Semantic Analysis: 2 Peter (Full Book) — English → Marathi

Purpose and Method

This document analyzes every chapter of 2 Peter in the original Koine Greek to identify every load-bearing theological term, following the same method and risk framework established in the baseline Romans Language Package (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, doctrine_risk_registry.json). Where a term already has an established Marathi rendering from the Romans baseline, that rendering is reused exactly and marked “REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE.” Where 2 Peter introduces a term not covered by the baseline, a new rendering is proposed with full risk analysis, marked “NEW TERM.”

The core passage (2 Peter 1:16-21) receives full verse-by-verse treatment. Every other chapter (1:1-15, and the whole of chapters 2 and 3) receives chapter-section treatment of its load-bearing terms using the same fields. No chapter is silently skipped; all three chapters of 2 Peter are covered below.

Fields applied to every term: original Greek word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants seen in translations, contextual theological meaning in 2 Peter, and destination-language (Marathi) rendering risk.

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PART A: CORE PASSAGE — 2 Peter 1:16-21 (Verse-by-Verse)

2 Peter 1:16

Greek: Οὐ γὰρ σεσοφισμένοις μύθοις ἐξακολουθήσαντες ἐγνωρίσαμεν ὑμῖν τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δύναμιν καὶ παρουσίαν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπόπται γενηθέντες τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλειότητος.

English (ESV): “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

• μῦθος (mythos)

  • Literal meaning: “myth, fable, invented story”
  • Semantic range: a tale with no basis in historical fact; in Hellenistic usage, contrasted with ἀλήθεια (truth) and ἱστορία (history/eyewitness report)
  • English variants: “myth,” “fable,” “cleverly devised tale,” “made-up story”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Peter explicitly denies that the apostolic proclamation of Christ’s power and return rests on invented religious legend; it rests on eyewitness fact (Transfiguration). Foundational to the doctrine of the Certainty of Christ’s Return.
  • Marathi rendering: कल्पित कथा (kalpit kathā, “fabricated/invented story”). Risk: Medium. No direct religious collision, but translators must ensure the term reads as “fabricated legend” and not merely “story,” preserving Peter’s contrast with eyewitness testimony.

• σεσοφισμένοις (sesophismenois, perfect passive participle of σοφίζω)

  • Literal meaning: “made wise/clever; skillfully contrived”
  • Semantic range: to devise cleverly, often with a negative connotation of sophistry or manipulation
  • English variants: “cleverly devised,” “skillfully concocted,” “cunningly devised”
  • Contextual theological meaning: modifies μῦθος — these are not naive tales but the sophisticated, persuasive kind that could mislead disciples; sets up the apostolic claim to superior warrant (eyewitness experience, not clever rhetoric).
  • Marathi rendering: चतुराईने रचलेल्या (chaturāīne racalelyā, “cleverly composed”). Risk: Low.

• δύναμις (dynamis)

  • Literal meaning: “power, might, ability”
  • Semantic range: inherent capability, miraculous power, authority
  • English variants: “power,” “might,” “mighty power”
  • Contextual theological meaning: here refers to Christ’s power revealed in the Transfiguration, anticipating the fuller display of power at his return. Connects directly to the baseline term power_of_god (δύναμις θεοῦ, Romans 1:16).
  • Marathi rendering: सामर्थ्य (sāmarthya) — REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE (power_of_god: “देवाचे सामर्थ्य”). Risk: Critical. NEVER शक्ती (see baseline rationale: Shakti/mother-goddess tradition, e.g. Tuljapur’s Tuljabhavani). Here rendered “आमच्या प्रभू येशू ख्रिस्ताचे सामर्थ्य.”

• παρουσία (parousia)

  • Literal meaning: “presence, arrival, coming”
  • Semantic range: in Hellenistic usage, the formal, official arrival/visit of a king or dignitary; in NT usage, the technical eschatological term for Christ’s Second Coming
  • English variants: “coming,” “arrival,” “advent,” “presence”
  • Contextual theological meaning: this is the technical anchor term for the doctrine of the Certainty of Christ’s Return — the same word used throughout 2 Peter 3 for the awaited Day of the Lord. Peter grounds the certainty of this future event in the past eyewitness experience of Christ’s glory.
  • Marathi rendering: पुनरागमन (punarāgaman, “return/second-coming”). Risk: CRITICAL — NEW TERM. This is one of the most theologically load-bearing terms in the entire book. Two specific collision risks must be flagged: (1) it must never be rendered with a word built on अवतार-root (already forbidden in the baseline for “incarnation,” due to Vitthal/Krishna avatar-descent theology) — Christ’s parousia is a singular, final, bodily return, not another cyclical avatar-descent; (2) Navayana Buddhism carries its own future-oriented eschatological figure, Maitreya (the future Buddha yet to come), which some readers may structurally map onto “the one still to come.” Translator notes must clarify: Christ’s parousia is the return of the same historical, resurrected, already-reigning Lord (not the arising of a new enlightened teacher), and it is a one-time, unrepeatable event, not one link in an ongoing chain of teacher-figures. Alternatives rejected: अवतरण (avataraṇ, “descent” — too close to अवतार), पुनर्जन्म-adjacent phrasing (rebirth framing, forbidden per baseline resurrection entry).

• ἐπόπτης (epoptēs)

  • Literal meaning: “an eyewitness, one who has personally seen”
  • Semantic range: in Hellenistic mystery-religion usage, one initiated to the highest grade who has “seen” the sacred vision; Peter reclaims this term for verifiable historical testimony
  • English variants: “eyewitness,” “one who observed personally”
  • Contextual theological meaning: grounds the doctrine of the Reliability of Scripture / apostolic testimony in first-hand historical observation (the Transfiguration), not private vision or devotional experience.
  • Marathi rendering: प्रत्यक्षदर्शी (pratyakṣadarśī, “one who has seen with his own eyes”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution: the root दर्शी/दर्शन (darśan) is a major devotional category in Hindu/Warkari practice — “darshan” of Vitthal’s image is a central devotional act of seeing-and-being-seen by the deity. Translator notes must make clear that Peter’s claim is a historical, legal-style eyewitness claim about a specific past event witnessed with ordinary human senses (cf. legal/testimonial usage), not a mystical or devotional darshan-encounter.

• μεγαλειότης (megaleiotēs)

  • Literal meaning: “greatness, majesty, magnificence”
  • Semantic range: splendor and grandeur befitting royalty or deity
  • English variants: “majesty,” “greatness,” “magnificence”
  • Contextual theological meaning: describes what the apostles witnessed at the Transfiguration — a direct, visible disclosure of Christ’s divine glory, tying to the Deity of Christ / Christ’s Return doctrines.
  • Marathi rendering: वैभव (vaibhav, “splendor/majesty”). Risk: Medium.

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2 Peter 1:17

Greek: λαβὼν γὰρ παρὰ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν φωνῆς ἐνεχθείσης αὐτῷ τοιᾶσδε ὑπὸ τῆς μεγαλοπρεποῦς δόξης, Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, εἰς ὃν ἐγὼ εὐδόκησα.

English (ESV): “For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

• τιμή (timē)

  • Literal meaning: “honor, value, price”
  • Semantic range: esteem, recognition of worth, sometimes with a sense of formal conferral
  • English variants: “honor,” “esteem”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the honor conferred on Christ by the Father at the Transfiguration, publicly attesting his unique Sonship.
  • Marathi rendering: सन्मान (sanmān). Risk: Low.

