Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Ruth (English → Mandarin)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across Ruth 1–4, with the core passage (Ruth 1:16-17) terms marked [CORE]. Terms marked BASELINE REUSE are drawn directly from the Romans translation_memory.json and must be rendered identically; they are listed here for full-book completeness and cross-curriculum consistency, not as new decisions.
Risk tiers follow the same Critical / High / Medium / Low framework as doctrine_risk_registry.json. Script: Simplified Chinese. Transliteration: Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks. Register: CUV (和合本), Shen edition (神版).
| # | English Term | Original (Hebrew) | Transliteration | Mandarin Rendering | Pinyin | Doctrine(s) | Risk | Baseline Reuse | Key Passages | Rationale / Collision Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | אֱלֹהִים | Elohim | 神 | Shén | Inclusion of Gentiles | Critical | YES | 1:16 [CORE] | Must communicate exclusivity — Ruth renounces Moab’s god Chemosh, not adds YHWH to a pantheon. |
| 2 | the LORD (covenant name) | יהוה | YHWH | 耶和华 | Yēhéhuá | Providence; Kinsman-Redeemer; Hesed | Critical | New (OT-specific; distinct from baseline lord 主) | 1:6,8,17,20-21; 2:12,20; 3:10,13; 4:11-14 [CORE] | Never substitute 神 or 主; 主 in this package is reserved for NT kyrios/Christ’s Lordship. LXX renders YHWH as κύριος, the bridge to NT usage, but CUV OT convention keeps 耶和华 distinct. |
| 3 | hesed / covenant loving-kindness | חֶסֶד | hesed | 恩待 (verb form) / 慈爱 (noun form) | ēndài / cí’ài | Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness); Loyalty and Faithfulness | High | New | 1:8; 2:20; 3:10 | Distinct from baseline grace 恩典 (soteriological, unmerited saving favor); distinct from folk 义气 (honor-code loyalty owed within a closed circle) — hesed originates in God’s character and extends to outsiders like Ruth. |
| 4 | favor (human) | חֵן | chen | 恩顾 | ēngù | Providence | Medium | New | 2:2,10,13 | Situational, person-to-person favor; must not be taught as equivalent to the doctrine of grace (恩典) in Romans. |
| 5 | kinsman-redeemer | גֹּאֵל | go’el | 至近的亲属 (role) + 赎 (verb, redeeming action) | zhìjìn de qīnshǔ / shú | The Kinsman-Redeemer | Critical | New | 3:9,12-13; 4:1,4,6,8,14 | Purely legal-kinship phrase alone loses all redemptive weight; must be explicitly bridged to 救赎 (redemption) and to Christ as ultimate Redeemer in every lesson. |
| 6 | to redeem | גָּאַל | ga’al | 赎 | shú | The Kinsman-Redeemer | Critical | New | 4:4,6 (×2) | Repeated legal-transaction verb; binding public act, not sentiment. |
| 7 | inheritance / land-portion | נַחֲלָה | nachalah | 产业 | chǎnyè | Providence; Genealogy to David/Christ | Medium | New | 4:5,6,10 | Concrete ancestral land, distinct from baseline adoption 儿子的名分 (spiritual inheritance metaphor); forward-typology link appropriate but must not be conflated. |
| 8 | name (lineage preservation) | שֵׁם | shem | 名 | míng | Genealogy to David/Christ | Medium | New | 4:5,10 | Preserving family name providentially becomes preserving the Messianic line. |
| 9 | Almighty | שַׁדַּי | Shaddai | 全能者 | Quánnéng Zhě | Providence (in suffering) | Medium | New | 1:20-21 | Divine-power title; pair with baseline power_of_god caution (never 气/法力). |
| 10 | visited / attended to (providence) | פָּקַד | paqad | 眷顾 | juàngù | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | High | New | 1:6 | Must be distinguished from impersonal 天意 (“heaven’s intention”); same caution as baseline providence doctrine. |
| 11 | your people (Gentile inclusion clause) | עַם | am | 国 (CUV clause rendering) | guó | Inclusion of Gentiles | High | New | 1:16 [CORE] | CUV’s 国 (“nation/country”) risks reading as political naturalization rather than covenantal/familial/religious re-identification; must be taught alongside term 1 (神) as one indivisible declaration. |
| 12 | return / turn back | שׁוּב | shub | 回去 | huíqù | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Medium | New | 1:6,7,8,10,11,12,15,16,21,22 [CORE for v.16] | Structural refrain of ch.1; theological echo of “returning to YHWH” (repentance) not conveyed by 回去 alone — must be surfaced in teaching. |
| 13 | leave / forsake | עָזַב | azab | 离开 | líkāi | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Medium | New | 1:16 [CORE] | Same verb root elsewhere describes forsaking YHWH; elevates Ruth’s family loyalty to covenantal register. |
| 14 | cling / could not bear to leave | דָּבַק | dabaq | 舍不得离开 | shě bu dé líkāi | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Medium | New | 1:14 | Same root as Genesis 2:24 “cleave to his wife” — bonding/covenant-union vocabulary. |
| 15 | urge / press | פָּגַע | paga | 催 | cuī | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Low | New | 1:16 [CORE] | Signals a settled decision, not impulsive emotion. |
| 16 | go | הָלַךְ | halak | 去 | qù | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Low | New | 1:16 [CORE] | Merism with “lodge” — total companionship. |
| 17 | lodge | לוּן | lun | 住宿 | zhùsù | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Low | New | 1:16 [CORE] | Merism with “go” — total shared life. |
| 18 | die | מוּת | muth | 死 | sǐ | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Low | New | 1:17 [CORE] | Extends loyalty oath beyond Naomi’s life into Ruth’s own death. |
| 19 | buried | קָבַר | qabar | 葬 | zàng | Loyalty and Faithfulness | Medium | New | 1:17 [CORE] | Burial-location loyalty declares permanent belonging; caution against implying ancestor-veneration (祭祖) framing. |
