 25 condemn Judean women baking cakes for a Mesopotamian/Canaanite astral goddess cult (likely Ishtar/Astarte) even among the exiles in Egypt. MANDATORY human theologian AND native-speaker cultural review required before ANY use, every occurrence, no exceptions. Must state explicitly: this is a specific ancient Near Eastern/Egyptian-exile astral goddess cult condemned by God; the title overlap with the contemporary Chinese folk deity Mazu is a coincidental translation artifact (retained because Chinese Study Bible tradition, including the CUV itself, already renders this title 天后), not an intended doctrinal equivalence in either direction.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: 信心
Transliteration: xìnxīn
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 虔诚, 迷信, 信仰
Original: (conceptual cross-reference; cf. πίστις)
Category: Faith
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: Jeremiah itself uses 倚靠/信靠 (trust, new entry) and 认识 (relational knowing, new entry) more than a direct equivalent of ‘faith,’ but lessons connecting Jeremiah’s New Covenant to NT fulfillment must use this baseline rendering consistently wherever ‘faith’ as such is the topic.
Called
Approved rendering: 蒙召的
Transliteration: méngzhào de
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 受命于天, 天命所归
Original: קרא (qara, root of prophetic call)
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: grounds Jeremiah’s pre-natal appointment (1:5, ‘before you were born I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations’). Must never be rendered with 天命所归; God’s call of Jeremiah is a personal, relational summons to one named individual, not a cosmic entitlement bestowed on the worthy.
Calling
Approved rendering: 呼召
Transliteration: hūzhào
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 天命, 命运
Original: קְרִיאָה (conceptual; cf. qara)
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the noun-form summons to prophetic office (1:4-10). NEVER use 天命 alone.
Holy
Approved rendering: 圣洁
Transliteration: shèngjié
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 清净, 圣人般的
Original: קָדַשׁ
Category: Sanctification
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the verbal/consecration sense required at Jeremiah 1:5 (‘I consecrated you’) is rendered with the adapted compound 分别为圣 (see new entry ‘consecrated_set_apart’) rather than the adjectival 圣洁 alone, but both share the same underlying doctrine and the same prohibition against 清净 (Daoist/Buddhist ritual/meditative purity achieved through practice).
Adoption
Approved rendering: 儿子的名分
Transliteration: érzi de míngfèn
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 过继, 收养
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: required as a distinguishing anchor for the new entry 长子 (firstborn son, Jeremiah 31:9), which describes Israel’s corporate covenant status and must not be conflated with this term’s individual, New-Testament sonship/inheritance doctrine. A cross-referencing note is required wherever both appear in the same lesson.
Law
Approved rendering: 律法
Transliteration: lǜfǎ
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 礼, 道德规范, 法律
Original: תּוֹרָה
Category: Covenant
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: 31:33 promises the SAME Mosaic torah, now written on the heart rather than merely on external tablets. Requires an added clarifying note beyond the baseline’s: ‘written on the heart’ must not be misread as ‘the Law is abolished’ — it is internalized, not replaced or nullified.
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: zuì
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 报应, 罪犯式的罪
Original: חַטָּאָה
Category: Sin
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: paired with the new entry 罪孽 (iniquity) in the New Covenant forgiveness promise (31:34), where both the specific sinful acts (罪) and their accumulated guilt-weight (罪孽) are declared fully and finally forgiven — never re-litigated as an impersonal debt that could resurface (报应).
Covenant
Approved rendering: 约
Transliteration: yuē
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 合同, 契约
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: used both of the broken Sinai covenant (11:1-10) and the promised unbreakable New Covenant (31:31-34; 33:14-16, see new entry 新约); avoid 合同/契约 in every instance — God’s covenant is always his gracious relational initiative, whether broken by Israel or renewed by God himself.
