Semantic Analysis

Revelation — Semantic Analysis (Original Koine Greek)

Destination language: Pashto | Curriculum: Revelation | Phase 1, Step 1

This document analyzes the entire book of Revelation, chapter 1 through chapter 22, in the original Koine Greek. The core passage (Revelation 21:1-8) receives verse-by-verse treatment. Every other chapter receives a chapter-level treatment of its load-bearing theological terms using the same fields. Terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are reused exactly; they are marked “(baseline — reused)” and not re-argued unless Revelation introduces a new collision risk for that same term.

PART 1: CORE PASSAGE — Revelation 21:1-8 (Verse-by-Verse)

Verse 1 — “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

new — Gk: καινός (kainos); lit. “new, previously non-existent, of a new kind”; range: fresh/qualitatively new (not merely neos, “new in time”); EN variants: new, renewed, made new. Context: not a replacement planet but the qualitative renewal/consummation of creation (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). Pashto: نوی (nawe). Risk: Medium — must be taught as renewal/transformation of creation, not annihilation-and-different-world, and must be kept distinct from any cyclical-rebirth (reincarnation-adjacent) reading, paralleling the caution already recorded for “resurrection” in the baseline (بیا راژوندي کیدل).
heaven — Gk: οὐρανός (ouranos); lit. “sky, heaven”; range: physical sky / abode of God; EN variants: heaven, sky, heavens. Context: the created heavens, now renewed. Pashto: آسمان (asman). Risk: Low.
earth — Gk: γῆ (gē); lit. “earth, land, ground”; range: soil / the created world; EN variants: earth, world, land. Pashto: ځمکه (dzamka). Risk: Low.
passed away — Gk: παρέρχομαι (parerchomai); lit. “to go past, pass by”; range: to end, to cease existing; EN variants: passed away, disappeared, vanished. Context: the old created order’s judgment and transformation, not mere neglect. Pashto: له منځه تلل (la manza tlal, “to pass out of existence”). Risk: Low.
sea — Gk: θάλασσα (thalassa); lit. “sea”; range: literal ocean / apocalyptic symbol of chaos, evil origin (Dan 7:3; Rev 13:1, the beast rises “out of the sea”); EN variants: sea, ocean. Context: “the sea was no more” signals the final removal of the source of chaos/evil, not a geography note. Pashto: بحر / سمندر (bahar/samandar). Risk: Medium — the symbolic freight (source of the beast, chaos) must be taught explicitly or the line reads as a trivial geographical claim; ties to the Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation doctrine.

Verse 2 — “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

holy city — Gk: πόλις ἁγία (polis hagia); lit. “holy city”; ἅγιος uses baseline “holy” (مقدس, moqaddas — baseline reused). Context: the eschatological, purified dwelling of God’s people, not an earthly political capital. Risk: Medium — see “new Jerusalem” below for the sharper collision.
new Jerusalem — Gk: Ἰερουσαλὴμ καινή (Ierousalēm kainē); lit. “new Jerusalem.” EN variants: New Jerusalem, the Holy City. Context: the consummated, heavenly people-of-God-as-city, the fulfillment of covenant promise, descending from God — not a rebuilt this-worldly capital. Pashto: نوی یروشلم (nawe Yerushalim). Risk: High — Jerusalem/al-Quds carries acute contemporary geopolitical and pan-Islamic religious sensitivity (cf. baseline’s caution on “israel”); this must be taught unambiguously as the eschatological bride-city descending from God, decisively distinguished from any modern-day political territorial claim, to avoid dangerous or confusing conflation for a persecuted readership.
bride — Gk: νύμφη (nymphē); lit. “bride, young wife”; range: bride / new wife (nuptial imagery, also used of Rev 19:7, 22:17); EN variants: bride, wife. Context: the church corporately as Christ’s beloved, covenantally bound bride — central to the Church as Bride of Christ doctrine. Pashto: ناوې (nawe [distinct word from نوی/new, though similarly spelled — care needed in typesetting]). Risk: High — Islamic theology has no marriage-to-God metaphor; a “bride of God/Christ” image, read carelessly, risks being heard as a literal deity-human marriage claim (a serious category confusion) rather than the intended corporate covenant-love metaphor; also intersects with honor-shame dynamics around a bride’s purity and her family’s honor, which must be reframed around Christ’s own gift of righteousness (see “imputed righteousness,” baseline), not the bride’s own achieved honor.
adorned — Gk: κοσμέω (kosmeō); lit. “to put in order, adorn”; EN variants: adorned, dressed, arrayed. Context: the church’s beauty/glory is given, not self-produced — reinforcing grace, not merit. Pashto: سینګار شوی (singar shaway, adorned). Risk: Low.

Verse 3 — “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’”

throne — Gk: θρόνος (thronos); lit. “seat of authority, throne”; range: royal seat / seat of divine sovereignty; EN variants: throne, seat. Context: God’s (and, elsewhere in Revelation, the Lamb’s — 22:1,3) sovereign rule over history, central to the Sovereignty of God over History doctrine. Pashto: تخت (takht). Risk: Medium — a familiar word for royal/political thrones in the region’s history; must be anchored to God’s unshared, cosmic sovereignty, not read as merely one more earthly-style monarchy claim.
dwelling place / tabernacle — Gk: σκηνή (skēnē); lit. “tent, tabernacle”; range: the OT tabernacle / God’s tabernacling presence (cf. John 1:14 “the Word became flesh and dwelt [eskēnōsen] among us”); EN variants: dwelling, tabernacle, tent. Context: the goal of redemptive history — God’s unmediated presence with his people, echoing the incarnation. Pashto: استوگنه/سکونت (ostoguna, dwelling). Risk: Medium — must connect back to the Incarnation doctrine (تجسد, baseline Critical) so this is heard as the fulfillment of God’s tabernacling presence in Christ, not a vague future mystical closeness.
his people / their God (covenant formula) — Gk: λαός (laos, people) + θεός (theos, God — baseline reused, خدای). Context: the ancient covenant formula (“I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” Lev 26:12, Ex 6:7) reaching its final fulfillment. Pashto: خلک/قوم (khalak/qawm, people). Risk: Medium — “قوم” also means tribal/ethnic people-group in Pashtun usage; must be clarified as God’s redeemed covenant people across all tribes (cf. baseline “gentiles,” “unity of Jews and Gentiles”), not one ethnic qawm.

