Core Glossary
Core Glossary — James (English → Nepali)
How to Read This Table
- Status: Baseline (reused) — term and rendering are fixed in the Romans
translation_memory.json; James must reuse exactly, no deviation permitted. - Status: New (James) — term is newly required for James and does not exist in the Romans baseline; proposed rendering, risk tier, and rationale given.
- Risk follows the baseline’s Critical/High/Medium/Low definitions from
doctrine_risk_registry.json. - Chapters lists every chapter of James where the term is load-bearing.
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (from Romans translation_memory.json)
| # | English Term | Nepali Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | परमेश्वर | Critical | God | 1,2,3,4,5 | Never भगवान. |
| 2 | Lord | प्रभु | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1,2,4,5 | ”If the Lord wills” (4:15); “coming of the Lord” (5:7-8). |
| 3 | Father | पिता | Critical | Adoption/Fatherhood of God | 1,3 | ”Father of lights” (1:17); “we bless God the Father” (3:9). |
| 4 | Faith | विश्वास | High | Faith | 1,2 (core),5 | Central term of the core passage; never श्रद्धा/भक्ति. |
| 5 | Grace | अनुग्रह | High | Grace | 4 | ”God gives grace to the humble” (4:6); never पुण्य/भाग्य. |
| 6 | Sin | पाप | High | Sin | 1,2 (core),4,5 | Never अकुशल कर्म. |
| 7 | Law | व्यवस्था | High | Law/Covenant | 1,2,4 | ”Royal law,” “law of liberty,” “lawgiver”; never धर्म. |
| 8 | Righteousness | धार्मिकता | Critical | Salvation/Righteousness | 1,3 | ”Righteousness of God” (1:20); “fruit of righteousness” (3:18); never धर्म. |
| 9 | Justification (verb form: justified) | धर्मी ठहराइने कार्य / धर्मी ठहरिनु | Critical | Justification | 2 (core) | James’s evidentiary sense must be reconciled with baseline’s forensic sense via mandatory note. |
| 10 | Imputed righteousness | आरोपित धार्मिकता | Critical | Justification by Faith | 2 (core, v.23) | MUST match Romans 4:3 verbatim — same OT citation (Gen 15:6). |
| 11 | Salvation / save | उद्धार | Critical | Salvation | 1,2 (core),4,5 (v.20 only) | NEVER for physical healing (5:15) — see New Terms table. |
| 12 | Glory | महिमा | High | Deity of Christ | 2 | ”Lord of glory” (2:1). |
| 13 | Peace | शान्ति | Medium | Peace with God | 2 (core, ironic use),3 | Note irony at 2:16; “peaceable” wisdom-fruit at 3:17-18. |
| 14 | Church | मण्डली | Medium | Church | 5 | ”Elders of the church” (5:14); distinguish from συναγωγή/सभा (2:2). |
| 15 | Kingdom of God | परमेश्वरको राज्य | Medium | Kingdom Mission | 2 | ”Heirs of the kingdom” (2:5). |
| 16 | Election | परमेश्वरको छनोट | High | Election | 2 | ”God has chosen the poor” (2:5). |
| 17 | Providence | परमेश्वरको व्यवस्थापन | High | Providence | 1,4 | Guards trials (1:2-4,13) and “if the Lord wills” (4:15) from fatalism/karma readings. |
| 18 | Prophet | अगमवक्ता | Low | Inspiration of Scripture | 5 | ”The prophets… spoke in the name of the Lord” (5:10). |
| 19 | Holy | पवित्र | High | Sanctification | (implicit background for अपवित्र contrasts) | No direct occurrence but underlies purity vocabulary; kept for cross-reference. |
| 20 | Holy Spirit | पवित्र आत्मा | Critical | Holy Spirit | (background) | Referenced to explicitly DISTINGUISH from 2:26/4:5’s ambiguous/lower-case πνεῦμα — see New Terms table. |
B. New Terms Required for James (Not in Romans Baseline)
| # | English Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Nepali Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Rejected Alternatives & Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Works / deeds | ἔργα | erga | कामहरू | Critical | Faith and Works | 1 (implicit),2 (core) | REJECTED: कर्म — triggers Hindu/Buddhist karma-doctrine (moral cause-effect across rebirths), directly undermining the entire Faith-and-Works passage. |
| 22 | Justified (James’s evidentiary sense) | δικαιόω (ἐδικαιώθη, δικαιοῦται) | edikaiōthē, dikaioutai | धर्मी ठहरिनु (+ mandatory reconciliation note) | Critical | Faith and Works | 2 (core) | Must be reconciled with baseline’s forensic Romans sense in every use; escalate to theologian. |
| 23 | Faith made perfect/complete | τελειόω (ἐτελειώθη) | eteleiōthē | सिद्ध बनाइयो / पूर्ण भयो | High | Faith and Works | 2 (core) | Must not imply faith becomes valid only once works are added (works-merit inference). |
| 24 | Demons | δαιμόνια | daimonia | दुष्ट आत्माहरू | High | Faith and Works (2:19 test case) | 2 (core) | REJECTED: भूतप्रेत — shamanic/folk-animist spirit-possession associations. |
| 25 | Spirit (life-breath, anthropological) | πνεῦμα | pneuma | प्राण | High | Faith and Works | 2 (core, v.26) | REJECTED: आत्मा alone — risk of confusion with पवित्र आत्मा (Holy Spirit, Critical baseline term). |
| 26 | Trial / testing | πειρασμός, δοκίμιον | peirasmos, dokimion | परीक्षा / जाँच | High | Trials and the Testing of Faith | 1 | Same Greek root also means “temptation” (see #27); dual sense must be explained. |
