Core Glossary — Esther — Portuguese

Reused Terms (from baseline Romans translation_memory.json — rendering MUST match exactly)

Term	Hebrew/Original	Portuguese Rendering	Risk (baseline)	Esther Usage Note
providence	(theological category; cf. מִי יוֹדֵעַ, הִגַּעַתְּ)	providência	High (baseline) → elevated contextual sensitivity in Esther, see below	Esther is the book-length literary embodiment of hidden providence; God’s name never appears, so “providência” must carry the entire theological weight the text leaves implicit.
calling	קרא (qara) / cf. הִגַּעַתְּ (higga’at, distinct root)	chamado	High (baseline)	Use ONLY where the text uses קרא-family vocabulary (4:11, court-summons sense); do NOT apply to 4:14’s “for such a time as this,” which uses a different Hebrew root (see 07, v.14 note).
salvation	(theological category; cf. הַצָּלָה, hatzalah)	salvação	Critical (baseline)	Reserve “salvação” for explicit NT-pattern soteriological teaching drawn from Esther typologically; do not use as the direct rendering of hatzalah itself (use “livramento,” see New Terms below) to avoid over-claiming full soteriological content for an OT narrative deliverance.
grace	חֵן (chen), חֶסֶד (chesed) — human/court sense only	graça	High (baseline)	DO NOT use “graça” for Esther’s court favor (2:9, 2:15, 2:17, 5:2, 5:8). Use “favor” instead (see New Terms). Reserve “graça” strictly for the baseline’s unmerited-divine-favor sense; this is the single highest-priority terminological guardrail imported from the baseline into this curriculum.
law	דָּת (dat) — Persian royal decree, distinct referent from Mosaic נֹמוֹς	lei (contextually qualified)	High (baseline)	Baseline reserves “lei” for Mosaic Torah risk-context (dharma-like cosmic order). In Esther, dat is Persian civil decree; render as “decreto/lei do rei” with a contextual gloss at first occurrence, never bare “lei” without qualification.
glory	כָּבוֹד (kavod) — divine sense elsewhere in OT, but human-court sense in Esther 6	glória (reserved for divine contexts only)	Medium (baseline)	In Esther 6, kavod/yeqar denotes human honor bestowed on Mordecai; render “honra,” not “glória,” to avoid collision with baseline’s divine-glory term.
kingdom_of_god	cf. מַלְכוּת (malkut) — Persian political kingdom, distinct referent	reino de Deus (NOT used for Esther’s malkut)	Medium (baseline)	Ahasuerus’s malkut (ch. 1, 4:14, etc.) is a this-worldly political kingdom; render “reino/realeza” without the qualifier “de Deus,” which must remain reserved for the baseline’s distinct theological referent.
israel / gentios (people-identity terms)	יְהוּדִים (Yehudim, “Jews”)	judeus (new specific term, consistent with baseline’s ethnic-identity term family)	Low–Medium (baseline “israel”/“gentios”)	See New Terms below for the specific “judeus” entry.

New Terms Introduced by Esther (proposed for translation memory addition)