| 20 | self-maledictory oath formula | כֹּה יַעֲשֶׂה יְהוָה… | koh ya’aseh YHWH… | 愿耶和华在我身上加倍地降罚 | yuàn Yēhéhuá zài wǒ shēnshàng jiābèi de jiàngfá | Loyalty and Faithfulness | High | New | 1:17 [CORE] | Formal binding covenant-oath, not rhetorical flourish; avoid assimilation to folk 指天为誓 (impersonal swearing-by-heaven). |
| 21 | part / separate | פָּרַד | parad | 相离 | xiāng lí | Loyalty and Faithfulness; typological link to Assurance of Salvation | High | New | 1:17 [CORE] | Foreshadows Romans 8:35-39 “nothing shall separate”; note the typology but do not conflate human vow with divine unconditional promise. |
| 22 | bitter / Mara | מָרַר / מָרָה | marar / Mara | 苦 / 玛拉 | kǔ / Mǎlā | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | Low | New | 1:20 | Honest lament later resolved narratively, not by argument. |
| 23 | empty / full | רֵיקָם / מְלֵאָה | reqam / mele’ah | 空空 / 满满 | kōngkōng / mǎnmǎn | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | Low | New | 1:21 (cf. 4:16-17) | Structural motif: emptiness (ch.1) filled by book’s end. |
| 24 | famine | רָעָב | ra’av | 荒年 / 饥荒 | huāngnián / jīhuāng | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | Low | New | 1:1,6 | Sets providential plot in motion; not random misfortune. |
| 25 | man/woman of valor, worth | חַיִל | chayil | 大财主 (of Boaz, 2:1) / 贤德的女子 (of Ruth, 3:11) | dà cáizhǔ / xiándé de nǚzǐ | Loyalty and Faithfulness; Kinsman-Redeemer | High | New | 2:1; 3:11 | Same Hebrew root deliberately pairs Boaz and Ruth; CUV’s divergent English-influenced renderings (wealth vs. virtue) obscure this; guard against reducing Ruth’s chayil to the narrower Confucian 贤妻良母 domestic-virtue stereotype — her chayil is active, risk-taking valor. |
| 26 | gleaning | לֶקֶט | leqet | 拾取麦穗 | shíqǔ màisuì | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life | Low | New | 2:2ff | Torah-mandated provision for poor/widow/foreigner (Leviticus 19; Deuteronomy 24); Ruth receives this as covenantal right, not charity alone. |
| 27 | wings / garment corner | כָּנָף | kanaph | 翅膀 (2:12) / 衣襟 (3:9) | chìbǎng / yījīn | Kinsman-Redeemer; God’s Providence | High | New | 2:12; 3:9 | One Hebrew root split into two unrelated Mandarin words; the divine-protection/human-redeemer typological link is invisible unless explicitly taught. |
| 28 | fulfill the kinsman’s duty | (idiom) | — | 尽亲属的本分 | jìn qīnshǔ de běnfèn | The Kinsman-Redeemer | Medium | New | 3:13 | Guard against reading 本分 through a Confucian filial-duty (孝顺-style) lens; text frames Boaz’s action as hesed-driven generosity exceeding bare legal duty. |
| 29 | sandal-removal custom | חֲלִיצַת הַנַּעֲלַיִם | chalitzat hanaʿalayim | 脱鞋 | tuōxié | The Kinsman-Redeemer | Medium | New | 4:7-8 | Distinguish from the Deuteronomy 25 shame-ritual for a levir who refuses duty; here a neutral legal-transaction custom. |
| 30 | genealogy / generations | תּוֹלְדוֹת | toledot | 后代 | hòudài | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | High | New (concept); links to BASELINE REUSE below | 4:18-22 | Must be explicitly bridged forward to 大卫的后裔 (baseline seed_of_david); Ruth is a load-bearing ancestor in the line Romans 1:3 cites as fulfilled in Christ. |
| 31 | David | דָּוִד | Dawid | 大卫 | Dàwèi | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | Low | YES | 4:17,22 | Established CUV form; direct link to Romans package’s Davidic Covenant vocabulary. |
| 32 | seed/descendant of David (typological bridge) | — | — | 大卫的后裔 | Dàwèi de hòuyì | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ; Messianic Promise | High | YES | 4:17-22 (narrative origin point) | Reused from Romans 1:3; Ruth 4 is the narrative seedbed of this later title. |
| 33 | Gentiles (Ruth’s national identity) | — (Moabite, מוֹאָבִי) | Moavi | 外邦人 | wàibāngrén | Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan | High | YES | 1:4,22; 2:2,6,10,21; 4:5,10 | Ruth is the concrete narrative case of the doctrine baseline flags for Romans; Moab was historically excluded from Israel’s assembly (Deuteronomy 23:3) and worshiped Chemosh — raising, not lowering, the stakes of her inclusion. |
| 34 | covenant (implicit legal-relational background) | — | — | 约 | yuē | The Kinsman-Redeemer; Davidic Covenant | Medium | YES | (background to 4:1-12; explicit only via Davidic-covenant bridge) | Relational, gracious covenant bond, not commercial contract — consistent with baseline covenant entry; underlies the legal redemption scene’s deeper theological meaning. |
| 35 | Naomi | נָעֳמִי | Noʿomi | 拿俄米 | Náéměi | — | Low | New (proper name) | throughout | Name meaning “pleasant” — ironic against her self-renaming as “Mara” (bitter), 1:20. |
| 36 | Elimelech | אֱלִימֶלֶךְ | Elimelekh | 以利米勒 | Yǐlìmǐlè | — | Low | New (proper name) | 1:2-3 | Name meaning “My God is King” — ironic given his death outside the land. |
| 37 | Mahlon | מַחְלוֹן | Machlon | 玛伦 | Málún | — | Low | New (proper name) | 1:2-5; 4:9-10 | Possible meaning “sickness/weakness”; dies young. |
| 38 | Chilion | כִּלְיוֹן | Kilyon | 基连 | Jīlián | — | Low | New (proper name) | 1:2-5 | Possible meaning “wasting/annihilation”; dies young. |
| 39 | Orpah | עָרְפָּה | Orpah | 俄珥巴 | É’ěrbā | Loyalty and Faithfulness (contrast case) | Low | New (proper name) | 1:4-14 | Name possibly linked to “turning back” (עֹרֶף, nape of neck) — matches her narrative role, contrasted with Ruth. |
| 40 | Boaz | בֹּעַז | Boʿaz | 波阿斯 | Bōāsī | The Kinsman-Redeemer | Low | New (proper name) | 2:1ff | Traditionally glossed “in him is strength.” |
