Core Glossary
08 — Core Glossary: Psalms (Mandarin Destination Language)
Legend: Risk follows the baseline’s four-tier framework (Critical / High / Medium / Low). Status marks whether a term is Reused verbatim from the Romans baseline translation memory, or New to this Psalms Language Package extension. All New terms are proposed as candidates for insertion into translation_memory.json (version increment) upon Phase 1 sign-off.
A. Reused Baseline Terms (Romans translation_memory.json — enforced verbatim)
| English | Mandarin | Pinyin | Risk (baseline) | Psalms citations | Note for Psalms context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | 神 | Shén | Critical | Ps 14:1, 82:1,6, 90:2, 115:3-8 | Psalm 82’s use of אֱלֹהִים for human judges and Psalm 115’s idol-polemic both require the monotheism-explicit handling the baseline already mandates |
| Jesus | 耶稣 | Yēsū | Critical | (NT fulfillment references only) | Used in teaching notes tying Psalms typology to Christ, not in the Hebrew text itself |
| Christ / Messiah | 基督 | Jīdū | Critical | Ps 2:2, 20:6, 89:38 (typological “anointed”) | See New term “anointed one” (受膏者) below for the OT root form |
| Lord (kyrios-equivalent exclusive lordship) | 主 | zhǔ | Critical | Ps 110:1, 8:1, 97:5 | Ps 110:1’s “my Lord” (אֲדֹנִי) directly extends baseline’s lordship_of_christ doctrine |
| Holy Spirit | 圣灵 | Shènglíng | Critical | Ps 51:11, 139:7 | Never render as 灵 alone or 祖灵, even in these earlier OT occurrences |
| Salvation | 救恩 | jiù’ēn | Critical | Ps 3:8, 27:1, 62:1-2, 116:13 | Some Psalms occurrences of יְשׁוּעָה name situational deliverance rather than the full soteriological doctrine — see New term “deliverance” below for the broader-sense companion rendering |
| Righteousness / righteous | 义 / 义人 | yì / yìrén | Critical | Ps 1, 7:9, 15, 24:5, 37, 111:3, 112 | Must never be read as the Confucian virtue cultivated by moral effort; Psalm 1’s righteous person is sustained by delight in God’s instruction |
| Glory | 荣耀 | róngyào | Medium | Ps 8:5, 19:1, 24:7-10, 29, 96:3 | Avoid collapsing into 面子 (face) or 光宗耀祖 (ancestral honor), per baseline |
| Holy | 圣洁 | shèngjié | High | Ps 99 (refrain), 15:1 | Consistent with baseline; avoid 清净 |
| Saints | 圣徒 | shèngtú | High | Ps 16:3, 34:9, 116:15, 149:1 | Corporate designation for God’s people, not an elevated sage-class (圣人) |
| Covenant | 约 | yuē | High | Ps 25:10, 44, 78, 89, 105, 132 | Central to the Hesed doctrine’s structure; never a commercial 合同/契约 |
| Law | 律法 | lǜfǎ | High | Ps 1:2, 19:7, 78:5, 119 (throughout) | Broader “instruction” sense (torah) must be taught alongside the statutory sense already flagged in baseline |
| Sin | 罪 | zuì | High | Ps 32, 38, 51, 106:6 | Distinguish from 报应 (karmic retribution), per baseline |
| Son of God | 神的儿子 | Shén de érzi | Critical | (typological link: Ps 2:7) | Psalm 2’s royal-adoptive “son” is type; full doctrine stated only in the NT referent |
| Peace | 平安 | píng’ān | Medium | Ps 4:8, 29:11, 85:10, 122:6-8 | Guard against the amulet/folk-blessing reading, per baseline, especially in the Songs of Ascents’ Jerusalem-peace wordplay |
| Thanksgiving | 感恩 | gǎn’ēn | Low | Ps 50:14, 100:4, 107 (refrain), 116:17 | Standard term; low risk |
| Fellowship / dwell together in unity | 团契-adjacent (不用于本诗篇直接对应词，参 Ps133) | tuánqì | Low | Ps 133:1 | Psalm 133’s “brothers dwell in unity” anticipates but does not use a technical koinōnia-equivalent term |
| Kingdom of God | 神的国 | Shén de guó | Medium | Ps 145:11-13 (typological); cf. Ps 2, 72, 93 kingship cluster | Avoid 天下/王朝 framing per baseline |
| Gentiles / nations (functionally parallel) | 外邦人 / 列国 | wàibāngrén / lièguó | Medium | Ps 2:1, 72:11, 96:3, 117:1 | Psalms typically uses גּוֹיִם (goyim) rendered 列国/万国 rather than the NT’s ἔθνη; theological force (universal scope) is the same and must not be softened |
| Providence | 神的护理 | Shén de hùlǐ | High | Ps 104, 121, 139 | Avoid 天意 (impersonal “heaven’s intention”), per baseline |
| David | 大卫 | Dàwèi | Medium | throughout (title superscriptions; Ps 89, 132) | Established CUV form |
| Israel | 以色列 | Yǐsèliè | Medium | Ps 14:7, 78, 80:1, 105 | Established CUV form |
B. New Terms Required for the Psalms Language Package
| English | Hebrew (translit.) | Mandarin | Pinyin | Doctrine | Risk | Key citations | Rejected alternatives / collision notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shepherd (of God) | רֹעֶה (ro’eh) | 牧者 | mùzhě | Character of God as Shepherd | High | Ps 23:1, 80:1, 95:7, 100:3 | Avoid framing as a generic “guardian deity” (守护神); must convey personal, providing, covenant care, not territorial spirit-guardianship |
| YHWH (the divine covenant name) | יְהוָה (YHWH) | 耶和华 | Yēhéhuá | Character of God / all doctrines | Critical | throughout (approx. 700+ occurrences) | Must never be collapsed into generic 神 nor into 天/老天爷 (impersonal Heaven, already forbidden in baseline); this is God’s personal covenant name, distinct from the common noun for deity |
| Refuge | מַחְסֶה / חָסָה (machaseh / chasah) | 避难所 / 投靠 | bìnànsuǒ / tóukào | Character of God as Refuge | Critical | Ps 46:1, 91:1-2, 11:1, 57:1, 71:7 | NEVER use 皈依 (guīyī) — the specific Buddhist technical term for “taking refuge” in the Three Refuges (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha); using it would import an entire alternate soteriological system. Biblical refuge-taking is personal trust in the covenant God, not entry into a religious system |
| Rock (of God) | צוּר (tsur) | 磐石 | pánshí | Character of God as Refuge | Medium | Ps 18:2, 62:2, 92:15, 144:1 | Established, low-collision image; ensure not reduced to mere metaphor for stability without the relational-trust dimension |
| Fortress / stronghold | מְצוּדָה / מִשְׂגָּב (metsudah / misgav) | 保障 / 高台 | bǎozhàng / gāotái | Character of God as Refuge | Medium | Ps 18:2, 46:7, 91:2, 144:2 | No major collision; keep distinct from military-political fortress imagery devoid of covenant trust |
| Steadfast love / covenant loyalty (hesed) | חֶסֶד (chesed) | 慈爱 | cí’ài | Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed) | Critical | Ps 23:6, 5:7, 36:5, 86:5,15, 89, 103:8, 107 (refrain), 118, 130:7, 136 (refrain x26), 145:8 | Must be distinguished from (1) 恩典 (baseline’s technical NT grace term — related but not identical: hesed presumes an existing covenant bond, grace in Romans is unmerited favor extended to the ungodly); (2) 义气 (yìqì, the Chinese folk-cultural sworn-loyalty ethic among equals/kin, e.g. Peach Garden Oath); (3) 缘分 (yuánfèn, folk-Buddhist predestined-connection, already forbidden under baseline “election”) |
| Faithfulness / truth | אֱמֶת (emet) | 信实 | xìnshí | Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed) | Medium | Ps 85:10, 86:15, 89:1-2, 100:5 | Regularly paired with chesed; keep distinct from baseline 信心 (faith, the believer’s trust) — emet is God’s own reliability, not human trust in him |
