Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Judges (English → Portuguese)
A. Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline (no change permitted)
| English term | Portuguese rendering | Risk (baseline) | Doctrine link in Judges | Primary Judges passages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| covenant | aliança | High | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 2:1, 20; 8:33 (Baal-Berith) |
| grace / favor | graça | High | God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 6:17 |
| holy spirit (conceptual continuity; see new entry “spirit_of_the_lord” below for the OT-specific form) | Espírito Santo (NT form); see below for OT “Espírito do SENHOR” | Critical | The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges | — |
| lord (of God/Christ; conceptual continuity for “the LORD” = YHWH) | Senhor / SENHOR (small caps for the Tetragrammaton per Almeida convention) | Critical | God’s judicial and delivering authority throughout | Throughout |
| holy / saints (conceptual continuity for consecration vocabulary) | santo / santos | High/Critical | background for Nazirite consecration (13, distinct institution) | 13:5, 7 |
| law | lei | High | background for “commandments of the LORD” (2:17) | 2:17 |
| sin | pecado | Medium | background for “did evil” formula | 2:11; 3:7, 12; etc. |
| election / calling (conceptual continuity for divine raising-up of leaders) | eleição / chamado | High | background for judges being “raised up” by God | 2:16, 18 |
B. New Terms Introduced by Judges (to be added to translation_memory.json)
| English term | Hebrew (translit.) | Portuguese rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Primary passages | Alternatives rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit of the LORD | רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruach YHWH) | Espírito do SENHOR | Critical | The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges | 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14 | ”força espiritual impessoal”; “energia divina” | The OT-form counterpart to the baseline’s “Espírito Santo.” Must be taught as the same personal, sovereign, holy third Person of the Trinity. The surface phenomenon of a spirit “coming upon,” “clothing,” or “rushing upon” a person for sudden empowerment closely resembles descriptions of incorporação (spirit possession/channeling of orixás) in Candomblé/Umbanda and of mediumship trance in Kardecism — a distinctly Brazilian collision risk sharper than anything the Romans baseline anticipated for “holy_spirit,” since Judges narrates the phenomenon repeatedly and dramatically (esp. Samson). Every occurrence requires an explicit teaching note: this is the one sovereign God acting by his own initiative on a person he has chosen, not a spirit summoned, channeled, or incorporated through human ritual. |
| judge (office) | שֹׁפֵט / שֹׁפְטִים (shophet / shophtim) | juiz / juízes | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance; God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 2:16-19; chs. 3-16 passim | ”governador”; “líder militar” | Not a modern courtroom magistrate but a temporary, Spirit-raised deliverer-leader. Teaching note required to prevent readers from importing a purely juridical modern sense. |
| raised up (of God appointing a judge) | הֵקִים (heqim) | suscitou | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:16, 18; 3:9, 15 | ”ressurgiu”; “reapareceu” | Must not carry any suggestion of a recurring or reincarnated figure “resurfacing” across lifetimes; each judge is a distinct individual, sovereignly and singly appointed. Guard against incidental Kardecist reincarnation resonance in the “raising up” language. |
| saved / delivered (human, temporal deliverance by a judge) | יָשַׁע / הוֹשִׁיעַ (yasha / hoshia) | livrou / libertou (NOT “salvou/salvação” — reserved for the baseline’s fixed soteriological sense) | Critical (translation-memory decision) | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:16, 18; 3:9, 31; 6:14-15; etc. | ”salvou” (rejected as primary rendering to protect the baseline’s Critical “salvação” entry from dilution) | Distinguishes temporal, this-worldly military/political rescue from the baseline’s Critical eschatological “salvação.” Preserves the typological line (temporal livramento by flawed judges → ultimate salvação in Christ) without collapsing the two. A teaching note stating this distinction explicitly should accompany the first occurrence in any lesson. |
| deliverer (human judge in this role) | מוֹשִׁיעַ (moshia) | libertador (NOT “Salvador”) | Critical (translation-memory decision) | God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 3:9, 15 | ”Salvador” (rejected — reserved exclusively for God/Christ) | Ensures no human judge is linguistically equated with the divine Savior. Central guardrail for the doctrine that God’s deliverers are themselves flawed and unworthy of the title reserved for Christ. |
| did what was evil in the sight of the LORD (fixed cyclical formula) | עָשָׂה הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה (asah hara be’einei YHWH) | fizeram o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR | Critical | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance; Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1 | any paraphrase varying the verb or omitting “aos olhos do SENHOR” | Must be rendered identically at every occurrence (translation-memory fixed formula) so its ironic mirror-phrase (below) is recognizable. |