Providence
Approved rendering: 神的护理
Transliteration: Shén de hùlǐ
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: 天意, 命运
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the identical fatalism-fencing logic applies to the new entry 意念/计划 (God’s plans, 29:11) and to the potter-and-clay metaphor (ch. 18, new entry 窑匠/陶土): God’s purposive governance is personal and covenantally motivated, addressed by name to specific exiles, never the impersonal 天意/命运 of everyday fatalistic Chinese speech.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: 大卫的后裔
Transliteration: Dàwèi de hòuyì
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: זֶרַע דָּוִד (cf. NT σπέρμα Δαυίδ)
Category: Covenant
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: required OT covenant background for 23:5 and 33:15’s royal Branch promise; no directly analogous concept of a perpetual, unconditional royal covenant promise exists in Chinese dynastic tradition, where legitimacy rests on a revocable Mandate of Heaven (天命) rather than an unconditional promise to one bloodline.
Oracle Formula
Approved rendering: 这是耶和华说的 / 耶和华说
Transliteration: zhè shì Yēhéhuá shuō de
Doctrine: False Prophets versus True Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 他说 (generic reported speech)
Original: נְאֻם־יְהוָה
Category: Prophecy
The recurring prophetic oracle-marker (נְאֻם־יְהוָה), used ~175 times in Jeremiah, authenticating direct divine speech. Must be rendered with a FIXED, repeated formulaic phrase across all lesson materials — not varied stylistically for readability — since repetition here is a doctrinal authentication feature, not a stylistic defect. Must remain visually/formulaically distinct from ordinary reported speech (说, ‘said’) so readers register this as authoritative divine utterance, the linguistic backbone of the true-versus-false-prophecy contrast.
Word Of The Lord
Approved rendering: 耶和华的话 / 神的话
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá de huà
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 经 (as a general substitute)
Original: דְּבַר־יְהוָה
Category: Prophecy
The formula introducing prophetic revelation given directly to Jeremiah (1:1-2; 14; 23; 26; 28; 36). Must be kept distinct from the Chinese classical canon’s authority language (经, jīng, as in the Confucian Classics or Daoist Daodejing), which is sage-wisdom literature rather than the direct verbal communication of a personal God through a human spokesperson.
Heart
Approved rendering: 心
Transliteration: xīn
Doctrine: The New Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 心性 (as the primary gloss, without fencing)
Original: לֵב
Category: Sanctification
The whole inner governing center of a person — intellect, will, moral disposition — where God promises to write his law (31:33) and which Jeremiah elsewhere diagnoses as inherently deceitful (17:9). 心 already carries strong compatible cultural weight in Mandarin (as in 良心, 真心), but every 31:33 occurrence must pair 心 with explicit ‘God writes/gives’ language, never ‘the believer cultivates,’ directly paralleling the baseline’s 成圣 fencing strategy against Neo-Confucian self-cultivation (心性).
Know Relationally
Approved rendering: 认识
Transliteration: rènshi
Doctrine: The New Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 知道 (mere factual knowing)
Original: יָדַע
Category: Faith
Experiential, relational, covenantal knowledge of God, promised to every New Covenant member without need for external teaching (31:34; cf. 9:24; 24:7). Structurally parallel to 信心: both require an explicit relational object and must be guarded against collapsing into mere information. 知道 (zhīdao, ‘to know a fact’) must NEVER be substituted — that would reduce covenantal knowing to head-knowledge, precisely the error the verse corrects.
Husband Metaphor
Approved rendering: 丈夫
Transliteration: zhàngfu
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Original: בָּעַל (ba’al, verbal/nominal ‘husband/master’)
Category: Idolatry
God’s self-description as covenant-husband to Israel despite their unfaithfulness (31:32; developed chs. 2-3). 丈夫 carries no direct Mandarin collision on its own, but the underlying Hebrew wordplay it translates (spelled identically to the idol Baal’s name, ba’al) cannot be reproduced in Mandarin script. MANDATORY translator’s note wherever this verse or the marriage metaphor of chapters 2-3 is taught, explaining the wordplay explicitly: the true covenant ‘husband-lord’ of Israel is YHWH, not the idol 巴力.