| The Exodus 34:6 mercy formula (“merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love”) | רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד | 有怜悯有恩惠的神，不轻易发怒，且有丰盛的慈爱 | yǒu liánmǐn yǒu ēnhuì de Shén, bù qīngyì fānù, qiě yǒu fēngshèng de cí’ài | Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed) | Critical | Ps 86:15, 103:8, 145:8 (verbatim recurrence) | Must render identically at every occurrence per baseline’s cross-document consistency principle (cf. Romans 8:28/10:9-10 requirement) |
| Blessed / happy (state of flourishing) | אֶשֶׁר / אַשְׁרֵי (esher / ashrei) | 有福 | yǒu fú | The Righteous and the Wicked | High | Ps 1:1, 32:1-2, 34:8, 84:4-5, 112:1, 119:1-2, 128:1, 146:5 | 福 sits within the same semantic field as folk fortune-seeking language flagged in the baseline gospel note; teach as God-given flourishing rooted in relationship/instruction, not luck or omen |
| Righteous person / wicked person | צַדִּיק / רָשָׁע (tsaddiq / rasha) | 义人 / 恶人 | yìrén / èrén | The Righteous and the Wicked | Critical | Ps 1, 7:9, 11:5-7, 34:15-16, 37, 58:10-11, 112 | 义人 reuses baseline 义 (Critical); never imply Confucian self-cultivated virtue (君子之义) — the righteous person in Psalm 1 is sustained by, not the author of, his own flourishing |
| Instruction / law (torah) | תּוֹרָה (torah) | 律法 | lǜfǎ | The Righteous and the Wicked; Covenant Faithfulness | High | Ps 1:2, 19:7, 78:5, 119 (throughout) | Reuses baseline 律法; must additionally carry the broader “teaching/instruction” nuance (from ירה, “to teach”) beyond bare statute, especially in Ps 1, 19, 119 |
| Anointed one (royal/messianic type) | מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) | 受膏者 | shòu gāo zhě | Kingship and the Messianic King; Messianic Prophecy | Critical | Ps 2:2, 20:6, 89:38, 132:10 | Historical-typological root of 基督/弥赛亚 (baseline “messiah,” Critical); NEVER conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya), per baseline’s absolute prohibition; teach as type fulfilled in Christ, not as an independent messianic figure |
| King (of Israel / the messianic king) | מֶלֶךְ (melek) | 王 | wáng | Kingship and the Messianic King | Medium | Ps 2:6, 24:7-10, 45:1, 72, 93:1, 145:1 | Feeds into baseline’s “神的国” (kingdom_of_god); avoid framing as a this-worldly dynastic office (王朝) |
| My Lord (David’s superior, Ps 110) | אֲדֹנִי (adoni) | 我主 | wǒ zhǔ | Kingship and the Messianic King | Critical | Ps 110:1 | Reuses baseline 主; directly extends “lordship_of_christ” — the OT’s own internal argument (via Jesus’ use in Matt 22) for the Messiah’s supremacy over David |
| Priest after the order of Melchizedek | כֹּהֵן…מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק (kohen…Malki-Tsedeq) | 照麦基洗德等次永远为祭司 | zhào Màijīxǐdé děngcì yǒngyuǎn wéi jìsī | Kingship and the Messianic King | Critical | Ps 110:4 | 麦基洗德 established transliteration; combines king + priest offices, fulfilled in Christ per Hebrews 7 |
| Lament formula (“how long, O LORD”) | עַד־אָנָה יְהוָה (ad-anah YHWH) | 耶和华啊，要到几时呢 | Yēhéhuá a, yào dào jǐshí ne | Lament and Honest Prayer | Medium | Ps 6:3, 13:1-2, 74:10, 79:5, 80:4, 89:46, 90:13, 94:3 | No direct collision; teaching point is that raw complaint addressed to God models faith, not irreverence; distinguish from silent, undirected fatalistic resignation |
| Darkness (of unresolved lament) | חֹשֶׁךְ / מַחְשַׁכִּים (choshekh / machshakim) | 黑暗 | hēi’àn | Lament and Honest Prayer | High | Ps 88:6, 12, 18 (closing word of the psalm) | Psalm 88 ends without resolution — must be taught explicitly as a canonically sanctioned form of prayer, not smoothed into false resolution |
| Confession / iniquity confessed | הוֹדֵיתִי עֲוֹנִי (hodeti avoni) | 承认我的罪孽 | chéngrèn wǒ de zuìniè | Confession and Forgiveness | High | Ps 32:5, 51:3-4 | Reuses 罪/罪孽; forensic, complete acknowledgment before God, not a private psychological process alone |
| Blot out / wipe away (forgiveness) | מְחֵה (mecheh) | 涂抹 | túmǒ | Confession and Forgiveness | Medium | Ps 51:1, 9 | Removal of the record of guilt; no major collision |
| Create in me a clean heart | לֵב טָהוֹר בְּרָא־לִי (lev tahor bera-li) | 求你为我造清洁的心 | qiú nǐ wèi wǒ zào qīngjié de xīn | Confession and Forgiveness / Sanctification | Critical | Ps 51:10 | Uses the Genesis creation-verb (בָּרָא); must be taught as God’s creative act, never self-cultivation — the OT’s strongest anticipation of the baseline’s CRITICAL “sanctification” (成圣) caution against Neo-Confucian self-perfection |
| Broken and contrite heart | לֵב נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה (lev nishbar ve-nidkeh) | 忧伤痛悔的心 | yōushāng tònghuǐ de xīn | Confession and Forgiveness | High | Ps 51:17 | Must not be taught as merit-earning self-punishment/penance; this is repentance received by grace |
| Redemption | פְּדוּת / גְּאֻלָּה (pedut / ge’ulah) | 救赎 | jiùshú | Confession and Forgiveness; Covenant Faithfulness | High | Ps 49:7-8, 130:7-8 | Anticipates NT redemption/atonement vocabulary; keep distinct from 功德-style merit-accumulation (baseline CRITICAL caution under “grace”) |
| Soul (whole living self) | נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh) | 灵魂 / 心 | línghún / xīn | Character of God as Shepherd; Lament; Praise | High | Ps 23:3, 42:1-2, 62:1, 103:1, 146:1 | Risk of being read through 魂魄 (detachable ancestral-spirit substance requiring veneration); must be taught as the whole living person God cares for now, not a soul-fragment destined for ancestor ritual — a collision cousin to the baseline’s 灵/祖灵 caution |
| Refuge under [God’s] wings | תַּחַת כְּנָפֶיךָ (tachat kenafeikha) | 在你翅膀的荫下 | zài nǐ chìbǎng de yīn xià | Character of God as Refuge | Medium | Ps 57:1, 91:4 | Maternal/protective extension of the refuge image; no significant collision |
| Fear of the LORD | יִרְאַת יְהוָה (yir’at YHWH) | 敬畏耶和华 | jìngwèi Yēhéhuá | Covenant Faithfulness; The Righteous and the Wicked | Medium | Ps 34:9, 111:10, 128:1, 145:19 | Reverent awe within covenant relationship; distinguish from servile terror and from impersonal cosmic dread (cf. baseline’s 天意 caution) |
| Casting lots | גּוֹרָל (goral) / נַפֵּל גּוֹרָל | 抽签 / 拈签 | chōuqiān / niānqiān | Messianic Prophecy | High | Ps 22:18 | Standard Mandarin terms for temple fortune-stick divination (求签, flagged in baseline under “intercession”/“prophecy”); requires a clarifying note distinguishing this historical detail (Roman soldiers dividing Christ’s garments) from divinatory practice |
| Anoint (guest-honoring, non-royal) | דָּשַׁן (dashen) | 膏 | gāo | Character of God as Shepherd | Medium | Ps 23:5 | Shares a root with 受膏者/基督 but names ordinary hospitality-anointing, not royal/messianic consecration; requires a disambiguating note |