| everyone did what was right in his own eyes (closing refrain) | אִישׁ הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו יַעֲשֶׂה (ish hayashar be’einav ya’aseh) | cada um fazia o que era certo aos seus próprios olhos | Critical | The Absence of a Righteous King; Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King | 17:6; 21:25 | ”cada um fazia o que bem queria” (loses the “olhos” mirror-image with 2:11) | Deliberate structural/ironic mirror of “fizeram o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR.” Must be fixed identically at both occurrences and kept visibly parallel in Portuguese to the core-passage formula. |
| there was no king in Israel | וּמֶלֶךְ אֵין בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל (u-melekh ein be-Yisra’el) | não havia rei em Israel | Critical | The Absence of a Righteous King | 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25 | ”Israel não tinha rei” (acceptable meaning but breaks fixed-formula consistency; rejected in favor of the fixed form) | Fixed refrain; must be rendered identically at all four occurrences. |
| king | מֶלֶךְ (melek) | rei | High | The Absence of a Righteous King; Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King | 8:22-23; 9:6ff.; 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25 | — | Standard term, but doctrinally weighted: Gideon’s refusal (8:23, “the LORD will rule over you”) and Abimelech’s illegitimate seizure (ch. 9) together frame kingship as good only when divinely given and righteous — preparing the canonical line to David and, ultimately, Christ (cf. baseline “lord,” “son_of_god,” both Critical). |
| covenant unfaithfulness / whored after other gods | זָנָה (zanah) | se prostituíram após | High | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 2:17; 8:27, 33 | ”seguiram” (rejected — too weak, loses covenant-adultery metaphor) | Graphic covenant-adultery metaphor; requires a teaching note that this names relational/spiritual betrayal, not merely sexual behavior. |
| Angel of the LORD | מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה (malakh YHWH) | o Anjo do SENHOR | Critical | background to Apostasy/Covenant Unfaithfulness and to Spirit’s Empowering narratives | 2:1-5; 6:11-24; 13:3-21 | ”um anjo do Senhor” (lowercase/indefinite — rejected, loses the theophanic reading) | Likely a theophany (God’s own appearing), not an ordinary created angel. Must be distinguished from Catholic “anjo da guarda” devotion, Kardecist “espíritos guias/mentores espirituais,” and Candomblé/Umbanda spirit-messenger figures. |
| Baal / the Baals | בַּעַל / בְּעָלִים (Ba’al / Ba’alim) | Baal / Baalins | Medium-High | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 2:11, 13; 3:7; 6:25-32; 8:33; 10:6 | ”espíritos da natureza” (rejected — would legitimize as a benign nature-spirit category) | Historical, false, condemned Canaanite deity; flag possible functional-parallel association with nature/fertility entidades in Candomblé/Umbanda for teaching purposes, but do not treat as a comparable legitimate spiritual path. |
| Ashtaroth | עַשְׁתָּרוֹת (Ashtaroth) | Astarotes | Medium | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 2:13; 10:6 | — | Paired with Baal as shorthand for the Canaanite pantheon; same syncretism-clarification note as Baal. |
| Baal-Berith | בַּעַל בְּרִית (Ba’al-berith) | Baal-Berite | High | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 8:33; 9:4 | leaving untranslated without explanation (rejected — the irony of “berith/aliança” hijacked for a false god would be lost) | The name co-opts the Hebrew word for “covenant” (same root as “aliança,” the baseline’s fixed High-risk term) for a false deity; the irony must be explained, not silently transliterated. |
| vow | נֶדֶר (neder) | voto | High | God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers; Moral Decline | 11:30-31, 34-40; 21:1, 7, 18 | — | High pastoral-application risk given the prevalence of “fazer/pagar uma promessa” devotional vow-practice in Brazilian folk Catholicism; Jephthah’s vow must be taught as a tragic error, not a devotional model. |
| Nazirite | נָזִיר (nazir) | nazireu | High | The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges; God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 13:5, 7; 16:17 | ”monge”; “religioso consagrado” (rejected — imports later monastic categories) | Distinguish from Catholic-culture “vida consagrada”/monastic vow categories, paralleling the baseline’s “calling”/“vocação” caution. A specific, voluntary OT institution, not a template for a specially holy class distinct from the calling of every believer. |
| ephod (illegitimate cultic object) | אֵפוֹד (ephod) | éfode | Medium-High | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness; Moral Decline | 8:27; 17:5; 18:14-20 | ”vestimenta sagrada” alone (rejected — obscures that its use here is illegitimate) | Legitimate priestly object turned illegitimate object of veneration; caution against magical/superstitious use of religious objects generally. |
| carved image / molten image | פֶּסֶל / מַסֵּכָה (pesel / massekah) | ídolo de escultura / imagem de fundição | High | Moral Decline; Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 17:3-4; 18:14-20 | ”imagem religiosa” generically (rejected — too broad, risks condemning legitimate Christian iconography by association) | Requires careful framing distinguishing forbidden, fabricated objects of worship from devotional imagery broadly, given Brazilian Catholic and Afro-Brazilian material devotional practice. |