Verse 4 — “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

death — Gk: θάνατος (thanatos); lit. “death”; range: physical death / personified cosmic enemy (cf. Rev 6:8, 20:14, “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire”); EN variants: death. Context: the final, definitive abolition of death itself as an enemy, the capstone of the Resurrection of Christ doctrine (baseline Critical) worked out to its conclusion. Pashto: مرګ (marg). Risk: High — must be distinguished from the “second death” (v.8) which is not abolished; the ordinary careless reader could conflate the two deaths if this is not made explicit.
mourning / crying / pain — Gk: πένθος (penthos, mourning), κραυγή (kraugē, crying/outcry), πόνος (ponos, pain/toil); EN variants: mourning, crying, pain, sorrow. Context: reversal of the Genesis 3 curse — total, not partial, comfort. Pashto: غم، چیغه، درد (gham, chegha, dard). Risk: Low.
former things — Gk: τὰ πρῶτα (ta prōta); lit. “the first things”; EN variants: former things, first things, old order. Context: the old fallen order under sin’s curse, now definitively ended. Pashto: پخوانۍ شیان (pakhwani shian). Risk: Low.

Verse 5 — “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”

making…new — Gk: καινὰ ποιῶ (kaina poiō, present tense — an ongoing/decisive act); see “new” above. Risk: Medium (as above).
trustworthy and true — Gk: πιστοὶ καὶ ἀληθινοί (pistoi kai alēthinoi); lit. “faithful and true”; πιστός shares the root of baseline “faith” (ایمان); ἀληθινός, “true, genuine, real” (as opposed to counterfeit). EN variants: faithful and true, trustworthy and true. Context: divine self-authentication of the prophetic word — ties directly to the Inspiration of Scripture doctrine and the naskh (abrogation)-adjacent risk already flagged in the baseline for “fulfillment of prophecy.” Pashto: ایماندار او رښتینی (imandar aw rishtinay). Risk: High — this is God’s own guarantee of the text’s reliability; must not be worded so as to unintentionally reinforce a tahrif (“later revelation corrects/supersedes earlier revelation”) framework foreign to the intended sense (God’s unchanging, once-for-all trustworthy word).

Verse 6 — “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.’”

It is done — Gk: γέγονεν (gegonen, perfect tense of ginomai); lit. “it has become/happened”; range: a completed, settled fact. EN variants: It is done, It has come to pass, It is accomplished. Context: God’s redemptive plan reaching its decisive, irreversible completion — parallel in force to Christ’s “It is finished” (John 19:30). Pashto: دا سرته رسیدلی دی (da sarta rasedali dai, “this has been completed”). Risk: Medium.
Alpha and Omega, beginning and end — Gk: τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ, ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος (to Alpha kai to O, hē archē kai to telos); lit. “the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (first and last letters of the Greek alphabet); range: a title of absolute, eternal sovereignty over all history, applied identically to God the Father here (1:8, 21:6) and to Christ (22:13). EN variants: Alpha and Omega, First and Last, Beginning and End. Pashto: الفا او اومیګا، پیل او پای (Alfa aw Omega, pail aw pai). Risk: Critical — this title is applied without qualification to both God and Christ, making it one of the book’s clearest deity-of-Christ claims; it must be rendered identically at every occurrence (1:8, 21:6, 22:13) per the same cross-document consistency principle the baseline applies to Romans 10:9-10, and never softened or split into two different Pashto phrases depending on speaker.
spring of the water of life — Gk: πηγὴ τοῦ ὕδατος τῆς ζωῆς (pēgē tou hydatos tēs zōēs); lit. “spring/fountain of the water of life”; EN variants: fountain/spring of the water of life. Context: eternal, satisfying life freely given by God, echoing John 4 and Isaiah 55. Pashto: د ژوند اوبو سرچینه (da zhwand obo sarchina). Risk: Medium.
without payment / freely — Gk: δωρεάν (dōrean); lit. “as a free gift, gratis”; same semantic family as baseline “grace” (فضل). Context: salvation’s water is given, not earned or exchanged — directly reinforces the Grace doctrine’s warning against reciprocity-creating gift logic (melmastia). Pashto: وړیا/بې بدله (waraya/be badla, “free, without repayment”). Risk: High — must explicitly avoid any implication of reciprocal obligation, per the baseline’s grace note.

Verse 7 — “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

conquers / overcomes — Gk: ὁ νικῶν (ho nikōn, present participle of nikaō); lit. “the one who is victorious/conquers”; range: to prevail, to win, to be victorious (used seven times in the seven letters, Rev 2-3, and repeatedly throughout the book); EN variants: overcomes, conquers, is victorious, prevails. Context: the one who perseveres faithfully in trust in Christ through trial/persecution to the end — spiritual, not military or honor-code, victory. Pashto: بریالی کیدل (bryali kedal, “to become victorious”). Risk: High — in a region where victory-language is heavily associated with jihad/militant triumph narratives and with Pashtunwali’s own honor-based victory concept (nang), this term must be explicitly taught as faithful endurance and trust in Christ’s finished victory, never as a call to violent or honor-restoring conquest of one’s own; central to the Perseverance and Faithful Witness under Persecution doctrine.
heritage / inherit — Gk: κληρονομέω (klēronomeō); lit. “to receive as an heir, to inherit”; EN variants: inherit, receive as inheritance. Context: full inheritance status — directly parallel to the baseline’s “adoption” doctrine (Critical; note the Pashtun patrilineal-inheritance collision already documented there). Pashto: ورثه (waratha, inheritance) — reuse the conceptual field of زوی نیول (adoption, baseline). Risk: Critical — same grounded reason as baseline “adoption”: a non-blood-descended believer receiving full inheritance is a sharp departure from Pashtun tribal-lineage norms and must be taught explicitly.
son — Gk: υἱός (huios); here used generically of the redeemed believer (not the unique Sonship of Christ, contrast with باندي “son of God,” baseline Critical, used Christologically elsewhere). Context: adoptive sonship, inheritance-bearing status. Pashto: زوی (zoy). Risk: High — care must be taken in teaching that this everyday “son” language for the believer does not blur with, or dilute, the unique, non-transferable Sonship of Christ (د خدای زوی).