| Cup (of blessing / of salvation) | כּוֹס (kos) | 杯 | bēi | Character of God as Shepherd; Praise | Medium | Ps 23:5, 16:5, 116:13 | The CUV’s “福杯满溢” (Ps 23:5) inserts 福 into the translation; flag per baseline’s 福/fortune-language caution |
| House of the LORD / God’s dwelling | בֵּית־יְהוָה (beit YHWH) | 耶和华的殿 | Yēhéhuá de diàn | Character of God as Shepherd; Praise | Medium | Ps 23:6, 27:4, 84:1-4, 122:1 | 殿 must be taught as God’s own sanctuary, distinct from generic idol/ancestral-hall usage of the same character in broader Chinese religious vocabulary |
| Praise (halal) | הָלַל (halal) | 赞美 | zànměi | Praise and Worship | Medium | Ps 148, 149, 150 (throughout); root of “hallelujah” | Direction of praise (to YHWH alone) is the key teaching point, distinguishing from festival/temple-parade percussive worship forms (迎神/庆典) in Chinese folk religion |
| Hallelujah | הַלְלוּ־יָהּ (halelu-Yah) | 哈利路亚 | hālìlùyà | Praise and Worship | Low | Ps 106:1, 111-113, 115-117, 135, 146-150 | Reuses baseline’s established transliteration standard for theological proper-noun-like exclamations (cf. 阿们) |
| Selah (liturgical marker) | סֶלָה (selah) | 细拉 | Xìlā | Praise and Worship (structural) | Low | Ps 3, 24, 46, 68, and 71 other occurrences | Established CUV transliteration; liturgical/musical function, not translated for meaning |
| Idols | עֲצַבִּים / אֱלִילִים (atsabim / elilim) | 偶像 | ǒuxiàng | Character of God (monotheism) | Medium | Ps 115:4-8, 96:5, 106:36-38 | Useful for making monotheism explicit, per baseline’s note that 神 is also a generic noun for any deity/spirit |
| Deliverance (situational, non-technical yeshu’ah) | יְשׁוּעָה (yeshu’ah, general sense) | 拯救 | zhěngjiù | (supports Salvation doctrine without overriding it) | Medium | Ps 3:8, 18:2, 20:6, 27:1, 62:1-2 | Distinct from the baseline’s technical soteriological noun 救恩; this is the broader OT sense of situational rescue that anticipates, but is not identical to, the full NT doctrine — teach the trajectory, not an equivalence |
| Elohim used of human judges | אֱלֹהִים (Elohim, delegated-authority sense) | （借用）神 | (jièyòng) Shén | (isolated exegetical case) | High | Ps 82:1, 6 | Rare, scoped sense of “Elohim” for human officials bearing delegated divine authority; must not be generalized or allowed to blur the term’s normal, exclusive reference to the one true God elsewhere in this curriculum |
C. Cross-Reference to Baseline Doctrine Risk Registry
The following Psalms doctrines map onto and extend existing baseline doctrine entries; Phase 1 Step 2 (doctrine risk registry extension) should formally add corresponding entries using the risk tiers indicated in Section B above:
| Curriculum doctrine | Nearest baseline doctrine entry | Extension required |
|---|---|---|
| Character of God as Shepherd, King, and Refuge | (none — new) | New entries: “shepherd_care_of_god” (High), “refuge_in_god” (Critical, per 皈依 collision) |
| Lament and Honest Prayer | providence; assurance_of_salvation | New entry: “lament_and_honest_prayer” (Medium-High) |
| Praise and Worship | thanksgiving; christian_fellowship | New entry: “praise_and_worship” (Medium) |
| Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms | messianic_promise; resurrection_of_christ; deity_of_christ; sonship_of_christ | Extend existing Critical entries with Psalms citations (2, 8, 16, 22, 40, 45, 69, 110, 118) |
| Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51) | sanctification; grace | New entry: “confession_and_forgiveness” (Critical, per 造清洁的心/成圣 collision) |
| The Righteous and the Wicked (Psalm 1) | righteousness; universal_human_accountability | New entry: “the_righteous_and_the_wicked” (Critical) |
| Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed) | grace; covenant | New entry: “covenant_faithfulness_hesed” (Critical, per 恩典/义气/缘分 collision) |
| Kingship and the Messianic King (Psalms 2, 110) | kingdom_of_god; lordship_of_christ; davidic_covenant | Extend existing entries with Psalms 2/110 citations; new sub-entry: “messianic_kingship” (Critical) |
End of Phase 1 Step 1 deliverables for the Psalms curriculum (Mandarin destination language).
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Shén
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / Character of God
Rejected alternatives: 上帝, 天, 老天爷
Original: אֱלֹהִים / יהוה
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: this Language Package standardizes on 神 (the CUV ‘Shen edition’ reading) rather than 上帝 (Shàngdì)… NEVER use 天 (tiān, impersonal Heaven) or 老天爷 alone. Note 神 is also the common noun for any deity/spirit (folk city gods, kitchen god, etc.); doctrinal contexts must make monotheism explicit rather than assume it. Psalms extension: this caution is especially live at Psalm 82 (Elohim used of human judges — see elohim_human_judges below) and Psalm 115’s idol polemic (see idols below).
Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶稣
Transliteration: Yēsū
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς (NT fulfillment references only)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CUV standard transliteration. Used in Psalms curriculum teaching material tying typology (Ps 2, 8, 16, 22, 45, 69, 110, 118) to its NT fulfillment; does not occur in the Hebrew text itself.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: Jīdū
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Rejected alternatives: 弥勒, 救世主式泛称
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). NEVER conflate with 弥勒 (Mílè, Maitreya)… Psalms extension: this absolute prohibition applies with equal force to every Psalms messianic-typology passage (2, 89, 110, 132) and to the OT-level root term 受膏者 (anointed_one, see below), which must be taught as this title’s historical root, not an independent expectation.
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zhǔ
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 主人, 老爷
Original: κύριος (NT) / אָדוֹן (adon, OT)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Must not be softened toward 主人 or 老爷… Psalms extension: Psalm 110:1’s ‘my Lord’ (see my_lord_adoni below) is the OT’s own internal argument, used by Jesus himself (Matt 22:41-45), for the Messiah’s supremacy over David — the single highest-leverage occurrence of this term in the Psalter.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 圣灵
Transliteration: Shènglíng
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 祖灵, 灵
Original: רוּחַ קָדְשְׁךָ / πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: always use the compound 圣灵; NEVER use 灵 alone… Psalms extension: occurs at Psalm 51:11 and 139:7. A progressive-revelation note is required so learners understand these OT occurrences as genuine anticipation of the Spirit’s personal presence, not yet the full NT Trinitarian disclosure.