Baal
Approved rendering: 巴力
Transliteration: Bālì
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: 主人 (as a translation of the deity name, risking confusion with legitimate lordship vocabulary)
Original: בַּעַל
Category: Idolatry
The chief Canaanite storm-and-fertility god Israel repeatedly chased after (chs. 2, 7, 11, 19, 23, 32). Transliterated as a proper name, kept strictly separate from 丈夫 (the translated common noun used for the ba’al/husband wordplay in 31:32) so the idol’s name is never confused with legitimate divine-lordship vocabulary (主, reserved for YHWH per the Romans baseline).
Idols
Approved rendering: 偶像
Transliteration: ǒuxiàng
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Original: הֶבֶל / אֱלִיל
Category: Idolatry
Contemptuous terms for false gods as substance-less (‘vapor’) and powerless (chs. 2, 10, 16, 44). 偶像 is the SAME word used for statues in currently-functioning Chinese Buddhist/Daoist/folk temples and, in some contexts, ancestral tablets. The term is doctrinally necessary and correct, but every occurrence requires teaching distinguishing the biblical prohibition of image-worship from the general cultural normalcy of temple statues and ancestor tablets in the destination culture — a central, book-wide pastoral issue, not a minor incidental risk.
Judgment
Approved rendering: 审判
Transliteration: shěnpàn
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: 报应 (impersonal karmic retribution)
God’s judicial response to covenant-breaking and idolatry (ch. 4 and throughout). Must be communicated as personal, moral judgment from a personal God responding to real covenant violation — never as impersonal karmic retribution (报应, already flagged under the baseline’s 罪/sin entry).
Wrath
Approved rendering: 忿怒
Transliteration: fènnù
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: 报应
Original: חֵמָה / אַף
Category: God
God’s settled, righteous judicial anger against covenant-breaking and idolatry (ch. 25 and throughout). Must never be rendered as impersonal karmic retribution (报应) or an arbitrary divine temper — this is personal, moral anger from a personal God.
Cup Of Wrath
Approved rendering: 忿怒的杯
Transliteration: fènnù de bēi
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: 命运的杯 (fate-cup framing)
Original: כּוֹס
Category: God
A figurative cup of divine judgment that the nations, and finally Babylon itself, must drink (ch. 25). Must be taught as judicial, personal divine judgment, not an impersonal misfortune or fate ‘cup,’ paralleling the baseline’s caution against 天意/命运 under Providence.
False Prophet
Approved rendering: 假先知
Transliteration: jiǎ xiānzhī
Doctrine: False Prophets versus True Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 另一种先知 (‘a different kind of prophet’)
Original: נָבִיא שֶׁקֶר
Category: Prophecy
A prophet whose message is fabricated and falsely attributed to God (chs. 14, 23, 28). Must be sharply distinguished from 先知 wherever the two terms appear side by side; softening 假先知 toward ‘a different kind of prophet’ would erase the doctrine’s central either/or claim: a message either comes from YHWH or it does not, with no third ‘sincerely mistaken but still legitimate’ category.
Living God
Approved rendering: 活神 / 永生的神
Transliteration: huó Shén / yǒngshēng de Shén
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Original: אֵל חַי
Category: God
God as living, contrasted with lifeless, man-made idols that must be carried because they cannot walk (10:5). Reinforces 神 (baseline Critical) with added polemical edge; must be taught alongside 偶像 as the chapter’s structuring true-versus-false-gods contrast.
Divine Plans
Approved rendering: 意念 / 计划
Transliteration: yìniàn / jìhuà
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Plans for His People
Rejected alternatives: 天意 (‘heaven’s intention,’ impersonal fatalism)
Original: מַחֲשָׁבָה
Category: God
The doctrinal anchor verse for ‘God’s Sovereign Plans for His People’ (29:11, ‘plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope’). Must be clearly distinguished from the baseline-flagged fatalistic 天意; God’s plans here are personal, specific, relational, and covenantally motivated — expressed in a personal letter to named exiles — not an impersonal cosmic will.