Verse 8 — “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

cowardly — Gk: δειλός (deilos); lit. “fearful, cowardly”; range: fear that leads to denial of Christ under pressure. Context: this is the opposite of the “overcomer” of v.7 — directly relevant to the persecution context of the intended readership. Pashto: ډارن/بې زړه (daran/be zra). Risk: High — must be taught pastorally and carefully for a genuinely persecuted readership so as not to induce despair or condemnation for those who have felt fear, while still preserving the text’s warning against apostasy under pressure.
faithless — Gk: ἄπιστος (apistos); lit. “without faith, unbelieving”; negation of baseline “faith” (ایمان). Pashto: بې ایمانه (be imana). Risk: High (ties to Faith doctrine, baseline High).
sorcerers — Gk: φαρμακός (pharmakos); lit. “one who uses drugs/potions for magic,” root of English “pharmacy”; range: sorcerer, magician, poisoner. EN variants: sorcerers, those who practice magic arts. Context: occult practice opposed to God’s exclusive sovereignty. Pashto: جادوګر (jadugar). Risk: Medium.
idolaters — Gk: εἰδωλολάτρης (eidōlolatrēs); lit. “worshiper of idols”; compound of eidōlon (idol/image) + latreia (worship/service). EN variants: idolaters. Context: exclusive worship due to God alone (see “worship,” ch. 4-5 below) — a category Islamic monotheism also strongly rejects (shirk), a rare point of direct doctrinal overlap. Pashto: بت پرست (but-parast). Risk: Medium — a genuine point of agreement with the surrounding culture’s own theology; useful, but must not be allowed to imply that worship of Christ the Lamb (5:8-14) is itself a form of idolatry — the opposite of the text’s intent.
lake of fire…second death — see below, treated fully at Rev 20 (the term’s first full introduction) and reused here; Risk: Critical (see Ch. 20 entry).

PART 2: WHOLE-BOOK CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER STUDY

Chapter 1 — Prologue and Vision of the Glorified Christ

Revelation — Gk: ἀποκάλυψις (apokalypsis); lit. “an uncovering, unveiling”; range: disclosure of hidden things, technical term for the apocalyptic genre; EN variants: revelation, unveiling. Context: the book’s own self-designation — a disclosure given by God through Christ about future certainties. Pashto: مکاشفه (mukashifa). Risk: High — Pashtun Sufi devotional tradition (as already noted for “glory”/jalal in the baseline) uses kashf as a technical term for a mystic’s direct spiritual illumination/unveiling; مکاشفه shares this exact root and risks being heard as generic mystical experience rather than a specific, historically anchored prophetic disclosure about Christ’s return and reign.
Alpha and Omega / Almighty — see core passage v.6 and below. Gk: παντοκράτωρ (pantokratōr); lit. “ruler of all, all-powerful one”; EN variants: Almighty, All-Powerful. Pashto: قادر مطلق (qadir-e-mutlaq). Risk: High — parallels a standard Quranic divine title (al-Qadir); broadly compatible for God the Father, but when this title’s force is applied to Christ (via 1:17-18’s “I am the First and the Last… I have the keys of Death and Hades”) it becomes part of the book’s deity-of-Christ argument and must not be flattened.
Son of Man — Gk: ὅμοιον υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου (homoion huion anthrōpou, “one like a son of man,” Dan 7:13 allusion); EN variants: Son of Man, one like a son of man. Context: the glorified Christ, described with attributes of deity (eyes like fire, white hair like the Ancient of Days, holding the keys of Death and Hades) — a direct, deliberate fusion of human and divine imagery. Pashto: د انسان زوی (da insan zoy). Risk: Critical — this is one of the strongest deity-of-Christ texts in the book; it must never be softened to imply merely an exalted human figure, and pairs directly with the baseline’s “son_of_god” and “deity_of_christ” Critical entries.
testimony of Jesus — Gk: μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ (martyria Iēsou); lit. “witness/testimony of Jesus.” See full treatment at Ch. 6, 11, 12, 17 below (μάρτυς/μαρτυρία); introduced here as the reason for John’s exile (1:9). Risk: Critical.
kingdom and priests — Gk: βασιλείαν καὶ ἱερεῖς (basileian kai hiereis); reuses baseline “kingdom of God” concept (د خدای پاچاهي) plus ἱερεύς (hiereus, priest). EN variants: a kingdom, priests, royal priesthood. Pashto: پاچاهي او کاهنان (pachahi aw kahanan). Risk: Medium — کاهن (kahin) in pre-Islamic Arabian usage denoted a pagan soothsayer/diviner, a category Islam explicitly rejected; while established in existing Bible-translation convention for OT priests, this connotation should be flagged so teachers can pre-empt confusion.
seven spirits / seven lampstands / seven churches — introduced structurally here; see Ch. 4 (“seven spirits”) and Ch. 2-3 (churches) below.

Chapters 2-3 — Letters to the Seven Churches

overcome/conquer — see core passage v.7. Reused seven times (once per church) as the central exhortation. Risk: High (as above).
the Amen — Gk: ὁ Ἀμήν (ho Amēn), a title of Christ (3:14); baseline already fixes آمین for liturgical “Amen.” Context: here used as a personal name/title for Christ — “the faithful and true witness.” Risk: High — using a fixed liturgical response word as a personal divine title for Christ is a distinctive move; must be clearly signaled as a title, not merely an affirmation-word, and connects directly to the “faithful witness” (μάρτυς) risk below.
key of David — Gk: ἡ κλεὶς τοῦ Δαυίδ (hē kleis tou Dauid, 3:7); lit. “the key of David”; EN variants: key of David. Context: Christ’s unique, absolute messianic authority to open/shut access to God’s kingdom, fulfilling Isaiah 22:22. Reuses baseline “david” (داود). Pashto: د داود کیلي (da Dawud kili). Risk: High — ties directly to the Davidic Covenant and Messianic Promise doctrines (baseline High/Critical); Dawud is a positively regarded Quranic figure but without the covenant-king-to-Messiah typology, which must be taught explicitly.
hidden manna / white stone — Gk: τὸ μάννα τὸ κεκρυμμένον (to manna to kekrymmenon, 2:17); OT wilderness-provision allusion (manna, transliterated مانا). Risk: Medium — requires OT background teaching to land.
morning star — Gk: τὸν ἀστέρα τὸν πρωϊνόν (ton astera ton prōinon, 2:28; repeated as a self-title of Christ at 22:16, “the bright morning star”); lit. “the morning star”; EN variants: morning star, day star. Context: a messianic title (Num 24:17 “a star shall come out of Jacob”) signifying Christ’s coming reign. Pashto: سهار ستوری (sahar storay). Risk: High — must be carefully distinguished from the unrelated (and much later, non-biblical) “Lucifer/day star” tradition sometimes popularly associated with the fallen angelic figure (Isa 14:12 in some translation traditions), to avoid readers confusing a title of Christ with a title of Satan.
white robe — Gk: ἱμάτια λευκά (himatia leuka, 3:5); see fuller treatment at Ch. 6-7 below. Risk: Medium.
crown (victor’s wreath) — Gk: στέφανος (stephanos, 2:10, 3:11); lit. “wreath, garland” (athletic/military victor’s crown, not royal); EN variants: crown, wreath. Context: reward for faithful endurance, distinct from the royal diadēma (below). Pashto: تاج (taj). Risk: Medium — Pashto تاج can suggest a royal crown; teachers should clarify this is specifically the victor’s wreath given for faithful perseverance, distinct from the sovereign diadem worn by Christ (19:12) and, in parody, the dragon (12:3) and beast (13:1).
Jezebel / Balaam / Nicolaitans — proper nouns for false teachers/movements; transliterated ایزابل, بلعام, نیکولاویان. Risk: Low (proper names), though the underlying doctrinal issue (compromise with idolatry/immorality under pressure) intersects with Perseverance under Persecution.