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: ēndiǎn
Doctrine: Grace / Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed) contrast
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 造化, 福气, 阴德
Original: χάρις (NT category, contrasted with hesed in Psalms teaching)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: NEVER use 功德 or 阴德… Psalms extension: 恩典 must be carefully distinguished from this package’s new term 慈爱 (steadfast_love_hesed, see below) — hesed presumes an existing covenant bond, while 恩典 (charis) is unmerited favor extended even to the ungodly. The two are related but never interchangeable; neither may be explained through the Buddhist merit-ledger (功德).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 义
Transliteration: yì
Doctrine: Salvation / The Righteous and the Wicked (Psalm 1)
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
Original: צֶדֶק / δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: 义 is also one of the Confucian Five Constant Virtues… Psalms extension: this caution intensifies at Psalm 1, 23:3, 24:5, 37, 111:3, 112, where 义 must never be read as the Confucian virtue self-cultivated by the 君子 (gentleman); the righteous person in Psalm 1 is sustained by, not the author of, his own flourishing.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: 算为义
Transliteration: suàn wéi yì
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51) / Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果的义, 自义
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CUV Romans 4 phrase, ‘reckoned/credited as righteous’… Psalms extension: Paul quotes Psalm 32:1-2 (‘blessed is the one whose sin is covered’) in Romans 4:7-8 as direct evidence for this doctrine; teaching must show Psalm 32 as Paul’s own quoted evidence, tightening the Romans-Psalms bridge and reinforcing the forensic, non-gradual character of forgiveness.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救恩
Transliteration: jiù’ēn
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 解脱, 超度, 得道
Original: יְשׁוּעָה (technical sense) / σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: NEVER use 解脱 or 超度… Psalms extension: some Psalms occurrences of יְשׁוּעָה (yeshu’ah) name situational deliverance rather than the full soteriological doctrine — see 拯救 (deliverance, new term below) for the broader-sense companion rendering, so situational-rescue psalms are neither over-read as full soteriology nor under-read as merely secular.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 成圣
Transliteration: chéngshèng
Doctrine: Sanctification / Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51)
Rejected alternatives: 修身, 修炼
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: 成圣 is itself a technical term in Neo-Confucian philosophy… Psalms extension: Psalm 51:10’s plea to ‘create in me a clean heart’ (see create_clean_heart below) is the OT’s strongest anticipation of this caution — the Genesis creation-verb (bara) must be taught as God’s own creative act, never the psalmist’s self-cultivation.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 复活
Transliteration: fùhuó
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 轮回, 投胎, 还魂
Original: חֲסִידְךָ…שַׁחַת (typological) / ἀνάστασις
Category: Messianic Prophecy
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: NEVER use 轮回, 投胎, or 还魂… Psalms extension: Psalm 16:10 (‘you will not let your Holy One see corruption’) is quoted by Peter and Paul (Acts 2:25-31, 13:35) as direct evidence for Christ’s bodily, non-decaying resurrection — see holy_one_not_see_corruption below.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神的儿子
Transliteration: Shén de érzi
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
Original: בֵּן / υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CRITICAL: NEVER use 天子… Psalms extension: Psalm 2:7’s royal-adoptive ‘son’ language (2 Sam 7:14 background) is type, not the full doctrine; the NT (Acts 13:33, Heb 1:5) applies it typologically to Christ’s unique, eternal, co-equal Sonship, an office that could never in principle pass to another holder, unlike 天子.
Yhwh
Approved rendering: 耶和华
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd, King, and Refuge (foundational across all Psalms doctrines)
Rejected alternatives: 神 (collapses the personal covenant name into the generic title), 天, 老天爷
Original: יְהוָה
Category: God
NEW TERM. God’s personal, revealed covenant name, distinct from the generic title Elohim/神; occurs over 700 times across the Psalter, including the opening word of the core passage (Psalm 23:1). Must never be collapsed into generic 神 nor into 天/老天爷 (impersonal Heaven, forbidden in the baseline under ‘god’). Losing the personal name flattens the covenantal, relational, address-able quality that grounds the entire Psalter’s prayer-language. Established CUV transliteration.
Anointed One
Approved rendering: 受膏者
Transliteration: shòu gāo zhě
Doctrine: Kingship and the Messianic King (Psalms 2 and 110); Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Rejected alternatives: 弥勒 (Maitreya — absolute prohibition), 弥赛亚 (reserved for the settled NT-facing transliteration family)
Original: מָשִׁיחַ
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. The historical, OT-level title for God’s divinely installed, oil-consecrated king (Ps 2:2, 20:6, 89:38, 132:10) — the root of the NT title fulfilled in Christ (基督). Must always be taught as the historical-typological root of a Messiah who has already come once, permanently, and exclusively — never as an open slot still awaiting a future occupant. Same absolute prohibition against conflating with 弥勒 (Maitreya) applies here as with the NT title itself.
My Lord Adoni
Approved rendering: 我主
Transliteration: wǒ zhǔ
Doctrine: Kingship and the Messianic King (Psalm 110); Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 主人, 老爷
Original: אֲדֹנִי
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. David’s address to his own royal descendant as a superior — ‘the LORD says to my Lord’ (Psalm 110:1) — the OT’s own internal argument for the Messiah’s supremacy over David, cited by Jesus in Matthew 22:41-45. This is the single most theologically load-bearing occurrence of ‘Lord’ language in the entire Psalter; must never be rendered with a diminished honorific term that would obscure the argument Jesus himself makes from this verse. Requires theologian sign-off on every occurrence.
Righteous Person
Approved rendering: 义人
Transliteration: yìrén
Doctrine: The Righteous and the Wicked (Psalm 1)
Rejected alternatives: 君子 (Confucian self-cultivated gentleman)
Original: צַדִּיק
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. One in right relational standing before God, contrasted with the wicked in Psalm 1’s foundational two-ways structure and reused throughout (Ps 7:9, 11:5-7, 34:15-16, 37, 112). Reuses baseline 义 (Critical). Must never imply the Confucian 君子 who achieves 义 through self-cultivation; Psalm 1’s righteous person is rooted and fruitful because he is sustained by delighting in God’s instruction, not because he is the author of his own flourishing.
Melchizedek
Approved rendering: 麦基洗德
Transliteration: Màijīxǐdé
Doctrine: Priesthood and Kingship Typology (Melchizedek)
Original: מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק
Category: Priesthood
NEW TERM. The ancient king-priest of Salem (Gen 14) invoked in Psalm 110:4 as the pattern for the messianic king’s eternal priesthood, fulfilled in Christ per Hebrews 7. Precision is Critical because the psalm’s typology — a priest-king combining two offices no ordinary Davidic king could combine — collapses if the proper name is rendered loosely.
Priest Order Melchizedek
Approved rendering: 照麦基洗德的等次永远为祭司
Transliteration: zhào Màijīxǐdé de děngcì yǒngyuǎn wéi jìsī
Doctrine: Priesthood and Kingship Typology (Melchizedek); Kingship and the Messianic King
Original: כֹּהֵן…עַל־דִּבְרָתִי מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק
Category: Priesthood
NEW TERM. The combined kingship-and-priesthood office declared by divine oath in Psalm 110:4, fulfilled in Christ. 祭司 (priest) must be retained precisely, and the phrase must not be abbreviated in a way that loses either the kingship or the priesthood component.
Refuge
Approved rendering: 避难所 / 投靠
Transliteration: bìnànsuǒ / tóukào
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge
Rejected alternatives: 皈依 (Buddhist Three Refuges technical term — absolute prohibition)
Original: מַחְסֶה / חָסָה
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. God himself as the place of ultimate safety amid danger or cosmic upheaval (Ps 46:1, 91:1-2, 11:1, 57:1, 71:7). NEVER use 皈依 (guīyī), the specific Buddhist technical term for ‘taking refuge’ in the Three Refuges (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha), with deep, specific liturgical use in Chinese Buddhism — no exception, no context. Biblical refuge-taking is personal trust in a covenant God, not entry into a religious system. 投靠 is permitted only when God is the explicit, named object in the same clause.
Steadfast Love Hesed
Approved rendering: 慈爱
Transliteration: cí’ài
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Rejected alternatives: 恩典 (related but not identical NT grace term), 义气 (sworn-brotherhood loyalty ethic between equals), 缘分 (folk-Buddhist predestined connection — already forbidden under baseline election)
Original: חֶסֶד
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM. Covenant loyalty, steadfast/faithful love — an enduring disposition of faithfulness within a binding relationship, never a one-time gesture; the Psalter’s most repeated theological term (Ps 23:6, 5:7, 36:5, 86, 89, 103:8, 107 refrain, 118, 130:7, 136 refrain x26, 145:8). Highest-density collision zone in the entire package: (1) hesed presumes an existing covenant bond, unlike grace’s favor to the ungodly; (2) hesed is unilateral from a covenant-superior, unlike 义气’s reciprocal human honor-code; (3) hesed is personal and chosen, unlike 缘分’s impersonal fatedness. Every doctrinally load-bearing occurrence routed to human theologian review.