| 41 | Obed | עוֹבֵד | Oved | 俄备得 | Ébèidé | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | Low | New (proper name) | 4:17,21-22 | Name meaning “serving/worshiping” — fitting the book’s themes. |
| 42 | Bethlehem | בֵּית לֶחֶם | Beit Lechem | 伯利恒 | Bólìhéng | God’s Providence in Ordinary Life; Genealogy to David/Christ | Low | New (proper name) | 1:1-2,19,22; 2:4; 4:11 | Name meaning “house of bread” — ironic in a famine narrative, resolved by 1:22-2:1; later David’s and Christ’s birth-town (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4). |
| 43 | Moab | מוֹאָב | Moʾav | 摩押 | Móyā | Inclusion of Gentiles | Medium | New (proper name) | throughout | Historically excluded nation (Deuteronomy 23:3); background essential to the force of Ruth’s inclusion. |
| 44 | Judah | יְהוּדָה | Yehudah | 犹大 | Yóudà | Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ | Low | YES | 1:1-2; 4:12 | Established form; tribal/covenant background for the Davidic line. |
Summary Risk Counts (Ruth-specific additions to baseline)
| Risk Tier | Count (new Ruth terms) | Count (Baseline reuse terms) |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 (God-exclusivity context, YHWH, go’el, ga’al) | 1 (神) |
| High | 11 | 3 (外邦人, 大卫的后裔, 约) |
| Medium | 10 | 0 |
| Low | 14 | 2 (大卫, 犹大) |
Review routing recommendation (consistent with baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions): All Critical and High tier terms above require Human Theologian review before Phase 2 translation; all Medium tier terms require Native Speaker review; Low tier terms (chiefly proper names) require Automated review only, with a note flag preserved for the name-meaning teaching content, which should not be dropped even though the transliteration itself is low-risk.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Shén
Doctrine: Exclusive Worship of Yahweh (Ruth’s Conversion)
Rejected alternatives: 上帝, 天, 老天爷
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE (translation_memory.json ‘god’), reused exactly. Risk remains Critical and is heightened in Ruth: 神 is also the generic Mandarin noun for any deity in Chinese folk religion (city gods, kitchen god, ancestral spirits). Ruth 1:16’s vow ‘your God my God’ only carries its intended force if taught as an exclusive renunciation of Moab’s national god Chemosh (Numbers 21:29), not an additive folk-pantheon gesture — the same exclusivity concern the baseline flags for Romans, now anchored in a concrete OT narrative test case.
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zhǔ
Doctrine: Exclusive Worship of Yahweh (Ruth’s Conversion)
Rejected alternatives: 主人, 老爷
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. In the Ruth curriculum 主 is retained solely as the reserved NT kyrios/Christ’s-Lordship term (per baseline). It must NEVER be used for the tetragrammaton in Ruth’s OT text — see new term ‘the_lord’ (耶和华) below. This entry exists in this file purely to enforce that boundary; do not let 主 leak into any Ruth passage translating יהוה.
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: ēndiǎn
Doctrine: Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness) — contrast term
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 造化, 福气, 阴德
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Retained in this file as the mandatory contrast term for hesed (恩待/慈爱, below): hesed is relational, reciprocal, covenant-loyalty love shown between persons (and by God to persons), not the specifically forensic/soteriological unmerited-favor concept of Romans. Never present hesed and 恩典 as interchangeable, even though English sometimes glosses both as ‘grace’ or ‘kindness.‘
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 义
Transliteration: yì
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer — contrast term for Boaz’s character
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Not a core lexical item of Ruth’s Hebrew text, but if any Ruth lesson describes Boaz’s righteous conduct using 义, the baseline’s existing Critical-tier caution applies identically: 义 is also a Confucian Five Constant Virtue, a social-ethical duty cultivated by moral effort. Ruth’s narrative setting does NOT exempt this term from the baseline caution — Boaz’s hesed-driven redemption (Ruth 3:10) exceeds bare legal/moral duty and must not be flattened into Confucian virtue-cultivation language.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救恩
Transliteration: jiùēn
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer — bridge concept
Rejected alternatives: 解脱, 超度, 得道
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Not a lexical item of Ruth’s Hebrew text; retained here because Boaz’s kinsman-redeemer action is the OT narrative pattern that later NT redemption/salvation theology draws on. NEVER use 解脱 (Buddhist liberation from samsara) or 超度 (a posthumous rite for the dead) in any teaching material bridging Ruth’s redemption imagery forward to Christ’s saving work — Boaz’s redemption, like Christ’s, is an act toward the living, not a ritual for the dead.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: Jīdū
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Rejected alternatives: 弥勒, 救世主式泛称
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Not present in Ruth’s own text; reserved for teaching notes bridging Ruth 4’s genealogy (Perez…Boaz…Obed…Jesse…David) forward to Christ. NEVER conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya, the future Buddha of Chinese Buddhist eschatology) — Ruth’s genealogy points to the Messiah who has already come, fulfilling a specific, singular covenant promise, not one of several anticipated future world-saviors.