Chapter 4 — The Throne Room

throne — see core passage v.3. Risk: Medium (as above); central chapter for the Sovereignty of God over History doctrine.
twenty-four elders — Gk: πρεσβύτεροι (presbyteroi); lit. “elders”; EN variants: elders. Context: likely symbolic (12 patriarchs + 12 apostles) representing the whole redeemed covenant people, OT and NT. Pashto: مشران (mashran). Risk: Medium — the number’s symbolism should be taught explicitly per the Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation doctrine, not treated as a literal headcount of individuals.
four living creatures — Gk: ζῷα (zōa); lit. “living beings/creatures”; EN variants: living creatures, beasts (older translations — avoid this rendering, as it collides with θηρίον below). Pashto: ژوندي مخلوقات (zhwandi makhluqat). Risk: Medium — ensure Pashto vocabulary for “living creatures” here is visibly distinct from that chosen for θηρίον (“beast,” Ch. 13) so readers do not conflate worshipful heavenly beings with the book’s antagonists.
Holy, Holy, Holy (Trisagion) — Gk: ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος (hagios hagios hagios, Isa 6:3 echo); reuses baseline “holy” (مقدس — baseline reused). Risk: Medium — a shared point of liturgical resonance across many traditions; keep anchored to the specific triune-God worship scene, not generic religious chant.
seven spirits (of God) — Gk: ἑπτὰ πνεύματα (hepta pneumata, 1:4, 4:5, 5:6); range: symbolic representation of the fullness/perfection of the one Holy Spirit (cf. Isa 11:2, sevenfold Spirit), not seven distinct spirit-beings. Pashto: اووه روحان (owa rohan), always taught alongside روح القدس (baseline). Risk: High — without explicit clarification, this risks being read as seven separate created angelic spirits (paralleling Islamic angelology, malaika) rather than the fullness of the one divine Holy Spirit — a genuine Trinitarian-doctrine risk.
Almighty (Παντοκράτωρ) — reused, see Ch.1. παντοκράτωρ occurs repeatedly through the book (1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7,14; 19:6,15; 21:22) — Risk: High, consistent rendering required throughout (قادر مطلق).

Chapter 5 — The Scroll and the Lamb

Lamb — Gk: ἀρνίον (arnion); lit. “little lamb” (diminutive); range: sacrificial lamb (Passover/Isaiah 53 imagery) applied as the primary title for the risen, enthroned, worshiped Christ (occurs 28 times in Revelation, its dominant Christological title); EN variants: Lamb, the Lamb of God. Pashto: بره (bara). Risk: Critical — this is the single most theologically load-bearing term in the whole book. Two distinct, serious risks converge here: (1) sacrificial-lamb imagery could be flattened into the this-worldly, repeatable ritual-sacrifice framework of Eid al-Adha (qorbani) rather than taught as Christ’s once-for-all, uniquely efficacious atoning death — though this can also become a positive bridge if handled with the same explicit care the baseline gives the نجات/nanawatai bridge; (2) far more seriously, the scene of all creation worshiping the slain Lamb with the same worship given to God on the throne (5:8-14) is the book’s clearest possible assertion of Christ’s full deity — this must never be softened, since worship of anyone but God alone is the paradigm case of shirk in the surrounding religious culture, and Revelation’s whole argument is that the Lamb rightly receives it.
worthy — Gk: ἄξιος (axios); lit. “of weight/value, deserving, worthy”; EN variants: worthy, deserving. Context: the Lamb’s unique worthiness to open the scroll and receive worship, grounded in his sacrificial death. Pashto: وړ (war). Risk: Medium — tie explicitly to the reason given in the text itself (“for you were slain,” 5:9), not merely to abstract greatness.
scroll/book (sealed with seven seals) — Gk: βιβλίον (biblion); lit. “small book, scroll”; EN variants: scroll, book. Pashto: طومار (tumar, scroll) for the sealed document of judgment, distinguished from کتاب (kitab) used generically and for “the book of life” (see Ch. 20-21). Risk: Medium — distinguishing the two Pashto words prevents readers conflating the sealed scroll of judgment with the book of life.
seal — Gk: σφραγίς (sphragis, noun) / σφραγίζω (sphragizō, verb); lit. “seal, signet”; range: mark of ownership/security, or mark of secrecy/authority depending on context (contrast the scroll’s seals here with the sealing of the 144,000 in Ch. 7). Pashto: مهر (muhr). Risk: Medium — context must clarify which sense (secrecy of judgment vs. ownership/protection of believers) is active.
redeemed / purchased — Gk: ἠγόρασας (ēgorasas, from agorazō, “to buy, purchase in the marketplace,” 5:9); EN variants: redeemed, ransomed, purchased, bought. Context: the Lamb’s blood as the purchase price securing people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” — directly reinforces the Universal Scope of the Gospel doctrine (baseline High) and the Salvation doctrine’s substitutionary-atonement content (baseline Critical, nanawatai bridge). Pashto: پیرودل شوی (peerodal shaway). Risk: High — the commercial “purchase” image parallels the Pashtunwali badal (debt-repayment) economic logic already flagged in the baseline; must be taught so the “price paid” is Christ’s own substitutionary death settling the debt once for all, not a repayable transaction the redeemed must reciprocate.
Lion of Judah / Root of David — Gk: ὁ λέων ὁ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ἡ ῥίζα Δαυίδ (5:5); Davidic/messianic titles. Reuses baseline “david,” “messiah.” Risk: High — see Davidic Covenant baseline entry.
new song — Gk: ᾠδὴ καινή (ōdē kainē, 5:9). Pashto: نوی سندره (nawe sandara). Risk: Low.