Return Repent
Approved rendering: 归回 / 悔改
Transliteration: guīhuí / huǐgǎi
Doctrine: Repentance and Return from Exile
Rejected alternatives: 改过自新 (secular self-improvement idiom)
Original: שׁוּב
Category: Individual Responsibility
A single Hebrew root (שׁוּב, shuv) covers both ‘repent’ and ‘return from exile’ — deliberate wordplay Jeremiah exploits throughout (3:12, 3:22; chs. 29-31). Mandarin requires two distinct words; every occurrence must be checked against context, and lessons must surface the underlying wordplay explicitly. NEVER substitute 改过自新 for 悔改 — that common secular idiom for self-reform through willpower would silently reframe New Covenant repentance as human self-improvement rather than Spirit-enabled turning grounded in God’s initiative.
Everlasting Love
Approved rendering: 永远的爱
Transliteration: yǒngyuǎn de ài
Doctrine: Divine Forgiveness and Grace as the Ground of Restoration
Original: אַהֲבַת עוֹלָם
Category: Covenant
Love with no temporal terminus, the stated ground of Israel’s restoration (31:3, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love’). The ground of the New Covenant’s certainty is God’s own unchanging love, not Israel’s faithfulness (repeatedly shown unreliable, chs. 2-3); must not be reduced to sentimental or conditional affection. Teach alongside 恩典 as complementary grounds for New Covenant assurance.
Individual Responsibility Proverb
Approved rendering: 各人担当自己的罪
Transliteration: gèrén dāndāng zìjǐ de zuì
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility
Rejected alternatives: 吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸 (Mandarin’s own unrelated ‘sour grapes’ idiom, meaning envy)
Original: 31:29-30 proverb refuted; ‘everyone shall die for his own sin’
Category: Individual Responsibility
Jeremiah’s explicit overturning of a fatalistic, generational-guilt proverb (‘the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,’ 31:29-30). This is a false-friend idiom trap: Mandarin has its own unrelated ‘sour grapes’ idiom meaning envy at another’s success. Translators MUST render the proverb plainly and literally, never substituting the superficially similar Mandarin idiom, which would garble the individual-responsibility doctrine into an unrelated statement about jealousy.
Redemption
Approved rendering: 赎 / 赎回
Transliteration: shú / shúhuí
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
Rejected alternatives: 功德回向 (Buddhist-adjacent merit-transfer framing)
Original: גָּאַל
Category: Salvation
To buy back or reclaim family land/a family member, as in Jeremiah’s literal field purchase during the Babylonian siege as a prophetic sign-act of future restoration (32:6-15). Must not be confused with Buddhist-adjacent ‘merit redemption’ or ritual debt-clearing practices; this is a concrete legal-economic kinsman-redeemer transaction that becomes a prophetic guarantee — ‘houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land’ (32:15).
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: píng’ān
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 安宁, 平安符式的平安
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: Jeremiah exploits the SAME Mandarin string in two opposite senses that must be typographically/contextually distinguished in lesson materials: (1) the false prophets’ hollow, ironic ‘平安, 平安’ where there is no peace (6:14; 8:11; 14:13-16) — the doctrine’s single most exploitable mistranslation risk, since it weaponizes 平安’s folk-amulet familiarity to mask coming judgment; and (2) the genuine covenantal 平安/welfare God intends even in exile (29:7, 29:11; 33). Every occurrence requires a context flag stating which sense is active.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: wàibāngrén
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 夷人, 外国人
Original: גּוֹיִם
Category: Church
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: Jeremiah is appointed ‘a prophet to the nations’ (1:5) and pronounces oracles against named gentile nations (chs. 46-51), asserting God’s sovereignty extends over every nation without exception — reinforced, not undermined, by consistent use of this term rather than any insider/outsider hierarchy vocabulary.
Glory
Approved rendering: 荣耀
Transliteration: róngyào
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 面子, 光宗耀祖
Original: כָּבוֹד
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: 2:11, Israel indicted for exchanging God’s actual glory for worthless idols. Avoid collapsing into 面子 (‘face’) or 光宗耀祖 (ancestral honor); the indictment is that Israel traded real divine glory for something powerless, not that it lost social standing.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: 预言
Transliteration: yùyán
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 算卦, 占卜
Original: (contextual; from נבא root)
Category: Prophecy
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the seventy-years prophecy (25:11-12; 29:10, new entry 七十年) is linear, one-time historical fulfillment and must resist the cyclical dynastic-rise-and-fall lens (治乱循环) native to much traditional Chinese historiography.