• δόξα (doxa)

  • Literal meaning: “glory, radiance, honor”
  • Semantic range: visible splendor, reputation, weightiness
  • English variants: “glory,” “splendor”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the Father’s glory disclosed in and through the Son.
  • Marathi rendering: गौरव (gaurav) — REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE. Risk: High.

• μεγαλοπρεπὴς δόξα (megaloprepēs doxa — “the Majestic Glory”)

  • Literal meaning: “glory that is fitting to greatness/majesty”
  • Semantic range: a reverent periphrasis avoiding direct use of the divine name — a title for God the Father himself
  • English variants: “the Majestic Glory,” “the Excellent Glory”
  • Contextual theological meaning: this is a Jewish-style circumlocution for God the Father as the speaker of the divine voice; the phrase itself functions as a divine title.
  • Marathi rendering: परम गौरव (param gaurav, “the Supreme Glory,” functioning as a title for परमेश्वर). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Must be capitalized/marked in context as a divine title referring to the Father, not a generic description of brightness.

• υἱὸς ἀγαπητός (huios agapētos, “beloved Son”)

  • Literal meaning: “son, beloved/dearly loved”
  • Semantic range: υἱός = son (by birth or legal standing); ἀγαπητός = dearly loved, uniquely cherished
  • English variants: “beloved Son,” “my dear Son,” “my Son, whom I love”
  • Contextual theological meaning: direct citation of the Father’s Transfiguration declaration (cf. Matthew 17:5), affirming Christ’s eternal, unique Sonship — the same doctrine as the baseline’s son_of_god entry.
  • Marathi rendering: प्रिय पुत्र (priya putra), paired with the baseline’s established देवाचा पुत्र (devācā putra) for “Son of God” wherever the fuller title occurs. Risk: Critical — REUSES BASELINE DOCTRINE (Sonship of Christ). Never render as an honorary or adoptive title; this is the Father’s own declaration of unique, eternal Sonship.

• εὐδοκέω (eudokeō)

  • Literal meaning: “to be well pleased, to take delight in”
  • Semantic range: settled, prior approval/delight, not a reaction earned in the moment
  • English variants: “well pleased,” “delighted in,” “in whom I delight”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the Father’s eternal delight in the Son, not a pleasure newly earned by performance.
  • Marathi rendering: प्रसन्न (prasanna, “pleased/delighted”). Risk: Medium — NEW TERM. Caution: प्रसन्न is common in Hindu devotional idiom for a deity “becoming pleased” with a devotee’s offerings/ritual performance (e.g., “देव प्रसन्न झाला”). Translator note should clarify this is the Father’s settled, eternal delight in the Son’s person, not a deity’s pleasure won through ritual or devotional performance.

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2 Peter 1:18

Greek: καὶ ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν ἡμεῖς ἠκούσαμεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐνεχθεῖσαν, σὺν αὐτῷ ὄντες ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ ἁγίῳ.

English (ESV): “…and we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”

• ἅγιον ὄρος (hagion oros, “holy mountain”)
  • Literal meaning: “mountain, set apart”
  • Semantic range: refers to the Mount of Transfiguration, set apart as the site of divine revelation
  • English variants: “holy mountain,” “sacred mountain”
  • Contextual theological meaning: grounds the vision in a specific, real, historical location — again reinforcing eyewitness reliability, not devotional legend.
  • Marathi rendering: पवित्र डोंगर (pavitra ḍoṅgar), using the baseline’s established पवित्र (pavitra). Risk: Low. No confusion risk with Hindu sacred-mountain pilgrimage sites expected if kept in narrative (historical-event) framing.

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2 Peter 1:19

Greek: καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον, ᾧ καλῶς ποιεῖτε προσέχοντες ὡς λύχνῳ φαίνοντι ἐν αὐχμηρῷ τόπῳ, ἕως οὗ ἡμέρα διαυγάσῃ καὶ φωσφόρος ἀνατείλῃ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν.

English (ESV): “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

• βεβαιότερον (bebaioteron, comparative of βέβαιος)

  • Literal meaning: “more firm, more certain, more confirmed”
  • Semantic range: legally/evidentially secure, reliable, guaranteed
  • English variants: “more sure,” “more fully confirmed,” “confirmed all the more”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the eyewitness Transfiguration experience confirms the prophetic Scriptures; the two forms of testimony (experience and Scripture) mutually reinforce the doctrine of the Reliability and Inspiration of Scripture.
  • Marathi rendering: अधिक निश्चित (adhik niścit, “more certain”). Risk: Medium.

• προφητικὸς λόγος (prophētikos logos, “prophetic word”)

  • Literal meaning: “word/message, prophetic (pertaining to a prophet)”
  • Semantic range: the whole body of OT prophetic Scripture, understood as God’s spoken/written revelation
  • English variants: “prophetic word,” “word of prophecy,” “the prophets’ message”
  • Contextual theological meaning: central term for the doctrine of the Reliability and Inspiration of Scripture — Scripture as a stable, trustworthy lamp, contrasted with the “myths” of 1:16.
  • Marathi rendering: भविष्यसूचक वचन (bhaviṣyasūcak vacan), built from the baseline’s established भविष्यवाणी (prophecy) and संदेष्टा (prophet). Risk: High.

• λύχνος (lychnos, “lamp”)

  • Literal meaning: “a lamp, a hand-held light source”
  • Semantic range: household lighting, contrasted with the sun; a common metaphor for partial-but-sufficient guidance
  • English variants: “lamp,” “light”
  • Contextual theological meaning: Scripture is sufficient light for the present dark age, until the fuller light of Christ’s return dawns.
  • Marathi rendering: दिवा (divā). Risk: Low.

• αὐχμηρὸς τόπος (auchmēros topos, “a dark/dingy place”)

  • Literal meaning: “a squalid, murky, dry-and-dark place”
  • Semantic range: figuratively, the present morally and spiritually dim age
  • English variants: “dark place,” “murky place,” “gloomy place”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the present age prior to Christ’s return, in which Scripture’s light is needed.
  • Marathi rendering: अंधाऱ्या जागी (andhāryā jāgī). Risk: Low.

• φωσφόρος (phōsphoros, “morning star, light-bringer”)

  • Literal meaning: “light-bearing/bringing” (a standard Greek epithet for the planet Venus at dawn)
  • Semantic range: the herald-star that announces daybreak
  • English variants: “morning star,” “day star”
  • Contextual theological meaning: figuratively depicts the dawning of full revelation/assurance in believers’ hearts (some interpreters connect it to Christ himself as the coming dawn, cf. Revelation 22:16’s “bright morning star”).
  • Marathi rendering: उदयाचा तारा (udayācā tārā, “the star of rising/dawn”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Two collision risks: (1) φωσφόρος is the direct Greek root behind the Latin “Lucifer” tradition (via a different Hebrew term in Isaiah 14:12); translators and reviewers must not let this positive Petrine image of Christ’s dawning revelation be confused with the fallen-angel figure. (2) In Hindu astrology, the planet Venus (शुक्र/Shukra) is a Navagraha deity with independent devotional and astrological significance in Maharashtra; renderings must avoid any phrase (e.g. “शुक्रतारा”) that would evoke Shukra Graha worship. A translator note explaining both cautions is required wherever this term occurs.