Chapter 6 — The Four Horsemen and the Fifth/Sixth Seals

wrath of the Lamb — Gk: ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ ἀρνίου (hē orgē tou arniou, 6:16); an unusual, deliberate juxtaposition of gentleness (Lamb) and judgment (wrath). Pashto: د بره غضب (da bara ghazab). Risk: High — this paradox is theologically central (the one who bore wrath now executes it) and must not be resolved by softening either term; connects the Judgment of the Wicked doctrine to the Lamb’s own identity rather than treating judgment as an impersonal cosmic force.
souls under the altar — Gk: ψυχαί (psychai, souls, 6:9); range: the conscious, disembodied dead awaiting vindication. Pashto: روحونه (rohuna). Risk: Medium — connects to intermediate-state teaching (see “Hades,” Ch. 20).
how long, O Lord — a prayer of the persecuted dead for vindication (6:10); reuses baseline “lord” (خداوند). Risk: High — central to Assurance of God’s Final Victory and Vindication of the Saints; must retain the full force of the appeal to God’s justice without implying present divine indifference.
white robes — Gk: στολαὶ λευκαί (stolai leukai, 6:11); given (not earned) to the martyrs. Pashto: سپینې جامې (spene jame). Risk: Medium — connects directly to baseline “imputed righteousness” (محسوبه شوی صداقت): righteousness given/credited, not self-produced.

Chapter 7 — The 144,000 and the Great Multitude

144,000 / sealed — see Ch. 5 “seal.” Context: a symbolic number (12 x 12 x 1,000) representing the totality/completeness of God’s covenant people, drawn from the twelve tribes. Risk: Medium — must be taught per the Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation doctrine as symbolic completeness, not a literal ethnic head-count limiting salvation, especially given the immediately following “great multitude… from every nation” (7:9) which universalizes the same group.
great multitude, every nation, tribe, people, language — reuses baseline “gentiles” (غیر یهودیان) conceptual field, now expanded to full multi-ethnic inclusion. Risk: High — central Unity of Jews and Gentiles / Universal Scope of the Gospel text.
palm branches — Gk: φοίνικες (phoinikes, 7:9); triumph/festival imagery (cf. John 12:13). Pashto: د خرما ښاخونه (da khurma khakhuna). Risk: Low.
salvation belongs to our God — reuses baseline “salvation” (نجات, Critical). Risk: Critical (baseline reused).

Chapter 8 — The Seven Trumpets Begin

trumpet — Gk: σάλπιγξ (salpinx); lit. “trumpet, war-horn”; range: signal of alarm, judgment, or assembly. Pashto: بوق/شرنۍ (buq/surnai). Risk: Low-Medium.
incense / prayers of the saints — Gk: θυμίαμα (thymiama, incense) offered with “the prayers of all the saints” (8:3-4); reuses baseline “saints” (مقدسان) and “intercession” (منځګړیتوب). Pashto: بخور (bakhur). Risk: Medium — a strong positive bridge for teaching Prayer and Intercession: the persecuted church’s prayers are pictured as literally ascending before God’s throne and provoking his response in history.
star Wormwood — Gk: Ἄψινθος (Apsinthos, 8:11); symbolic name of a bitter plant. Pashto: افسنتین (Afsantin). Risk: Low — symbolic-name convention; flag as a case study for teaching apocalyptic symbolism.

Chapter 9 — The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets

abyss / bottomless pit — Gk: ἄβυσσος (abyssos); lit. “bottomless, unfathomable”; range: the place of demonic imprisonment, distinct from both Hades (place of the dead) and the final lake of fire (place of final judgment) — a three-tier structure. Pashto: د بی پایه کندی (da be-paya kandi). Risk: Medium — teachers must keep these three distinct realms (abyss / Hades / lake of fire) clear, per the Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation doctrine, to avoid collapsing Revelation’s eschatology into a single generic “hell.”
locusts — Gk: ἀκρίδες (akrides); symbolic demonic army (contrast literal locusts of Exodus). Pashto: ملخان (malkhan). Risk: Low, with a Medium doctrinal note on symbolic (not entomological) reading.
Abaddon/Apollyon — Gk: Ἀπολλύων (Apollyōn), Hebrew Ἀβαδδών (Abaddōn); lit. “Destroyer.” Pashto: ابدون (Abaddon), glossed “تباه کوونکی” (destroyer). Risk: Medium — a named demonic ruler-figure; ensure it is not confused with any positively regarded name in local usage.

Chapter 10 — The Little Scroll

No major new theological-risk terms beyond βιβλίον (scroll, reused from Ch. 5) and the prophetic “eat this scroll” symbolic-commissioning act (Ezek 2-3 allusion), reinforcing the Inspiration of Scripture / Fulfillment of Prophecy doctrines. Risk: Medium (reused terms).

Chapter 11 — The Two Witnesses

two witnesses — Gk: οἱ δύο μάρτυρες (hoi dyo martyres); from μάρτυς (martys), lit. “witness, one who testifies (in a legal/judicial sense)”; range: legal witness → one who testifies to Christ, sometimes at the cost of death; NOTE: the English derivative “martyr” (one killed for testifying) is a developed sense, not the base meaning of the Greek word itself. EN variants: witnesses, martyrs. Context: two prophetic figures who testify faithfully, are killed by the beast, and are vindicated by resurrection (11:7-12) — a template for the whole church’s calling. Pashto: شاهدان (shahidan, “witnesses/testifiers” — from root ش-ه-د). Risk: Critical — this is one of the sharpest and most consequential collision risks in the entire book. The Arabic/Pashto root ش-ه-د also produces شهید (shahid/shaheed), the deeply entrenched Islamic category of a “martyr” who dies in violent jihad and is guaranteed paradise — an honor-glorified, often militant framework utterly different from Revelation’s picture of non-violent, faithful verbal testimony maintained under persecution, following Christ’s own example, and vindicated by God rather than by military victory. Translators must consistently use شاهد/شاهدي (witness/testimony) for μάρτυς/μαρτυρία, and where the text describes believers killed because of their testimony (6:9; 17:6; 20:4), render this descriptively (“د شاهدۍ له امله وژل شوی,” “killed because of [their] testimony”) rather than importing a title-word that would suggest the jihadi-martyrdom honor framework. This risk recurs at 1:5 (“faithful witness,” of Christ), 2:13 (“my faithful witness Antipas”), 6:9, 12:11, 17:6, 20:4.
the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord — reuses baseline “kingdom of God” (د خدای پاچاهي) and “lord” (خداوند). Risk: High — central Return and Reign of Christ text; must not be read through the lens of a specific present-day “Islamic Emirate” political sovereignty claim, per the caution already recorded in the baseline’s kingdom_of_god entry.