David
Approved rendering: 大卫
Transliteration: Dàwèi
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: דָּוִד
Category: Covenant
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the royal line through which the righteous Branch is promised (23:5; 30:9; 33:14-17).
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: Yǐsèliè
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Covenant
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: the primary New Covenant addressee, alongside 犹大 (Judah, new entry), in 31:31 and 33.
Forgive
Approved rendering: 赦免
Transliteration: shèmiǎn
Doctrine: Divine Forgiveness and Grace as the Ground of Restoration
Rejected alternatives: 消灾 (ritual calamity-dispelling)
Original: סָלַח
Category: Salvation
God’s judicial pardon of sin, the ground of the New Covenant (31:34; 33:8). Standard CUV term with no major folk-religious collision, but requires a light note distinguishing 赦免 (a sovereign legal pardon granted personally by the offended party) from ritual atonement/exorcism practices (消灾) that treat guilt as an impersonal contaminant removable by technique rather than a personal offense forgiven by a personal God.
Remember No More
Approved rendering: 不再记念
Transliteration: bù zài jìniàn
Doctrine: Divine Forgiveness and Grace as the Ground of Restoration
Rejected alternatives: 纪念 (ancestor-commemoration register)
Original: זָכַר (negated)
Category: Salvation
God’s judicial declaration that forgiven sin will never again be held against his New Covenant people (31:34). Light collision risk with 纪念 (jìniàn) as used in Chinese ancestor-veneration (‘commemorating’ the dead); note the character/register difference (记念 vs. 纪念) and, more importantly, the opposite direction of meaning — God graciously choosing NOT to hold sin against his people, not descendants ritually honoring ancestors.
Iniquity
Approved rendering: 罪孽
Transliteration: zuìniè
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Original: עָוֹן
Category: Sin
The accumulated guilt-weight of wrongdoing, paired with 罪 (sin, the specific act) in 31:34’s total-forgiveness promise. Must be kept distinct from 罪 so the Hebrew’s two-word emphasis (both guilt-weight and acts forgiven) is preserved rather than flattened to a single repeated Mandarin word.
People Of God
Approved rendering: 子民
Transliteration: zǐmín
Doctrine: Corporate Covenant Identity of Israel and Judah
Original: עַם
Category: Church
The reciprocal half of the covenant formula — ‘they shall be my people’ (31:33). Established CUV rendering for this specific covenant formula. Carries a warm, familial connotation appropriate to, but must be taught as distinct from, the baseline’s individual adoption doctrine (儿子的名分) — Israel corporately as covenant ‘child-people,’ anticipating but not identical to individual NT sonship.
Circumcise Heart
Approved rendering: 心里的割礼
Transliteration: xīnlǐ de gēlǐ
Doctrine: Repentance and Return from Exile
Original: מוּל לְבַבְכֶם
Category: Sanctification
Metaphorical extension of the covenant sign of circumcision to the heart, demanding internal rather than merely external covenant loyalty (4:4). No major folk collision, but must connect forward clearly to 31:33’s heart-transformation promise and, in later curriculum stages, to Paul’s heart-circumcision language (Romans 2:29).
Temple
Approved rendering: 圣殿
Transliteration: shèngdiàn
Doctrine: Temple Worship and False Security
Rejected alternatives: 庙, 寺, 道观
Original: הֵיכָל / בַּיִת
Category: Church
The Jerusalem Temple, God’s dwelling-place among his people (chs. 7, 26). NEVER use 庙/寺/道观 (folk/Buddhist/Daoist temples), per the baseline’s church (教会) precedent. 圣殿 sits in the same general ‘religious building’ semantic field as those rejected terms; must clarify Jeremiah condemns treating the building itself as a talisman of safety apart from obedience — an important nuance given the reverential-but-transactional attitude Chinese readers may extend to any temple.