#	Term	Hebrew	Transliteration	Literal Meaning	Portuguese Rendering	Doctrine	Risk	Rationale
1	hidden providence / “who knows”	מִי יוֹדֵעַ	mi yode’a	”Who knows?” — idiom of humble confidence in unseen divine purpose	quem sabe	Hidden Providence of God	Critical	The book’s central providence-idiom. Elevated to Critical (above the baseline’s High-risk “providência” entry) because Esther’s total silence about God’s name means this idiom, more than any other in the book, carries the entire weight of the doctrine — and because Brazilian colloquial “quem sabe”/“sabe-se lá” carries live fatalistic/impersonal-fate connotations (reinforced by Kardecist “lei de causa e efeito” and Afro-Brazilian divinatory practice) that must be explicitly overridden by teaching material anchoring the phrase to a personal God’s undisclosed plan.
2	relief and deliverance	רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה	revach vehatzalah	breathing-space/relief and rescue/deliverance	alívio e livramento	Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation	Critical	Certain divine rescue asserted with an unnamed agent (4:14). Must not be rendered “salvação” (reserved for baseline’s NT soteriological term) nor read as impersonal fated outcome; requires mandatory teaching note at every occurrence.
3	annihilation decree (triple verb)	לְהַשְׁמִיד וְלַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד	leha’shmid ulaharog ul’abbed	to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish	destruir, matar e aniquilar	Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation	Critical	Genocidal decree against an entire people (3:13); all three verbs must be preserved, never collapsed to one, to protect the full stakes underlying the deliverance doctrine.
4	if I perish, I perish	וְכַאֲשֶׁר אֹבַד אֹבָדְתִּי	vekha’asher avad avadti	and as/if I perish, I will have perished	e se eu perecer, perecerei	Courage and Risk for God’s People	High	Signature courage-verse; lexically linked (root אבד) to the annihilation decree itself (#3). Must be taught as resolved courage grounded in duty and hope, not stoic fatalism or karmic resignation.
5	reversal / turned to the contrary	נֶהְפַּךְ / הָפַךְ	nehpakh / haphakh	turned over, overturned, inverted	reviravolta (n.); inverter-se, transformar-se no contrário (v.)	Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation	High	The book’s structural keyword (8:1-17, 9:1,22); Portuguese “reviravolta” carries secular luck/fate connotations that must be explicitly anchored to God’s hidden hand rather than chance, especially given Brazil’s live fortune-telling/fatalistic idiom culture.
6	lot(s) / Purim	פּוּר / פּוּרִים	pur / Purim	a lot (small object cast for chance-decision) → the festival named for it	sorte (common noun) / Purim (transliterated proper noun)	Hidden Providence; Reversal as Pattern of Salvation	High	Haman’s pagan chance-divination (3:7) is, without his knowledge, subject to God’s precise providence; must never be taught as endorsing lot-casting/divination as spiritually valid — a live risk given Afro-Brazilian and folk-Catholic divinatory practices (e.g., jogo de búzios, cartomancy). The festival name itself is transliterated, never translated.
7	favor (human/court)	חֵן / חֶסֶד	chen / chesed	attractiveness/goodwill granted by a superior; loyal kindness	favor	(Contrast term; not itself a named curriculum doctrine, but essential guardrail for “Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture” and to protect baseline “graça”)	High	Distinct from baseline’s Critical/High “graça” (unmerited divine salvific favor). Some Portuguese Bible traditions render Esther’s court favor with “graça,” creating direct collision risk; this curriculum mandates “favor” instead.
8	decree / royal law	דָּת	dat	Persian royal statute/decree	decreto (do rei)	Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture	Medium	Distinct referent from Mosaic “lei” in the baseline; requires contextual qualification wherever “lei” might otherwise be used bare.