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2 Peter 1:20

Greek: τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες, ὅτι πᾶσα προφητεία γραφῆς ἰδίας ἐπιλύσεως οὐ γίνεται.

English (ESV): “…knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.”

• προφητεία γραφῆς (“prophecy of Scripture”) — reuses baseline भविष्यवाणी (prophecy). Risk: Low (already established).

• ἴδιος (idios, “one’s own, private”)

  • Literal meaning: “one’s own, personal, private”
  • Semantic range: individual possession or origination, as opposed to shared/communal or externally given
  • English variants: “one’s own,” “someone’s own,” “private”
  • Contextual theological meaning: excludes human private origination as the source of prophetic Scripture.
  • Marathi rendering: स्वतःचा (svataḥcā). Risk: Low.

• ἐπίλυσις (epilysis, “interpretation, releasing/unloosing”)

  • Literal meaning: “a loosening, an explanation, an interpretive unlocking”
  • Semantic range: can mean either the origin of a prophecy (a prophet’s own invention) or its interpretation by a reader — a genuinely debated exegetical point among commentators
  • English variants: “interpretation,” “one’s own origination,” “private explanation”
  • Contextual theological meaning: central to the doctrine of the Reliability and Inspiration of Scripture — Scripture’s prophetic content did not originate in any individual’s own mind/invention (confirmed by v.21’s explanation of the Spirit’s superintendence).
  • Marathi rendering: अर्थनिर्णय (arthanirṇay, “interpretive determination/meaning-decision”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Must be handled carefully because Maharashtra’s religious landscape includes multiple living traditions of authoritative individual/guru interpretation (Warkari sant-poets each offering their own abhang commentary on scripture and devotion; the Buddhist sangha’s own interpretive tradition of the Tripitaka and Ambedkar’s reinterpreted Dhamma writings). The Marathi rendering and any translator note must make clear: Scripture’s prophetic content is not the product of any one interpreter’s private insight (however revered), because its very origin is the Spirit’s own superintendence (v.21), not merely that later readers must not misinterpret it.

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2 Peter 1:21

Greek: οὐ γὰρ θελήματι ἀνθρώπου ἠνέχθη προφητεία ποτέ, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου φερόμενοι ἐλάλησαν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι.

English (ESV): “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

• θέλημα ἀνθρώπου (thelēma anthrōpou, “the will of man”)

  • Literal meaning: “will, desire, intention” + “of man/humanity”
  • Semantic range: human intention, initiative, or desire as an originating cause
  • English variants: “will of man,” “human will,” “human initiative”
  • Contextual theological meaning: explicitly denies human initiative as the source of prophecy.
  • Marathi rendering: मानवाची इच्छा (mānavācī icchā). Risk: Medium.

• φέρω / φερόμενοι (pherō, “carried along,” passive participle)

  • Literal meaning: “to carry, bear, bring along”
  • Semantic range: nautical usage describes a ship being driven/borne along by the wind, entirely under the wind’s power rather than its own steering — a vivid image behind this verse
  • English variants: “carried along,” “borne along,” “moved,” “impelled”
  • Contextual theological meaning: the Holy Spirit’s sovereign superintendence produced Scripture through human authors who remained active speakers/writers yet were wholly carried by the Spirit’s power — the central verse for the doctrine of the Inspiration of Scripture.
  • Marathi rendering: प्रेरित होऊन (prerit hoūn, “having been moved/inspired”), used together with the baseline’s established पवित्र आत्मा (Pavitra Ātmā). Risk: CRITICAL. Must not be rendered so as to sound like generic poetic inspiration (Sanskrit poetics’ “sphuraṇa,” a poet’s flash of inner inspiration) or a meditative/trance state as in yogic or Buddhist contemplative practice; the meaning is the Spirit’s own sovereign, superintending governance of human authors producing a fully reliable, God-original text. This term directly undergirds the whole doctrine of the Reliability and Inspiration of Scripture and should trigger mandatory human theologian review wherever it occurs.

• Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον (Pneuma Hagion, “Holy Spirit”) — REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: पवित्र आत्मा (Pavitra Ātmā). Risk: Critical. Never परमात्मा or ब्रह्म.

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PART B: CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS OF THE WHOLE BOOK

Chapter 1 (verses 1–15, surrounding the core passage)

Verses 16-21 are treated in full above. The remainder of chapter 1 introduces the following load-bearing terms:

• δοῦλος (doulos, “slave/servant”) — 1:1, Peter’s self-designation “Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ.”

  • Literal meaning: “slave, bondservant.”
  • Semantic range: one wholly owned by and obligated to a master; in Pauline/Petrine self-designation, an honored title of total submission to Christ.
  • English variants: “servant,” “slave,” “bondservant.”
  • Theological meaning: models total, willing submission to Christ’s ownership as the posture underlying legitimate apostolic authority.
  • Marathi rendering: दास (dās). Risk: Medium — NEW TERM. Standard, established Marathi Christian usage for this self-humbling title; avoid गुलाम (which carries harsher servile/degrading connotations in modern Marathi).

• ἀπόστολος (apostolos, “apostle”) — 1:1. REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: प्रेषित. Risk: Medium.

• σωτήρ (sōtēr, “Savior”) — 1:1, 1:11 (“our God and Savior Jesus Christ”).

  • Literal meaning: “one who saves/delivers/rescues.”
  • Semantic range: deliverer, rescuer, preserver of life.
  • English variants: “Savior,” “Deliverer,” “Rescuer.”
  • Theological meaning: applied to Jesus Christ directly alongside “God,” reinforcing his full deity — closely tied to the baseline’s deity_of_christ and salvation doctrines.
  • Marathi rendering: तारणारा (tāraṇārā), built directly on the baseline root तारण (tāraṇ, salvation). Risk: Critical — NEW TERM, extends baseline salvation entry. Must never be rendered मोक्षदाता or मुक्तिदाता (liberation-giver, Hindu/Warkari bhakti framing) — consistent with the baseline’s rejection of मोक्ष/मुक्ती for “salvation.”

• δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē, “righteousness”) — 1:1 (“the righteousness of our God and Savior”). REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: नीतिमत्त्व. Risk: Critical. Never धर्म.

• χάρις (charis, “grace”) — 1:2. REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: कृपा. Risk: Critical.

• εἰρήνη (eirēnē, “peace”) — 1:2. REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: शांती. Risk: Medium.

• ἐπίγνωσις (epignōsis, “full/precise knowledge”) — 1:2, 1:3, 1:8 (repeated emphasis — “the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”).

  • Literal meaning: intensified compound of γνῶσις (“knowledge”) with ἐπί-, conveying full, exact, or experiential/relational knowledge.
  • Semantic range: personal, relational acquaintance with a person (not abstract information).
  • English variants: “knowledge,” “full knowledge,” “true knowledge,” “deeper knowledge.”
  • Theological meaning: relational knowledge of God/Christ, the source of grace, peace, and all things needed for life and godliness — central to the theme of growing in Christian virtue.
  • Marathi rendering: पूर्ण ज्ञान (pūrṇa jñāna, “complete/full knowledge”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution: ज्ञान (jñāna) alone is a heavily loaded philosophical term across Indian traditions — Hindu jnana-marga (the path of knowledge as one of three classical paths to liberation) and Buddhist prajñā (liberating wisdom central to the Eightfold Path). Translator notes must clarify this is personal, relational knowledge of the living God and Christ, granted through grace, not a philosophical insight or wisdom self-attained through contemplative discipline.

