Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — Micah (弥迦书) | English → Mandarin
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the entire book of Micah (chapters 1-7). Terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE REUSE] and reproduced with their exact recorded rendering — never altered. New terms proposed for addition to translation memory are marked [NEW] with a proposed risk tier consistent with the baseline’s risk framework. All renderings follow CUV “Shen edition” (神版) register and Simplified Chinese script, per the language authority.
Risk Tier Definitions (reused from baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json)
| Tier | Definition | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Mistranslation alters or destroys essential doctrine | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | Mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or syncretism risk | Human theologian |
| Medium | Mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning | Native speaker review |
| Low | Mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding | Automated review |
Glossary Table
| # | English Term | Hebrew (transliteration) | LXX Greek (transliteration) | Mandarin | Pinyin | Doctrine | Risk | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God (generic) | אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) | θεός (theos) | 神 | Shén | All | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Exact reuse of baseline god entry; monotheism must be made explicit against folk-deity common-noun usage of 神. |
| 2 | the LORD (Yahweh) | יְהוָה (YHWH) | κύριος (kyrios) | 耶和华 | Yēhéhuá | True Worship; all doctrines | Critical | [NEW] | Personal covenant name; distinct from generic 神 and from 主. Never substitute 天/老天爷. |
| 3 | high God / Most High | אֱלֹהֵי מָרוֹם (Elohei marom) | θεός ὕψιστος | 至高的神 | zhìgāo de Shén | True Worship | Critical | [NEW] | Must not read as top of a graded pantheon (cf. 玉皇大帝, Jade Emperor); absolute exclusive supremacy. |
| 4 | Lord (address) | אֲדֹנָי (Adonai) | κύριος (kyrios) | 主 | Zhǔ | Lordship (typological) | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Exact reuse; not a feudal honorific (老爷) or ordinary master (主人). |
| 5 | Holy Spirit (NT doctrine) | — | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | 圣灵 | Shènglíng | Sanctification (typological) | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Reserved for NT-continuous doctrinal reference; not used for the OT construct below without qualification. |
| 6 | Spirit of the LORD (OT) | רוּחַ יְהוָה (Ruach YHWH) | πνεῦμα κυρίου | 耶和华的灵 | Yēhéhuá de Líng | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders (contrast with false prophets) | Critical | [NEW] | Never bare 灵 (folk ancestral-spirit collision, per baseline caution); always keep genitive attached. |
| 7 | sin / transgression | חַטָּאָה / פֶּשַׁע (chatta’ah / pesha) | ἁμαρτία / ἀσέβεια | 罪 | zuì | Universal Human Accountability (typological) | High | [BASELINE REUSE] | Supplement with 罪过 (zuìguò) where covenant-rebellion nuance (פֶּשַׁע) is prominent. |
| 8 | covenant | בְּרִית (berit) | διαθήκη (diathēkē) | 约 | yuē | Hope of Restoration (Abrahamic covenant, ch.7) | High | [BASELINE REUSE] | Relational, God-initiated promise, not commercial contract (合同/契约). |
| 9 | prophet | נָבִיא (navi) | προφήτης (prophētēs) | 先知 | xiānzhī | Inspiration/contrast with false prophets | Low | [BASELINE REUSE] | Distinguish from 算命先生 (fortune-teller). |
| 10 | prophecy | נְבוּאָה (nevu’ah) | προφητεία (prophēteia) | 预言 | yùyán | Fulfillment of Prophecy (typological) | Medium | [BASELINE REUSE] | Distinguish from 占卜/算卦 (divination). |
| 11 | false prophecy | נָטַף / כִּזֵּב (nataph / kizzev) | ψευδοπροφητεύω-family | 假先知 / 说谎的预言 | jiǎ xiānzhī / shuōhuǎng de yùyán | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Modifier of baseline 先知/预言; corrupt covenant officeholders, not mere fortune-tellers. |
| 12 | divination | קָסַם (qasam) | μαντεύομαι (manteuomai) | 占卜 | zhānbǔ | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [BASELINE-ADJACENT] | Reuses caution already documented under baseline prophecy; no new entry needed. |
| 13 | David | דָּוִד (David) | Δαβίδ | 大卫 | Dàwèi | Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Low | [BASELINE REUSE] | Established CUV proper name. |
| 14 | seed/line of David (typological) | — | — | 大卫的后裔 | Dàwèi de hòuyì | Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | High | [BASELINE REUSE] | Cross-reference for Micah 5’s ruler; requires OT covenant background. |
| 15 | Messiah / Christ (typological cross-ref) | מָשִׁיחַ (Mashiach) | Χριστός | 基督 | Jīdū | Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Micah 5:2 does not use this term directly, but is the OT anchor NT identifies as fulfilled in Christ; never conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya). |
| 16 | Son of God (typological cross-ref) | — | υἱὸς θεοῦ | 神的儿子 | Shén de érzi | Coming Ruler from Bethlehem (eternal origin) | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Teach as forward-pointing trajectory from Micah 5:2’s “from ancient days,” not asserted by the Hebrew text itself. |
| 17 | Incarnation (typological cross-ref) | — | ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο | 道成肉身 | dào chéng ròushēn | Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Critical | [BASELINE REUSE] | Cross-reference only; do not import into the OT text itself. |
| 18 | Israel | יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisra’el) | Ἰσραήλ | 以色列 | Yǐsèliè | All | Medium | [BASELINE REUSE] | Established proper name. |
| 19 | witness | עֵד (ed) | μαρτύριον (martyrion) | 见证 | jiànzhèng | True Worship (covenant lawsuit) | Low | [NEW] | Legal/covenant-lawsuit register. |
| 20 | idols / carved images | עֲצַבִּים / פְּסִילִים (atsabbim/pesilim) | γλυπτά (glypta) | 偶像 | ǒuxiàng | True Worship versus Empty Ritual | High | [NEW] | Distinguish sharply from folk 神像 veneration (incense, temple offerings). |