The Lord
Approved rendering: 耶和华
Transliteration: Yēhéhuá
Doctrine: Exclusive Worship of Yahweh (Ruth’s Conversion); God’s Providence in Ordinary Life; Covenant Oath-Making and Vow-Keeping
Rejected alternatives: 神 (generic ‘God’ — loses the personal covenant-name register), 主 (reserved in this package for NT kyrios/Christ’s Lordship, e.g. Romans 10:9)
Original: יהוה
Category: God
NEW TERM for Ruth; not present in the Romans baseline, which only treats NT kyrios (主). Render every occurrence of the tetragrammaton יהוה as 耶和华, the fixed CUV form. NEVER substitute 神 or 主. The LXX renders YHWH as κύριος — the historic bridge that later lets NT writers apply YHWH’s identity to Christ — but CUV OT convention, and this package, both keep 耶和华 lexically distinct from 主 to avoid collapsing OT covenant-name theology into NT confession language prematurely. Occurs throughout: 1:6,8,17,20-21; 2:12,20; 3:10,13; 4:11-14. Highest-risk ambiguity #2 in analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md — flag any segment where back-translation returns 神 or 主 for an underlying YHWH occurrence.
Kinsman Redeemer
Approved rendering: 至近的亲属
Transliteration: zhìjìn de qīnshǔ
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Rejected alternatives: 宗族义务式泛称 (generic clan-obligation paraphrase), 本分 alone (bare duty framing without redemptive weight)
Original: גֹּאֵל
Category: Redemption
NEW TERM (Hebrew גֹּאֵל, go’el). CRITICAL: this CUV phrase reads as a purely genealogical/legal ‘closest relative’ term in ordinary Mandarin, with zero built-in redemptive connotation — unlike English ‘kinsman-redeemer,’ which is itself a constructed theological compound. Every occurrence (3:9,12-13; 4:1,4,6,8,14) MUST carry an explicit bridging note to 救赎 (redemption) and to Christ’s fulfillment of this pattern as ultimate Redeemer; never let 至近的亲属 stand as ‘just a relative.’ This is the single highest-risk silent-failure point in the entire curriculum per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md — the doctrine can be lost with no mistranslation at all, only omission of the bridge.
Redeem Verb
Approved rendering: 赎
Transliteration: shú
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Rejected alternatives: 买回 (purely commercial ‘buy back’, loses covenant-family register)
Original: גָּאַל
Category: Redemption
NEW TERM (Hebrew גָּאַל, ga’al). Ruth 4:4,6 (×2) — the repeated, almost legalistic verb for the binding public legal act at the city gate. 赎 also functions in ordinary commercial contexts (e.g. 赎回抵押品, ‘redeem a pawned item’), so on its own risks reading as a bare commercial transaction; Phase 2 lesson content must supply the Torah-law background (Leviticus 25) so the verb is understood as covenant-family preservation, not mere property recovery. Reserve 救赎 (jiùshú, the standard modern Chinese Christian NT redemption compound) for teaching/doctrine-commentary layers ONLY — never insert it into the in-text translation of Ruth’s narrative itself, which would be anachronistic.
High Risk Terms
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: wàibāngrén
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
Rejected alternatives: 夷人, 外国人
Original: מוֹאָבִי (Moabite; conceptually ἔθνη-equivalent, ‘the nations’)
Category: Gentile Inclusion
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Risk ELEVATED to High from the baseline’s Medium: Ruth is the concrete narrative test case of this doctrine. Moab was historically excluded from Israel’s assembly by name (Deuteronomy 23:3) and worshiped Chemosh (Numbers 21:29), so Ruth’s inclusion raises, rather than lowers, the theological stakes the term must carry. Never use 夷人 (classical Hua-Yi 华夷 barbarian/insider-outsider vocabulary), which would ironically reintroduce the very hierarchy Ruth’s story reverses.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: 大卫的后裔
Transliteration: Dàwèi de hòuyì
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ; Messianic Promise
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. In Romans 1:3 this title is deployed retrospectively of an already-completed genealogy; in Ruth it is the narrative SEEDBED, not yet a title — Ruth’s own text never uses this phrase, so it must NOT be inserted into the in-text translation of Ruth 4:18-22 (that would be anachronistic). Reserve this exact phrase for teaching notes and lesson framing that bridge Ruth 4’s genealogy forward to Romans 1:3 and to Matthew 1:5, which explicitly names ‘Ruth’ in Jesus’ genealogy. Every lesson on Ruth 4’s close must make this bridge explicit, or the book’s doctrinal climax reads as a closing formality.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 神的大能
Transliteration: Shén de dà néng
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: 气, 法力
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Not itself a lexical item of Ruth’s Hebrew text, but the baseline’s forbidden-substitution caution (never 气, the Chinese-medicine/qigong vital-energy concept, or 法力, folk ritual power) must be applied identically whenever teaching material describes Shaddai (全能者, below) or YHWH’s providential power in Ruth (e.g. 1:6; 4:13).