Burnt Offering
Approved rendering: 燔祭
Transliteration: fánjì
Doctrine: Temple Worship and False Security
Rejected alternatives: 供品 (generic ancestor/spirit offerings)
Original: עֹלָה
Category: Church
The whole burnt offering, rejected by God when offered without covenant obedience (7:21-23). Should be distinguished from generic offerings to ancestors/spirits (供品) given to appease or honor spirits; Jeremiah’s point is that ritual without heart-obedience is worthless, reinforcing the New Covenant’s heart-emphasis.
Trust
Approved rendering: 倚靠 / 信靠
Transliteration: yǐkào / xìnkào
Doctrine: Individual Responsibility
Original: בָּטַח
Category: Faith
Reliance for safety/security, contrasted in 17:5-8 between trusting in man (cursed) and trusting in the LORD (blessed). Should be distinguished from, but taught as closely related to, 信心 (faith, baseline High): 倚靠/信靠 emphasizes leaning-on for present security; both must retain a clear, specific object (the LORD/God), never a generic ‘having confidence’ untethered from its object.
Potter And Clay
Approved rendering: 窑匠 / 陶土
Transliteration: yáojiàng / táotǔ
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Plans for His People
Original: יוֹצֵר / חֹמֶר
Category: Sovereignty
A common ANE metaphor for a sovereign’s right to shape or reshape what he has made (ch. 18), here applied to God’s responsive sovereignty over nations. The passage’s balance — sovereign shaping combined with a real call to repentance that can change the outcome — must not be flattened into either pure fatalism (echoing 天意/命运) or pure human autonomy; both errors are live risks in a culture with strong existing fatalism vocabulary.
Seventy Years
Approved rendering: 七十年
Transliteration: qīshí nián
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה
Category: Prophecy
A specific, literal prophesied length of the Babylonian exile (25:11-12; 29:10), later confirmed fulfilled. Teaching should note this is linear, one-time historical fulfillment, resisting the cyclical dynastic-rise-and-fall lens (治乱循环) common in traditional Chinese historiography.
Hope
Approved rendering: 指望 / 希望
Transliteration: zhǐwàng / xīwàng
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
Original: תִּקְוָה
Category: Salvation
Expectant waiting grounded in God’s specific promise and character (29:11). Must be grounded explicitly in God’s specific promise rather than presented as generic optimism, aligning with the doctrine’s Christian, promise-grounded meaning rather than secular hopefulness.
Firstborn Son
Approved rendering: 长子
Transliteration: zhǎngzǐ
Doctrine: Corporate Covenant Identity of Israel and Judah
Original: בְּכֹר
Category: Covenant
Israel’s corporate status as God’s especially cherished covenant people: ‘Ephraim is my firstborn’ (31:9). Must be clearly distinguished from 神的儿子 (Son of God)/Sonship-of-Christ doctrine — a different referent from Christ’s unique eternal Sonship. A cross-referencing note is required wherever both appear in the same lesson.
Scroll
Approved rendering: 书卷
Transliteration: shūjuàn
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 经 (classical-canon register)
Original: מְגִלָּה
Category: Scripture
The written scroll of Jeremiah’s prophecies, burned by King Jehoiakim but simply rewritten at Jeremiah’s dictation (ch. 36). Directly serves the Inspiration of Scripture doctrine: burning the physical copy cannot destroy God’s word, distinct from the Chinese classical canon’s authority as accumulated sage-wisdom (经, jīng).
Remnant
Approved rendering: 余民
Transliteration: yúmín
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
Original: שְׁאָר / שְׁאֵרִית
Category: Salvation
The surviving portion of God’s people after judgment, carrying a note of preserved hope (chs. 42-44). Must be introduced with theological care so it is not read merely as ‘leftover survivors’ in a flat descriptive sense; the remnant’s survival is itself a sign of ongoing covenant faithfulness even amid discipline — a point directly tested by the remnant’s own subsequent disobedience (idolatry resumed in Egypt, ch. 44).