| 21 | high places | בָּמָה (bamah) | βωμοί (bōmoi) | 邱坛 | qiūtán | True Worship versus Empty Ritual | Medium-High | [NEW] | Established CUV term; requires historical-background explanation. |
| 22 | mourning / lament | מִסְפֵּד / סָפַד (misped/safad) | κοπετός (kopetos) | 哀号 | āiháo | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Low | [NEW] | Standard term. |
| 23 | covet | חָמַד (chamad) | ἐπιθυμέω (epithymeō) | 贪图 | tāntú | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Retain moral-legal (Tenth Commandment) weight. |
| 24 | oppress / oppression | עָשַׁק (ashaq) | καταδυναστεύω (katadynasteuō) | 欺压 | qīyā | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Systemic/social force, not merely interpersonal unkindness. |
| 25 | inheritance | נַחֲלָה (nachalah) | κληρονομία (klēronomia) | 产业 | chǎnyè | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Covenant land-grant sense, not generic modern property. |
| 26 | remnant | שְׁאָר / שְׁאֵרִית (she’ar/she’erit) | κατάλειμμα (kataleimma) | 余民 | yúmín | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | Medium-High | [NEW] | Covenant-preserved people, not mere biological survivors (幸存者). |
| 27 | leaders / heads | רֹאשׁ (rosh) | ἄρχων (archōn) | 首领 | shǒulǐng | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Civic/tribal leadership office under covenant accountability. |
| 28 | justice (social/civic) | מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) | κρίμα (krima) | 公义 | gōngyì | Justice, Mercy, and Humility; Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Critical | [NEW] | Shares character 义 with baseline righteousness; inherits Confucian Five Constant Virtues collision risk. Never self-cultivated duty; covenant-response justice owed to a personal God. |
| 29 | bloodshed / violence | דָּמִים / חָמָס (damim/chamas) | αἵματα (haimata) | 流血的罪 / 强暴 | liúxiě de zuì / qiángbào | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Reuses baseline 罪 concept. |
| 30 | latter days | אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים (acharit hayyamim) | ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις | 末后的日子 | mòhòu de rìzi | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | High | [NEW] | Distinguish from 末日 (pop-culture doomsday) and Buddhist 末法时代. |
| 31 | mountain of the LORD’s house | הַר בֵּית־יְהוָה | τὸ ὄρος τοῦ κυρίου | 耶和华殿的山 | Yēhéhuá diàn de shān | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | Medium | [NEW] | Literal; reuses 耶和华. |
| 32 | nations (universal ingathering) | גּוֹיִם (goyim) | ἔθνη (ethnē) | 万国 | wànguó | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness (universal trajectory) | Medium | [NEW] | Positive/inclusive framing; distinct from baseline gentiles (外邦人), which marks a Jew/non-Jew contrast. |
| 33 | kingdom of God (typological cross-ref) | מַלְכוּת (malkut) | βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ | 神的国 | Shén de guó | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | Medium | [BASELINE REUSE] | Not a this-worldly political order (天下/王朝). |
| 34 | peace (swords to plowshares) | שָׁלוֹם (shalom) | εἰρήνη (eirēnē) | 平安 | píng’ān | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | Medium | [BASELINE REUSE] | Tied explicitly to God’s reign, not generic calm or amulet-style well-wishing. |
| 35 | Bethlehem (Ephrathah) | בֵּית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה | Βηθλέεμ | 伯利恒 | Bólìhéng | The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Low | [NEW] | Established CUV proper name; doctrine context is Critical (see #14-17). |
| 36 | ruler (coming from Bethlehem) | מוֹשֵׁל (moshel) | ἄρχων (archōn) | 掌权者 / 治理者 | zhǎngquán zhě / zhìlǐ zhě | The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Critical | [NEW] | NEVER 天子 (“Son of Heaven,” imperial Mandate-of-Heaven title). |
| 37 | from ancient days / eternal origin | מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם | ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς ἐξ ἡμερῶν αἰῶνος | 从亘古，从太初 | cóng gèngǔ, cóng tàichū | The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Critical | [NEW] | OT seed of NT eternal-Sonship doctrine; teach with restraint proper to prophecy, flag trajectory for teachers. |
| 38 | shepherd | רָעָה (ra’ah) | ποιμαίνω (poimainō) | 牧养 / 牧者 | mùyǎng / mùzhě | The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem | Medium | [NEW] | Royal-protective sense, not mere agricultural literalism. |
| 39 | controversy / lawsuit | רִיב (riv) | κρίσις (krisis) | 争辩 / 诉讼 | zhēngbiàn / sùsòng | True Worship versus Empty Ritual | Medium | [NEW] | Formal judicial-covenant register, not casual argument. |
| 40 | redeemed / redemption | פָּדָה (padah) | λυτρόω (lytroō) | 救赎 | jiùshú | True Worship (grace precedes obedience) | High | [NEW] | Related to but distinct from baseline salvation (救恩); guard against folk merit-buyback reading. |
| 41 | dishonest scales | מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה | ζυγὸς ἀδικίας | 诡诈的天平 | guǐzhà de tiānpíng | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Concrete economic-injustice imagery; teach alongside 公义. |
| 42 | bribery | שֹׁחַד (shochad) | δῶρα (dōra) | 贿赂 | huìlù | Judgment on Corrupt Leaders | Medium | [NEW] | Standard term. |
| 43 | burnt offering | עוֹלָה (olah) | ὁλοκαύτωμα (holokautōma) | 燔祭 | fánjì | True Worship versus Empty Ritual | Medium-High | [NEW] | Distinguish from folk ritual-burning (烧纸/焚香) to gods/ancestors. |
| 44 | firstborn (rejected sacrifice) | בְּכוֹר (bekor) | πρωτότοκα | 头生子 | tóushēngzǐ | True Worship versus Empty Ritual | High | [NEW] | Rejected hypothetical extreme; must not read as endorsing child sacrifice or Chinese filial-sacrifice exemplar tradition (二十四孝). |
| 45 | good (revealed) | טוֹב (tov) | καλόν (kalon) | 善 | shàn | Justice, Mercy, and Humility | High | [NEW] | Distinguish from Mencian innate-goodness doctrine (性善论); revealed by God, not self-cultivated. |
| 46 | require / seek (of God) | דָּרַשׁ (darash) | ζητέω-family | 所要的 | suǒ yào de | Justice, Mercy, and Humility | Medium | [NEW] | Binding covenant demand, not a soft preference. |