Adoption
Approved rendering: 儿子的名分
Transliteration: érzi de míngfèn
Doctrine: Levirate-Adjacent Kinship and Preservation of the Family Line — contrast term
Rejected alternatives: 过继, 收养
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Retained here purely as the mandatory contrast term for 产业 (inheritance_nachalah, below): Ruth 4’s נַחֲלָה (nachalah) is concrete ancestral land redeemed by Boaz, NOT the New Testament’s spiritual sonship-and-inheritance metaphor. A forward-looking typological note connecting the two is appropriate for teaching, but the two referents must never be merged.
Providence
Approved rendering: 神的护理
Transliteration: Shén de hùlǐ
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: 天意, 命运
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. This is the doctrine-level generalized term (for teaching commentary); the specific in-text Ruth term for God’s providential action is 眷顾 (providence_visited, below), not this compound. Both must be fenced identically against 天意 (‘heaven’s intention’), the impersonal, fatalistic phrase common in everyday Chinese speech — Ruth’s entire plot of ‘coincidences’ (esp. 2:3) is arguably Scripture’s clearest narrative illustration of this doctrine and its greatest exposure to a fatalism-flavored misreading.
Hesed
Approved rendering: 恩待 (verb form) / 慈爱 (noun form)
Transliteration: ēndài / cí’ài
Doctrine: Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness)
Rejected alternatives: 义气 (wuxia/sworn-brotherhood insider honor-code loyalty), 功德 (Buddhist merit-accounting), 阴德 (hidden karmic merit)
Original: חֶסֶד
Category: Covenant Loving-kindness
NEW TERM, the curriculum’s central doctrine. CUV split rendering retained (verb 恩待 vs. noun 慈爱); Mandarin has no single lexeme spanning hesed’s full range (loyalty + kindness + covenant obligation + free initiative). Must be fenced on two sides: (1) distinct from baseline 恩典 (grace/charis) — hesed is relational, reciprocal, covenant-loyalty love between persons, not NT forensic unmerited-favor doctrine; (2) distinct from 义气 — hesed originates in God’s own character and is freely extended outward to an outsider (Ruth, a Moabite), whereas 义气 is insider-bound and often reciprocal/transactional. Occurs 1:8; 2:11,20; 3:10. Treat as a ‘taught concept,’ not merely a translated word — budget a recurring explanatory gloss at every occurrence.
Wings Garment Corner
Approved rendering: 翅膀 (2:12) / 衣襟 (3:9)
Transliteration: chìbǎng / yījīn
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer; God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: כָּנָף
Category: Redemption
NEW TERM (Hebrew כָּנָף, kanaph, one root split into two unrelated Mandarin words). Boaz blesses Ruth for taking refuge ‘under whose wings’ (2:12, 翅膀); Ruth later asks Boaz to spread his garment’s ‘corner’ (3:9, 衣襟) over her — same Hebrew root, deliberate literary echo linking divine protection to its human embodiment through the kinsman-redeemer. Because CUV/Mandarin severs the lexical link, this typological connection is INVISIBLE in the translated text unless explicitly taught. Cannot be repaired lexically without breaking CUV consistency; mandatory joint footnote required on both verses in every lesson touching either.
Providence Visited
Approved rendering: 眷顾
Transliteration: juàngù
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: 天意, 命运, 缘分
Original: פָּקַד
Category: Providence
NEW TERM (Hebrew פָּקַד, paqad). Ruth 1:6 — YHWH ‘visited/attended to’ his people, ending the famine. Must be distinguished from the impersonal, fatalistic 天意 (‘heaven’s intention’), the everyday Chinese phrase the baseline’s own providence doctrine flags for Romans 8:28. Ruth 1:6 is arguably Scripture’s clearest narrative premise for this doctrine, since the entire plot’s pattern of ‘coincidences’ (esp. 2:3) depends on paqad being personal, purposeful divine action, not chance or fate.
People Nation Am
Approved rendering: 国
Transliteration: guó
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
Rejected alternatives: 百姓 (more literal but non-CUV), 民 (more literal but non-CUV)
Original: עַם
Category: Gentile Inclusion
NEW TERM (Hebrew עַם, am). CUV Ruth 1:16 renders ‘your people shall be my people’ as 你的国就是我的国, using 国 (‘nation/country’) rather than a more literal 百姓/民. 国 risks being read as a political/citizenship statement (modern naturalization) rather than covenantal, familial, and religious re-identification with YHWH’s people. Retain CUV’s 国 for textual/citation consistency, but every lesson on 1:16 must teach this clause as INSEPARABLE from the following clause ‘your God my God’ — one indivisible covenantal vow, never two sequential steps. Highest-risk ambiguity #4 per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md.
Oath Formula
Approved rendering: 愿耶和华在我身上加倍地降罚
Transliteration: yuàn Yēhéhuá zài wǒ shēnshàng jiābèi de jiàngfá
Doctrine: Covenant Oath-Making and Vow-Keeping; Loyalty and Faithfulness
Rejected alternatives: 指天为誓 (impersonal folk swearing-by-Heaven), 发誓 (generic, non-binding folk oath-taking)
Original: כֹּה יַעֲשֶׂה יְהוָה לִי וְכֹה יֹסִיף
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew כֹּה יַעֲשֶׂה יְהוָה לִי וְכֹה יֹסִיף). Ruth 1:17 [CORE] — the strongest self-maledictory oath form in the Hebrew Bible. Fixed CUV paraphrase retained (a literal Hebrew reconstruction would be unintelligible in Mandarin). MUST be taught as a formal, binding covenant oath invoking YHWH’s own judicial authority — NOT a rhetorical flourish, and NOT assimilated to 指天为誓, which invokes an impersonal cosmic force rather than a personal, covenant-keeping God who actually holds the speaker to her word. Highest-risk ambiguity #3 per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md; this is the core passage’s climactic clause.