Mercy Formula Exodus 34 6
Approved rendering: 有怜悯有恩惠的神，不轻易发怒，且有丰盛的慈爱
Transliteration: yǒu liánmǐn yǒu ēnhuì de Shén, bù qīngyì fānù, qiě yǒu fēngshèng de cí’ài
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Original: רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM. The Psalter’s recurring self-description of God’s character, echoing Exodus 34:6-7, occurring verbatim at Psalm 86:15, 103:8, and 145:8. Functions as the Psalter’s theological center of gravity for covenant faithfulness; must render identically at every occurrence per the cross-document consistency principle already applied to Romans 8:28 and 10:9-10. Locked as an invariant string; no stylistic variation permitted across occurrences.
Create Clean Heart
Approved rendering: 求你为我造清洁的心
Transliteration: qiú nǐ wèi wǒ zào qīngjié de xīn
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51); Sanctification and Inner Renewal
Rejected alternatives: 修身/修炼-style self-cultivation framing
Original: לֵב טָהוֹר בְּרָא־לִי
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. The psalmist’s plea in Psalm 51:10 for God to create (‘bara,’ the Genesis creation-verb) a clean heart, since forgiveness and inner renewal require nothing less than a fresh divine creative act. The creation-verb 造 must be preserved and taught as God’s own unilateral creative act — the OT’s strongest anticipation of the baseline’s CRITICAL 成圣 (sanctification) caution against Neo-Confucian self-cultivation into sagehood. No teaching material may imply the psalmist describes a technique or discipline; the prayer is a request, not a method. Flagged for theologian review at every occurrence.
Cornerstone
Approved rendering: 房角石
Transliteration: fángjiǎoshí
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Original: הָאֶבֶן…לְרֹאשׁ פִּנָּה
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ (Ps 118:22), the foundational messianic-rejection/vindication image applied to Christ in Matthew 21:42, Acts 4:11, and 1 Peter 2:7. Established Chinese Christian idiom; must render precisely and consistently every occurrence, since all three NT citations depend on the reader recognizing the same image.
Forsaken Cry
Approved rendering: 我的神，我的神，为什么离弃我
Transliteration: wǒ de Shén, wǒ de Shén, wèishéme líqì wǒ
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy: The Suffering King; Lament and Honest Prayer
Original: אֵלִי אֵלִי לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’ (Ps 22:1), quoted verbatim by Jesus from the cross (Matt 27:46). Must render with full theological weight, not softened; this is the same lament-boldness the Lament and Honest Prayer doctrine draws on, now uniquely borne by Christ himself. Must match wording used in any future Gospels-package rendering of Matthew 27:46.
Pierced
Approved rendering: 扎 / 刺
Transliteration: zhā / cì
Doctrine: Crucifixion Typology Details
Original: כָּארוּ (MT, disputed) / LXX ὤρυξαν
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. ‘They have pierced my hands and feet’ (Ps 22:16), read by the NT community as anticipating crucifixion. Requires a translator’s note on the underlying text-critical question (a disputed Masoretic form versus the LXX and traditional reading), but the received Christian reading (piercing) must be retained per established Bible-translation tradition.
Holy One Not See Corruption
Approved rendering: 圣者…朽坏
Transliteration: shèngzhě…xiǔhuài
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ (Psalms extension); Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Original: חֲסִידְךָ…שַׁחַת
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. ‘Your faithful/devoted one… the pit/corruption of decay’ (Ps 16:10), the specific clause the apostles cite as proof of bodily resurrection before decay. Must be taught as a specific, falsifiable historical claim (no decay occurred), not a general hope of an afterlife; directly reinforces the baseline’s CRITICAL resurrection_of_christ doctrine.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: 信心
Transliteration: xìnxīn
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 虔诚, 迷信, 信仰
Original: בָּטַח / πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Personal trust placed in Christ specifically… Psalms extension: the Hebrew trust-verb בָּטַח (batach, Ps 13, 56, 62, 125) names trust in YHWH’s covenant character generally, broader than the NT’s Christ-specific pistis; teach as conceptually continuous with, but broader than, 信心’s object-specific sense. Do not conflate with 信实 (faithfulness_emet, God’s own reliability, see below).
Holy
Approved rendering: 圣洁
Transliteration: shèngjié
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 清净, 圣人般的
Original: קָדוֹשׁ / ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Avoid 清净 (Daoist/Buddhist ritual/meditative purity)… Psalms extension: repeated as a divine title-refrain in Psalm 99 (‘holy is he’), reinforcing set-apart moral purity as God’s own character, not an attainable meditative state.
Saints
Approved rendering: 圣徒
Transliteration: shèngtú
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 圣人, 高僧
Original: חָסִיד / ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). 圣人 is a specific, elevated Confucian category… Psalms extension: occurs at Ps 16:3, 34:9, 116:15, 149:1 — must remain the corporate designation for all God’s people, never implying sage-level moral achievement.
Law
Approved rendering: 律法
Transliteration: lǜfǎ
Doctrine: Torah Meditation and Delight
Rejected alternatives: 礼, 道德规范, 法律
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). NEVER equate with 礼… Psalms extension: torah (תּוֹרָה) additionally carries a broader ‘instruction/teaching’ sense (from ירה, ‘to teach’) beyond bare statute, especially in Psalms 1:2, 19:7-11, and the extended acrostic Psalm 119, whose near-synonym pile-up (话, 律例, 命令, 训词, 典章, 应许, 道路) risks flattening into a single generic gloss if the delight-and-relationship dimension is lost.
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: zuì
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 报应, 罪犯式的罪
Original: חַטָּאָה / פֶּשַׁע / עָוֹן
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Clarify sin as a moral offense against a personal God… Psalms extension: central to the penitential psalms (32, 38, 51, 106); a live risk that confession could be misread as appeasing an impersonal karmic accounting system (报应) rather than a personal God.
Covenant
Approved rendering: 约
Transliteration: yuē
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed) / Kingship and the Messianic King
Rejected alternatives: 合同, 契约
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Avoid 合同/契约… Psalms extension: structures Psalms 25, 44, 78, 89, 105, 132; especially important at Psalm 89, where the covenant’s apparent failure is lamented without denying God’s initiating grace — teach as tension held, not resolved by human faithfulness.
Election
Approved rendering: 拣选
Transliteration: jiǎnxuǎn
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge (contrast doctrine)
Rejected alternatives: 天命, 命运, 缘分
Original: בָּחַר
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). NEVER use 天命, 命运, or 缘分… Psalms extension: this absolute prohibition on 缘分 is directly extended in this package to fence 慈爱 (hesed, see steadfast_love_hesed below) and to frame Psalm 22:18’s casting-of-lots detail as God’s sovereign purpose, not impersonal fate.
Providence
Approved rendering: 神的护理
Transliteration: Shén de hùlǐ
Doctrine: Providence and Divine Care
Rejected alternatives: 天意, 命运
Original: רוּחוֹ / πρόνοια
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). NEVER use 天意 alone… Psalms extension: live risk in Psalm 121’s traveler’s-protection language, Psalm 91 (also vulnerable to talismanic misuse, cf. Matt 4:6), and Psalm 139’s meditation on divine knowledge (139:13-16).
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: fù
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Rejected alternatives: 祖先, 老天爷
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Distinguish carefully from ancestor veneration (祭祖)… Psalms extension: Psalm 103:13’s ‘as a father has compassion on his children’ reinforces the baseline’s note distinguishing God’s caring-toward-children direction of compassion from ancestor veneration’s reverse direction (descendants caring for/appeasing ancestors).
Wicked Person
Approved rendering: 恶人
Transliteration: èrén
Doctrine: The Righteous and the Wicked (Psalm 1)
Rejected alternatives: 小人 (Confucian petty person, a social-standing category rather than a before-God category)
Original: רָשָׁע
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. The counterpart to tsaddiq in Psalm 1’s two-ways framework and throughout the wisdom psalms. Must not be reduced to a social class distinction (rich/poor, powerful/powerless) but taught as two fundamentally different orientations and destinies before God, consistent with universal_human_accountability.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: 人子
Transliteration: rénzǐ
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ (Psalms extension); Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Original: בֶּן־אָדָם
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. In Psalm 8:4, generic humanity’s God-given dignity and appointed dominion; the NT (Heb 2:6-8) applies the verse to Christ as the true, perfected Man. 人子 is also the established NT self-designation of Jesus (rooted in Daniel 7); teach Psalm 8’s generic-humanity sense first, introducing the Christological trajectory as a second layer rather than collapsing the psalm’s original sense prematurely.