| 27 | Temptation | πειρασμός | peirasmos | प्रलोभन | High | Trials and the Testing of Faith | 1 | Must be distinguished in Nepali from परीक्षा even though one Greek word covers both (1:13-14 vs 1:2-12). |
| 28 | Endurance / perseverance | ὑπομονή | hypomonē | सहनशीलता | Medium-High | Trials and the Testing of Faith / Patience and the Lord’s Return | 1,5 | Distinguish from μακροθुमी/धैर्य (#40). |
| 29 | Double-minded | δίψυχος | dipsychos | दोहोरो मनको | Medium | Trials and the Testing of Faith / Worldliness | 1,4 | Names instability in trusting God, not mere hypocrisy. |
| 30 | Wisdom | σοφία | sophia | बुद्धि | High | Wisdom from Above | 1,3 | Must be distinguished from Hindu jñāna and Buddhist prajñā (attained insight/liberation); James’s wisdom is a prayed-for gift for godly conduct. |
| 31 | Wisdom from above | σοφία ἄνωθεν | sophia anōthen | माथिबाटको बुद्धि | High | Wisdom from Above | 3 | Doctrinal title term; render identically across all James materials. |
| 32 | Earthly/soulish/demonic wisdom | σοφία ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης | sophia epigeios, psychikē, daimoniōdēs | पृथ्वीको / शरीरिक / दुष्टात्मासम्बन्धी बुद्धि | Critical | Wisdom from Above | 3 | Counterfeit wisdom triad; δαιμονιώδης must use दुष्ट आत्मा-family vocabulary, not भूतप्रेत. |
| 33 | Favoritism / partiality | προσωποληψία | prosōpolēpsia | पक्षपात | High | Favoritism and the Poor | 2 | Directly confronts caste-based differential treatment once codified in Nepal’s Muluki Ain (until 1963). |
| 34 | Poor | πτωχός | ptōchos | गरीब | Medium | Favoritism and the Poor | 1,2 | Standard term; theological weight from context (God’s choice of the poor), not the word itself. |
| 35 | Rich | πλούσιος | plousios | धनी | Medium | Favoritism and the Poor | 1,2,5 | Same as above. |
| 36 | Mercy | ἔλεος | eleos | दया | Medium | Favoritism and the Poor / Wisdom from Above | 2,3,5 | Distinguish lightly from करुणा (Buddhist meditative compassion). |
| 37 | Tongue | γλῶσσα | glōssa | जिब्रो | High (in context) | Taming the Tongue | 3 | Metaphor for speech; risk arises from combination with fire/hell imagery below. |
| 38 | Hell / Gehenna | γέεννα | geenna | नरक (+ mandatory clarifying note) | Critical | Taming the Tongue | 3 | Must be distinguished from the temporary, karma-adjusted multi-tiered Hindu/Buddhist hell-realm concept; biblical Gehenna is final, entered once, post-judgment. |
| 39 | Made in God’s likeness (imago Dei) | καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ | kath’ homoiōsin Theou | परमेश्वरको स्वरूपमा बनाइएका | High | Taming the Tongue | 3 | Undercuts caste-based human hierarchy; parallels baseline’s Universal Human Accountability entry. |
| 40 | Patience / long-suffering | μακροθυμία | makrothymia | धैर्य | Medium | Patience and the Lord’s Return | 5 | Distinguish from ὑπομονή/सहनशीलता (#28). |
| 41 | The Lord’s coming (Parousia) | παρουσία | parousia | प्रभुको आगमन | Critical | Patience and the Lord’s Return | 5 | Fixed NT technical term for Christ’s future, personal, visible return; must not be softened to a vague “presence now” or read cyclically. |
| 42 | World | κόσμος | kosmos | संसार | Critical | Worldliness versus Friendship with God | 1,4 | Unavoidable established rendering, but is also the exact Hindu/Buddhist term for the rebirth-cycle (samsara) from which मोक्ष/निर्वाण offer escape; mandatory clarifying note required wherever used doctrinally. |
| 43 | Friendship (with the world / of God) | φιλία, φίλος | philia, philos | मित्रता / मित्र | High | Worldliness versus Friendship with God | 2 (v.23),4 | Preserve shared root across 2:23 (“friend of God”) and 4:4 (“friendship with the world”) for literary/theological contrast. |
| 44 | Devil | διάβολος | diabolos | शैतान | High | Worldliness versus Friendship with God | 4 | Established transliterated Nepali Christian term; distinguish from दुष्ट आत्मा (demons, plural, #24). |
| 45 | Desire / lust | ἐπιθυμία | epithymia | अभिलाषा | Medium | Trials / Worldliness | 1,4 | Must always be marked as disordered desire by context. |
| 46 | Pure and undefiled religion | θρησκεία καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντος | thrēskeia kathara kai amiantos | भक्ति (narrow sense; + mandatory note) | Critical | (background to Faith and Works / Wisdom from Above) | 1 | REJECTED: धर्म — triggers caste/state-dharma collision identical to baseline’s righteousness/law entries. |
| 47 | Anoint with oil | ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ | aleiphō elaiō | तेल लगाउने | High | Prayer and Healing | 5 | REJECTED: अभिषेक — triggers Hindu murti-consecration and royal avatar-consecration associations (parallels baseline’s अवतार prohibition). |