9	fasting	צוּם	tsum	to abstain from food as urgent petition/mourning	jejuar / jejum	Courage and Risk for God’s People; Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture	Low	Standard term across Portuguese Bible tradition; catechetical risk only (text itself never states the fast’s addressee — teaching material should supply what the narrative implies).
10	sackcloth and ashes	שַׂק וָאֵפֶר	saq va’efer	coarse mourning garment and ashes	pano de saco e cinza	Courage and Risk for God’s People	Low	Standard OT mourning-custom vocabulary.
11	mourning	אֵבֶל	evel	corporate/ritual grief	luto	Courage and Risk for God’s People	Low	Standard term.
12	Jew(s)	יְהוּדִי / יְהוּדִים	Yehudi / Yehudim	member(s) of the covenant people, ethnic-religious identity marker	judeu / judeus	Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture; Deliverance from Annihilation	Medium	Requires sensitivity to avoid supersessionist framing; treat as baseline’s “israel” entry treats ethnic-covenantal identity — historically real, not merely literary.
13	Agagite (lineage of Haman)	אֲגָגִי	Agagi	descendant of Agag, king of Amalek	agagita	Deliverance from Annihilation	Medium	Requires OT background note (1 Samuel 15) to convey that the annihilation plot resumes Israel’s ancient covenant enmity with Amalek, not a random court intrigue.
14	bow down / do homage	כָּרַע וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוָה	kara’ vehishtachavah	to bow, prostrate oneself (ranges from court obeisance to worship)	inclinar-se, prostrar-se	Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture	Medium	Mordecai’s refusal (3:2-5) is the chapter’s clearest instance of principled non-conformity under foreign power; avoid over-specifying motive beyond the text.
15	soul / self	נֶפֶשׁ	nefesh	one’s whole life/self, not a Platonic disembodied soul	(idiomatic: “tu mesma,” not literal “alma”)	Courage and Risk for God’s People	Medium	Literal “alma” risks importing later body-soul dualism into a Hebrew self-referential idiom (4:13).
16	gallows / tree	עֵץ	ets	wooden pole/gallows for execution	forca	Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation	Medium	Same instrument built for the innocent (ch. 5) executes the guilty (ch. 7) — keep one consistent Portuguese term across both chapters so the reversal is lexically visible.
17	honor	כָּבוֹד / יְקָר	kavod / yeqar	weight, worth, esteem; human honor in Esther 6, distinct from divine “glória” elsewhere in OT/NT	honra	(Guardrail term for baseline “glória”)	Medium	Prevent default substitution of “glória” merely by lexical association with the wider Hebrew root; human court honor only in this context.
18	vengeance / self-defense	(implied; cf. 8:11, 9:1-16)	—	authorized defensive action against an existing lethal decree, explicitly without plunder	autodefesa (not “vingança” unqualified)	Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation	High	Must be framed as bounded, authorized self-defense against a still-standing annihilation order, not indiscriminate reprisal; mishandling risks either excusing violence or minimizing the real threat of annihilation.
19	Purim customs: portions / gifts to the poor	מָנוֹת / מַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים	manot / matanot la’evyonim	food portions sent to friends / gifts given to the poor	porções / presentes aos pobres	Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation	Low-Medium	Instituted, repeatable communal memorial customs; teach as typological pattern of deliverance, not mere folklore.
20	royal kingdom (Persian, contrast term)	מַלְכוּת	malkut	Ahasuerus’s political dominion	reino / realeza	(Guardrail term for baseline “reino de Deus”)	Medium	Keep referent distinct from baseline’s “reino de Deus”; never combine as “reino de Deus” in Esther contexts.
21	Providence (doctrinal category name, elevated)	—	—	God’s personal, purposive, but textually unstated governance	a providência oculta de Deus	Hidden Providence of God	Critical	Elevates baseline’s High-risk “providência” to Critical status specifically for this curriculum: Esther is the one book where the doctrine must be taught entirely from inference, making the Kardecist “lei de causa e efeito” misreading (already flagged High in baseline) especially live and requiring Critical-tier (mandatory theologian) review at every occurrence in teaching material.