Separate Parad
Approved rendering: 相离
Transliteration: xiāng lí
Doctrine: Covenant Oath-Making and Vow-Keeping; Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: פָּרַד
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew פָּרַד, parad). Ruth 1:17 [CORE] — ‘only death can separate us.’ Typologically foreshadows Romans 8:35-39’s assurance language (‘who shall separate us from the love of Christ’). Curriculum notes must surface this cross-reference explicitly while cautioning against conflating Ruth’s admirable, binding HUMAN vow with God’s own unconditional, salvific covenant promise — Ruth’s oath is typological, not itself salvific.
Valor Worth Chayil
Approved rendering: 大财主 (Boaz, 2:1) / 贤德的女子 (Ruth, 3:11)
Transliteration: dà cáizhǔ / xiándé de nǚzǐ
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness; The Kinsman-Redeemer
Original: חַיִל
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew חַיִל, chayil — one root, same word used of Boaz 2:1 and Ruth 3:11, the identical phrase used of the ‘excellent wife’ in Proverbs 31:10). CUV’s divergent renderings (wealth vs. virtue) sever the Hebrew text’s deliberate lexical pairing of Boaz and Ruth as moral/characterological equals. Additionally, 贤德 for Ruth risks collapsing into the narrower Confucian domestic-virtue stereotype 贤妻良母 (‘virtuous wife and good mother’) — chayil denotes active strength, valor, and capability demonstrated through Ruth’s bold, boundary-crossing, risk-taking loyalty (chs. 1-3), NOT passive domestic docility. Mandatory pairing note required wherever either term appears.
Genealogy Toledot
Approved rendering: 后代
Transliteration: hòudài
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: תּוֹלְדוֹת
Category: Genealogy
NEW TERM (Hebrew תּוֹלְדוֹת, toledot — the standard Hebrew genealogical-record term also structuring Genesis). Ruth 4:18-22. CUV’s contextual 后代 (‘descendants’) is theologically inert on its own; MUST be explicitly bridged forward to the baseline’s 大卫的后裔 (seed_of_david, above), or the book’s doctrinal climax reads as a mere closing formality rather than the narrative origin point of the Davidic-Messianic lineage.
Medium Risk Terms
Covenant
Approved rendering: 约
Transliteration: yuē
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer; Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Rejected alternatives: 合同, 契约
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Risk is Medium in Ruth rather than the baseline’s High because the term is background/implicit in Ruth rather than lexically foregrounded — explicit covenant vocabulary is absent from Ruth’s Hebrew text itself, but presupposed throughout the Ruth 4 redemption scene and the land-inheritance/kinship-redemption law it depends on. Must be taught as a relational, gracious covenant bond, never a commercial contract.
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: Yǐsèliè
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Occurs in Ruth 4:7 (‘this was the manner in former times in Israel’) and 4:11 (‘be renowned in Bethlehem… produce children in Israel’). Proper name; CUV established form.
Almighty
Approved rendering: 全能者
Transliteration: Quánnéng Zhě
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: 气, 法力
Original: שַׁדַּי
Category: God
NEW TERM. Ruth 1:20-21 — Naomi’s lament that Shaddai has ‘dealt bitterly’ with her. Paraphrase, not transliterated (no Mandarin Christian transliteration tradition exists for ‘Shaddai’, unlike Abba/Amen/Hallelujah). Pair with baseline power_of_god caution (never 气 or 法力) even though direct collision risk is lower here than for 神的大能. Anchor to the lament/hardship context — this is providence experienced through suffering, resolved narratively (not argued away) by 4:14-17.
Favor Chen
Approved rendering: 恩顾
Transliteration: ēngù
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Rejected alternatives: 法力, 神通
Original: חֵן
Category: Providence
NEW TERM (Hebrew חֵן, chen). Ruth 2:2,10,13 — situational, person-to-person favor Ruth seeks and finds in Boaz’s field. Distinct root from hesed; must not be taught as interchangeable with the baseline’s technical soteriological grace term 恩典, even though English ‘grace/favor’ sometimes covers both. Boaz’s human favor is narratively the vehicle of divine providence, not itself the doctrine of saving grace.
Kinsman Duty Idiom
Approved rendering: 尽亲属的本分
Transliteration: jìn qīnshǔ de běnfèn
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer; Levirate-Adjacent Kinship and Preservation of the Family Line
Rejected alternatives: 孝顺式泛称 (filial-duty framing)
Original: idiomatic phrase, Ruth 3:13
Category: Redemption
NEW TERM. Ruth 3:13 — Boaz’s commitment to redeem ‘if the man will not redeem you.’ Guard against 本分 (‘duty/proper share’) being absorbed into a Confucian filial-duty (孝顺-style) reading of obligation discharged to settle a debt owed to a superior; Ruth 3:10 explicitly frames Boaz’s action as hesed (‘this last kindness is greater than the first’) — generosity exceeding bare legal duty, not mere dutiful compliance.
Sandal Removal Custom
Approved rendering: 脱鞋
Transliteration: tuōxié
Doctrine: Levirate-Adjacent Kinship and Preservation of the Family Line
Original: חֲלִיצַת הַנַּעֲלַיִם
Category: Redemption
NEW TERM (Hebrew חֲלִיצַת הַנַּעֲלַיִם). Ruth 4:7-8 — a general legal-transaction custom finalizing transfer of the redemption right, described as practiced ‘in former times in Israel.’ MUST be explicitly distinguished in teaching from the Deuteronomy 25:7-10 chalitzah shame-ritual imposed on a levir who refuses his duty — the near kinsman in Ruth 4 makes a legitimate, undramatic legal choice, not a morally shameful one, and curriculum material must not moralize his refusal as a failure.