| 48 | Save/heal (physical healing sense) | σῴζω | sōzō (healing sense) | निको पार्नु / निको हुनु | Critical | Prayer and Healing | 5 (v.15) | MUST NOT use उद्धार here; reserved exclusively for eternal salvation. Contrast with #49. |
| 49 | Save (soteriological sense, 5:20) | σῴζω | sōzō (salvation sense) | उद्धार (+ note contrasting with #48) | Critical | Prayer and Healing / Confession and Restoration | 5 (v.20) | Same Greek verb as #48 but opposite rendering required; mandatory paired glossary note. |
| 50 | Raise up (from sickness) | ἐγείρω | egeirō (healing sense) | उठाउनुहुनेछ | Medium-High | Prayer and Healing | 5 (v.15) | MUST NOT use पुनरुत्थान (reserved for Christ’s bodily resurrection from death). |
| 51 | Confess sins to one another | ἐξομολογέω | exomologeō | आपसमा पाप स्वीकार गर्ने | High | Confession and Restoration | 5 | Mutual, horizontal, voluntary — distinct from priestly/sacramental absolution and from guru-directed confession/penance. |
| 52 | Forgiven (sins) | ἀφίημι (ἀφεθήσεται) | aphiēmi | क्षमा / माफी | Medium | Confession and Restoration | 5 | Ordinary forgiveness language; do not confuse with the compound justification phrase (#9), which must never be abbreviated to माफी alone. |
| 53 | Elder (church office) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | एल्डर / प्राचीन | Medium | Prayer and Healing | 5 | Fix one rendering and use consistently; avoid generic अगुवा (leader), which under-specifies the office. |
| 54 | Oath-swearing (prohibition) | ὄμνυμι | omnymi | कसम खाने (prohibited) | Medium | (background ethics, ties to Taming the Tongue) | 5 | Intersects with common Nepali oath-invocation habits (“देवीको नाममा”); reframe positively as call to simple honesty. |
| 55 | Assembly / gathering (synagogue-form) | συναγωγή | synagōgē | सभा | Low-Medium | Favoritism and the Poor | 2 | Distinguish from मण्डली (ἐκκλησία, #14); James’s very early usage reflects Jewish-Christian setting. |
| 56 | Altar | θυσιαστήριον | thysiastērion | वेदी | Medium | Faith and Works | 2 (core, v.21) | OT sacrificial background (Genesis 22) assumed; low OT literacy requires explanatory gloss. |
| 57 | Friend/messenger disambiguation (spies, not angels) | ἄγγελος (human sense) | angelos | जासूसहरू / समाचारवाहकहरू | Low-Medium | Faith and Works | 2 (core, v.25) | Must not render as स्वर्गदूत (“angel”); Rahab received human spies, not heavenly beings. |
C. Cross-Document Consistency Anchors (High-Use Verses Requiring Verbatim Identical Rendering)
| Anchor Passage | Requirement |
|---|---|
| James 2:23 / Romans 4:3 | The clause “it was accounted/credited to him for righteousness” (ἐλογίσθη … εἰς δικαιοσύνην) MUST be rendered identically: आरोपित धार्मिकता, citing Genesis 15:6 the same way in both curricula. |
| James 2:14–26 thesis statement (“faith without works is dead”) | Render identically at 2:17, 2:20 (implied), and 2:26: कामहरू नभएको विश्वास मृत हो. |
| James 2:19 (“Even the demons believe—and shudder”) | Fixed rendering required across all James study material given its frequent pastoral/teaching quotation. |
| James 4:4 / James 2:23 (friendship contrast) | Both must use the मित्र/मित्रता root consistently to preserve the deliberate literary opposition. |
| James 5:15 vs. James 5:20 (σῴζω contrast) | Fixed, non-interchangeable renderings (निको पार्नु vs. उद्धार) required; this is the single highest-priority disambiguation rule in the entire James glossary. |
D. Terms Requiring Mandatory Human Theologian Review (Critical Tier, per baseline escalation rules)
ἔργα (works), δικαιόω (James’s justification sense), θρησκεία (pure religion), γέεννα (hell/Gehenna), σοφία ψυχική/δαιμονιώδης (demonic wisdom), κόσμος in the friendship-with-the-world sense, παρουσία (the Lord’s coming), and the paired σῴζω healing/salvation contrast in chapter 5 — all seven require mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence, consistent with the baseline’s Critical-tier review routing. All other High-risk new terms above require, at minimum, the same “Human theologian” routing already established for comparable Romans doctrines (grace, righteousness, law, election, providence).
This glossary extends but does not modify the baseline Romans translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json. Formal incorporation of Section B’s new terms into updated versions of those three files is required before Phase 2 segment translation of James begins.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Parameshwar
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: भगवान
Original: θεός
Category: God
CRITICAL: never भगवान, given Nepal’s constitutional Hindu-Kingdom history until 2007. Occurs throughout James (1:1, 1:13, 1:17, 1:27, 2:19, 2:23, 3:9, 4:4, 4:6-8) as the giver of every good gift, the Father of lights, and the lawgiver. Inherited from Romans package.