• θεία δύναμις (theia dynamis, “divine power”) — 1:3 (“his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness”).

  • Literal meaning: “power” + “divine, pertaining to God.”
  • Semantic range: God’s own inherent, active capability.
  • English variants: “divine power,” “God’s power.”
  • Theological meaning: the source of all spiritual provision; extends the baseline power_of_god doctrine into 2 Peter’s teaching on divine nature and escaping corruption.
  • Marathi rendering: दैवी सामर्थ्य (daivī sāmarthya), extending baseline देवाचे सामर्थ्य. Risk: Critical. NEVER शक्ती, per baseline rationale.

• ἀρετή (aretē, “virtue/excellence”) — 1:3 (“who called us to his own glory and excellence”), 1:5 (in the virtue chain).

  • Literal meaning: “excellence, virtue, moral goodness”; in classical Greek, also “excellence of function” more broadly.
  • Semantic range: moral excellence, praiseworthy character/conduct.
  • English variants: “virtue,” “excellence,” “moral excellence,” “goodness.”
  • Theological meaning: central term for the doctrine of Growing in Christian Virtue — a Spirit-enabled quality added to faith, not self-generated merit.
  • Marathi rendering: सद्गुण (sadguṇ, “good quality/virtue”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution: गुण (guṇa) is a major technical term in Hindu philosophy (the three guṇas — sattva, rajas, tamas — of Samkhya thought; and the saguṇa/nirguṇa distinction applied to Brahman in Vedanta). While सद्गुण is standard everyday Marathi for “virtue” and unlikely to be misheard as technical Samkhya vocabulary in ordinary use, translator notes should flag the term for review given the doctrine’s emphasis on virtue as given by divine power (1:3) rather than a cosmic quality inherent in matter or self-cultivated apart from grace.

• ἐπάγγελμα (epangelma, “promise”) — 1:4 (“he has granted to us his precious and very great promises”).

  • Marathi rendering: वचने (vacane, “promises/words”), consistent with baseline’s covenant-related vocabulary. Risk: Medium.

• θεία φύσις (theia physis, “divine nature”) — 1:4 (“that you may become partakers of the divine nature”).

  • Literal meaning: “nature/essence” + “divine, pertaining to God.”
  • Semantic range: the moral/relational character and life proper to God, as distinct from mere cosmic substance.
  • English variants: “divine nature,” “God’s own nature,” “sharing God’s nature.”
  • Theological meaning: this is the anchor term for the doctrine of the Divine Nature and Escaping Corruption — believers, by grace, come to share in God’s holiness, love, and incorruptibility, escaping the moral corruption produced by sinful desire.
  • Marathi rendering: दैवी स्वभाव (daivī svabhāv). Risk: CRITICAL — NEW TERM. This phrase requires the most careful theological framing in the entire book. Three distinct collision risks: (1) Advaita Vedanta teaching that the individual self (ātman) is already, in essence, identical with the divine (Brahman) — “partaking of the divine nature” must not be read as confirming an already-existing identity of essence between the human soul and God; (2) the bhakti devotional hope of ultimate union with Vitthal must not be conflated with this; and (3) the Buddhist tathāgatagarbha/“Buddha-nature” concept (an innate potential for awakening within all beings) offers a structurally similar-sounding but doctrinally very different category. The Marathi rendering and accompanying translator notes must make clear: this is a relational, moral, gift-given sharing in God’s holy character (love, righteousness, incorruptibility) through the Spirit’s ongoing work, granted by grace to those who were not previously divine in any sense — not a disclosure of a pre-existing inner divinity, and not a metaphysical merging of essence with an impersonal absolute.

• φθορά (phthora, “corruption”) — 1:4 (“having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire”); recurs in ch. 2.

  • Literal meaning: “decay, ruin, destruction, corruption.”
  • Semantic range: moral corruption/depravity (1:4) and also physical destruction/ruin (as in ch. 2, of the false teachers themselves).
  • English variants: “corruption,” “decay,” “depravity,” “destruction.”
  • Theological meaning: the moral rot produced by unchecked desire, from which believers are rescued through partaking of the divine nature.
  • Marathi rendering: भ्रष्टता (bhraṣṭatā, moral corruption sense, 1:4) / नाश (nāś, destruction sense, ch. 2 contexts). Risk: High — NEW TERM, context-sensitive. Avoid भ्रष्टाचार, which in contemporary Marathi usage overwhelmingly means political/bureaucratic corruption (bribery) and would distract from the moral-spiritual sense intended here.

• ἐπιθυμία (epithymia, “desire, lust”) — 1:4; recurs in 2:10, 2:18, 3:3.

  • Literal meaning: “strong desire, craving, longing” — morally neutral in isolation but overwhelmingly negative in NT vice contexts.
  • Semantic range: sinful appetite, especially sexual and material craving.
  • English variants: “lust,” “desire,” “sinful desire,” “passion.”
  • Theological meaning: the corrupting appetite that produces φθορά; escaped through partaking of the divine nature.
  • Marathi rendering: दुष्ट वासना (duṣṭa vāsanā, “evil desire/craving”). Risk: Critical — NEW TERM. Caution: वासना (vāsanā) alone is a major technical term in Hindu yogic psychology and Buddhist Abhidharma thought, referring to latent subconscious impressions/tendencies deposited by past karma, which ripen over lifetimes. Used alone, it risks reading as this karmic-residue concept rather than a straightforward present moral appetite chosen and indulged. The qualifier दुष्ट (“evil/wicked”) and consistent translator notes are required to keep the sense a moral/relational one (sinful desire before a personal God), not an impersonal karmic mechanism.

• σπουδή (spoudē, “diligence, earnestness”) — 1:5 (“for this very reason, make every effort”).

  • Marathi rendering: तत्परता (tatparatā). Risk: Low.

• The Virtue Chain (1:5-7): πίστις, ἀρετή, γνῶσις, ἐγκράτεια, ὑπομονή, εὐσέβεια, φιλαδελφία, ἀγάπη