| 47 | do justice (core passage) | עֲשׂוֹת מִשְׁפָּט | ποιεῖν κρίμα | 行公义 | xíng gōngyì | Justice, Mercy, and Humility | Critical | [NEW] | See #28; core-passage occurrence. |
| 48 | love kindness / mercy (chesed) | אַהֲבַת חֶסֶד (ahavat chesed) | ἀγαπᾶν ἔλεος | 怜悯 (好怜悯) | liánmǐn (hào liánmǐn) | Justice, Mercy, and Humility | Critical | [NEW] | Covenant-loyalty love, narrower than 怜悯’s ordinary “pity” sense; Mandarin collapses chesed and racham into one word — supply covenant-loyalty note. NEVER 慈悲 (Buddhist compassion). |
| 49 | compassion (racham) | רַחַם (racham) | οἰκτίρημα-family | 怜悯 / 慈怜 | liánmǐn / cílián | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | High | [NEW] | Parental/visceral tenderness; distinct Hebrew root from #48 though same Mandarin word — flag translation loss explicitly. |
| 50 | walk humbly | הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת (hatsnea lechet) | ἕτοιμον εἶναι τοῦ πορεύεσθαι | 谦卑 (存谦卑的心，与…同行) | qiānbēi (cún qiānbēi de xīn) | Justice, Mercy, and Humility | High | [NEW] | Vertical submission to God, not the Confucian horizontal social virtue of modesty (谦虚). |
| 51 | forgiveness / pardon | סָלַח (salach) | ἀφίημι (aphiēmi) | 赦免 | shèmiǎn | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | High | [NEW] | Distinguish from Buddhist 忏悔/消业 (ritual repentance dissolving karma); God’s initiative, not penitent’s technique. |
| 52 | cast sins into the sea | תַשְׁלִיךְ בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם | ἀπορρίψει εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης | 抛在海底 | pāo zài hǎidǐ | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | Low-Medium | [NEW] | Vivid poetic image; teach as total, final removal of guilt. |
| 53 | faithfulness / truth | אֱמֶת (emet) | ἀλήθεια (alētheia) | 诚实 / 真实 | chéngshí / zhēnshí | Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness | Medium | [NEW] | Pairs with baseline covenant (约) in Micah 7:20’s Abrahamic reference. |
Notes on Baseline Consistency
- Every term marked [BASELINE REUSE] reproduces the exact Mandarin rendering recorded in the Romans
translation_memory.json. No deviations were introduced. - New terms marked [NEW] are proposed for addition to translation memory before Phase 2 processing of Micah segments begins, per the Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions in
12_ai_translation_requirements.md. Each carries a proposed risk tier consistent with the existingdoctrine_risk_registry.jsonframework. - Two deliberate departures from a “borrow-a-baseline-word-if-similar” shortcut are flagged for reviewer attention:
- #28/#47 (justice, 公义) is not the same glossary entry as baseline
righteousness(义), though they share a character and a collision risk (Confucian 义). They render distinct Hebrew concepts (מִשְׁפָּט social/judicial justice vs. Confucian-collision-flagged δικαιοσύνη/forensic righteousness) and must be tracked as separate terms with separate occurrence-level flags. - #48/#49 (chesed vs. racham) are two distinct Hebrew roots that CUV renders with the same Mandarin word, 怜悯. This is flagged as a known translation-memory gap: reviewers must add contextual disambiguation notes rather than assume the single Mandarin term carries both semantic ranges automatically.
- #28/#47 (justice, 公义) is not the same glossary entry as baseline
- All Simplified Chinese script and CUV “Shen edition” register requirements from the baseline are followed without exception.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Shén
Doctrine: True Worship versus Empty Ritual
Rejected alternatives: 上帝, 天, 老天爷
Original: אֱלֹהִים / θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Applies to Micah’s generic אֱלֹהִים (Elohim). Monotheism must be made explicit against folk-deity common-noun usage of 神, an acute risk given Micah’s repeated polemic against idols (1:7; 5:13).
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: Zhǔ
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ (typological continuity)
Rejected alternatives: 主人, 老爷
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Also used for Micah’s אֲדֹנָי (Adonai) address form. Must not be softened toward 主人 (ordinary master) or 老爷 (feudal honorific).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 圣灵
Transliteration: Shènglíng
Doctrine: Sanctification (typological continuity)
Rejected alternatives: 祖灵, 灵
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Reserved for NT-continuous doctrinal cross-reference in Micah teaching material. Never substitute for the OT-specific construct 耶和华的灵 (see new entry spirit_of_the_lord) without the qualifying genitive.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: Jīdū
Doctrine: The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem
Rejected alternatives: 弥勒, 救世主式泛称
Original: — (typological; מָשִׁיחַ / Χριστός)
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Micah 5:2 does not use this term directly (no Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ occurs in the passage), but is the OT anchor the NT identifies as fulfilled in Christ (Matthew 2:6). NEVER conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神的儿子
Transliteration: Shén de érzi
Doctrine: Eternal Pre-existence of the Coming Ruler
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
Original: — (typological; υἱὸς θεοῦ)
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Teach as the forward-pointing NT trajectory of Micah 5:2’s ‘from ancient days’ (see new entry eternal_origin) — not asserted directly by the Hebrew text itself. NEVER 天子.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 道成肉身
Transliteration: dào chéng ròushēn
Doctrine: The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem
Rejected alternatives: 化身, 转世, 下凡
Original: — (typological; ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο)
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Cross-reference only for teaching Micah 5:2’s Bethlehem prophecy; do not import this NT vocabulary into the OT text itself.