Proper Names (established Portuguese Bible forms — reuse exactly)

English	Hebrew	Portuguese
Ahasuerus	אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ	Assuero
Esther	אֶסְתֵּר	Ester
Hadassah (Esther’s Hebrew name)	הֲדַסָּה	Hadassa
Mordecai	מָרְדֳּכַי	Mardoqueu
Haman	הָמָן	Hamã
Vashti	וַשְׁתִּי	Vasti
Susa	שׁוּשַׁן	Susã
Hathach	הֲתָךְ	Hataque
Zeresh	זֶרֶש	Zeres
Purim (feast)	פּוּרִים	Purim

Note on “Esther/Hadassah” name symbolism: Esther’s Persian court name is widely connected by scholars either to the Persian stara (“star”) or to the Hebrew root סתר (seter, “hidden, concealed”) — a plausible wordplay directly reinforcing the doctrine “The Hidden Providence of God,” even though it cannot be lexically proven from the text alone. Risk: Medium. Teaching material may note this connection as a homiletical observation but must clearly label it as traditional/etymological speculation, not certain grammatical fact, to maintain translation integrity.

Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference

Doctrine	Primary Terms (# above)
The Hidden Providence of God	#1 (quem sabe), #6 (sorte/Purim), #21 (providência oculta)
Courage and Risk for God’s People	#4 (se eu perecer), #9 (jejum), #10 (saco e cinza), #11 (luto), #15 (nefesh/self)
Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation	#2 (alívio e livramento), #3 (destruir/matar/aniquilar), #13 (agagita), #18 (autodefesa)
Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation	#5 (reviravolta), #6 (sorte/Purim), #16 (forca), #19 (porções/presentes)
Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture	#7 (favor), #8 (decreto), #12 (judeus), #14 (inclinar-se/prostrar-se), #20 (reino/realeza)

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This glossary extends, and does not contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json. All “Reused Terms” entries carry forward their baseline risk tier and exact Portuguese rendering. All “New Terms” are proposed for formal addition to translation memory at Phase 2 onset, with Critical/High entries routed to mandatory human theologian review per the baseline’s doctrine_risk_registry.json review-routing convention. See 07_semantic_analysis.md for full verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter analysis supporting every entry above.

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Critical Risk Terms

Salvation

Approved rendering: salvação
Transliteration: sōtēria
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: evolução espiritual através de reencarnações sucessivas
Original: (theological category; cf. הַצָּלָה, hatzalah)
Category: Deliverance

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Baseline sense: reconciliation with God through Christ’s death and resurrection, the single highest-risk term in the Romans package given Kardecism’s scale in Brazil. In Esther, ‘salvação’ must be reserved EXCLUSIVELY for explicit typological/NT-pattern teaching statements that connect Esther’s deliverance to the New Testament pattern of salvation; it must never be used to render Esther’s own הַצָּלָה (hatzalah, ‘deliverance’) directly — see new term ‘relief_and_deliverance’ below, rendered ‘livramento’.

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God

Approved rendering: Deus
Transliteration: theos / Elohim / YHWH
Doctrine: Deity of Christ

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Standard, unambiguous term for the one true, personal, triune God. Governing fact for the whole Esther curriculum: the Hebrew text of Esther never names God explicitly (the only book in the Protestant canon of which this is true) — every occurrence of unstated divine action in teaching material must still be explicitly attributed to ‘Deus’, never left as an unattributed ‘coincidence,’ ‘sorte,’ or impersonal cause, to prevent Kardecist or Afro-Brazilian syncretic readings of the narrative’s silences.

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Hidden Providence Of God

Approved rendering: a providência oculta de Deus
Transliteration: — (no single Hebrew lexeme; cf. מִי יוֹדֵעַ, הִגַּעַתְּ)
Doctrine: The Hidden Providence of God
Rejected alternatives: lei de causa e efeito espírita, destino/acaso impessoal, orixás ou guias espirituais agindo nos bastidores

NEW TERM. Elevates baseline ‘providência’ (High) to Critical specifically for this curriculum, because Esther’s Hebrew text never names God, leaving every claim of divine action entirely inferential (coincidences, timing, reversals). Brazil’s mainstream Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito’ and Afro-Brazilian divinatory frameworks are uniquely positioned to fill this textual silence with an impersonal or non-Christian causal agent. Every occurrence in teaching material must explicitly supply what the text implies: the personal God of Israel as the unnamed actor. Primary passages: Esther 2:21-23; 4:14; 6:1-14; 9:1.

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Who Knows Idiom

Approved rendering: quem sabe
Transliteration: mi yode’a
Doctrine: The “Who Knows?” Idiom of Providence
Rejected alternatives: sabe-se lá (fatalistic filler), talvez o destino queira (fate-language)
Original: מִי יוֹדֵעַ
Category: Providence

NEW TERM. Esther 4:14’s idiom of humble confidence in an unseen divine purpose, pairing certainty about the outcome with humility about the human role. Brazilian colloquial ‘quem sabe’/‘sabe-se lá’ functions as a fatalistic filler implying impersonal fate or undetermined cosmic outcome. This is the single most theologically loaded idiom in the book precisely because God’s name is never stated to anchor it. Mandatory theologian-reviewed teaching commentary at every occurrence.

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Relief And Deliverance

Approved rendering: alívio e livramento
Transliteration: revach vehatzalah
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: salvação (reserved for baseline NT soteriological term), resultado inevitável de causa e efeito
Original: רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה
Category: Deliverance

NEW TERM. Esther 4:14: certain deliverance for the Jews asserted regardless of Esther’s personal choice, with an agent deliberately left unnamed. Must be rendered ‘alívio e livramento,’ never ‘salvação’ (see baseline ‘salvation’ entry above). Every occurrence requires a mandatory teaching note making explicit that this is personal divine rescue, not an impersonal ‘lei de causa e efeito’ or karma-like automatic outcome.