Shepherd
Approved rendering: 牧者
Transliteration: mùzhě
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd, King, and Refuge
Rejected alternatives: 守护神 (territorial/transactional guardian deity), 保护神
Original: רֹעֶה
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. God’s personal, providing, guiding care for his people, individually (Ps 23:1) and corporately (Ps 80:1, 95:7, 100:3). Agrarian imagery with declining lived resonance for urban Mandarin readers; must be taught, not assumed, as personal providing lordship, kept distinct from the folk-religious ‘guardian deity’ framing, which implies a territorial or transactional guardian-spirit rather than a personal covenant relationship.
Blessed Ashrei
Approved rendering: 有福
Transliteration: yǒu fú
Doctrine: The Righteous and the Wicked (Psalm 1); Praise and Worship
Original: אֶשֶׁר / אַשְׁרֵי
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. An objective state of flourishing granted to the one who orders life around God’s instruction, distinct from בָּרוּךְ (‘blessed by God’); opens Psalm 1 and recurs throughout (32:1-2, 34:8, 84:4-5, 112:1, 119:1-2, 128:1, 146:5). 福 sits within the same folk fortune-seeking semantic field already flagged in the baseline under ‘gospel.’ Because this is literally the first word of the curriculum’s foundational doctrine, it must be glossed at Psalm 1:1 before any other 福-family term is encountered downstream (福音, 福杯满溢, etc.).
Darkness Lament
Approved rendering: 黑暗
Transliteration: hēi’àn
Doctrine: Lament and Honest Prayer
Original: חֹשֶׁךְ / מַחְשַׁכִּים
Category: Lament
NEW TERM. Unrelieved darkness and distress, the closing word of Psalm 88 — the Psalter’s darkest lament, ending without resolution. Must be explicitly taught as a canonically sanctioned form of prayer, not smoothed over into false resolution; the risk lies in the temptation to soften an unresolved biblical lament into a tidy, resolved conclusion the source text does not provide.
Confession Iniquity
Approved rendering: 承认我的罪孽
Transliteration: chéngrèn wǒ de zuìniè
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51)
Original: הוֹדֵיתִי עֲוֹנִי
Category: Confession
NEW TERM. Forensic, complete acknowledgment of guilt before God (Ps 32:5, 51:3-4). Reuses baseline 罪; must be taught as an act of forensic acknowledgment before a personal God, not merely a private psychological process of self-examination without reference to him.
Broken Contrite Heart
Approved rendering: 忧伤痛悔的心
Transliteration: yōushāng tònghuǐ de xīn
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51)
Rejected alternatives: 功德-style self-punishing penance framing
Original: לֵב נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה
Category: Confession
NEW TERM. The true sacrifice God desires: repentant brokenness rather than ritual performance (Ps 51:17). Must not be taught as self-flagellating merit-earning penance; this is honest repentance received by grace, kept distinct from any merit-ledger framing (功德, already CRITICAL-forbidden in the baseline under ‘grace’).
Redemption
Approved rendering: 救赎
Transliteration: jiùshú
Doctrine: Redemption and Ransom; Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Rejected alternatives: 功德-style merit-accumulation framing
Original: פְּדוּת / גְּאֻלָּה
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. God’s costly rescue of his people, paired with hesed as its ground (Ps 49:7-8, 130:7-8). Anticipates NT redemption/atonement vocabulary; must be kept distinct from 功德-style merit-accumulation language — redemption here is God’s costly initiative, not something the redeemed person accrues.
Soul Nephesh
Approved rendering: 灵魂 / 心
Transliteration: línghún / xīn
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd (Psalm 23:3); Lament and Honest Prayer; Praise and Worship
Rejected alternatives: 魂魄 (detachable ancestral spirit-substance surviving death, requiring veneration/appeasement)
Original: נֶפֶשׁ
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. The whole living self/vitality/inner being — not a detachable soul-substance; central to Psalm 23:3 (‘he restores my soul’) and repeated across lament and praise psalms (42:1-2, 62:1, 103:1, 146:1). Risk of being read through the folk-religious 魂魄 framework, a collision cousin to the baseline’s 灵/祖灵 caution under ‘holy_spirit.’ Occurs inside the curriculum’s own core passage and therefore cannot be deferred to later remediation.
Casting Lots
Approved rendering: 抽签 / 拈签
Transliteration: chōuqiān / niānqiān
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms; Crucifixion Typology Details
Original: יַפִּילוּ גוֹרָל
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. The dividing of Christ’s garments by Roman soldiers (Ps 22:18), fulfilled in John 19:24. These are also the standard Mandarin terms for temple fortune-stick divination (求签, already flagged in the baseline under ‘intercession’/‘prophecy’). A clarifying historical note is required at every occurrence so this crucifixion detail is not read as endorsing or resembling divinatory practice.
Elohim Human Judges
Approved rendering: 神（借用于人间审判官）
Transliteration: (jièyòng) Shén
Doctrine: Monotheism and the Rejection of Idolatry (scoped exegetical case)
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
NEW TERM. A rare, scoped use of Elohim for human officials bearing delegated divine authority (Ps 82:1, 6), quoted by Jesus in John 10:34. Must not be generalized or allowed to blur 神’s normal, exclusive reference to the one true God elsewhere in this curriculum; requires a tightly scoped exegetical note distinguishing this delegated-authority sense from every other occurrence of 神 in the Psalter.
Fool Naval
Approved rendering: 愚顽人
Transliteration: yúwán rén
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability (Psalms extension)
Rejected alternatives: 缺乏智慧 (merely ‘unwise’ — too soft, loses culpability)
Original: נָבָל
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. Not intellectual foolishness but culpable, practical God-denial: ‘the fool says in his heart, there is no God’ (Ps 14:1, 53:1) — the Hebrew source Paul assembles into the Romans 3:10-18 catena. Must not be softened to merely ‘unwise’; this is culpable moral folly, retaining full moral culpability rather than a graded civilizational-hierarchy reading.
Ransom Padah
Approved rendering: 赎
Transliteration: shú
Doctrine: Redemption and Ransom
Original: פָּדָה
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. To ransom/redeem a life beyond human capability: ‘God will ransom my soul’ (Ps 49:15), distinct from מָשַׁח (mashach), the anointing-verb. Anticipates NT redemption/atonement vocabulary; teach as anticipating the need for a redeemer beyond human resources, consonant with but not identical to the baseline’s atonement-adjacent salvation doctrine.
Atone Kaphar
Approved rendering: 赎罪 / 遮盖
Transliteration: shúzuì / zhēgài
Doctrine: Redemption and Ransom; Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51)
Original: כָּפַר
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. The technical sacrificial-atonement verb, ‘to atone/cover’ (Ps 65:3, 78:38, 79:9). Must eventually connect to the baseline’s atonement/propitiation escalation rule (Romans 3:25) when this curriculum reaches typological/sacrificial teaching; kaphar is the sacrificial background Paul’s atonement language assumes.
Reproach Cherpah
Approved rendering: 羞辱
Transliteration: xiūrù
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy: The Suffering King; Betrayal and Suffering of the Messiah
Original: חֶרְפָּה
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. Scorn and shame borne by the messianic sufferer (Ps 69:7-9, 19-20), quoted in John and Romans of Christ. Direct messianic-typological suffering language, requiring continuity of teaching with Psalm 22’s dereliction pattern.
Betrayal Boged
Approved rendering: 背叛
Transliteration: bèipàn
Doctrine: Betrayal and Suffering of the Messiah
Original: בֹּגֵד
Category: Messianic Prophecy
NEW TERM. Treachery by a close companion: ‘he who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me’ (Ps 41:9, quoted John 13:18 of Judas; cf. Ps 109). Direct messianic-typological link to Christ’s betrayal, requiring theologian-level framing consistent with the messianic-prophecy escalation rule.