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: ēndiǎn
Doctrine: Redemption Grounds Ethical Obedience (Grace Precedes Demand)
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 造化, 福气, 阴德
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Cross-referenced as the doctrinal parallel underlying Micah 6:3-5’s grace-precedes-obedience logic and 7:18-19’s forgiveness: God’s redeeming/pardoning initiative precedes and grounds the ethical demand of 6:8, never the reverse. NEVER 功德/阴德.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救恩
Transliteration: jiùēn
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness (contrast term)
Rejected alternatives: 解脱, 超度, 得道
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Retained as a CONTRAST term: Micah 6:4’s historical exodus-redemption is rendered 救赎 (see new entry redemption), a distinct OT ransom-image term, to avoid over-importing NT forensic soteriology into the Hebrew referent while still guarding against 解脱/超度 for either term.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 义
Transliteration: yì
Doctrine: Justice, Mercy, and Humility (contrast/collision term)
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Retained as an explicit CONTRAST anchor: Micah 6:8’s מִשְׁפָּט (‘do justice’) is rendered as the DISTINCT new term 公义 (see new entry justice), which shares the character 义 and inherits the identical Confucian Five Constant Virtues collision documented here, but is tracked as a separate glossary entry, never merged with this one.
Yahweh
Approved rendering: 耶和华
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá
Doctrine: True Worship versus Empty Ritual
Rejected alternatives: 神 (bare, loses covenant-name specificity), 天, 老天爷
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW TERM. Personal covenant name of Israel’s God (יְהוָה), the CUV-established transliteration for the Tetragrammaton. Distinct from generic 神 and from 主; conflating 耶和华 with a bare 神 loses the covenant-name specificity central to Micah’s argument — Israel is judged by the God who named himself to them, not an impersonal cosmic force. NEVER substitute 天 (impersonal Heaven) or 老天爷 (colloquial ‘Old Man Heaven’).
Most High God
Approved rendering: 至高的神
Transliteration: zhìgāo de Shén
Doctrine: True Worship versus Empty Ritual
Rejected alternatives: 天上的神-style vague paraphrase
Original: אֱלֹהֵי מָרוֹם
Category: God
NEW TERM. Renders אֱלֹהֵי מָרוֹם (Elohei marom), ‘God of the heights’ (Micah 6:6). Must be taught as absolute, exclusive supremacy — the one and only God — never the top rank of a graded pantheon analogous to Daoist folk cosmology’s 玉皇大帝 (the Jade Emperor).
Spirit Of The Lord
Approved rendering: 耶和华的灵
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá de Líng
Doctrine: Spirit-Empowered True Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 灵 (bare), 祖灵
Original: רוּחַ יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW TERM. Renders רוּחַ יְהוָה (Ruach YHWH), God’s Spirit empowering Micah’s prophetic authority (Micah 3:8), contrasted with corrupt diviners. NEVER bare 灵 (folk ancestral-spirit/ghost usage, per baseline caution). Always keep the genitive 耶和华的 attached; doctrinally continuous with, though textually distinct from, the NT’s fully-revealed 圣灵.
Justice
Approved rendering: 公义 (行公义)
Transliteration: gōngyì (xíng gōngyì)
Doctrine: Justice, Mercy, and Humility
Rejected alternatives: 义 (would merge with baseline righteousness, losing the mishpat/dikaiosynē distinction)
Original: מִשְׁפָּט
Category: Justice
NEW TERM, distinct from but sharing a character with baseline righteousness (义). Renders מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) — judicial verdict, social justice, right governance — both the leaders’ failure (Micah 3:1-3, 9) and God’s core requirement of his people (Micah 6:8, ‘do justice’). Inherits the SAME Confucian Five Constant Virtues (仁义礼智信) collision risk: a reader could hear ‘practicing 义’ as a socially-owed duty of moral rightness cultivated by personal effort, rather than covenant faithfulness required by, and accountable to, a personal God who has already acted in mercy (Micah 6:3-5 grounds the demand in prior grace). Every occurrence requires a distinguishing note. Track separately from 义 in all glossary and QA tooling.
Ruler
Approved rendering: 掌权者 / 治理者
Transliteration: zhǎngquán zhě / zhìlǐ zhě
Doctrine: The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem
Rejected alternatives: 天子 (imperial ‘Son of Heaven’ title under a transferable Mandate of Heaven)
Original: מוֹשֵׁל
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Renders מוֹשֵׁל (moshel), the coming governing figure of Davidic origin who will ‘rule in Israel’ (Micah 5:2). NEVER render as 天子 — the same reason the baseline forbids 天子 for son_of_god: that title would reduce this ruler to an unusually favored monarch, whereas the passage’s next clause points to an origin transcending any earthly dynasty.