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: मालिक, ईश्वर
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Established Nepali Christian term. In James, applies both to God the Father (4:15, ‘if the Lord wills’) and to the Lord Jesus Christ (2:1, 5:7-8, 5:14-15); must retain the same exclusive, supreme Lordship weight in both applications. Inherited from Romans package.
Father
Approved rendering: पिता
Transliteration: Pita
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
God as personal Father. In James, ‘the Father of lights’ (1:17) requires a brief creation-context gloss so the light-imagery is not misread through unrelated divine-radiance associations; also ‘we bless God the Father’ (3:9). Inherited from Romans package.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dharmikata
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: never धर्म. In James: ‘the righteousness of God’ human anger cannot produce (1:20), and ‘the fruit of righteousness’ sown in peace (3:18). Inherited from Romans package.
Justification
Approved rendering: धर्मी ठहराइने कार्य
Transliteration: dharmi thahraine karya
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: माफी पाउने कार्य
Original: δικαιόω
Category: Salvation
Compound phrase required for the forensic, declared-righteous sense established in Romans; never abbreviated to माफी alone. See separate ‘justified_james_sense’ entry below for James 2:21, 2:24, 2:25’s distinct evidentiary/demonstrative verb usage (धर्मी ठहरिनु), which must be reconciled with, not read as contradicting, this forensic sense. Inherited from Romans package.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: आरोपित धार्मिकता
Transliteration: aropit dharmikata
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: आर्जित धार्मिकता
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
Righteousness credited to the believer by God, NOT earned. James 2:23 quotes Genesis 15:6 identically to Romans 4:3 (‘it was accounted to him for righteousness’) — MUST be rendered verbatim identically across both curricula; this is the single most important cross-reference between the Romans and James Language Packages. Inherited from Romans package.
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhar
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, निर्वाण
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL AND DUAL-FRONT: never मुक्ति/मोक्ष (Hindu liberation) or निर्वाण (Buddhist cessation of craving/self). Reserved exclusively for the eternal, spiritual sense in James (1:21, 2:14, 4:12, 5:20). NEVER used for the physical-healing sense of the identical Greek verb σῴζω at James 5:15 — see ‘heal_physical’ below. Inherited from Romans package.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: Pavitra Atma
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
CRITICAL: never ब्रह्म or परमात्मा alone. The personal third Person of the Trinity. Retained here explicitly to fence off James’s two unrelated, lower-case uses of πνεῦμα: the anthropological life-breath of 2:26 (see ‘spirit_life_breath’ below) and the textually disputed ‘spirit’ of 4:5 — neither may be rendered or read as पवित्र आत्मा. Inherited from Romans package.
Works
Approved rendering: कामहरू
Transliteration: kaamharu
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: कर्म
Original: ἔργα
Category: Faith and Works
CRITICAL: never कर्म. In living Nepali usage कर्म names the Hindu/Buddhist doctrine of moral cause-and-effect determining fate across rebirths. Rendering ἔργα as कर्म would relocate the entire James 2:14-26 argument inside a karma-merit framework it explicitly does not teach, contradicting the baseline grace doctrine. कामहरू (from ordinary काम, ‘work/deed’) must be used throughout without exception.
Justified James Sense
Approved rendering: धर्मी ठहरिनु
Transliteration: dharmi thahrinu
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: माफी पाइनु
CRITICAL: James 2:21, 2:24, 2:25’s verb form describing Abraham/Rahab being vindicated/shown-righteous before observers through visible action — complementing, never replacing, the forensic declaration received by faith alone in Romans (आरोपित धार्मिकता / धर्मी ठहराइने कार्य). James 2:24 (‘justified by works, and not by faith only’) is the highest-sensitivity verse in the whole curriculum; the Nepali surface tension must be preserved, not softened, and every occurrence requires a mandatory reconciliation note plus escalation to human theologian review without exception.
Pure Religion
Approved rendering: भक्ति
Transliteration: bhakti
Doctrine: Pure Religion and Practical Holiness
Rejected alternatives: धर्म
Original: θρησκεία καθαρὰ καὶ ἀμίαντος
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
CRITICAL: never धर्म, which would trigger the same caste/state-dharma collision the baseline forbids for righteousness and law (the 1854 Muluki Ain framed caste hierarchy as national dharma-code). भक्ति is used NARROWLY here (James 1:27) for devoted, ethical, God-directed practice — care for orphans and widows, moral purity from worldly corruption — NOT as a rendering for ‘faith’ (which remains fixed as विश्वास) and NOT as ritual temple devotionalism (पूजा-भक्ति). Mandatory disambiguating note required wherever this term appears; escalate to human theologian review.
Demonic Wisdom
Approved rendering: दुष्टात्मासम्बन्धी बुद्धि
Transliteration: dushtatmasambandhi buddhi
Doctrine: Wisdom from Above
Rejected alternatives: भूतप्रेतसम्बन्धी बुद्धि
Original: σοφία ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης
Category: Wisdom from Above
CRITICAL: James 3:14-16’s counterfeit-wisdom triad (earthly, unspiritual/soulish, demonic) producing jealousy, ambition, disorder. Must be sharply distinguished from any positive cultural association with meditative/ascetic insight. The ‘demonic’ element must use the दुष्ट आत्मा-family vocabulary fixed at 2:19, never the folk-religious भूतप्रेत.