Harden Heart
Approved rendering: 硬着心
Transliteration: yìng zhe xīn
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd (Psalm 95 warning)
Original: תַּקְשׁוּ
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. ‘Do not harden your hearts’ (Ps 95:8), a warning against unbelief quoted extensively in Hebrews 3:7-4:11, following directly after the psalm’s shepherd-sheep imagery. Must be taught in continuity with the shepherd-care of Psalm 23: the God who shepherds is also the God whose voice must not be resisted.
Dwelling Place Most High
Approved rendering: 至高者的隐密处
Transliteration: zhìgāozhě de yǐnmìchù
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge; Providence and Divine Care
Original: סֵתֶר עֶלְיוֹן
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. ‘The shelter of the Most High’ (Ps 91:1), total secure dwelling in God’s protective presence. Notably quoted by Satan in the temptation of Christ (Matt 4:6); teaching must flag that this psalm’s promises are covenant trust in God’s character, not a talismanic guarantee against all testing — paralleling the baseline’s warning against reading 平安 as amulet-style protection.
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
Original: שָׁלוֹם / εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). In Romans 5:1, clarify this is relational peace… Psalms extension: live risk especially in the Songs of Ascents’ repeated ‘peace of Jerusalem’ wordplay (Ps 122:6-8) and Ps 4:8, 29:11, 85:10; guard against the amulet/folk-blessing reading (平安符).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 神的国
Transliteration: Shén de guó
Doctrine: Character of God as King / Kingship and the Messianic King
Rejected alternatives: 天下, 王朝
Original: מַלְכוּת / βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Avoid 天下… Psalms extension: pair consistently with 王 (king, new term below) in the kingship-cluster psalms (2, 47, 72, 93, 145:11-13) to keep the referent a righteous spiritual reign, not a this-worldly conquest-empire.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: wàibāngrén
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Praise
Rejected alternatives: 夷人, 外国人
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). NEVER use 夷人… Psalms extension: the Psalter typically uses גּוֹיִם (goyim), rendered 列国/万国 rather than the NT’s 外邦人 (Ps 2:1, 67, 72:11, 96:3, 117:1); the theological force (universal scope, no ethnic barrier) must not be softened in either rendering.
Glory
Approved rendering: 荣耀
Transliteration: róngyào
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / Character of God as King
Rejected alternatives: 面子, 光宗耀祖
Original: כָּבוֹד / δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Avoid collapsing into 面子 or 光宗耀祖… Psalms extension: live risk at Psalm 8:5’s discussion of humanity’s God-conferred ‘glory and honor,’ and throughout the kingship-cluster (24:7-10, 29, 96:3).
Prophecy
Approved rendering: 预言
Transliteration: yùyán
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Rejected alternatives: 算卦, 占卜
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Distinguish from 算卦/占卜 (I Ching-style divination)… Psalms extension: this distinction is especially load-bearing given Psalm 22:18’s casting-lots detail (see casting_lots below), which must never be read as resembling divinatory practice.
Intercession
Approved rendering: 代求
Transliteration: dàiqiú
Doctrine: Lament and Honest Prayer
Rejected alternatives: 求签, 问卜
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Distinguish from 求签 or 问卜… Psalms extension: supports the Lament and Honest Prayer doctrine’s affirmation of direct address to God (Ps 6:3, 13:1-2, 88), as opposed to consulting an intermediary or divinatory practice.
David
Approved rendering: 大卫
Transliteration: Dàwèi
Doctrine: Kingship and the Messianic King
Original: דָּוִד
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). CUV standard proper name form. Psalms context: recipient of the everlasting covenant promise (Ps 89, 132) and author or dedicatee of most psalm superscriptions.
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: Yǐsèliè
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Proper name; CUV established form. Psalms context: addressed corporately across the historical psalms (78, 80, 105, 106, 114, 137).
Deliverance
Approved rendering: 拯救
Transliteration: zhěngjiù
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd, King, and Refuge (supports but does not replace the Salvation doctrine)
Rejected alternatives: 救恩 (reserved exclusively for the full technical soteriological doctrine)
Original: יְשׁוּעָה (general sense) / יָשַׁע
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. Situational rescue from danger, enemies, sickness, or distress (Ps 18:2, 20:6, 27:1, 62:1-2), without the full technical soteriological weight of 救恩. Teach the trajectory from situational rescue to full salvation without asserting an equivalence in every occurrence, so everyday deliverance-psalms are neither over-read as the Romans-level forensic salvation claim nor under-read as merely secular rescue.
King
Approved rendering: 王
Transliteration: wáng
Doctrine: Character of God as King; Kingship and the Messianic King
Rejected alternatives: 王朝-style dynastic framing
Original: מֶלֶךְ
Category: Kingdom
NEW TERM. The reigning sovereign, applied to YHWH himself and to the Davidic/messianic king (Ps 2:6, 24:7-10, 45:1, 72, 93:1, 145:1). Feeds directly into 神的国; must be taught as a righteous, God-appointed spiritual reign, not framed as a this-worldly dynastic office paralleling the historic Chinese imperial pattern.
Rock
Approved rendering: 磐石
Transliteration: pánshí
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge
Original: צוּר
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. God as an unshakable, dependable foundation for trust (Ps 18:2, 62:2, 92:15, 144:1). Established, low-collision image; ensure the image is not reduced to a bare metaphor for stability without the relational-trust dimension.
Fortress Stronghold
Approved rendering: 保障 / 高台
Transliteration: bǎozhàng / gāotái
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge
Original: מְצוּדָה / מִשְׂגָּב
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. God as a place of military-style security and defense (Ps 18:2, 46:7, 91:2, 144:2). No major collision; keep distinct from purely military-political fortress imagery devoid of covenant trust.
Faithfulness Emet
Approved rendering: 信实
Transliteration: xìnshí
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Original: אֱמֶת
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM. God’s own truthfulness and reliability, regularly paired with chesed (Ps 85:10, 86:15, 89:1-2, 100:5). Keep distinct from baseline 信心 (faith, the believer’s trust directed toward God); emet names God’s own reliability, not human trust in him. Never interchange the two despite the shared 信 root morpheme.
Lament Formula
Approved rendering: 耶和华啊，要到几时呢
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá a, yào dào jǐshí ne
Doctrine: Lament and Honest Prayer
Original: עַד־אָנָה יְהוָה
Category: Lament
NEW TERM. The Psalter’s recurring cry of complaint addressed directly to God (Ps 6:3, 13:1-2, 74:10, 79:5, 80:4, 89:46, 90:13, 94:3). No direct religious-vocabulary collision; the teaching point is that raw complaint addressed to God models faith rather than irreverence, distinguished from a silent, undirected fatalistic resignation that the destination culture’s filial-deference patterns (孝顺) might otherwise encourage toward a superior.
Blot Out
Approved rendering: 涂抹
Transliteration: túmǒ
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness (Psalm 51)
Original: מְחֵה
Category: Confession
NEW TERM. God’s complete removal of the record of guilt (Ps 51:1, 9). Image is of erasing a written record, reinforcing the forensic rather than gradual-moral-improvement character of forgiveness; do not let it be read as merely psychological forgetting.
Refuge Under Wings
Approved rendering: 在你翅膀的荫下
Transliteration: zài nǐ chìbǎng de yīn xià
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge
Original: תַּחַת כְּנָפֶיךָ
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. The maternal/protective extension of the refuge image (Ps 57:1, 91:4). No significant collision; extends the refuge cluster with a tender, near-protective nuance.