Eternal Origin
Approved rendering: 从亘古，从太初
Transliteration: cóng gèngǔ, cóng tàichū
Doctrine: Eternal Pre-existence of the Coming Ruler
Rejected alternatives: 从很久以前 (flattens the deliberate temporal ambiguity toward mere antiquity)
Original: מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Renders מִקֶּדֶם מִימֵי עוֹלָם (miqqedem mimei olam), ‘from of old, from days of antiquity/eternity’ (Micah 5:2). The OT seed of the NT’s eternal-Sonship doctrine (cross-reference baseline incarnation/son_of_god). Must be taught with restraint proper to OT prophecy: avoid both (a) collapsing the ambiguity into full NT Christology prematurely, and (b) flattening it into merely ‘a very old, but merely human, dynasty.‘
Love Kindness Chesed
Approved rendering: 怜悯 (好怜悯)
Transliteration: liánmǐn (hào liánmǐn)
Doctrine: Justice, Mercy, and Humility
Rejected alternatives: 慈悲 (Buddhist compassion of the Buddha/Bodhisattva, e.g. Guanyin)
Original: אַהֲבַת חֶסֶד
Category: Justice
NEW TERM. Renders אַהֲבַת חֶסֶד (ahavat chesed), love of חֶסֶד — steadfast covenant loyalty flowing from a binding relationship (Micah 6:8; 7:20). CUV’s 怜悯 (‘pity, mercy’) is narrower than חֶסֶד: it suggests one-directional pity toward a lesser party, whereas חֶסֶד is covenant-loyalty love between committed parties. CUV also renders both חֶסֶד and רַחַם (racham, tender compassion, Micah 7:19 — see compassion_racham) as the same word 怜悯, a known translation-memory gap requiring a supplementary covenant-loyalty note at every occurrence. NEVER 慈悲.
High Risk Terms
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: zuì
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability (typological continuity)
Rejected alternatives: 报应, 罪犯式的罪
Original: חַטָּאָה / פֶּשַׁע
Category: Sin
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Covers both Hebrew חַטָּאָה (chatta’ah, ‘missing the mark’) and פֶּשַׁע (pesha, willful covenant rebellion). Where the covenant-rebellion nuance is prominent, supplement with 罪过 (zuìguò) without introducing a new glossary term.
Covenant
Approved rendering: 约
Transliteration: yuē
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness to Abraham
Rejected alternatives: 合同, 契约
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Anchors Micah 7:20’s closing appeal to the Abrahamic covenant. Avoid commercial-contract terms (合同/契约) implying a negotiated agreement between equal parties.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: 大卫的后裔
Transliteration: Dàwèi de hòuyì
Doctrine: The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem
Original: — (typological; cf. σπέρμα Δαυίδ)
Category: Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Cross-referenced for Micah 5:2’s ruler; requires OT covenant background explanation for readers with low OT narrative literacy.
Election
Approved rendering: 拣选
Transliteration: jiǎnxuǎn
Doctrine: Judgment on Corrupt Leaders (contrast term)
Rejected alternatives: 天命, 命运, 缘分
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Cross-referenced because the baseline’s forbidden 天命 (Mandate of Heaven) caution parallels the exact collision risk for Micah’s corrupt-leaders doctrine: leaders answer to a personal covenant God, not an impersonal, transferable cosmic mandate.
Calling
Approved rendering: 呼召
Transliteration: hūzhào
Doctrine: Judgment on Corrupt Leaders (contrast term)
Rejected alternatives: 天命, 命运
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Cross-referenced alongside 拣选/election for the same 天命 (Mandate of Heaven) collision guard applied to Micah’s ruler/leadership doctrines.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 神的大能
Transliteration: Shén de dà néng
Doctrine: Spirit-Empowered True Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 气, 法力
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Cross-referenced for Micah 3:8 (‘filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD’): NEVER 气 (qì, vital life-energy of Chinese medicine/qigong/martial-arts cosmology) or 法力 (a folk practitioner’s ritual power).
Idols
Approved rendering: 偶像
Transliteration: ǒuxiàng
Doctrine: Idolatry as the Root of National Sin
Rejected alternatives: 神像 (respectful folk-devotional register, lacks the biblical sin-verdict)
Original: עֲצַבִּים / פְּסִילִים
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders עֲצַבִּים/פְּסִילִים (atsabbim/pesilim), man-made images representing false gods, named as Samaria’s root offense (Micah 1:6-7; 5:13). Must be sharply distinguished from 神像 (deity statues) venerated with incense and offerings in Chinese folk temples, Buddhist shrines, and household altars — practices many readers may consider normal, respectful devotion. Teaching must state plainly that idolatry is directing worship owed exclusively to 耶和华/神 toward any image, however sincerely intended.
Remnant
Approved rendering: 余民
Transliteration: yúmín
Doctrine: Remnant Theology
Rejected alternatives: 幸存者 (biological/statistical survivors — loses divine-preservation sense)
Original: שְׁאָר / שְׁאֵרִית
Category: Restoration
NEW TERM. Renders שְׁאָר/שְׁאֵרִית (she’ar/she’erit), the covenant-faithful portion of God’s people preserved through judgment (Micah 2:12; 4:6-7; 5:7-8). Must carry God’s sovereign preserving initiative through judgment, not mere biological/statistical survival achieved by luck or human effort — parallels the baseline’s caution against reading election/calling as impersonal fate (命运) or fortuitous connection (缘分).
Latter Days
Approved rendering: 末后的日子
Transliteration: mòhòu de rìzi
Doctrine: Eschatological Hope of Universal Worship
Rejected alternatives: 末日 (pop-culture doomsday connotation), 末法时代 (Buddhist age-of-decline concept)
Original: אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים
Category: Restoration
NEW TERM. Renders אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים (acharit hayyamim), a fixed OT prophetic-eschatological technical term for a future, decisive era of God’s climactic action (Micah 4:1). Must be distinguished from 末日 (‘doomsday’, contemporary pop-culture apocalyptic-disaster imagery) and from the Buddhist 末法时代 (‘the age of the decline of the Dharma’). This is a hope-filled technical term, not a generic or dread-filled catastrophe reference — the fence must run in the emotional register as much as the doctrinal content.
Redemption
Approved rendering: 救赎
Transliteration: jiùshú
Doctrine: Redemption Grounds Ethical Obedience (Grace Precedes Demand)
Rejected alternatives: 救恩 (would over-import NT forensic soteriology into the OT historical referent)
Original: פָּדָה
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM, related to but distinct from baseline salvation (救恩). Renders פָּדָה (padah), God’s historical saving act delivering Israel from Egyptian slavery (Micah 6:4), grounding the ethical demand of 6:6-8 in grace already received. Must not be read through a folk-merit lens (paying to ‘buy back’ one’s own luck or fate) — this is God’s unilateral redeeming act, echoing the baseline’s grace-versus-merit caution (功德 forbidden).