Inheritance Nachalah
Approved rendering: 产业
Transliteration: chǎnyè
Doctrine: Levirate-Adjacent Kinship and Preservation of the Family Line; Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: נַחֲלָה
Category: Redemption
NEW TERM (Hebrew נַחֲלָה, nachalah). Ruth 4:5,6,10 — concrete ancestral land-portion redeemed by Boaz along with Ruth herself. Distinct from the baseline’s spiritual-inheritance metaphor 儿子的名分 (adoption, see inherited entry above) — do not conflate the referents, though a forward-looking typological note is appropriate.
Moab
Approved rendering: 摩押
Transliteration: Móyā
Doctrine: The Inclusion of Gentiles in God’s Redemptive Plan
Original: מוֹאָב
Category: Gentile Inclusion
NEW TERM (proper name, מוֹאָב). Fixed CUV form. Never let 摩押 pass without its background note (Deuteronomy 23:3 exclusion; Numbers 21:29 worship of Chemosh) — dropping this background collapses the Gentile-inclusion doctrine into a bland multicultural-tolerance reading rather than ‘a specific historically-excluded, false-god-worshiping people grafted into the Messianic line.‘
Return Shub
Approved rendering: 回去
Transliteration: huíqù
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: שׁוּב
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew שׁוּב, shub). Structural keyword of Ruth 1 (~12 occurrences: 1:6,7,8,10,11,12,15,16,21,22). The theological weight of shub as ‘repentance/reorientation toward YHWH’ (its prophetic-book usage) is not recoverable from 回去 alone — curriculum notes must make explicit that Ruth’s refusal to 回去 to Moab (1:16 [CORE]) is simultaneously a positive turning toward Israel’s God.
Leave Forsake Azab
Approved rendering: 离开
Transliteration: líkāi
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: עָזַב
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew עָזַב, azab). Ruth 1:16 [CORE] — Ruth’s refusal to forsake Naomi. The same Hebrew root elsewhere describes Israel ‘forsaking’ YHWH; this covenantal echo is not conveyed by the plain Mandarin verb and must be surfaced in teaching to elevate Ruth’s family loyalty to covenantal register.
Cling Dabaq
Approved rendering: 舍不得离开
Transliteration: shě bu dé líkāi
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: דָּבַק
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew דָּבַק, dabaq). Ruth 1:14 — Ruth ‘clings’ to Naomi. Same root as Genesis 2:24’s ‘cleave to his wife’ — bonding/covenant-union vocabulary. The colloquial Mandarin phrasing reads as emotional reluctance alone; pair with the Genesis 2:24 cross-reference in teaching so the bond is read as covenant-union language, not mere sentiment.
Buried Qabar
Approved rendering: 葬
Transliteration: zàng
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: קָבַר
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew קָבַר, qabar). Ruth 1:17 [CORE] — Ruth’s vow to be buried among Naomi’s people. Burial-location loyalty declared permanent belonging in the ancient world, culturally bridgeable to (but not equivalent to) Chinese ancestral burial customs. Caution: must not imply Ruth is performing or endorsing ancestor veneration (祭祖) toward Naomi’s family — her devotion is to Naomi’s God, not Naomi’s ancestors.
Name Shem
Approved rendering: 名
Transliteration: míng
Doctrine: Levirate-Adjacent Kinship and Preservation of the Family Line; Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
NEW TERM (Hebrew שֵׁם, shem). Ruth 4:5,10 — the stated purpose of redemption is ‘that the name of the dead may not be cut off.’ Teaching notes should connect this concrete concern for lineage-continuity to the Genealogy doctrine: the ‘name’ preserved here is providentially the very line through which the Messianic name will come. Caution against collapsing into 香火/传宗接代 ancestor-rite-continuation framing rather than redemptive-historical purpose.
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: 大卫
Transliteration: Dàwèi
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Ruth 4:17,22 — David is Ruth and Boaz’s great-grandson through Obed and Jesse. Risk remains Low as a fixed proper name; the doctrinal weight lies in the genealogy’s cumulative typological function (see genealogy_toledot and seed_of_david below), not in this name’s translation.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 团契
Transliteration: tuánqì
Doctrine: Hesed (Covenant Loving-kindness) — contrast reference
Rejected alternatives: 交情, 结拜
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, reused exactly. Retained here for its associated caution: 结拜 (jiébài, ritualized sworn-brotherhood bonding, e.g. the Peach Garden oath) must not be used to describe Ruth and Naomi’s or Ruth and Boaz’s bond, and the same reciprocal-honor-code logic must not be imported into teaching hesed (恩待/慈爱, below) as though it were an insider pact rather than God-charactered loyalty freely extended to an outsider.
Famine
Approved rendering: 荒年 / 饥荒
Transliteration: huāngnián / jīhuāng
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: רָעָב
Category: Providence
NEW TERM (Hebrew רָעָב, ra’av). Ruth 1:1,6 — the famine driving Elimelech’s family to Moab, setting the plot in motion under God’s sovereign providence. Low collision risk; teaching notes should surface the Torah covenant-curse background (Deuteronomy 28) so the famine is not read as random misfortune.