Hell Gehenna
Approved rendering: नरक
Transliteration: narak
Doctrine: Eternal Judgment (Gehenna)
Original: γέεννα
Category: Taming the Tongue
CRITICAL: established Nepali Bible term, retained, but must be distinguished by MANDATORY clarifying note from नरक/Naraka in Hindu/Buddhist cosmology, a temporary, multi-tiered hell-realm through which a soul passes and re-emerges into rebirth according to karma. Biblical Gehenna (James 3:6) is final and everlasting, entered once after judgment following bodily resurrection — never a station within an ongoing cycle. Parallels the baseline’s existing पुनरुत्थान vs. पुनर्जन्म treatment. Escalate to human theologian review every occurrence.
World
Approved rendering: संसार
Transliteration: sansara
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: κόσμος
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
CRITICAL: unavoidable, established Nepali Bible rendering of κόσμος, but also the exact Sanskrit/Nepali technical term for saṃsāra, the Hindu/Buddhist birth-death-rebirth cycle from which मोक्ष/मुक्ति and निर्वाण offer escape. James 4:4’s ‘friendship with the world is enmity with God’ risks being heard through a samsara-escape framework rather than James’s actual meaning: rejecting a rebellious value-system while remaining fully engaged in relationship with a personal God. Mandatory clarifying note required wherever this term appears doctrinally (1:27, 4:4). Escalate to human theologian review.
Lords Coming
Approved rendering: प्रभुको आगमन
Transliteration: Prabhuko aagaman
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Original: παρουσία
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return
CRITICAL: fixed New Testament technical term for Christ’s future, personal, visible, bodily return (James 5:7-8), toward which believers wait patiently. Must not be softened into a vague ‘presence felt now’ or read cyclically; James explicitly links it to a farmer’s patient, time-bound wait for a single harvest, not a repeating cosmic cycle.
Heal Physical
Approved rendering: निको पार्नु
Transliteration: niko parnu
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: उद्धार
Original: σῴζω (healing sense)
Category: Prayer and Healing
CRITICAL: James 5:15’s physical healing/restoration to health through the prayer of faith — the identical Greek verb (σῴζω) underlying the baseline’s Critical salvation doctrine, but used here in a non-soteriological sense. MUST NOT be rendered उद्धार, which is reserved exclusively for eternal, spiritual salvation. Contrast directly with ‘save_soteriological_james’ below (James 5:20). Mandatory paired glossary note required.
Save Soteriological James
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhar
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: निको पार्नु
Original: σῴζω (salvation sense, James 5:20)
Category: Prayer and Healing
CRITICAL: James 5:20’s soteriological sense of σῴζω — rescuing a wandering sinner’s soul from spiritual death by restoring them — the same Greek verb rendered non-soteriologically at 5:15 (निको पार्नु). A mandatory glossary note is required explaining that James 5 contains two grammatically identical uses of σῴζω with two theologically distinct senses, and Nepali must render them with two different, non-interchangeable terms.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: vishwas
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, भक्ति
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Personal trust in Christ specifically. Never श्रद्धा/भक्ति. James 2:14-26 deliberately tests whether a claimed विश्वास is genuine; the Nepali rendering must not itself resolve that ambiguity. Also used at 1:6 and 5:15 (prayer). Inherited from Romans package.
Grace
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, पुण्य, भाग्य
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Unmerited favor apart from human merit. Never पुण्य/भाग्य. James 4:6 (‘God gives grace to the humble’) sits beside ‘friendship with the world’ and ‘submit to God’ language, so the merit-free sense must be sharply preserved against the shared Hindu/Buddhist karma-merit accounting framework. Inherited from Romans package.
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: paap
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: अकुशल कर्म
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Moral transgression before a personal God. Never अकुशल कर्म. In James, the offspring of unchecked desire (1:15) and the object of mutual confession (5:15-16, 5:20). Inherited from Romans package.
Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: vyavastha
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, नियम
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
The Mosaic law. Never धर्म. In James: ‘the perfect law of liberty’ (1:25), ‘the royal law’ of neighbor-love (2:8) — read as the King’s supreme, hierarchy-overturning law, not an echo of Nepal’s own historical royal state-law (Muluki Ain) tradition it contradicts — and the whole law kept or broken as a unit (2:10-11). Inherited from Romans package.
Glory
Approved rendering: महिमा
Transliteration: mahima
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: तेज
Original: δόξα
Category: God
God’s radiant honor and presence. Avoid light-metaphor terms conflating with Kathmandu Valley living-goddess/Tantric divine-radiance associations. In James 2:1, a Christological title: ‘our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.’ Inherited from Romans package.
Election
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरको छनोट
Transliteration: Parameshwarko chhanot
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, किस्मत
Original: ἐκλέγομαι
Category: Salvation
God’s sovereign, personal choice, not karma-determined fate. James 2:5: ‘God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith’ — must preserve sovereign, gracious choice, not a merit-reward for poverty itself. Inherited from Romans package.
Providence
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरको व्यवस्थापन
Transliteration: Parameshwarko vyavasthapan
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: भाग्य, कर्मको नियम
Original: πρόνοια (implied by James 1:13-17; 4:13-15)
Category: God
God’s personal, purposive governance; never भाग्य or कर्मको नियम. Grounds James’s teaching that trials mature faith (1:2-4, 13-17) and that the future rests in God’s will, not presumption (‘if the Lord wills,’ 4:13-15). James 1:13 explicitly denies God is ever the source of temptation to evil. Inherited from Romans package.