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Annihilation Decree

Approved rendering: destruir, matar e aniquilar
Transliteration: leha’shmid ulaharog ul’abbed
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: exterminar (single collapsed verb), eliminar (single collapsed verb, softened register)
Original: לְהַשְׁמִיד וְלַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד
Category: Deliverance

NEW TERM. The triple-verb formula of Haman’s genocidal decree (Esther 3:13) against the entire Jewish people, including women and children. All three verbs must be preserved intact; never collapsed to one or two verbs, which would blunt the decree’s totality and understate the real historical stakes underlying the deliverance doctrine.

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High Risk Terms

Grace

Approved rendering: graça
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: mérito espiritual acumulado ao longo de vidas sucessivas
Original: חֵן / חֶסֶד
Category: Faithfulness

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Baseline sense: unmerited divine favor received by faith (Romans 3:24 etc.). In Esther, this baseline term and rendering are the guardrail ‘graça’ must never be applied to Esther’s court favor (חֵן/חֶסֶד, chen/chesed) — see new term ‘court_favor’ below, rendered ‘favor’. Reusing ‘graça’ for Esther 2:9, 2:15, 2:17, 5:2, 5:8 would collide directly with this Critical/High-risk baseline soteriological term.

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Law

Approved rendering: lei
Transliteration: nomos
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: דָּת (Persian decree, distinct from נֹמוֹς/Torah)
Category: Faithfulness

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Baseline sense: the Mosaic Law/Torah, to be distinguished from any dharma-like cosmic order or Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito’. In Esther, bare unqualified ‘lei’ must never be used for Persian דָּת (dat), an entirely different legal referent — see new term ‘royal_decree’ below, rendered ‘decreto (do rei)’.

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Calling

Approved rendering: chamado
Transliteration: klēsis
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: vocação (narrow sense of a call to priesthood or religious life)
Original: קרא
Category: Providence

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Baseline sense: God’s universal effectual call to every believer. In Esther, ‘chamado/chamada’ may be used ONLY for the ordinary court-summons sense of קרא (qara) at 4:11 (‘não fui chamada’). It must NEVER be used for 4:14’s הִגַּעַתְּ (higga’at, ‘you have attained/arrived’), a different Hebrew root describing providential positioning, not a direct divine summons — see new term ‘providential_positioning’ below.

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Providence

Approved rendering: providência
Transliteration: pronoia
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: lei de causa e efeito espírita (regência cármica das reencarnações)
Original: (theological category; cf. מִי יוֹדֵעַ, הִגַּעַתְּ — no single Hebrew lexeme; the name יהוה never appears in Esther)
Category: Providence

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly at its baseline High risk tier. Baseline sense: God’s personal, purposive governance, distinguished from Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito’. This curriculum ELEVATES the underlying doctrine to Critical specifically for Esther via the new term ‘hidden_providence_of_god’ below, because Esther’s Hebrew text never names God at all, removing the explicit anchor Romans 8:28 provides. The base term ‘providência’ itself remains recorded here at its inherited baseline tier; use the elevated new entry for doctrine-level risk routing.

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Providential Positioning

Approved rendering: chegaste / alcançaste (a posição real)
Transliteration: higga’at
Doctrine: Providential Positioning Distinguished from Direct Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: foste chamada (imports ‘calling’ vocabulary the Hebrew does not use here)
Original: נגע (higga’at, “you have attained/arrived”)
Category: Providence

NEW TERM. Esther 4:14’s higga’at (‘you have attained/arrived’, root נגע) is a distinct Hebrew verb from 4:11’s קרא (‘called/summoned’). Popular devotional paraphrase (‘you have been called for such a time as this’) collapses these into a single ‘calling’ theme. Must NEVER be rendered with ‘chamado’ (see baseline ‘calling’ entry above) — doing so would over-claim an explicit divine summons the text deliberately withholds, undermining the book’s carefully maintained hiddenness of God’s hand.