Burnt Offering
Approved rendering: 燔祭
Transliteration: fánjì
Doctrine: True Worship versus Empty Ritual
Rejected alternatives: 烧纸/焚香式的祭 (folk ritual-burning register, wrong theological category)
Original: עוֹלָה
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders עוֹלָה (olah), the whole-burnt sacrifice of Levitical law, the most costly class of Israelite ritual offering, cited rhetorically in Micah 6:6. Standard OT sacrificial term; must be clearly distinguished from Chinese folk/ancestral ritual burning — burning incense (焚香), spirit money, or paper offerings (烧纸) to gods or ancestors (祭祖). The passage’s point is that even the authorized, God-given form of sacrifice cannot replace justice and mercy — not that folk ritual-burning is an alternate path to divine favor.
Firstborn Sacrifice
Approved rendering: 头生子
Transliteration: tóushēngzǐ
Doctrine: True Worship versus Empty Ritual
Original: בְּכוֹר
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders בְּכוֹר (bekor), the hypothetical offering of one’s own firstborn child as the ultimate conceivable payment for sin (Micah 6:7), rhetorically raised and rejected. Must not be rendered in a way readable as endorsing or normalizing child sacrifice, nor collapsed into the Chinese moral-exemplar tradition of extreme filial self-sacrifice (二十四孝, ‘Twenty-Four Exemplars of Filial Piety’). This is a rejected hypothetical extreme, not a model of devotion — God explicitly does not want this (Micah 6:8).
Good Revealed
Approved rendering: 善
Transliteration: shàn
Doctrine: Justice, Mercy, and Humility
Original: טוֹב
Category: Justice
NEW TERM. Renders טוֹב (tov), that which God has already revealed and defines as morally right (Micah 6:8, ‘He has told you… what is good’). 善 sits directly inside the vocabulary of the Confucian-Mencian doctrine of innate human goodness (性善论, xìngshàn lùn). Teaching must stress this ‘good’ is revealed by God from outside (‘he has told you’), not an innate quality drawn out through self-cultivation — structurally parallel to the baseline’s caution on 义/成圣 against Confucian self-cultivation.
Compassion Racham
Approved rendering: 怜悯 / 慈怜
Transliteration: liánmǐn / cílián
Doctrine: Divine Forgiveness and Compassion
Rejected alternatives: 慈悲 (Buddhist compassion)
Original: רַחַם
Category: Restoration
NEW TERM. Renders רַחַם (racham), tender, parental mercy rooted in the Hebrew word for ‘womb’ (רֶחֶם), shown by God to a repentant, forgiven people (Micah 7:19). Same Mandarin word (怜悯) as love_kindness_chesed above but a distinct Hebrew root and semantic emphasis (visceral parental tenderness vs. covenant-loyalty love) — flag the translation-loss explicitly at every occurrence. NEVER 慈悲.
Walk Humbly
Approved rendering: 谦卑 (存谦卑的心，与…同行)
Transliteration: qiānbēi (cún qiānbēi de xīn, yǔ…tóngxíng)
Doctrine: Justice, Mercy, and Humility
Rejected alternatives: 谦虚 (Confucian horizontal social virtue of interpersonal modesty)
Original: הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת
Category: Justice
NEW TERM. Renders הַצְנֵעַ לֶכֶת (hatsnea lechet), an entire manner of ongoing life lived in submissive companionship with God (Micah 6:8). 谦卑 must be distinguished from 谦虚, the Confucian social virtue of modesty toward other people (deferring to elders, not boasting) — a horizontal, socially-owed virtue. Biblical humility here is specifically vertical: submission to God, walking in step with him. Anchor with the fixed phrase ‘与…同行’ at every occurrence so the vertical direction is structurally, not just conceptually, present.
Forgiveness
Approved rendering: 赦免
Transliteration: shèmiǎn
Doctrine: Divine Forgiveness and Compassion
Rejected alternatives: 忏悔/消业 (Buddhist ritual confession believed to dissolve accumulated karmic consequence)
Original: סָלַח
Category: Restoration
NEW TERM. Renders סָלַח (salach), God’s active removal of guilt (Micah 7:18-19, ‘Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity’). Must be distinguished from the Buddhist practice of 忏悔 (ritual confession/repentance believed to dissolve accumulated karma, 消业) — biblical forgiveness originates in God’s own initiative and character, not a ritual technique performed by the penitent. Directly reinforces the baseline’s grace-versus-merit caution (功德 forbidden).
Medium Risk Terms
Prophecy
Approved rendering: 预言
Transliteration: yùyán
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy (typological continuity)
Rejected alternatives: 算卦, 占卜
Original: נְבוּאָה
Category: Prophecy
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Distinguish from 占卦/占卜 (I Ching-style divination); see new entry divination for the specific Micah 3:11 occurrence.
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: Yǐsèliè
Doctrine: Judgment on Corrupt Leaders
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. The covenant nation, defendant in Micah’s covenant lawsuit and recipient of restoration promises.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 神的国
Transliteration: Shén de guó
Doctrine: Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness
Rejected alternatives: 天下, 王朝
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Anticipated in Micah’s Zion vision (ch.4) and Bethlehem ruler (ch.5). Not a this-worldly political order framed as 天下 or dynastic succession (王朝).
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: píng’ān
Doctrine: Eschatological Hope of Universal Worship
Rejected alternatives: 安宁, 平安符式的平安
Original: שָׁלוֹם
Category: Kingdom
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Renders שָׁלוֹם in Micah 4:3 (swords into plowshares) and 5:5 (the ruler himself ‘shall be their peace’). Must be tied explicitly to God’s reign, not read as generic calm or amulet-style well-wishing.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: wàibāngrén
Doctrine: Eschatological Hope of Universal Worship (contrast term)
Rejected alternatives: 夷人, 外国人
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Retained here only as a CONTRAST term: Micah 4’s positive, inclusive vision of ‘many nations’ streaming to Zion is deliberately rendered 万国 (see new entry nations_universal), NOT 外邦人, which marks a Jew/non-Jew boundary. Cross-reference both terms when teaching NT continuity.