  • πίστις (faith) — REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: विश्वास. Risk: High.
  • ἀρετή (virtue) — as above: सद्गुण. Risk: High.
  • γνῶσις (gnōsis, “knowledge”) — distinct from ἐπίγνωσις above; here, practical moral discernment/insight added to faith and virtue.
    • Marathi rendering: ज्ञान (jñāna). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Same jnana-marga/prajñā caution as ἐπίγνωσις above; here the sense is practical discernment growing out of relationship with Christ, not philosophical enlightenment attained by one’s own contemplative effort.
  • ἐγκράτεια (enkrateia, “self-control”)
    • Literal meaning: “mastery within, self-restraint.”
    • Semantic range: disciplined control over one’s own desires/impulses.
    • English variants: “self-control,” “temperance,” “self-discipline.”
    • Theological meaning: the Spirit-enabled restraint of the ἐπιθυμία named in 1:4, part of the virtue chain that confirms one’s calling and election.
    • Marathi rendering: आत्मसंयम (ātmasaṃyam, “self-restraint”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution: self-restraint (indriya-nigraha, yama/niyama) is a central practice in both classical Hindu yogic disciplines and the Buddhist Eightfold Path’s ethical training (sīla). Translator notes must clarify that in 2 Peter this self-control is one link in a chain supplied by God’s divine power and grace (1:3-4) rather than an independently self-cultivated ascetic achievement earning standing before God — directly parallel to the baseline’s grace-vs-self-cultivation caution.
  • ὑπομονή (hypomonē, “steadfastness, endurance”)
    • Marathi rendering: धीर (dhīr, “steadfast endurance”) / सहनशीलता (sahanaśīlatā). Risk: Medium.
  • εὐσέβεια (eusebeia, “godliness”)
    • Literal meaning: “reverence/piety directed rightly, godly reverence.”
    • Semantic range: right worship and reverence toward God expressed in conduct.
    • English variants: “godliness,” “piety,” “devotion to God.”
    • Theological meaning: reverent, faithful living oriented wholly to God — key to Growing in Christian Virtue.
    • Marathi rendering: ईश्वरभक्ती (īśvarabhaktī, “devotion to God”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution parallels the baseline’s faith entry: भक्ती names the devotional reverence a Warkari devotee directs to Vitthal. The compound ईश्वरभक्ती (specifically “devotion to God,” using परमेश्वर-adjacent ईश्वर) narrows the reference, but translator notes should still make explicit that this godliness/reverence is directed exclusively to the one true God through Christ, not one devotional option among several available bhakti objects.
  • φιλαδελφία (philadelphia, “brotherly love”)
    • Marathi rendering: बंधुप्रेम (bandhuprem). Risk: Low.
  • ἀγάπη (agapē, “love”)
    • Marathi rendering: प्रीती (prītī), consistent with established Marathi Bible usage (e.g. John 3:16). Risk: Medium. Note: distinguish from the romantic devotional “prem” of Krishna-bhakti traditions (e.g. Radha-Krishna prema) and from Warkari bhakti-prema for Vitthal; this is self-giving, others-oriented covenant love, not romantic devotional longing.

• κλῆσις καὶ ἐκλογή (klēsis kai eklogē, “calling and election”) — 1:10 (“be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election”). REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE: पाचारण (calling) and देवाची निवड (election). Risk: High.

• αἰώνιος βασιλεία (aiōnios basileia, “eternal kingdom”) — 1:11 (“entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior”).

  • Marathi rendering: सार्वकालिक राज्य (sārvakālik rājya), extending baseline देवाचे राज्य. Risk: Medium.

• σκήνωμα (skēnōma, “tent, tabernacle” — figurative for the body) — 1:13-14 (“as long as I am in this body/tent”).

  • Literal meaning: “tent, temporary dwelling.”
  • Semantic range: figuratively, the mortal body as a temporary dwelling for the person.
  • English variants: “body,” “tent,” “earthly dwelling,” “tabernacle.”
  • Theological meaning: expresses the temporariness of Peter’s earthly life in light of his approaching death and Christ’s certain return.
  • Marathi rendering: देहरूपी तंबू (deharūpī tambū, “the body, [figured] as a tent”). Risk: Medium — NEW TERM. The metaphor may be unfamiliar to Marathi readers; a brief explanatory gloss is recommended at first occurrence.

• ἔξοδος (exodos, “departure”) — 1:15 (“after my departure”), a euphemism for death, echoing the Exodus narrative.

  • Marathi rendering: निर्गम (nirgam), the same term used as the Marathi Bible’s book-title for Exodus. Risk: Medium. The echo with the book of Exodus should be preserved and may be noted for readers with limited OT background.

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Chapter 2 (whole chapter): False Teachers and Their Judgment

• ψευδοπροφήτης (pseudoprophētēs, “false prophet”) — 2:1.

  • Marathi rendering: खोटा संदेष्टा (khoṭā sandeṣṭā), built on baseline संदेष्टा. Risk: High.

• ψευδοδιδάσκαλος (pseudodidaskalos, “false teacher”) — 2:1.

  • Marathi rendering: खोटा शिक्षक (khoṭā śikṣak). Risk: High. Central term for the doctrine of False Teachers and Their Judgment.

• αἵρεσις ἀπωλείας (hairesis apōleias, “destructive heresies”) — 2:1.

  • Literal meaning: αἵρεσις = “a choosing, a school of thought, a faction/sect”; ἀπώλεια = “destruction.”
  • Semantic range: a divisive party or teaching that leads to ruin.
  • English variants: “destructive heresies,” “damnable heresies,” “divisive destructive teachings.”
  • Theological meaning: teachings that fracture the church and lead their adherents to spiritual ruin.
  • Marathi rendering: विनाशकारी शिकवणुकी (vināśakārī śikvaṇukī, “destructive teachings”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Deliberately avoid पंथ (panth, “sect/school”), a term with major positive religious weight in Maharashtra — the Warkari devotional tradition is itself formally called the “वारकरी पंथ.” Rendering αἵρεσις as पंथ risks unintentionally casting negative aspersions on legitimate religious traditions bearing that name, or conversely softening the force of Peter’s warning by using a neutral/respected term. Use descriptive “teaching/doctrine” language instead.

• δεσπότης (despotēs, “Master, absolute owner”) — 2:1 (“even denying the Master who bought them”).

  • Literal meaning: “master of a household/slaves, one with absolute ownership rights” (distinct from κύριος, “lord” in the sense of ruling authority).
  • Semantic range: total ownership and authority, as of a slave-owner over a slave.
  • English variants: “Master,” “Sovereign Lord,” “Owner.”
  • Theological meaning: Christ’s absolute ownership-right over believers, established by his having “bought” them — directly tied to the doctrine of the atonement/redemption.
  • Marathi rendering: स्वामी (svāmī). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Note: the baseline rejected स्वामी as an alternative rendering for κύριος (“lord,” Romans 10:9’s प्रभू) because it lacked sufficiently exclusive/supreme force there; here, δεσπότης is a genuinely distinct Greek term emphasizing ownership rather than governing rule, and स्वामी is an apt match for that specific nuance. However, translators must add a caution: स्वामी is also a common honorific title for Hindu gurus and religious teachers (e.g., “Swami” as used of Swami Vivekananda or in the Swaminarayan tradition); the term here must be understood strictly as Christ’s absolute ownership-authority as Redeemer, not a guru-honorific.

• ἀγοράζω (agorazō, “to buy, purchase”) — 2:1 (“the Master who bought them”).

  • Marathi rendering: विकत घेणे (vikat gheṇe, “to buy/purchase”), or in fuller redemption-context, खंडणी भरून सोडवणे (to ransom/redeem by paying a price). Risk: High. Ties to atonement doctrine (cf. baseline’s flag on Romans 3:25 propitiation language requiring theologian review); ensure the sense of a price paid for ownership/redemption is preserved, not merely “acquired.”

• ἀπώλεια (apōleia, “destruction, perdition”) — 2:1, 2:3, and recurring through the chapter.

  • Marathi rendering: नाश (nāś) / विनाश (vināś). Risk: High. Caution: this is a negative, judicial ruin — must not be rendered using any term adjacent to मुक्ती/निर्वाण (already forbidden for “salvation” in the baseline as positive liberation-concepts); plain destruction/ruin vocabulary should be used so the contrast with तारण (salvation) remains sharp in both directions.

• ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia, “sensuality, debauchery”) — 2:2, 2:18.

  • Marathi rendering: स्वैराचार (svairācār, “unrestrained/licentious conduct”). Risk: Medium.

• πλεονεξία (pleonexia, “greed, covetousness”) — 2:3, 2:14.

  • Marathi rendering: लोभ (lobh). Risk: Low.

• κρίσις (krisis, “judgment”) — 2:3, 2:4, 2:9, and recurring through chs. 2-3.