Fear Of The Lord
Approved rendering: 敬畏耶和华
Transliteration: jìngwèi Yēhéhuá
Doctrine: Fear of the LORD; Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed)
Original: יִרְאַת יְהוָה
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. Reverent awe within covenant relationship, foundational to wisdom (Ps 34:9, 111:10, 128:1, 145:19). Must be distinguished from servile terror and from the impersonal cosmic dread carried by 天意, already flagged in the baseline under ‘providence.‘
Anoint Guest
Approved rendering: 膏
Transliteration: gāo
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd (Psalm 23:5)
Original: דָּשַׁן
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. The guest-honoring anointing of hospitality in Psalm 23:5, distinct from the royal/priestly anointing verb מָשַׁח that produces ‘Messiah.’ Shares a root with 受膏者/基督 but names ordinary hospitality-anointing, not royal or messianic consecration; a disambiguating note is required so learners do not conflate every use of ‘anoint’ with messianic anointing.
Cup Of Blessing
Approved rendering: 杯
Transliteration: bēi
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd (Psalm 23:5); Praise and Worship
Original: כּוֹס
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. The psalmist’s allotted portion of God’s provision, overflowing in Psalm 23:5 and echoed in Psalm 16:5, 116:13. The established CUV rendering of Ps 23:5 inserts 福 into ‘福杯满溢,’ where the Hebrew has no cognate of ‘blessing’ — flag per the baseline’s caution that 福 sits in folk fortune-seeking vocabulary; teach this overflow as God’s own covenant hospitality, not luck or merit.
House Of The Lord
Approved rendering: 耶和华的殿
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá de diàn
Doctrine: Character of God as Shepherd (Psalm 23:6); Zion and God’s Dwelling Place
Rejected alternatives: 庙/寺/道观 (already forbidden in the baseline under ‘church’)
Original: בֵּית־יְהוָה
Category: Character of God
NEW TERM. God’s own dwelling-place/sanctuary, the psalmist’s permanent home in Psalm 23:6, and the object of longing in Psalms 27:4, 84:1-4, 122:1. 殿 must be taught as God’s own sanctuary, distinct from generic idol- or ancestral-hall usage of the same character in broader Chinese religious vocabulary.
Praise Halal
Approved rendering: 赞美
Transliteration: zànměi
Doctrine: Praise and Worship
Original: הָלַל
Category: Praise
NEW TERM. Exuberant, often instrumentally-embodied worship directed to YHWH, climaxing in Psalms 146-150. The direction of praise (to the one true God alone) is the key teaching point, distinguishing it from the percussive, communal celebration of Chinese folk-religious temple processions (迎神/庆典) that a reader might otherwise associate with drum-and-dance worship forms. Always anchor with the explicit object (赞美耶和华/神).
Idols
Approved rendering: 偶像
Transliteration: ǒuxiàng
Doctrine: Monotheism and the Rejection of Idolatry
Original: עֲצַבִּים / אֱלִילִים
Category: God
NEW TERM. Lifeless, powerless images contrasted with the living God (Ps 96:5, 106:36-38, and extensively 115:4-8). Useful for making monotheism explicit, per the baseline’s note that 神 is also a generic noun for any deity or spirit and must not be assumed to already carry an exclusive monotheistic sense.
Integrity Tamim
Approved rendering: 完全人
Transliteration: wánquán rén
Doctrine: The Righteous and the Wicked (companion doctrine)
Original: תָּמִים
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. Blamelessness/wholeness of life, the entrance-requirement described in Psalm 15 and reused in Psalm 26. No major collision; must be taught as covenant integrity rather than sinless perfection.
Oath Shevuah
Approved rendering: 誓言
Transliteration: shìyán
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness (Hesed); Kingship and the Messianic King (Davidic covenant)
Original: שְׁבוּעָה
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM. God’s sworn covenant promise to David (Ps 89:3, 35, 49; 132:11). No major collision; reinforces the unconditional, gracious character of the covenant promise against the revocable Mandate-of-Heaven pattern already flagged in the baseline’s ‘davidic_covenant’ doctrine.
Testimony Edut
Approved rendering: 法度 / 见证
Transliteration: fǎdù / jiànzhèng
Doctrine: Torah Meditation and Delight
Original: עֵדוּת
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM. The covenant witness-document/instruction, a torah-synonym prominent in Psalm 78:5 and Psalm 119. Reinforces the semantic richness of torah-family vocabulary; no independent major collision.
Most High
Approved rendering: 至高者
Transliteration: zhìgāozhě
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge
Original: עֶלְיוֹן
Category: God
NEW TERM. A divine title emphasizing God’s supremacy over every lesser power (Ps 91, 47:2, 83:18). Establishes God’s supremacy over any rival power the reader might otherwise fear or venerate, including ancestral or folk-deity hierarchies.
Almighty Shaddai
Approved rendering: 全能者
Transliteration: quánnéngzhě
Doctrine: Character of God as Refuge
Original: שַׁדַּי
Category: God
NEW TERM. Traditionally ‘Almighty,’ etymology debated; a divine title of overwhelming sufficiency (Ps 91:1). No major collision; reinforces divine sufficiency against any folk-deity claim to comparable power.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感恩
Transliteration: gǎn’ēn
Doctrine: Thanksgiving and Gratitude
Original: תּוֹדָה / εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Standard term; minor risk of generic secular gratitude without reference to God. Psalms extension: structures Psalms 100, 107 (refrain), 116, and the Ps 136 refrain (26-fold repetition) — minor risk that repetition dilutes the sense that God is the explicit object.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 团契
Transliteration: tuánqì
Doctrine: Unity and Covenant Community
Rejected alternatives: 交情, 结拜
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Avoid 结拜 (sworn-brotherhood bonding)… Psalms extension: Psalm 133:1 (‘how good when brothers dwell in unity’) anticipates but does not use a technical koinōnia-equivalent term; teaching should frame this as embryonic anticipation, not a direct citation.
Prophet
Approved rendering: 先知
Transliteration: xiānzhī
Doctrine: Messianic Prophecy in the Psalms
Rejected alternatives: 算命先生
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Distinguish from 算命先生 (fortune-teller). Psalms context: background term supporting the messianic-prophecy doctrine’s fulfillment logic, though the Psalter itself is prayer/praise literature rather than prophetic oracle in form.
Zion
Approved rendering: 锡安
Transliteration: Xī’ān
Doctrine: Zion and God’s Dwelling Place
Original: צִיּוֹן
Category: Kingdom
NEW TERM. The hill/city of God’s dwelling, symbolizing his presence and reign, and by extension the mother-city of the nations (Ps 48, 84, 87, 122, 132, 137). Established transliteration; low collision risk. Keep distinct from a purely political capital; tie to God’s presence and future universal gathering of the nations.
Hallelujah
Approved rendering: 哈利路亚
Transliteration: hālìlùyà
Doctrine: Praise and Worship
Original: הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
Category: Praise
NEW TERM. ‘Praise Yah!’ — the recurring imperative-praise formula opening/closing Psalms 106, 111-113, 115-117, 135, and 146-150. Reuses the baseline’s established transliteration standard for theological proper-noun-like exclamations (cf. 阿们).
Selah
Approved rendering: 细拉
Transliteration: Xìlā
Doctrine: Praise and Worship (structural marker)
Original: סֶלָה
Category: Praise
NEW TERM. A liturgical/musical marker of uncertain precise function, occurring 71 times across the Psalter. Established CUV transliteration; not translated for meaning; no doctrinal risk.
New Song
Approved rendering: 新歌
Transliteration: xīn gē
Doctrine: Praise and Worship
Original: שִׁיר חָדָשׁ
Category: Praise
NEW TERM. A fresh song of praise for a fresh act of God’s deliverance (Ps 40:3, 96:1, 98:1, 149:1). Gloss at first occurrence tying ‘newness’ to the specific occasion of God’s saving act, not musical genre novelty.
Meditate Hagah
Approved rendering: 昼夜思想
Transliteration: zhòuyè sīxiǎng
Doctrine: Torah Meditation and Delight; The Righteous and the Wicked
Original: הָגָה
Category: Wisdom
NEW TERM. Continuous, vocalized reflection on God’s instruction, shaping character (Ps 1:2, 77:12). Low risk; no significant collision with folk-meditative practice terminology when kept object-specific (God’s torah).
Referenced passages