Yoke
Approved rendering: 轭
Transliteration: è
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Plans for His People
Original: עֹל
Category: Sovereignty
A wooden crossbar for draft animals, figuratively submission to Babylon as God’s disciplinary agent (chs. 27-28). Must be taught carefully: submitting to Babylon’s yoke is presented as wisdom in submitting to God’s sovereign plan, not merely political pragmatism — God’s sovereignty extends even over the disciplinary agency of a pagan empire.
Hananiah
Approved rendering: 哈拿尼雅
Transliteration: Hānáníyǎ
Doctrine: False Prophets versus True Prophecy
The false prophet who publicly broke Jeremiah’s symbolic yoke and prophesied swift deliverance from Babylon, then died as Jeremiah foretold (ch. 28). As the book’s most dramatic named true-vs-false prophet confrontation, teaching around this figure requires the same rigor as the general 先知/假先知 distinction — Medium risk reflects the character’s outsized doctrinal weight despite being a proper name.
Low Risk Terms
Prophet
Approved rendering: 先知
Transliteration: xiānzhī
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 算命先生
Original: נָבִיא
Category: Prophecy
[Inherited from Romans package.] Jeremiah cross-reference: Jeremiah’s own identity and authority for the entire book rest on this term (1:5). Must be sharply distinguished from the new entry 假先知 (false prophet) wherever the two appear in proximity (chs. 14, 23, 28); never soften 假先知 toward ‘a different kind of 先知.‘
House Of Israel Judah
Approved rendering: 以色列家 / 犹大家
Transliteration: Yǐsèliè jiā / Yóudà jiā
Doctrine: The New Covenant
Original: בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל / בֵּית יְהוּדָה
Category: Covenant
The extended covenant nation, both divided kingdoms, addressed together as recipients of the New Covenant promise (31:31). 以色列 reused from baseline; 家/犹大 are transparent, non-colliding terms.
Judah
Approved rendering: 犹大
Transliteration: Yóudà
Doctrine: The New Covenant
Original: יְהוּדָה
Category: Proper Name
The southern kingdom and its people, primary audience of Jeremiah’s ministry. Standard transliteration; no doctrinal risk beyond consistency.
Egypt
Approved rendering: 埃及
Transliteration: Āijí
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
Original: מִצְרַיִם
Category: Proper Name
The nation from which God brought Israel out (31:32); later the place of refuge for the disobedient fleeing remnant (chs. 42-44) and the site of the second 天后 (queen of heaven) occurrence.
Watchman
Approved rendering: 守望的人
Transliteration: shǒuwàng de rén
Doctrine: False Prophets versus True Prophecy
Original: צֹפֶה
Category: Prophecy
One posted to watch and give warning, extended metaphorically to a prophet’s warning role (6:17). Transparent military-lookout metaphor with no folk-religious collision.
Weeping Lament
Approved rendering: 哭 / 哀哭
Transliteration: kū / āikū
Doctrine: The Weeping Prophet and the Cost of Faithful Ministry
Original: בָּכָה
Category: Ministry
Jeremiah’s own weeping and grief over his people’s coming judgment (chs. 8-9, 20). No significant folk-religious collision, but doctrinally central: consistent, dignified rendering required across all lesson materials — never melodramatic or clichéd — since this vocabulary carries the book’s primary proof-texts for the cost of faithful ministry (9:1; 20:7-18).
Manumission
Approved rendering: 释放
Transliteration: shìfàng
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
Original: דְּרוֹר
Category: Covenant
Freedom/release from slavery, granted in a covenant ceremony and then reneged upon by Judah (ch. 34). Historical/legal illustrative term; no significant folk-religious collision.
Baruch
Approved rendering: 巴录
Transliteration: Bālù
Doctrine: The Weeping Prophet and the Cost of Faithful Ministry
Original: בָּרוּךְ
Category: Proper Name
Jeremiah’s faithful scribe (chs. 32, 36, 45). Standard transliteration; supports the cost-of-ministry doctrine as an example of costly, supportive service alongside a persecuted prophet.
Nebuchadnezzar
Approved rendering: 尼布甲尼撒
Transliteration: Níbùjiǎnísā
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Plans for His People
Original: נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר
Category: Proper Name
King of Babylon, God’s chosen instrument of judgment against Judah and later an object of God’s own judgment (chs. 21-52). Standard transliteration.