  • Literal meaning: “a judging, a verdict, a decision.”
  • Semantic range: judicial decision, condemnation, the act of separating right from wrong.
  • English variants: “judgment,” “condemnation,” “verdict.”
  • Theological meaning: God’s righteous, personal judicial verdict against false teachers and the ungodly — central to the doctrine of False Teachers and Their Judgment and the Day of the Lord.
  • Marathi rendering: न्यायनिवाडा (nyāyanivāḍā, “judicial verdict”). Risk: High. As with the baseline’s caution on providence/election, this must read as a personal God’s righteous verdict, not an impersonal karmic reckoning (कर्माचा हिशोब/न्याय) determining a person’s fate by an automatic cosmic mechanism.

• ταρταρόω (tartaroō, “to cast into Tartarus”) — 2:4 (of the angels who sinned).

  • Literal meaning: a NT hapax legomenon derived from Τάρταρος, the deepest abyss of Greek mythological cosmology, the place of confinement for divine rebels (e.g., the Titans).
  • Semantic range: Peter borrows a well-known Greek term for the netherworld to describe a real place/state of confinement for fallen angels awaiting judgment.
  • English variants: “cast into hell,” “cast into Tartarus,” “consigned to gloomy dungeons.”
  • Theological meaning: certain, present confinement of rebellious angels, awaiting final judgment — supports the certainty of the Day of the Lord’s judgment.
  • Marathi rendering: तार्तरसमध्ये टाकणे (tārtarasamadhye ṭākaṇe, transliterating Τάρταρος + “to cast into”), with a gloss अंधाऱ्या खाईत (“into a dark pit/abyss”). Risk: Medium-High — NEW TERM. Requires a translator note explaining that Peter is using a known term from Greek cosmology descriptively, not endorsing Greek mythology; the note should also caution against mapping this onto the multi-realm/rebirth structure of Hindu or Buddhist naraka (“hell realm”) cosmology, since the biblical concept here is a temporary judicial confinement preceding a final, singular judgment, not one level in a cycle of rebirths across realms.

• κατακλυσμός (kataklysmos, “flood”) — 2:5 (also 3:6, of Noah’s flood).

  • Literal meaning: “a deluge, a flood.”
  • Semantic range: the historical Genesis flood, and by extension a paradigm case of God’s past judgment on the ungodly world.
  • English variants: “flood,” “deluge.”
  • Theological meaning: establishes the historical precedent for God’s judgment of the world, directly paralleled in 2 Peter 3 with the future judgment by fire — central to the doctrine of the Day of the Lord and Final Judgment.
  • Marathi rendering: जलप्रलय (jalapralay, “water-deluge”). Risk: CRITICAL. The root प्रलय (pralay) is a major Hindu cosmological term denoting the periodic cosmic dissolution that ends each cosmic age (kalpa) before a new cycle of creation begins (mahāpralaya). Using जलप्रलय for Noah’s flood, and by extension for the future fiery judgment of 2 Peter 3, risks the single most consequential doctrinal confusion in this book: readers may assimilate 2 Peter’s linear, one-time, final, historical judgment(s) into the Hindu cyclical cosmology of repeated dissolution-and-recreation (or, differently, into the Buddhist teaching of impermanence/anicca without any final, unrepeatable consummation). Mandatory translator notes at every occurrence (2:5, 3:6, 3:7, 3:10) must state plainly: these are singular, unrepeated, historical/future events within a linear timeline that moves toward one final judgment and one everlasting new creation — not one turn of an ongoing cosmic wheel.

• δίκαιος (dikaios, “righteous”) — 2:5 (Noah, “a herald of righteousness”), 2:7-8 (Lot). REUSED FROM ROMANS BASELINE root: नीतिमान (nītimān), built on नीतिमत्त्व. Risk: Medium.

• κόλασις (kolasis, “punishment”) — 2:9.

  • Marathi rendering: शिक्षा (śikṣā). Risk: Medium — NEW TERM. Caution: शिक्षा is a common Marathi homonym also meaning “education/teaching” (from a different root sense); context must make clear the “punishment” sense is intended, especially in isolated phrases or headings.

• πειρασμός (peirasmos, “trial, temptation”) — 2:9 (“the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials”).

  • Marathi rendering: परीक्षा (parīkṣā, “trial/test”). Risk: Medium.

• τολμηταί, αὐθάδεις (tolmētai, authadeis, “bold, self-willed”) — 2:10.

  • Marathi rendering: धाडसी, हट्टी (audacious, stubborn). Risk: Low.

• δόξαι (doxai, plural — “glories,” here referring to angelic dignitaries) — 2:10 (“blaspheming the glorious ones”).

  • Marathi rendering: गौरवी सत्ता (gauravī sattā, “glorious powers/authorities”). Risk: Medium. Disambiguation note required: this is a distinct sense of δόξα from “God’s glory” (baseline गौरव) — here referring to angelic beings/dignities, not to divine glory itself; keep clearly distinguished in context.

• ἄλογα ζῷα (aloga zōa, “irrational animals”) — 2:12.

  • Marathi rendering: अविवेकी प्राणी (irrational/unreasoning animals). Risk: Low.

• μισθὸς ἀδικίας (misthos adikias, “wages of unrighteousness”) — 2:13, 2:15.

  • Marathi rendering: अनीतीचा मोबदला (the recompense/wages of unrighteousness), built on the negation of baseline नीतिमत्त्व (अनीती, “unrighteousness”). Risk: Medium.

• Βαλαάμ (Balaam) — 2:15-16, proper name.

  • Marathi rendering: बलाम. Risk: Low.

• πηγαὶ ἄνυδροι (pēgai anydroi, “waterless springs”) — 2:17.

  • Marathi rendering: पाण्याविनाचे झरे. Risk: Low.

• ζόφος τοῦ σκότους (zophos tou skotous, “blackness of darkness”) — 2:17.

  • Marathi rendering: गडद अंधार. Risk: Low.

• ὑπέρογκα ματαιότητος (hyperogka mataiotētos, “great swelling words of vanity”) — 2:18.

  • Marathi rendering: फोल गर्वाचे मोठे शब्द (empty, prideful, bombastic words). Risk: Medium.

• ἐλευθερία (eleutheria, “freedom, liberty”) — 2:19 (“they promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption”).

  • Literal meaning: “freedom, liberty.”
  • Semantic range: release from bondage/restraint, whether moral, social, or political.
  • English variants: “freedom,” “liberty.”
  • Theological meaning: false teachers falsely promise moral freedom (licentiousness) while themselves enslaved to corruption — a deliberately ironic contrast Peter draws.
  • Marathi rendering: स्वातंत्र्य (svātantrya). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Major cultural caution: स्वातंत्र्य is one of the most politically resonant words in modern Marathi, central to both India’s independence movement and — of direct relevance to this audience — Ambedkarite Buddhist social ethics, which the baseline doctrine_risk_registry already notes reframed “Dhamma” around liberty, equality, and fraternity (Ambedkar’s own language). Translator notes must make unmistakably clear that 2 Peter 2:19 critiques the false teachers’ promise of a counterfeit, libertine “freedom” from moral restraint (which in fact enslaves to corruption) — this passage does not comment on, and must never be read as undermining, the legitimate, justly-prized social liberty from caste oppression that this term evokes elsewhere in Marathi public life.