Chapter 12 — The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon

woman clothed with the sun — a symbolic figure (widely understood to represent the covenant people of God / the church, from whom Messiah comes); EN variants: the woman. Risk: Medium — must be taught as corporate-symbolic, not as veneration of a specific individual woman; given the significant devotional prominence of Maryam (Mary) in regional Islamic piety (the only woman named in the Qur’an, with her own surah), care is needed so this cosmic symbolic figure is not conflated with, or read as competing devotionally with, that existing reverence.
dragon — Gk: δράκων (drakōn); lit. “dragon, serpent”; explicitly identified in the text itself as “that ancient serpent… the Devil and Satan” (12:9). EN variants: dragon, serpent. Pashto: اژدها (azhdaha) — a shared Persian-Iranian mythological term. Risk: High — the explicit in-text identification (dragon = devil = Satan) must always be retained together, so اژدها is never read merely as a generic folkloric monster detached from its identification as the personal, defeated cosmic enemy.
Satan/devil — Gk: Σατανᾶς (Satanas) / διάβολος (diabolos, “accuser, slanderer”). Pashto: شیطان (Shaytan). Risk: High — shares the figure’s name with the Islamic Shaytan/Iblis, a tempter-figure often folk-theologically diminished to a lesser jinn-related nuisance; Revelation’s Satan must be taught as a personal, powerful, but already judicially defeated cosmic enemy (12:9-12), directly serving the Assurance of God’s Final Victory over Evil doctrine.
Michael — Gk: Μιχαήλ (Michaēl), archangel who defeats the dragon in heavenly war (12:7). Shared, positively regarded Quranic figure (Mika’il). Pashto: میکائیل (Mika’il). Risk: Medium.
accuser — Gk: ὁ κατήγορος (ho katēgoros, 12:10); title for Satan. Pashto: تورن کوونکی (toran kawunkay). Risk: Medium.
overcome…by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony (12:11) — combines the Lamb’s atonement with the μάρτυς/testimony theme above. Risk: Critical — this verse is the theological hinge of the Perseverance and Faithful Witness doctrine and must render both terms exactly per their established renderings (بره for Lamb; شاهدي for testimony), with the causal logic (victory secured by Christ’s blood, evidenced through faithful testimony, not by the believers’ own strength) fully preserved.

Chapter 13 — The Two Beasts and the Mark

beast — Gk: θηρίον (thērion); lit. “wild animal, beast”; range: a monstrous, symbolic figure representing an anti-Christian political-religious power (sea-beast, 13:1-10) and its propagandist ally (earth-beast/false prophet, 13:11-18). EN variants: beast. Pashto: حیوان (haiwan). Risk: High — this symbolic figure is easily and dangerously over-literalized into identification with specific present-day political powers or leaders; per the Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation doctrine, and given the acute political sensitivity of the region’s recent history (cf. baseline’s caution regarding “Islamic Emirate” state-sovereignty framing under “kingdom_of_god”), teaching must resist both trivializing the beast as mere ancient history and recklessly identifying it with any specific contemporary regime, which could create real danger for readers.
mark of the beast — Gk: χάραγμα (charagma); lit. “an engraved or stamped mark”; range: a mark of ownership/allegiance (parallel, opposite the sealing of the 144,000 in Ch. 7). EN variants: mark, brand. Pashto: نخښه (nekha) or داغ (dagh). Risk: High — extremely susceptible to sensationalist, literalistic folk speculation (identifying it with modern technology, currency, etc.); must be taught as symbolic allegiance-marking, following the book’s own consistent seal/mark contrast pattern, not as a coded prediction of a specific future device.
666 — Gk: ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ (hexakosioi hexēkonta hex); symbolic numerology (often understood via gematria as a specific historical figure, likely Nero, and/or as a number falling short of the perfection of 7, i.e., a parody of the beast’s claimed divinity). Pashto: شمېره ۶۶۶ (shmera 666). Risk: High — among the most famous, most sensationalized numbers in the whole book; must be taught with explicit numerological/symbolic-interpretation caution to prevent date-setting or persecutor-identification excesses that could endanger a persecuted readership through misapplied speculation.

Chapter 14 — The Lamb, the Harvest, and Babylon’s Fall Foretold

144,000 — reused from Ch. 7. Risk: Medium (reused).
Son of Man…harvest (14:14-16) — judgment imagery reusing Ch. 1’s Son of Man title. Risk: Critical (reused deity-of-Christ concern).
Babylon (first mention, 14:8) — see full treatment at Ch. 17-18. Risk: High (see below).
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord (14:13) — reuses baseline “lord.” Rest/vindication for the persecuted dead. Risk: High — Vindication of the Saints doctrine.
winepress/wine of God’s wrath — violent judgment imagery (14:10, 19-20); reuses “wrath” concept from Ch. 6. Risk: Medium — must be handled as symbolic judgment imagery, not literalistic gore, per Symbolic Interpretation doctrine.

Chapter 15 — Preparation for the Seven Bowls

bowl — Gk: φιάλη (phialē); lit. “shallow bowl, saucer.” Pashto: کاسه (kasa). Risk: Low.
song of Moses and of the Lamb (15:3) — links OT redemption (Exodus) typologically to the Lamb’s redemption, reinforcing Fulfillment of Prophecy. Risk: Medium.
sea of glass mixed with fire — symbolic imagery, reuses “sea” (Ch. 4, and core passage v.1’s chaos-symbol). Risk: Medium.

Chapter 16 — The Seven Bowls of Wrath

Armageddon — Gk: Ἀρμαγεδών (Armagedōn, 16:16); a symbolic place-name for the final gathering of opposition to God. Pashto: حرمجدون (Harmajedun). Risk: Medium — teach as symbolic/typological (echoing OT battle sites), not necessarily a literal predicted geographic battlefield, per Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation.
blasphemed the God of heaven (16:11, 21) — Gk: ἐβλασφήμησαν (eblasphēmēsan, from blasphēmeō, “to speak evil of, revile”). Pashto (recommended): د خدای سپکاوی وکړ (da Khudai sapkawi wakr, “dishonored/insulted God”) or توهین وکړ (tohin wakr, “insulted”). Risk: Critical — the natural loanword one might reach for, کفر (kufr, “disbelief/blasphemy”), must be explicitly avoided: کفر is the technical Islamic legal category underlying apostasy law, and its use here would import a severe real-world danger — associating a biblical description of the unrepentant wicked’s response to judgment with the very legal-religious charge that endangers convert readers’ lives in Taliban-controlled areas. A purely descriptive phrase, not the loaded legal term, must be used.

Chapter 17 — The Great Prostitute and the Beast

the great prostitute / harlot — Gk: ἡ πόρνη ἡ μεγάλη (hē pornē hē megalē); lit. “the great prostitute”; range: a symbolic figure for a corrupt world-system/empire allied with idolatry and violence against God’s people, seated on the beast. EN variants: the great harlot, the prostitute. Pashto: لویه فاحشه (loya fahisha). Risk: High — this is corporate, symbolic imagery for an anti-God system, not a comment on women or any specific ethnic/religious group; teaching must make the symbolic referent explicit to prevent both a misogynistic misreading and a dangerous real-world identification with a specific contemporary group.
Babylon the Great — see Ch. 18. Risk: High.