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If I Perish I Perish

Approved rendering: e se eu perecer, perecerei
Transliteration: vekha’asher avad avadti
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Rejected alternatives: aceitação do destino (fatalistic acceptance of fate/karma), resignação estoica
Original: וְכַאֲשֶׁר אֹבַד אֹבָדְתִּי
Category: Courage

NEW TERM. Esther’s signature courage-verse (4:16), lexically reusing the root אבד from the annihilation decree itself (3:13) and applying it to her own personal risk. Must be taught as resolved courage grounded in duty and hoped-for providence, not stoic resignation or Kardecist-adjacent fatalistic acceptance of destiny. Fixed phrase for cross-document consistency.

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Reversal

Approved rendering: reviravolta / inverter-se
Transliteration: nehpakh / haphakh
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: virada de sorte (secular luck idiom), reviravolta do destino (fatalistic idiom)
Original: נֶהְפַּךְ / הָפַךְ
Category: Reversal

NEW TERM. The book’s structural keyword (Esther 8:1-17; 9:1, 22), naming the whole-book pattern of mourning turned to joy without ever assigning an explicit agent. Portuguese ‘reviravolta’ carries secular luck/plot-twist connotations that must be explicitly and repeatedly anchored to God’s hidden hand. STRUCTURAL RULE: must never appear unpaired with ‘providência’ or explicit divine-subject language in teaching material.

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Lot Purim

Approved rendering: sorte / Purim
Transliteration: pur / goral / Purim
Doctrine: Hidden Providence of God; Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: sortes (mistranslation of the proper noun ‘Purim’ as a common noun)
Original: פּוּר / גּוֹרָל / פּוּרִים
Category: Providence

NEW TERM. Common noun ‘sorte’ for the lot Haman casts (3:7) to fix the destruction date; the plural ‘Purim’ is the transliterated proper noun for the festival (9:24-26), never translated. In Brazil, lot-casting resembles live divinatory customs (jogo de búzios, cartomancy); teaching material must never suggest the text endorses lot-casting as legitimate guidance — it dramatically overturns pagan chance into an instrument of God’s precise providence.

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Court Favor

Approved rendering: favor
Transliteration: chen / chesed
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture (guardrail for baseline Grace)
Rejected alternatives: graça (collides directly with baseline’s Critical/High soteriological term)
Original: חֵן / חֶסֶד
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. Human, court-political favor/goodwill granted by Ahasuerus and his officials toward Esther based on beauty and conduct (2:9, 2:15, 2:17, 5:2, 5:8) — not unmerited divine salvific favor. Some established Portuguese Bible traditions render this chen with ‘graça,’ creating direct collision risk with baseline’s ‘grace’ entry above. This curriculum mandates ‘favor’ at every occurrence, with no exceptions.

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Self Defense

Approved rendering: autodefesa
Transliteration: — (implied; cf. 8:11, 9:1-16)
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: vingança (unqualified, risks excusing indiscriminate violence or minimizing the annihilation threat)
Original: (implied; cf. 8:11, 9:1-16 — no single Hebrew technical term for ‘self-defense’ as such)
Category: Deliverance

NEW TERM. The Jews’ defensive killing of their attackers (9:1-16), explicitly authorized by the king’s counter-decree (8:11), bounded to appointed days, and explicitly without plunder (9:10, 15-16), against a still-standing annihilation order never formally rescinded. Must be framed as bounded, authorized self-defense, not indiscriminate reprisal.

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Medium Risk Terms

Glory

Approved rendering: glória
Transliteration: doxa
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: כָּבוֹד (divine sense elsewhere in OT/NT, distinct from Esther 6’s human sense)
Category: Faithfulness

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Baseline sense: God’s radiant honor and presence. In Esther 6, כָּבוֹד/יְקָר (kavod/yeqar) denotes purely human court honor bestowed on Mordecai and must never be rendered ‘glória’ — see new term ‘honor’ below, rendered ‘honra’.

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Kingdom Of God

Approved rendering: reino de Deus
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: מַלְכוּת (Persian political kingdom, distinct referent)
Category: Faithfulness

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Baseline sense: God’s sovereign reign, not a political state. In Esther, Ahasuerus’s מַלְכוּת (malkut) is a this-worldly Persian political dominion and must never be combined as ‘reino de Deus’ — see new term ‘persian_royal_kingdom’ below, rendered ‘reino/realeza’.