• δοῦλοι ὑπάρχοντες τῆς φθορᾶς (“slaves of corruption”) — 2:19. Uses दास (from ch. 1) + भ्रष्टता/नाश. Risk: High (compound of two High-risk terms).

• ἐπίγνωσις τοῦ κυρίου (“the knowledge of the Lord”) — 2:20. Reuses ἐπίγνωσις analysis above: पूर्ण ज्ञान. Risk: High.

• ὁδὸς τῆς δικαιοσύνης (hodos tēs dikaiosynēs, “the way of righteousness”) — 2:21.

  • Literal meaning: “way/path” + baseline “righteousness.”
  • Semantic range: the entire pattern of life consistent with right standing before God.
  • English variants: “the way of righteousness,” “the path of righteousness.”
  • Theological meaning: the one path of faithful, righteous living from which apostates have turned back.
  • Marathi rendering: नीतिमत्त्वाचा मार्ग (nītimattvācā mārg), built on baseline नीतिमत्त्व. Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution: मार्ग (“path/way”) is a major technical term across Indian soteriological systems — Hindu thought speaks of bhakti-mārga, jñāna-mārga, and karma-mārga as parallel valid paths to liberation; Buddhism names its own core teaching the Aṣṭāṅgika Mārga (Noble Eightfold Path). Rendering “the way of righteousness” with मार्ग risks implying this is one path among several equally valid options. Translator notes must state this is the single, God-revealed way established in Christ, not one of several interchangeable religious “margs.”

• ἁγία ἐντολή (hagia entolē, “holy commandment”) — 2:21. Built on baseline पवित्र. Marathi: पवित्र आज्ञा. Risk: Medium.

• παροιμία (paroimia, “proverb”) — 2:22.

  • Marathi rendering: म्हण (mhaṇ). Risk: Low.

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Chapter 3 (whole chapter): The Day of the Lord, Final Judgment, and Patience of God’s Timing

• ἐμπαῖκται (empaiktai, “scoffers”) — 3:3.

  • Marathi rendering: निंदक (nindak, “mockers/scoffers”). Risk: Medium.

• ἐπιθυμία (“own [sinful] desires”) — 3:3. Reuses ch. 1 analysis: दुष्ट वासना. Risk: Critical.

• παρουσία (“coming”) — 3:4, 3:12. Reuses core-passage analysis: पुनरागमन. Risk: Critical. Consistency across all occurrences in the book (and eventually across the whole curriculum) is mandatory, per the priority given to this term in 1:16.

• κτίσις (ktisis, “creation”) — 3:4.

  • Marathi rendering: सृष्टी (sṛṣṭī). Risk: Medium. Note the same linear-vs-cyclical caution as κατακλυσμός below applies to any discussion of the created order’s history and end.

• κατακλυσμός ὕδατι κατακλυσθεὶς ἀπώλετο (“the world that then existed was flooded with water and perished”) — 3:6. Reuses ch. 2 analysis: जलप्रलय. Risk: CRITICAL — see full note above; this is the passage that most explicitly parallels the past flood with the future fiery judgment, making the linear-vs-cyclical distinction most urgent here.

• πῦρ (pyr, “fire”) — 3:7, 3:10, 3:12 (the coming judgment by fire).

  • Literal meaning: “fire.”
  • Semantic range: destructive/purifying judgment fire.
  • English variants: “fire.”
  • Theological meaning: the means of the final judgment and purification of the created order, paired typologically with the flood of Noah’s day.
  • Marathi rendering: अग्नी (agnī). Risk: Medium. Caution: अग्नी is also the name of a principal Vedic deity (Agni, god of fire), central to ongoing Hindu yajña/homa fire-ritual practice. As a common noun for “fire” the word carries no automatic deity association in everyday Marathi speech, but translators should avoid any phrasing that would personify the fire or frame it in sacrificial/ritual (yajña-like) terms; it must remain God’s own instrument of judgment and purification, not an independent divine agent.

• ἡμέρα κρίσεως καὶ ἀπωλείας τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνθρώπων (“the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly”) — 3:7. Compounds established terms: न्यायनिवाडा + नाश. Risk: High.

• μία ἡμέρα παρὰ Κυρίῳ ὡς χίλια ἔτη (“one day with the Lord is as a thousand years”) — 3:8.

  • Marathi rendering: एक दिवस हजार वर्षांसारखा (a day is like a thousand years). Risk: Medium. Doctrinally central to Patience of God’s Timing; the phrase itself is not a collision risk but must be translated plainly and not softened or explained away.

• βραδύνει (bradynei, “he is slow/delays”) — 3:9 (“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise”).

  • Literal meaning: “to be slow, to delay.”
  • Semantic range: a deliberate or perceived postponement.
  • English variants: “slow,” “slack,” “delaying.”
  • Theological meaning: denies that God’s apparent delay reflects unfaithfulness or weakness — central to Patience of God’s Timing.
  • Marathi rendering: विलंब (vilamb, “delay”). Risk: High. Must be framed relationally (God’s own patient forbearance, choosing not to delay unfaithfully) rather than as an impersonal or fated postponement — paralleling the baseline’s caution on providence (देवाचे विधान) against karma-style fatalistic framing.

• μακροθυμέω / μακροθυμία (makrothymeō / makrothymia, “to be patient / patience, longsuffering”) — 3:9, 3:15.

  • Literal meaning: “long” + “temper/passion” — a long fuse, slow to anger.
  • Semantic range: forbearance that withholds deserved response, especially deserved judgment.
  • English variants: “patience,” “longsuffering,” “forbearance.”
  • Theological meaning: the doctrinal center of Patience of God’s Timing — God withholds the Day of the Lord not from inability or unconcern but “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (3:9); in 3:15, this patience is itself said to mean “salvation.”
  • Marathi rendering: सहनशीलता (sahanaśīlatā). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Must be clearly distinguished from (a) the Buddhist virtue of khanti/kṣānti (patience/forbearance as one of the pāramitās, cultivated through one’s own discipline) and (b) any folk-theological notion that delay in events reflects a cosmic law of gradually ripening karma. God’s patience here is a relational, personal choice by a sovereign, loving God to hold back deserved judgment for the sake of others’ repentance — not a discipline the believer cultivates in themselves nor an impersonal mechanism governing the timing of events.

• μετάνοια (metanoia, “repentance”) — 3:9 (“that all should reach repentance”).

  • Literal meaning: “a change of mind,” from μετά (“after/change”) + νοέω (“to think, perceive”).
  • Semantic range: a fundamental reorientation of mind and life, turning from sin toward God.
  • English variants: “repentance,” “change of heart,” “turning.”
  • Theological meaning: the goal of God’s patience — not indefinite delay but space granted for genuine, God-given turning.
  • Marathi rendering: पश्चात्ताप (paścāttāp, “repentance/contrition”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Must be distinguished from ritual expiation practices for clearing bad karma/wrongdoing (prāyaścitta) found in Hindu tradition; true repentance in 2 Peter is a relational, Spirit-enabled change of heart and mind granted through God’s kindness and patience, not a ritual act of self-atonement or karma-clearing.

• ἡμέρα Κυρίου (hēmera Kyriou, “the Day of the Lord”) — 3:10.