Bitter Mara
Approved rendering: 玛拉 (name) / 苦 (adjective)
Transliteration: Mǎlā / kǔ
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: מָרָה / מָרַר
Category: Providence
NEW TERM (Hebrew מָרָה / מָרַר, marah/marar). Ruth 1:20 — Naomi’s self-given name and the verb describing Shaddai’s dealing with her. Low collision risk; teach as honest theological lament resolved narratively (4:14-17), not by argumentative refutation.
Empty Full
Approved rendering: 空空 / 满满
Transliteration: kōngkōng / mǎnmǎn
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: רֵיקָם / מְלֵאָה
Category: Providence
NEW TERM (Hebrew רֵיקָם / מְלֵאָה). Ruth 1:21 — ‘I went out full, and the LORD has brought me back empty.’ Low lexical risk; this is a literary-structural motif gap, not a semantic-collision gap. Flag explicitly in lesson materials as resolved by 4:16-17 (Naomi holding a grandson).
Gleaning
Approved rendering: 拾取麦穗
Transliteration: shíqǔ màisuì
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: לֶקֶט
Category: Providence
NEW TERM (Hebrew לֶקֶט, leqet). Ruth 2:2ff — the Torah-mandated provision for the poor, widow, orphan, and foreigner (Leviticus 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 24:19-21). Teaching notes should surface this legal background so gleaning is understood as a covenantal right Ruth may claim as a widow — even as a foreigner — not simple charity or begging.
Urge Paga
Approved rendering: 催
Transliteration: cuī
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: פָּגַע
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew פָּגַע, paga). Ruth 1:16 [CORE] — ‘do not urge me’ after Naomi’s repeated urging. Signals a settled, considered decision, not spontaneous emotion.
Go Halak
Approved rendering: 去
Transliteration: qù
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: הָלַךְ
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew הָלַךְ, halak). Ruth 1:16 [CORE]. Paired with ‘lodge’ (below) to form a merism expressing total, unconditional companionship.
Lodge Lun
Approved rendering: 住宿
Transliteration: zhùsù
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: לוּן
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew לוּן, lun). Ruth 1:16 [CORE]. Completes the go/lodge merism with ‘go’ — total shared life, not temporary travel companionship.
Die Muth
Approved rendering: 死
Transliteration: sǐ
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness
Original: מוּת
Category: Loyalty
NEW TERM (Hebrew מוּת, muth). Ruth 1:17 [CORE]. Extends Ruth’s covenant loyalty beyond Naomi’s life into her own death.
Judah Ruth
Approved rendering: 犹大
Transliteration: Yóudà
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: יְהוּדָה
Category: Genealogy
NEW TERM for this file (not present as a standalone key in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json, though the baseline’s proper-name conventions govern its form). Ruth 1:1-2; 4:12 — the tribe/region of Elimelech’s family, providing the covenant background for the Davidic line. Render 犹大, matching the established CUV proper-name family used throughout the Romans package for related names (David, Israel).
Naomi
Approved rendering: 拿俄米
Transliteration: Náéměi
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness; God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: נָעֳמִי
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, נָעֳמִי, ‘pleasant/my delight’). Fixed CUV form. Name-meaning irony against her self-renaming as ‘Mara’ (bitter, 1:20) is load-bearing for the narrative’s theology and must not be silently dropped from teaching content.
Elimelech
Approved rendering: 以利米勒
Transliteration: Yǐlìmǐlè
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life
Original: אֱלִימֶלֶךְ
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, אֱלִימֶלֶךְ, ‘My God is King’). Fixed CUV form. Ironic: he dies outside the land under a king he named God to be — surface in teaching.
Mahlon
Approved rendering: 玛伦
Transliteration: Málún
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: מַחְלוֹן
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, מַחְלוֹן, possibly ‘sickness/weakness’). Fixed CUV form. Naomi’s son, Ruth’s first husband; named again 4:9-10 in the redemption transaction.
Chilion
Approved rendering: 基连
Transliteration: Jīlián
Doctrine: —
Original: כִּלְיוֹן
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, כִּלְיוֹן, possibly ‘wasting/annihilation’). Fixed CUV form. Naomi’s other son, Orpah’s husband.
Orpah
Approved rendering: 俄珥巴
Transliteration: É’ěrbā
Doctrine: Loyalty and Faithfulness — contrast case
Original: עָרְפָּה
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, עָרְפָּה, possibly linked to עֹרֶף, ‘nape of neck’/turning back). Fixed CUV form. Returns to Moab (1:14) rather than continuing with Naomi — the narrative foil that sharpens the force of Ruth’s vow (1:16-17). Name meaning matches her narrative role; surface in teaching as a deliberate contrast.
Boaz
Approved rendering: 波阿斯
Transliteration: Bōāsī
Doctrine: The Kinsman-Redeemer
Original: בֹּעַז
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, בֹּעַז, traditionally glossed ‘in him is strength’). Fixed CUV form.
Obed
Approved rendering: 俄备得
Transliteration: Ébèidé
Doctrine: Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: עוֹבֵד
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, עוֹבֵד, ‘serving/worshiping [one]’). Fixed CUV form. Son of Ruth and Boaz, grandfather of David (4:17,21-22); name meaning fits the book’s themes of faithful service and should be surfaced when teaching the genealogy.
Bethlehem
Approved rendering: 伯利恒
Transliteration: Bólìhéng
Doctrine: God’s Providence in Ordinary Life; Genealogy Pointing to David and Christ
Original: בֵּית לֶחֶם
Category: Proper Names
NEW TERM (proper name, בֵּית לֶחֶם, ‘house of bread’). Fixed CUV form. Ironic in a famine narrative, resolved by 1:22-2:1; later the birth-town of both David and Christ (Micah 5:2; Luke 2:4) — a bridge point for the Genealogy doctrine.
Referenced passages