Babylon
Approved rendering: 巴比伦
Transliteration: Bābǐlún
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Plans for His People
Original: בָּבֶל
Category: Sovereignty
The empire God uses to discipline Judah (ch. 27’s ‘yoke of Babylon’) and which is itself later judged (chs. 50-51). Theologically significant beyond mere proper-name status: Babylon is an instrument, never an independent power outside God’s rule.
Rachel
Approved rendering: 拉结
Transliteration: Lājié
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
Original: רָחֵל
Category: Proper Name
Matriarch depicted weeping for her exiled children (31:15), later quoted in Matthew 2:18 regarding Herod’s slaughter of the innocents. Flagged for cross-Testament continuity.
Zedekiah
Approved rendering: 西底家
Transliteration: Xīdǐjiā
Doctrine: God’s Sovereign Plans for His People
The last king of Judah, addressed directly regarding life-or-death submission to Babylon (chs. 21, 27, 32, 34, 37-38). Standard transliteration; no doctrinal risk beyond consistency.
Jehoiakim
Approved rendering: 约雅敬
Transliteration: Yuēyǎjìng
Doctrine: Judgment for Covenant Unfaithfulness and Idolatry
The king who burned Jeremiah’s scroll (ch. 36), illustrating royal hostility to the word of the LORD. Standard transliteration.
Jehoiachin
Approved rendering: 约雅斤
Transliteration: Yuēyǎjīn
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
Rejected alternatives: 哥尼雅 (Coniah, an alternate biblical name for the same king)
Also called Coniah (哥尼雅); the exiled king unexpectedly released and honored in Babylon at the book’s close (52:31-34), a small real-history foretaste of restoration hope.
Uriah
Approved rendering: 乌利亚
Transliteration: Wūlìyà
Doctrine: The Weeping Prophet and the Cost of Faithful Ministry
A fellow true prophet executed for faithful proclamation (26:20-23), a second major proof-text (alongside Jeremiah’s own suffering) for the cost-of-ministry doctrine.
Ebed Melech
Approved rendering: 以伯米勒
Transliteration: Yǐbómǐlè
Doctrine: The Weeping Prophet and the Cost of Faithful Ministry
The Ethiopian court official who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern (chs. 38-39). Standard transliteration; positive supporting-character example within the ministry-cost narrative.
Gedaliah
Approved rendering: 基大利
Transliteration: Jīdàlì
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration after Exile
The governor appointed over the post-fall Judean remnant, later assassinated (chs. 40-41), setting up the flight-to-Egypt narrative of chs. 42-44.
Philistia
Approved rendering: 非利士
Transliteration: Fēilìshì
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
Nation addressed in the oracle of ch. 47. Standard transliteration; underlying judgment vocabulary already established at ch. 25.
Moab
Approved rendering: 摩押
Transliteration: Móyā
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
Nation addressed in the oracle of ch. 48. Standard transliteration.
Ammon
Approved rendering: 亚扪
Transliteration: Yàmén
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
Nation addressed in the oracle of ch. 49. Standard transliteration.
Edom
Approved rendering: 以东
Transliteration: Yǐdōng
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
Nation addressed in the oracle of ch. 49. Standard transliteration.
Damascus
Approved rendering: 大马士革
Transliteration: Dàmǎshìgé
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
City addressed in the oracle of ch. 49. Standard transliteration.
Kedar
Approved rendering: 基达
Transliteration: Jīdá
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
People-group addressed alongside Hazor in the oracle of ch. 49. Standard transliteration.
Hazor
Approved rendering: 夏琐
Transliteration: Xiàsuǒ
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
Addressed alongside Kedar in the oracle of ch. 49. Standard transliteration.
Elam
Approved rendering: 以拦
Transliteration: Yǐlán
Doctrine: Geopolitical Scope of God’s Judgment over the Nations
Nation addressed in the oracle of ch. 49. Standard transliteration.
Referenced passages