Holy
Approved rendering: पवित्र
Transliteration: pavitra
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: शुद्ध
Original: ἅγιος / ἁγνίζω (purify)
Category: Sanctification
Set apart for God and morally pure. Kept for cross-reference: James 4:8’s ‘purify your hearts’ uses a related but distinct Greek root (ἁγνίζω, moral purification before God, not ritual purity) — see the James linguistic gap analysis; रendered हृदय शुद्ध पार्ने, kept conceptually consistent with, but not identical to, पवित्र. Inherited from Romans package.
Faith Made Perfect
Approved rendering: सिद्ध बनाइयो
Transliteration: siddha banaiyo
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: वैध बनाइयो
Original: τελειόω (ἐτελειώθη)
Category: Faith and Works
James 2:22: faith brought to its mature, complete expression through action — not ‘made valid’ or ‘made righteous.’ Must not imply faith becomes salvifically effective only once works are added (a works-merit inference contradicting the Critical grace doctrine). Requires a translator note distinguishing maturation from causation.
Demons
Approved rendering: दुष्ट आत्माहरू
Transliteration: dushta atmaharu
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: भूतप्रेत
Original: δαιμόνια
Category: Faith and Works
James 2:19: fallen spiritual beings whose bare intellectual assent to monotheism produces terror, not saving faith. REJECTED: भूतप्रेत — the standard Nepali folk-religious term for ghosts/malevolent spirits tied to dhami-jhankri shamanic exorcism/spirit-possession practice. दुष्ट आत्माहरू keeps the term within established Christian theological vocabulary.
Spirit Life Breath
Approved rendering: प्राण
Transliteration: praan
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: आत्मा
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: Faith and Works
James 2:26: the anthropological life-breath/animating principle whose absence leaves a corpse — NOT the Holy Spirit. REJECTED: आत्मा alone, which risks a reader momentarily supplying ‘Holy Spirit’ (पवित्र आत्मा) into an illustration about a corpse. प्राण cleanly isolates the ordinary life-breath sense.
Trial
Approved rendering: परीक्षा
Transliteration: pariksha
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: πειρασμός (testing sense) / δοκίμιον
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
External testing/trial that, when endured, produces spiritual maturity (James 1:2-4, 1:12). Same Greek word (πειρασμός) also carries the ‘temptation’ sense — see ‘temptation’ below; two distinct Nepali words are required to carry the deliberate wordplay. Must be anchored in God’s personal providence, never read as impersonal karma-consequence or fate.
Temptation
Approved rendering: प्रलोभन
Transliteration: pralobhan
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: πειρασμός (temptation sense)
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
An internal enticement to sin, arising from one’s own disordered desire, never from God (James 1:13-14). Distinguished in Nepali from परीक्षा (trial) even though one Greek word covers both senses in 1:2-15; this split must be explained to translators so the deliberate wordplay is not lost or collapsed.
Endurance
Approved rendering: सहनशीलता
Transliteration: sahanshilata
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: ὑπομονή
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Steadfastness under pressure, producing spiritual maturity (James 1:3-4; applied to Job at 5:11). Must be kept distinct from μακροθυμία/धैर्य (‘patience,’ toward people/circumstances over time, 5:7-8) so the two related-but-different virtues are not flattened into one Nepali word.
New Birth
Approved rendering: जन्माउनुभयो
Transliteration: janmaunubhayo
Doctrine: New Birth and Regeneration
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म
Original: ἀποκυέω (ἀπεκύησεν)
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
James 1:18: a one-time, non-repeatable spiritual birth granted by God through the word of truth, resulting in permanent new identity. REJECTED: पुनर्जन्म, the baseline’s forbidden term for the Hindu/Buddhist cycle of repeated rebirths. जन्माउनुभयो describes a single act of spiritual origination, never a repeating cycle.
Doers Of Word
Approved rendering: वचनका पालनकर्ता
Transliteration: vachanka palankarta
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: ποιητὰς λόγου
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
James 1:22-25: those who act on the word heard, not hearers only — the chapter-1 anticipation of the core Faith-and-Works argument in chapter 2. Must be rendered consistently with the कामहरू/विश्वास vocabulary fixed in the core passage.
Wisdom
Approved rendering: बुद्धि
Transliteration: buddhi
Doctrine: Wisdom from Above
Rejected alternatives: ज्ञान, प्रज्ञा
Original: σοφία
Category: Wisdom from Above
God-given practical/moral insight for right living, requested through simple prayer (James 1:5) and displayed through godly conduct (3:13-18). Must be distinguished from Hindu jñāna (liberating knowledge dissolving māyā) and Buddhist prajñā (transcendent meditative/ascetic insight, prominent among Nepal’s Newar and Himalayan Buddhist communities). James’s wisdom is a prayed-for gift available to any asker, not an attained metaphysical liberation reserved for advanced practitioners.
Wisdom From Above
Approved rendering: माथिबाटको बुद्धि
Transliteration: mathibatko buddhi
Doctrine: Wisdom from Above
Original: σοφία ἄνωθεν
Category: Wisdom from Above
James 3:17: wisdom descending from God, marked by purity, peaceableness, gentleness, mercy, impartiality. Fixed doctrinal title term; render identically across all James materials, inheriting the caution attached to the base ‘wisdom’ entry.