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Royal Decree

Approved rendering: decreto (do rei)
Transliteration: dat
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture (guardrail for baseline Law)
Rejected alternatives: lei (bare/unqualified, imports Mosaic-Torah associations)
Original: דָּת
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. A fixed Persian royal statute or edict (1:8-19; 3:8-15; 4:11, 16; 8:8), distinct from Mosaic Torah. Never render bare, unqualified ‘lei’; use ‘decreto (do rei)’ with a contextual gloss at first occurrence so readers do not import the baseline’s Mosaic-Law framework into an unrelated Persian court-legal narrative.

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Jews

Approved rendering: judeu / judeus
Transliteration: Yehudi / Yehudim
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture; Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Original: יְהוּדִי / יְהוּדִים
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. Ethnic-religious identity marker for the threatened and vindicated people throughout Esther, first at 2:5 (Mordecai). Handle with the same sensitivity the baseline’s ‘israel’ entry requires: a real historical ethnic-covenant people, not merely a literary category; avoid any supersessionist framing.

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Agagite

Approved rendering: agagita
Transliteration: Agagi
Doctrine: Deliverance of God’s People from Annihilation
Rejected alternatives: descendente de Amaleque (loses the proper-noun lineage marker)
Original: אֲגָגִי
Category: Deliverance

NEW TERM. Haman’s stated lineage (3:1), tying the annihilation plot to Israel’s ancient covenant enmity with Amalek (1 Samuel 15). Requires an explanatory teaching note for readers without Old Testament background; without it, the threat’s depth and the reversal’s poetic justice (chs. 6-9) are lost.

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Bow Down Homage

Approved rendering: inclinar-se / prostrar-se
Transliteration: kara’ vehishtachavah
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Original: כָּרַע וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. The act Mordecai refuses Haman (3:2, 3:5), ranging in Hebrew usage from ordinary court obeisance to full religious worship. Teaching material should avoid over-specifying Mordecai’s exact motive beyond what the text states.

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Soul Self

Approved rendering: (idiomático: tu mesma; NÃO “alma”)
Transliteration: nefesh
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Rejected alternatives: alma (imports later Greek/Catholic body-soul dualism absent from the Hebrew idiom)
Original: נֶפֶשׁ
Category: Courage

NEW TERM. Mordecai’s warning against false personal exemption (4:13, ‘do not imagine to yourself’). Nefesh here means one’s whole self/life, not a disembodied Platonic soul. Render idiomatically; never with a literal noun equivalent.

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Gallows

Approved rendering: forca
Transliteration: ets
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: patíbulo (acceptable but must not be mixed with ‘forca’ mid-text)
Original: עֵץ
Category: Reversal

NEW TERM. The instrument Haman builds for Mordecai (5:14) but on which he himself is hanged (7:9-10). Use ONE consistent Portuguese term across chapters 5 and 7 (‘forca’) so the reversal remains lexically visible to the reader, not merely inferred.

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Honor

Approved rendering: honra
Transliteration: kavod / yeqar
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation (guardrail for baseline Glory)
Rejected alternatives: glória (shares Hebrew root with divine glory but denotes purely human honor here)
Original: כָּבוֹד / יְקָר
Category: Reversal

NEW TERM. The honor Haman is forced to bestow publicly on Mordecai (6:3, 6:6-11). Shares the Hebrew root כבוד with divine glory elsewhere in the OT, but denotes purely human court honor here. Render ‘honra,’ never ‘glória’ (see baseline ‘glory’ entry above).

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Persian Royal Kingdom

Approved rendering: reino / realeza
Transliteration: malkut
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture (guardrail for baseline Kingdom of God)
Rejected alternatives: reino de Deus (must remain reserved for the baseline’s distinct theological referent)
Original: מַלְכוּת
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. Ahasuerus’s vast, opulent, this-worldly political dominion (1:4, 4:14, etc.), a deliberate narrative foil to God’s unstated sovereignty. Never combined as ‘reino de Deus’ (see baseline ‘kingdom_of_god’ entry above).