  • Literal meaning: “day” + baseline “Lord” (κύριος).
  • Semantic range: the OT/NT technical term for the decisive, final day of God’s judgment and salvation, appearing throughout the prophets and carried into NT eschatology.
  • English variants: “the Day of the Lord,” “that day,” “the day of judgment.”
  • Theological meaning: the central anchor term for the doctrine of the Day of the Lord and Final Judgment — a specific, singular, final, unrepeatable day, arriving “like a thief,” bringing the dissolution of the present created order and the arrival of the new heavens and new earth.
  • Marathi rendering: प्रभूचा दिवस (prabhūcā divas), built directly on the baseline’s Critical term प्रभू (prabhū, “Lord,” Romans 10:9). Risk: CRITICAL. This term should trigger the same mandatory theologian-review routing as παρουσία. It must never be softened into a generic “auspicious day” concept, nor assimilated to a Hindu cyclical cosmology (see κατακλυσμός note above) — this is the one final, linear, unrepeatable day of Christ’s exclusive Lordship being publicly and irreversibly manifested in judgment and re-creation.

• κλέπτης (kleptēs, “thief”) — 3:10 (simile: “the Day of the Lord will come like a thief”).

  • Marathi rendering: चोर (cor). Risk: Low. Preserve the force of the simile: sudden and unexpected timing, not predictable by human calculation.

• στοιχεῖα (stoicheia, “elements”) — 3:10, 3:12 (“the heavenly bodies/elements will be burned up and dissolved”).

  • Literal meaning: “basic components, elemental substances” (can refer to physical elements, celestial bodies, or elementary principles, depending on context).
  • Semantic range: in this context, most likely the fundamental physical constituents of the created cosmos (or possibly the heavenly bodies themselves).
  • English variants: “elements,” “elemental substances,” “heavenly bodies.”
  • Theological meaning: the entire present physical cosmos, down to its most basic constituents, will be dissolved at the Day of the Lord, making way for the new heavens and new earth.
  • Marathi rendering: मूलतत्त्वे (mūlatattve, “fundamental elements/principles”). Risk: High — NEW TERM. Caution: तत्त्व (tattva) is a major technical term in Hindu Samkhya and Vedanta philosophy, denoting the fundamental ontological categories of reality (e.g., the 25 or 36 tattvas of classical systems). Translator notes should clarify that Peter refers to the physical constituents of the created, contingent cosmos as made by God — not a philosophical category-system of ultimate reality.

• καινοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ γῆν καινήν (kainous ouranous kai gēn kainēn, “new heavens and a new earth”) — 3:13.

  • Marathi rendering: नवे आकाश आणि नवी पृथ्वी (nave ākāś āṇi navī pṛthvī). Risk: High. As with κατακλυσμός/πῦρ above, translator notes should distinguish this final, permanent, once-for-all new creation from the Hindu cyclical cosmology’s periodic renewal of the world after each mahāpralaya (the return of a golden age, Satya Yuga, after Kali Yuga) — 2 Peter promises one final and permanent renewal, not another turn of a repeating cosmic wheel.

• δικαιοσύνη κατοικεῖ (“righteousness dwells”) — 3:13. Reuses baseline नीतिमत्त्व + “dwells” (वास करते). Risk: Medium.

• ἄσπιλοι καὶ ἀμώμητοι (aspiloi kai amōmētoi, “spotless and blameless”) — 3:14.

  • Marathi rendering: निष्कलंक आणि निर्दोष (niṣkalaṅk āṇi nirdoṣ). Risk: Medium. Ensure these read as moral/relational blamelessness before Christ at his return, not mere ritual/ceremonial cleanliness (parallel to the baseline’s caution on शुद्ध for “holy”).

• μακροθυμία (“patience,” as salvation) — 3:15. Reuses analysis above. Risk: High.

• δυσνόητα (dysnoēta, “hard to understand”) — 3:16 (of Paul’s letters).

  • Marathi rendering: समजण्यास कठीण. Risk: Low.

• γραφαί (graphai, “Scriptures”) — 3:16 (Paul’s letters classed alongside “the other Scriptures”).

  • Literal meaning: “writings.”
  • Semantic range: the authoritative, God-given body of sacred writings.
  • English variants: “Scriptures,” “the Scriptures,” “the writings.”
  • Theological meaning: this verse is doctrinally significant — it places Paul’s letters within the category of γραφή alongside the OT, directly relevant to the doctrine of the Reliability and Inspiration of Scripture and the developing NT canon.
  • Marathi rendering: पवित्रशास्त्र (pavitraśāstra), consistent with the doctrine name already used in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry (“पवित्रशास्त्राची प्रेरणा” — Inspiration of Scripture). Risk: High.

• στρεβλόω (strebloō, “to twist, distort”) — 3:16 (“which the ignorant and unstable twist… as they do the other Scriptures”).

  • Marathi rendering: विपर्यास करणे (viparyās karṇe, “to distort/pervert”). Risk: Medium. Ties directly to the doctrine of False Teachers and Their Judgment as applied to Scripture itself.

• ἀστήρικτοι (astēriktoi, “unstable”) — 3:16.

  • Marathi rendering: अस्थिर (asthir). Risk: Low.

• πλάνη ἀθέσμων (planē athesmōn, “the error of lawless people”) — 3:17.

  • Marathi rendering: नियमहीन लोकांची चूक/भ्रम (the error of those without law), built as a negation of baseline नियमशास्त्र (“law”). Risk: Medium — NEW TERM. Deliberately avoid अधर्मी/अधर्म (rejected already in the baseline for “sin,” and carrying the same caste-dharma political weight noted for “law”/नियमशास्त्र); use नियमहीन (lawless, literally “without [God’s] revealed standard”) instead.

• στηριγμός (stērigmos, “steadfastness, firm standing”) — 3:17.

  • Marathi rendering: स्थिरता (sthiratā). Risk: Low.

• αὐξάνετε ἐν χάριτι καὶ γνώσει (“grow in the grace and knowledge…”) — 3:18, the book’s closing charge.

  • Marathi rendering: कृपेत आणि ज्ञानात वाढा, combining baseline कृपा and ch. 1’s ज्ञान. Risk: High. This is the book’s climactic summary verse, tying together the Growing in Christian Virtue doctrine with the baseline’s Critical grace doctrine; its rendering should be treated with the same cross-document consistency priority the baseline gives to Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10, since it functions as 2 Peter’s own thesis-closing verse.

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Full-Book Coverage Confirmation

All three chapters of 2 Peter have been reviewed in full:

• Chapter 1 (vv. 1-15 and the core passage vv. 16-21): fully analyzed above — introduces the majority of the book’s new load-bearing vocabulary (σωτήρ, ἐπίγνωσις, ἀρετή, θεία φύσις, the virtue chain, παρουσία, ἐπόπτης, φωσφόρος, ἐπίλυσις, φέρω).
• Chapter 2: fully analyzed above — introduces the False Teachers and Their Judgment vocabulary (ψευδοδιδάσκαλος, αἵρεσις ἀπωλείας, δεσπότης, κρίσις, ταρταρόω, κατακλυσμός, ἐλευθερία, ὁδὸς τῆς δικαιοσύνης).
• Chapter 3: fully analyzed above — introduces the Day of the Lord / Patience of God vocabulary (ἡμέρα Κυρίου, βραδύνει, μακροθυμία, μετάνοια, στοιχεῖα, καινοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ γῆν καινήν) and closes with the book’s climactic grace-and-knowledge charge.

No chapter is without new theological vocabulary; 2 Peter is a short, densely doctrinal book, and all three chapters contribute load-bearing terms requiring risk analysis.