Favoritism
Approved rendering: पक्षपात
Transliteration: pakshapat
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: προσωποληψία
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
Partiality shown to the wealthy over the poor within the believing assembly (James 2:1-9). Directly confronts a hierarchy-of-persons logic with deep, concrete social resonance in Nepal: the Muluki Ain (in force until 1963) formally codified caste-based differential treatment as state law. Carries the same doctrinal weight as the baseline’s Universal Human Accountability entry.
Tongue
Approved rendering: जिब्रो
Transliteration: jibro
Doctrine: Taming the Tongue
Original: γλῶσσα
Category: Taming the Tongue
The physical tongue, used metaphorically for speech and its power to bless or destroy (James 3:1-12). Plain and standard on its own; risk arises specifically from its combination with the fire/Gehenna imagery of 3:6 — see ‘hell_gehenna’ below.
Image Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरको स्वरूपमा बनाइएका
Transliteration: Parameshwarko swaroopma banaieka
Doctrine: Imago Dei and Human Dignity
Original: καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν Θεοῦ
Category: Taming the Tongue
Every human being made in God’s likeness (James 3:9), the ground for James’s condemnation of cursing others, including social inferiors. Directly undercuts caste-based human hierarchy, paralleling the baseline’s Universal Human Accountability and Unity of Jews and Gentiles entries.
Friendship
Approved rendering: मित्रता
Transliteration: mitrata
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: φιλία / φίλος
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Affectionate covenant-like attachment; ‘friend of God’ (Abraham, James 2:23, मित्र) deliberately contrasted with ‘friendship with the world’ (James 4:4). Must be used consistently at both verses to preserve James’s literary contrast: one cannot be मित्र of both परमेश्वर and संसार.
Devil
Approved rendering: शैतान
Transliteration: Shaitan
Doctrine: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
Original: διάβολος
Category: Worldliness versus Friendship with God
The singular personal adversary who is resisted by submitting to God (James 4:7). Established, transliterated Nepali Christian term. Distinguish from दुष्ट आत्मा, used for demons collectively (2:19); flag if translators substitute a folk-religious term instead of शैतान.
Anoint With Oil
Approved rendering: तेल लगाउने
Transliteration: tel lagaune
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: अभिषेक
Original: ἀλείφω ἐλαίῳ
Category: Prayer and Healing
The practice of applying oil while praying over the sick (James 5:14). REJECTED: अभिषेक — the established Nepali/Hindi term for formal ritual anointing/consecration, used for ceremonial anointing of temple murtis and, within living memory, for Shah-dynasty royal coronation rites tied to the king’s avatar status, the same royal-consecration complex flagged Critical in the baseline’s Incarnation entry for अवतार. तेल लगाउने is a plain, non-ritualized phrase. Escalate to human theologian review.
Raise Up Healing
Approved rendering: उठाउनुहुनेछ
Transliteration: uthaunuhunecha
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: पुनरुत्थान
Original: ἐγείρω (healing sense)
Category: Prayer and Healing
James 5:15: being raised up from a sickbed through prayer — physical recovery, not resurrection from death. MUST NOT be rendered पुनरुत्थान, which is reserved exclusively for Christ’s bodily resurrection from death per the baseline.
Confess Sins
Approved rendering: आपसमा पाप स्वीकार गर्ने
Transliteration: aapasma paap swikar garne
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: ἐξομολογέω
Category: Confession and Restoration
Voluntary, mutual, horizontal confession of sins among believers for healing and restored fellowship (James 5:16). Requires a mandatory clarifying note: this is mutual, among equals, for restoration — distinct from institutional priestly/sacramental absolution (Roman Catholic auricular confession) and from guru-directed confession/penance practice.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: शान्ति
Transliteration: shanti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: सुख
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Ethics
Relational well-being. In James 2:16, used IRONICALLY (a hollow verbal blessing with no accompanying material help) — must not be softened into a warm, sincere-sounding blessing; the surrounding context must make its hollowness evident. In 3:17-18, a genuine mark of wisdom from above. Inherited from Romans package.
Church
Approved rendering: मण्डली
Transliteration: mandali
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: मन्दिर, गुम्बा
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Established term for the doctrinal Church. In James 5:14, whose ‘elders’ are called for prayer over the sick. Never मन्दिर/गुम्बा. Must be distinguished from James 2:2’s सभा (συναγωγή) — see ‘assembly_synagogue’ below, reflecting James’s early, still-Jewish-Christian setting. Inherited from Romans package.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरको राज्य
Transliteration: Parameshwarko Rajya
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
God’s sovereign reign, not a territorial or political kingdom. In James 2:5, the poor whom God has chosen are ‘heirs of the kingdom’ — a gracious inheritance, not a reward earned by poverty itself. Inherited from Romans package.
Altar
Approved rendering: वेदी
Transliteration: vedi
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Original: θυσιαστήριον
Category: Faith and Works
James 2:21: the altar on which Abraham offered Isaac (Genesis 22). वेदी is the established Nepali Bible term for the OT sacrificial altar but is also used generically of Hindu ritual altars/platforms; context should anchor the reference, but a brief explanatory gloss is recommended given assumed low OT narrative literacy.