False Prophecy
Approved rendering: 假先知 / 说谎的预言
Transliteration: jiǎ xiānzhī / shuōhuǎng de yùyán
Doctrine: False Prophecy and Corrupt Religious Leadership
Original: נָטַף (dripping/preaching smooth things) / כִּזֵּב
Category: Prophecy
NEW TERM. Compound modifier of baseline 先知/预言 rather than a separate coinage. Renders prophets who preach comforting falsehoods for personal gain (Micah 2:11; 3:5). Describes corrupt covenant officeholders, a distinct category from folk diviners — ensure the baseline caution distinguishing revelation from 算命先生 remains active alongside this compound.
Divination
Approved rendering: 占卜
Transliteration: zhānbǔ
Doctrine: False Prophecy and Corrupt Religious Leadership
Original: קָסַם
Category: Prophecy
BASELINE-ADJACENT NEW TERM. Renders קָסַם (qasam), occult means of seeking hidden knowledge, practiced for pay by corrupt priests/diviners (Micah 3:11). Reuses the caution already documented under the baseline prophecy entry against 占卦/算卦-style I Ching divination; contrasted with Micah’s own Spirit-empowered word (3:8).
High Places
Approved rendering: 邱坛
Transliteration: qiūtán
Doctrine: Idolatry as the Root of National Sin
Rejected alternatives: 山头庙 (descriptive paraphrase, breaks CUV cross-reference consistency)
Original: בָּמָה
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders בָּמָה (bamah), elevated, unauthorized cultic worship platforms, including one identified with Jerusalem itself (Micah 1:5). Established CUV compound; not a syncretism risk so much as a comprehension gap — requires historical-background footnoting since Mandarin readers have no native equivalent concept.
Covet
Approved rendering: 贪图
Transliteration: tāntú
Doctrine: Economic Injustice and Oppression of the Vulnerable
Original: חָמַד
Category: Leadership and Justice
NEW TERM. Renders חָמַד (chamad), strong illegitimate desire for another’s property, the internal root of the leaders’ land-seizure (Micah 2:2). Must retain the moral-legal weight of violating the Tenth Commandment, not soften to mere emotional ‘wanting’.
Oppression
Approved rendering: 欺压
Transliteration: qīyā
Doctrine: Economic Injustice and Oppression of the Vulnerable
Original: עָשַׁק
Category: Leadership and Justice
NEW TERM. Renders עָשַׁק (ashaq), abuse of social/economic power to extort or crush the vulnerable (Micah 2:2; 3:9-10). Standard term; must retain systemic/social force, not read as merely interpersonal unkindness.
Inheritance
Approved rendering: 产业
Transliteration: chǎnyè
Doctrine: Economic Injustice and Oppression of the Vulnerable
Original: נַחֲלָה
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM. Renders נַחֲלָה (nachalah), God’s covenant land-grant to a tribe/family, seized unjustly by corrupt leaders (Micah 2:2). Must be taught with covenant-land theological background, or it reads as generic modern private property/estate.
Leaders
Approved rendering: 首领
Transliteration: shǒulǐng
Doctrine: Judgment on Corrupt Leaders
Original: רֹאשׁ
Category: Leadership and Justice
NEW TERM. Renders רֹאשׁ (rosh), civic/tribal heads held to covenant accountability for how they exercise power (Micah 3:1, 9). Low intrinsic ambiguity but must be taught alongside 公义 to keep the covenant-accountability link explicit, lest it read as merely secular officialdom.
Bloodshed Violence
Approved rendering: 流血的罪 / 强暴
Transliteration: liúxiě de zuì / qiángbào
Doctrine: Judgment on Corrupt Leaders
Original: דָּמִים / חָמָס
Category: Leadership and Justice
NEW TERM. Renders דָּמִים/חָמָס (damim/chamas), bloodguilt and violent injustice; leaders who ‘build Zion with blood’ (Micah 3:10). Reuses the baseline 罪 concept for the guilt dimension; names the concrete social cost of corrupt leadership.
Mountain Of The Lords House
Approved rendering: 耶和华殿的山
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá diàn de shān
Doctrine: Eschatological Hope of Universal Worship
Original: הַר בֵּית־יְהוָה
Category: Kingdom
NEW TERM. Renders הַר בֵּית־יְהוָה (har beit-YHWH), the temple mount/Mount Zion, geographic center of God’s future universal reign and teaching (Micah 4:1-2). Literal, standard rendering; reuses 耶和华. Anticipates the baseline kingdom_of_god trajectory — a worship-center drawing many nations, not bounded by ethnicity.
Nations Universal
Approved rendering: 万国
Transliteration: wànguó
Doctrine: Eschatological Hope of Universal Worship
Rejected alternatives: 外邦人 (marks a Jew/non-Jew contrast, wrong register for this positive, inclusive vision)
Original: גּוֹיִם
Category: Kingdom
NEW TERM. Renders גּוֹיִם (goyim) in its positive, inclusive sense — ‘many nations’ (Micah 4:2-3) streaming to Zion to worship, not objects of judgment. Distinct from the baseline gentiles entry (外邦人), which marks a Jew/non-Jew boundary. Cross-reference both terms when teaching NT continuity into the baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine.
Shepherd
Approved rendering: 牧养 / 牧者
Transliteration: mùyǎng / mùzhě
Doctrine: Shepherd-King Leadership
Original: רָעָה
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Renders רָעָה (ra’ah), the coming ruler’s protective, providing care for his people, exercised as tending a flock (Micah 5:4). Must retain the royal-protective sense, not mere agricultural literalism; continuous with wider OT/NT shepherd-king imagery.