Chapter 18 — The Fall of Babylon

Babylon — Gk: Βαβυλών (Babylōn); historical empire-name reused symbolically for the final, complete system of God-opposing worldly power/commerce/idolatry. EN variants: Babylon. Pashto: بابل (Babil). Risk: High — Babil is also a place associated with sorcery in the Qur’an (2:102) and carries its own separate cultural resonance; the symbolic (not narrowly historical, and emphatically not naming any single present-day nation-state) sense must be taught explicitly, applying the same caution the baseline gives “kingdom_of_god” regarding avoiding political-sovereignty over-identification, given the real danger of readers over-applying it to present regimes.
“Come out of her, my people” (18:4) — a call to separation from the corrupt system; ties directly to the Separation unto God’s Service doctrine (baseline High) already flagged as distinct from Sufi world-withdrawal. Risk: High.

Chapter 19 — The Rider on the White Horse and the Marriage Supper

marriage supper of the Lamb — Gk: ὁ γάμος τοῦ ἀρνίου (ho gamos tou arniou, 19:7,9); combines “bride” (νύμφη, core passage v.2) and “Lamb” (ἀρνίον, Ch. 5) imagery into their consummation. Pashto: د بره د واده ډوډۍ (da bara da wada dodai). Risk: High (compounding both underlying Critical/High risks noted above).
the Word of God — Gk: ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ (ho Logos tou Theou, 19:13), a title of the returning Christ. EN variants: the Word of God. Context: directly parallels John 1:1, 14 (“the Word became flesh”). Pashto: د خدای کلام (da Khudai kalam). Risk: Critical — this is the same Incarnation/Logos Christology already flagged as Critical in the baseline (تجسد); “kalam” (Word/speech) has its own weighty resonance in Islamic theology (kalam-related disciplines, and the doctrine of the Qur’an as God’s uncreated speech) which must be carefully distinguished from the unique claim that God’s eternal Word is a Person, Jesus Christ himself, not a book.
King of kings and Lord of lords — Gk: βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ κύριος κυρίων (basileus basileōn kai kyrios kyriōn, 19:16); reuses baseline “lord” (خداوند) and “kingdom” vocabulary. EN variants: King of kings and Lord of lords. Pashto: د پاچاهانو پاچا او د خداوندانو خداوند (da pachahano pacha aw da khudawandano khudawand). Risk: Critical — the supreme, unshared title claimed for Christ; must never be softened to a merely honorary or subordinate kingship, directly continuing the baseline’s Critical “lord” entry.

Chapter 20 — The Millennium, Final Judgment, and the Lake of Fire

thousand years / millennium — Gk: χίλια ἔτη (chilia etē); the period of Christ’s (and the saints’) reign, bracketed by Satan’s binding and later release. EN variants: the millennium, thousand-year reign. Pashto: زره کاله (zra kaala). Risk: Critical — beyond the significant historic Christian interpretive diversity over this period (which must be represented fairly, not resolved by translation choice alone), this reign-of-Christ concept directly collides with mainstream Sunni end-times expectation of a golden age inaugurated by the Mahdi before the final Hour — already flagged in the baseline’s “messiah” entry regarding the Mahdi/Dajjal scheme. Teaching must clarify this is Christ’s own reign, in continuity with his first coming, not a separate future figure’s rule.
Gog and Magog — Gk: Γὼγ καὶ Μαγώγ (Gōg kai Magōg, 20:8); OT (Ezek 38-39) apocalyptic names for a final, symbolic rebellion against God’s reign. EN variants: Gog and Magog. Pashto: جوج او ماجوج (Jooj aw Majooj). Risk: Critical — this name-pair is near-identical to Ya’juj wa Ma’juj (یاجوج و ماجوج), a major and well-known Qur’anic end-times tradition (Qur’an 18:94, 21:96) describing destructive hordes released near the Hour after breaching a barrier — a vivid, widely taught apocalyptic expectation in the surrounding culture. Revelation’s usage (a final symbolic rebellion crushed at Christ’s word, not a barrier-breaching horde) must be explicitly distinguished from this pre-loaded association to prevent syncretistic conflation of the two very different end-times narratives.
great white throne — Gk: θρόνος λευκὸς μέγας (thronos leukos megas, 20:11); the final judgment scene. Pashto: لوی سپین تخت (loy speen takht). Risk: High — central Judgment of the Wicked text; the basis of judgment (“according to what they had done,” recorded in “the books,” but decisively including whether one’s name is in “the book of life,” 20:12,15) must be taught alongside baseline “justification”/“righteousness” (Critical) so judgment is framed around union with Christ, not an independent deeds-weighing scale (mizan) parallel to mainstream Islamic eschatology.
book of life — Gk: τὸ βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς (to biblion tēs zōēs). Pashto: د ژوند کتاب (da zhwand kitab). Risk: High — ties directly to the baseline’s Critical “election”/“effectual calling” doctrine and Assurance of Salvation (baseline High); must not be taught as a record of merit but of God’s gracious, effectual choice.
Hades — Gk: ᾅδης (Hadēs); lit. “the unseen [realm]”; range: the intermediate realm/place of the dead (distinct from both the abyss, Ch. 9, and the final lake of fire, below); paired with “Death” as if personified (6:8; 20:13-14, “Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire”). EN variants: Hades, the grave, hell (imprecise — avoid conflating with final hell). Pashto: د مرګ ځای (da marg dzay, “place of the dead”), with هاډیس (Hades) as a transliterated proper-noun option. Risk: High — must be kept distinct both from the abyss (Ch. 9) and, critically, from the final lake of fire (below); collapsing Revelation’s careful two-stage eschatology (intermediate state, then final judgment) into the region’s more generic barzakh/intermediate-state Islamic category would flatten a genuine and important biblical distinction.
second death — see core passage v.8. Pashto: دوهم مرګ (dohem marg). Risk: High.
lake of fire — Gk: ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρός (hē limnē tou pyros); lit. “the lake of fire”; the place of final, irrevocable judgment for the devil, the beast, the false prophet, Death, Hades, and all whose names are not in the book of life. EN variants: lake of fire, hell (imprecise). Pashto: د اور ډنډ (da or dand), commonly glossed alongside the familiar regional term دوزخ (dozakh, hell). Risk: Critical — dozakh/Jahannam is one of the most deeply entrenched categories in the surrounding Islamic worldview, embedded in the deeds-weighing (mizan) framework already flagged as Critical throughout the baseline’s Salvation/Righteousness entries. This doctrine must be taught as the same ultimate reality of final, just judgment, but grounded specifically in one’s relationship to Christ (name in the book of life) rather than a balance of deeds — the identical framework-bridging challenge the baseline documents for “righteousness” and “salvation,” now applied to the doctrine of final judgment itself.