Messengers Spies
Approved rendering: जासूसहरू
Transliteration: jasusharu
Doctrine: Faith and Works
Rejected alternatives: स्वर्गदूत
Original: ἄγγελος (human sense)
Category: Faith and Works
James 2:25: the human spies/scouts Rahab received (Joshua 2), NOT heavenly angels. Must NOT be rendered स्वर्गदूत, which would introduce a supernatural element absent from the narrative.
Double Minded
Approved rendering: दोहोरो मनको
Transliteration: dohoro manko
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: δίψυχος
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Inwardly divided, wavering in trust toward God (James 1:8, 4:8). Names instability specifically in trusting God when asking in prayer, not mere hypocrisy or general inconsistency.
Desire Lust
Approved rendering: अभिलाषा
Transliteration: abhilasha
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Rejected alternatives: कुवासना
Original: ἐπιθυμία
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Disordered craving that gives birth to sin (James 1:14-15) and to conflict (4:1-2). Must always be marked by context as disordered desire, not neutral wanting.
Crown Of Life
Approved rendering: जीवनको मुकुट
Transliteration: jivanko mukut
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: στέφανος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
The eschatological reward promised to those who endure trial with love for God (James 1:12). Must be read as a promised eschatological gift, not an earned merit-badge, to avoid overlap with grace-versus-works tension.
Firstfruits
Approved rendering: अग्रफल
Transliteration: agraphal
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Rejected alternatives: पहिलो फल
Original: ἀπαρχή
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
James 1:18: believers as the first portion of God’s new creation, dedicated to him. Requires an Old Testament agricultural/sacrificial background note given assumed low OT literacy.
Implanted Word
Approved rendering: रोपिएको वचन
Transliteration: ropieko vachan
Doctrine: Trials and the Testing of Faith
Original: ἔμφυτος λόγος
Category: Trials and the Testing of Faith
James 1:21: the word of God sown into believers, ‘able to save your souls.’ Paired with genuine soteriological weight (उद्धार family) and must not be flattened into a merely educational or self-improvement metaphor.
Poor
Approved rendering: गरीब
Transliteration: garib
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: πτωχός
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
The economically poor, whom God has chosen to be rich in faith (James 1:9, 2:2-6). Standard term; theological weight comes from context (God’s gracious choice), not the word itself.
Rich
Approved rendering: धनी
Transliteration: dhani
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: πλούσιος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
The economically wealthy, warned against arrogance and exploitation (James 1:10-11, 2:2-6, 5:1-6). Standard term; theological weight from context, not the word itself.
Mercy
Approved rendering: दया
Transliteration: daya
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Rejected alternatives: करुणा
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
Compassionate action flowing from a personal God, shown to others as the ground for receiving mercy in judgment (James 2:13), a mark of wisdom from above (3:17), and effective prayer (5:11). Distinguish lightly from करुणा, the classical Buddhist term for compassion arising from meditative insight into suffering.
Assembly Synagogue
Approved rendering: सभा
Transliteration: sabha
Doctrine: Favoritism and the Poor
Original: συναγωγή
Category: Favoritism and the Poor
James uses συναγωγή (not ἐκκλησία/मण्डली) for the Christian gathering in 2:2, reflecting James’s very early, Jewish-Christian setting. सभा preserves this distinction; flag for translator awareness, not independently doctrinally risky.
Oath Swearing
Approved rendering: कसम खाने
Transliteration: kasam khane
Doctrine: Truthful Speech and Oaths
Original: ὄμνυμι
Category: Taming the Tongue
James 5:12’s prohibition against swearing oaths by heaven, earth, or any object, in favor of simple truthful speech. Intersects with common Nepali speech habits of invoking deities/sacred objects (‘देवीको नाममा’); frame the positive alternative (‘let your yes be yes’) as a call to simple, transparent honesty rather than merely a prohibition on religious language.
Patience
Approved rendering: धैर्य
Transliteration: dhairya
Doctrine: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Original: μακροθυμία
Category: Patience and the Lord’s Return
Long-suffering forbearance toward people and circumstances over time, illustrated by a farmer awaiting harvest (James 5:7-8). Must be kept distinct from ὑπομονή/सहनशीलता (endurance under trial, 1:3-4) to preserve James’s two related-but-different virtue words.
Forgiven
Approved rendering: क्षमा
Transliteration: kshama
Doctrine: Confession and Restoration
Original: ἀφίημι (ἀφεθήσεται)
Category: Confession and Restoration
Ordinary forgiveness of sins granted in response to the prayer of faith (James 5:15). Appropriate as ordinary forgiveness language, but must not be confused with, or substituted for, the baseline’s compound justification phrase (धर्मी ठहराइने कार्य), which must never itself be abbreviated to माफी/क्षमा alone.
Elder
Approved rendering: एल्डर
Transliteration: elder
Doctrine: Prayer and Healing
Rejected alternatives: अगुवा
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Prayer and Healing
A recognized church leader called to pray over the sick and anoint with oil (James 5:14). एल्डर, the established transliterated church-polity term already in common use among Nepali evangelical congregations, is the fixed primary choice; प्राचीन is an acceptable native alternative. Avoid generic अगुवा (leader), which under-specifies the office.
Low Risk Terms
Prophet
Approved rendering: अगमवक्ता
Transliteration: agamavakta
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: ज्योतिषी
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
God’s spokesperson; established Nepali Christian term. James 5:10 cites the prophets as examples of patient suffering ‘in the name of the Lord.’ Do not confuse with ज्योतिषी (astrologer). Inherited from Romans package.
Referenced passages