Controversy Lawsuit
Approved rendering: 争辩 / 诉讼
Transliteration: zhēngbiàn / sùsòng
Doctrine: Covenant Lawsuit Motif
Original: רִיב
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders רִיב (riv), the formal covenant lawsuit genre framing Micah 6 (God as plaintiff/judge bringing charges against Israel, 6:1-2). Must retain the formal, judicial register — not merely ‘an argument’ in the everyday sense — since it sets up 6:6-8 as the defendant’s rejected rhetorical plea.
Dishonest Scales
Approved rendering: 诡诈的天平
Transliteration: guǐzhà de tiānpíng
Doctrine: Economic Injustice and Oppression of the Vulnerable
Original: מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה
Category: Justice
NEW TERM. Renders מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה (mo’zenei mirmah), scales rigged to defraud in trade (Micah 6:10-11). Concrete, low-ambiguity image; should be taught alongside 公义 to keep the doctrinal link between empty ritual and social injustice explicit.
Bribery
Approved rendering: 贿赂
Transliteration: huìlù
Doctrine: Judgment on Corrupt Leaders
Original: שֹׁחַד
Category: Justice
NEW TERM. Renders שֹׁחַד (shochad), a bribe given to corrupt judicial or civic judgment (Micah 3:11; 7:3), the specific mechanism of corrupt leadership condemned throughout chapters 3 and 6. Standard term; low ambiguity.
Require Seek
Approved rendering: 所要的
Transliteration: suǒ yào de
Doctrine: Justice, Mercy, and Humility
Original: דָּרַשׁ
Category: Justice
NEW TERM. Renders דָּרַשׁ (darash), God’s binding covenant demand of his people (Micah 6:8, ‘what does the LORD require of you’). Must retain the sense of covenant obligation, not reduce to a soft preference (‘what God would like’).
Cast Sins Into Sea
Approved rendering: 抛在海底
Transliteration: pāo zài hǎidǐ
Doctrine: Divine Forgiveness and Compassion
Original: וְתַשְׁלִיךְ…בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם
Category: Restoration
NEW TERM. Renders וְתַשְׁלִיךְ…בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם (vetashlich…bimtsulot yam), the vivid poetic image of God hurling Israel’s sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), total and irretrievable removal of guilt. Must be taught alongside 赦免 so the theological point is not lost as mere poetic flourish.
Faithfulness Truth
Approved rendering: 诚实 / 真实
Transliteration: chéngshí / zhēnshí
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness to Abraham
Original: אֱמֶת
Category: Restoration
NEW TERM. Renders אֱמֶת (emet), God’s reliable, covenant-keeping character, paired with חֶסֶד in Micah 7:20’s closing appeal to the Abrahamic promise. Reuses baseline 约 (covenant) as a companion concept; grounds the book’s hope in God’s unchanging character rather than Israel’s merit — must not flatten into generic ‘reliability’.
Low Risk Terms
Prophet
Approved rendering: 先知
Transliteration: xiānzhī
Doctrine: Spirit-Empowered True Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 算命先生
Original: נָבִיא
Category: Prophecy
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. Contrasts throughout Micah 2-3 with corrupt covenant officeholders (see new entry false_prophecy). Distinguish from 算命先生 (fortune-teller).
David
Approved rendering: 大卫
Transliteration: Dàwèi
Doctrine: The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem
Original: דָּוִד
Category: Covenant
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reproduced exactly. David’s ancestral home, Bethlehem, is the origin point of Micah 5:2’s coming ruler.
Witness
Approved rendering: 见证
Transliteration: jiànzhèng
Doctrine: Covenant Lawsuit Motif
Original: עֵד
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders עֵד (ed), a legal witness summoned to a covenant dispute (Micah 1:2). Frames the whole book as a formal covenant lawsuit (רִיב), not an informal complaint.
Mourning
Approved rendering: 哀号
Transliteration: āiháo
Doctrine: Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem
Original: מִסְפֵּד / סָפַד
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders מִסְפֵּד/סָפַד (misped/safad), ritual wailing and lamentation over impending judgment (Micah 1:8), the prophet’s embodied covenant grief. Standard term; low collision risk.
Bethlehem
Approved rendering: 伯利恒
Transliteration: Bólìhéng
Doctrine: The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem
Original: בֵּית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה
Category: Christology
NEW TERM (established CUV proper name; low risk in itself). Renders בֵּית־לֶחֶם אֶפְרָתָה (Beit-Lechem Efratah), David’s small ancestral town, identified as the coming ruler’s origin (Micah 5:2), quoted in Matthew 2:6. The surrounding doctrine is Critical — cross-reference seed_of_david and messiah.
Come Before
Approved rendering: 来到…面前
Transliteration: lái dào…miànqián
Doctrine: Covenant Lawsuit Motif
Original: קִדֵּם
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders קִדֵּם (qiddem), to approach formally, whether in ritual worship or before a judge in a covenant lawsuit (Micah 6:6). Transparent rendering; frames the rhetorical question of a defendant approaching the divine Judge.
Sacrificial Animals And Oil
Approved rendering: 一岁的牛犊 / 千千的公羊 / 万万道的油河
Transliteration: yī suì de niúdú / qiānqiān de gōngyáng / wànwàn dào de yóuhé
Doctrine: True Worship versus Empty Ritual
Original: עֲגָלִים / אֵילִים / נַחֲלֵי־שָׁמֶן
Category: Worship
NEW TERM. Renders עֲגָלִים/אֵילִים/נַחֲלֵי־שָׁמֶן (agalim/elim/nachalei shamen), escalating hyperbolic quantities of costly sacrificial offerings (Micah 6:6-7), rhetorically insufficient to satisfy God. Literal and unambiguous; the hyperbole must be preserved, not flattened into a modest quantity, since the rhetorical force depends on escalating absurdity.
Referenced passages