Chapter 21 (verses 9-27) — The New Jerusalem Described (continuing beyond the core passage)

twelve gates / twelve tribes / twelve apostles / foundations — symbolic numerology (12 x 2) representing the whole covenant people, OT and NT together, in continuity. Risk: Medium — Symbolic and Apocalyptic Interpretation doctrine; teach as symbolic totality/unity of the redeemed, not literal city-planning detail.
precious stones / pure gold — imagery of God’s glory (baseline “glory,” جلال) reflected in the city. Risk: Medium (reused glory concerns).
no temple, for the Lord God and the Lamb are its temple (21:22) — a striking, pastorally rich claim: worship in the new creation requires no physical building. Risk: High — this doctrine intersects powerfully and positively with the baseline’s “church_as_gods_people” Critical entry, which already notes that legal/public “church” buildings are largely unavailable to Pashto-speaking house-churches; Revelation’s own vision of a templeless, presence-centered worship can be taught as a genuine comfort and theological validation for a dispersed, often secret worshiping community, not merely as future information.
measuring the city (12,000 stadia) — symbolic-numeric perfection (12 cubed x 1,000), not literal architectural data. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 22 — The River and Tree of Life; Epilogue

river of the water of life — Gk: ποταμὸν ὕδατος ζωῆς (potamon hydatos zōēs); reuses core passage v.6’s “spring of the water of life.” Pashto: د ژوند سیند (da zhwand seend). Risk: Medium.
tree of life — Gk: τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς (to xylon tēs zōēs); lit. “the tree of life”; Eden imagery (Gen 2-3) restored, its leaves “for the healing of the nations.” EN variants: tree of life. Pashto: د ژوند ونه (da zhwand wana). Risk: Medium — the Qur’an also contains tree-of-paradise imagery (though structured very differently, as a forbidden/tempting tree rather than a restored provision); the specific Edenic-restoration logic (curse reversed, not a new temptation) must be made explicit.
no more curse — Gk: οὐκ ἔσται…κατάρα (ouk estai…katara, 22:3); reverses Gen 3’s curse. Pashto: لعنت نشته (la’nat na shta). Risk: Medium — لعنت (curse) is a familiar shared-vocabulary term (also used of Allah’s curse in regional usage); the specific Genesis-fall-reversal logic must be taught, not left as a generic pious phrase.
his servants will worship/serve him — Gk: οἱ δοῦλοι αὐτοῦ λατρεύσουσιν αὐτῷ (hoi douloi autou latreusousin autō, 22:3); λατρεύω (latreuō), lit. “to serve, to render religious service/worship” (cultic-service term, distinct from but overlapping proskyneō below). Pashto: عبادت کول (ibadat kawul). Risk: Critical — عبادت is the precise technical term for worship due to God alone in Islamic theology (ibadah); its application here to service rendered to God and the Lamb together (see below) makes this, again, an explicit assertion of the Lamb’s shared deity, not a downgrade to devoted-service-without-worship.
worship (of God/the Lamb, and the prohibition of worshiping angels) — Gk: προσκυνέω (proskyneō); lit. “to fall down before, prostrate oneself, do homage”; range: the physical act of prostration in reverence, whether idolatrous, angelic, or rightly directed to God/the Lamb alone; this exact verb appears throughout the book (worship of the Lamb, 5:14; false worship of the beast, 13:4,8,12; forbidden worship of an angel, twice explicitly refused, 19:10; 22:8-9, “Worship God!”). EN variants: worship, prostrate before, bow down to, fall down before. Pashto: سجده کول (sajda kawul). Risk: Critical — سجده is the exact technical term for the physical prostration of Islamic prayer, performed to God alone; this word therefore carries the full weight of the shirk-collision at every single occurrence. The two explicit refusals of angel-worship (19:10; 22:8-9, where an angel says “Worship God!”) are a genuine, valuable point of doctrinal agreement with the surrounding culture’s own theology and should be actively highlighted; but the parallel, repeated worship of the Lamb using this identical verb (e.g., 5:8-14) is the book’s boldest and most consistent assertion that Christ shares fully in the worship due to God alone, and must never be rendered with a softer word (e.g., mere “honor” or “respect”) that would blunt this claim.
these words are trustworthy and true / do not add or take away (22:6, 18-19) — reuses core passage v.5’s vocabulary; a canon-closing warning. Risk: High — intersects with the Inspiration of Scripture doctrine and the shared tahrif (scriptural-corruption) assumption already flagged in the baseline’s “gospel” entry; teaching must clarify this guards the integrity of this completed book of prophecy specifically, without being read as either validating or symmetrically answering tahrif claims about other scriptures in an unintended way.
I am coming soon — Gk: ἔρχομαι ταχύ (erchomai tachy, 22:7,12,20); repeated promise of Christ’s imminent return. Pashto: زه ژر راځم (za zhar razem). Risk: High — central to the Return and Reign of Christ doctrine; must be taught faithfully as a certain promise without encouraging speculative date-setting, which carries real pastoral and safety risk for a persecuted community susceptible to crisis-driven end-times excitement.
Come, Lord Jesus — Gk: Ἀμήν, ἔρχου, Κύριε Ἰησοῦ (Amēn, erchou, Kyrie Iēsou, 22:20); the book’s climactic invocation. Reuses baseline “lord” (خداوند) and “jesus” (عیسی) EXACTLY. Pashto: آمین، راشه، خداونده عیسی! (Amin, rasha, Khudawanda Isa!). Risk: Critical — per the baseline’s own cross-document consistency principle applied to Romans 10:9-10, this climactic confession must render “Lord Jesus” with the identical, established baseline terms every time, with no variation.
grace be with all — Gk: ἡ χάρις…μετὰ πάντων (hē charis…meta pantōn, 22:21); reuses baseline “grace” (فضل) EXACTLY as the book’s closing word. Risk: High (baseline reused).

This document, together with 08_core_glossary.md, must be loaded before Phase 2 segment translation begins for the Revelation curriculum, alongside the existing Romans translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json, all of which remain in force and must not be contradicted.

Library content is free and openly licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — share and adapt it for non-commercial use, with attribution to tri-bible.ai.