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Esther Name Symbolism

Approved rendering: Ester / Hadassa
Transliteration: Ester / Hadassah; possible link to Hebrew סתר, seter, “hidden”
Doctrine: Hidden Providence of God
Original: אֶסְתֵּר (Ester) / הֲדַסָּה (Hadassa); possible link to Hebrew סתר, seter, “hidden”
Category: Providence

NEW TERM (proper names, never translated). Esther’s possible etymological connection to Hebrew ‘seter’ (‘hidden’) may be noted homiletically as reinforcing the hidden-providence theme, but must be clearly labeled as traditional/etymological speculation, not certain grammatical fact.

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Low Risk Terms

Israel

Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Yisra’el
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles

INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE, copied exactly. Standard proper name for the covenant people. In Esther, the specific ethnic-identity term used throughout the narrative is יְהוּדִים (Yehudim, ‘Jews’) — see new term ‘jews’ below, rendered ‘judeu/judeus’ — a distinct but related referent to be handled with the same non-supersessionist sensitivity as this baseline entry.

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Fasting

Approved rendering: jejuar / jejum
Transliteration: tsum
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Original: צוּם
Category: Courage

NEW TERM. To abstain from food as urgent petition and mourning (4:16). Standard term across Portuguese Bible tradition. The Hebrew text never explicitly directs the fast ‘to God’ — teaching material must supply this implication without over-correcting the text’s own reticence.

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Sackcloth And Ashes

Approved rendering: pano de saco e cinza
Transliteration: saq va’efer
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Original: שַׂק וָאֵפֶר
Category: Courage

NEW TERM. Mordecai’s public mourning garb (4:1), standard OT mourning-custom vocabulary, well attested in the Portuguese Bible tradition.

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Mourning

Approved rendering: luto
Transliteration: evel
Doctrine: Courage and Risk for God’s People
Original: אֵבֶל
Category: Courage

NEW TERM. Corporate/ritual grief practiced among the Jews throughout the Persian provinces (4:3). Standard term; no significant doctrinal risk.

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Purim Customs

Approved rendering: porções / presentes aos pobres
Transliteration: manot / matanot la’evyonim
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Original: מָנוֹת / מַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים
Category: Reversal

NEW TERM. Instituted, repeatable communal customs (food portions and gifts to the poor, 9:19, 22) memorializing the deliverance. Teach as typological/memorial pattern, not mere folklore.

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Signet Ring

Approved rendering: anel / selo do rei
Transliteration: tabba’at hamelekh
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Original: טַבַּעַת הַמֶּלֶךְ
Category: Reversal

NEW TERM. The instrument of delegated royal authority, transferred first to Haman (3:10) then to Mordecai (8:2); note the reversal of who holds it as a visible marker of the Reversal doctrine.

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Scepter

Approved rendering: cetro de ouro
Transliteration: sharbit hazahav
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Original: שַׁרְבִיט הַזָּהָב
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. The golden scepter extended as a pardon signal permitting an uninvited approach (4:11, 5:2). Standard cultural/court detail.

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Banquet

Approved rendering: banquete / festim
Transliteration: mishteh
Doctrine: Faithfulness in a Foreign Culture
Original: מִשְׁתֶּה
Category: Faithfulness

NEW TERM. The book is structurally organized around a series of banquets marking both danger (ch. 1) and reversal/deliverance (chs. 5, 7, 9). Standard rendering, no doctrinal collision.

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Chronicles Record

Approved rendering: livro das crônicas
Transliteration: sefer divrei hayamim
Doctrine: Hidden Providence of God
Original: סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים
Category: Providence

NEW TERM. The record book (6:1) whose reading at just the right moment triggers Mordecai’s unexpected honor — the theological weight lies in the narrative timing, not the lexical item itself.

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Light And Gladness

Approved rendering: luz e alegria
Transliteration: orah vesimchah
Doctrine: Reversal (Purim) as a Pattern of Salvation
Original: אוֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה
Category: Reversal

NEW TERM. Describes the Jews’ relief at the reversal of their fortunes (8:16). Standard celebratory vocabulary, no doctrinal collision.