| household idols | תְּרָפִים (teraphim) | ídolos domésticos | Medium-High | Moral Decline | 17:5; 18:14, 17-18, 20 | — | Same pastoral-sensitivity note as pesel/massekah. |
| outrage / disgraceful folly | נְבָלָה (nevalah) | loucura vergonhosa / ato abominável | High | Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King | 19:23-24; 20:6, 10 | ”erro” (rejected — far too weak for the narrator’s explicit moral condemnation) | Retain the narrator’s unambiguous, strong moral verdict. |
| sons of Belial / worthless men | בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל (benei beliyaal) | homens perversos / filhos de Belial | Medium | Moral Decline | 19:22; 20:13 | — | Optional teaching note on later personification as a name for Satan (2 Coríntios 6:15). |
| devoted to destruction / ban | חֵרֶם (cherem) | anátema / destruição total | Medium-High | background (holy-war category applied amid internal conflict) | 21:5, 11 | — | Requires strict narrative contextualization; not a template for present-day application. |
| strength (Samson’s, wrongly attributed to his hair) | כֹּחַ (koach) | força | High | The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges | 16:5-20 | ”poder mágico do cabelo” (rejected as a description of the doctrine — the narrative itself rejects this magical reading) | Guard against magical-object thinking; the true source of Samson’s strength is always the Spirit of the LORD, contingent on covenant faithfulness, not an inherent property of his hair. |
| generation | דּוֹר (dor) | geração | Low | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:10 | — | Standard term. |
| did not know the LORD | יָדַע (yada, negated) | não conheciam o SENHOR | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:10 | ”não tinham ouvido falar do SENHOR” (rejected — reduces to informational ignorance, losing the relational-covenantal sense) | Relational/covenantal knowing, not mere cognitive awareness. |
| the LORD relented / was moved to pity | נִחַם (nicham) | se compadecia | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:18; cf. 10:16 (קָצְרָה נַפְשׁוֹ) | “a lei de causa e efeito se resolveu” or any impersonal-mechanism paraphrase (rejected) | Personal, voluntary divine compassion; explicit guard against a Kardecist “lei de causa e efeito” (karmic-law) reading, paralleling the baseline’s “providence” caution. |
| anger of the LORD (kindled) | חָרָה אַף (charah aph) | a ira do SENHOR se acendeu | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:14, 20; 3:8; 10:7 | — | Personal, covenantal judicial wrath, not an impersonal cosmic reaction. |
| served (the LORD / other gods — pivot verb) | עָבַד (avad) | servir | High | Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness | 2:7, 11, 13, 19 | ”adorar” as an inconsistent substitute in only some occurrences (rejected — the deliberate lexical pivot between “served the LORD” and “served the Baals” must remain visible) | Must be rendered identically whether the object is the LORD or false gods, so the reader sees the direct covenantal contrast the Hebrew text builds. |
| cried out (to the LORD in distress) | זָעַק / צָעַק (za’aq / tsa’aq) | clamaram | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance; God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6-7; 10:10 | — | An appeal of desperate dependence, not a merit-earning formula; deliverance follows grace, not desert. |
| turned back (relapsed into apostasy) | שׁוּב (shuv) | voltavam / tornavam | Medium | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:19 | — | Ironic use of a root elsewhere meaning “repent/return to God”; here denotes relapse into sin — flag the irony in teaching notes. |
| were more corrupt (escalating decline) | שָׁחַת (shachat, hiphil) | se corrompiam | High | Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King | 2:19 | ”pecavam da mesma forma” (rejected — flattens the text’s explicit claim of escalating, generational moral degeneration) | Must carry genuinely comparative, degenerative force across generations. |
| inheritance / take possession | נַחֲלָה / יָרַשׁ (nachalah / yarash) | herança / possuir, tomar posse de | Low | background to covenant land-gift theme | 1:*; 2:6, 9 | — | Standard terms; foreshadow, at a typological level, the believer’s inheritance already fixed in the baseline’s “adoption” entry. |
| drive out (dispossess prior inhabitants) | הוֹרִישׁ (horish, hiphil of yarash) | expulsar / desapossar | High | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance (root cause) | 1:19, 21, 27-33 | ”conquistar” alone (rejected — loses the specific sense of a commanded, willfully incomplete expulsion) | Israel’s incomplete obedience here is the narrative root of the entire cycle that follows. |
| forced labor / tribute | מַס (mas) | trabalhos forçados / tributo | Medium | background | 1:28, 30, 33, 35 | — | Should read as compromise disobedience rather than a pragmatic success. |
| prophetess | נְבִיאָה (nevi’ah) | profetisa | Low | background (Spirit’s empowering not limited by social expectation) | 4:4 | — | Reuses baseline “prophet” concept; no new collision. |
| mighty man of valor | גִּבּוֹר הֶחָיִל (gibbor chayil) | homem valoroso / guerreiro poderoso | Medium | God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 6:12 | — | Ironic title spoken in advance of, not recognition of, Gideon’s courage. |
| sign | אוֹת (oth) | sinal | Low | God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers | 6:17, 36-40 | — | Standard term; God graciously accommodates Gideon’s doubt. |
| rule / reign | מָשַׁל (mashal) | reinar / dominar | High | The Absence of a Righteous King | 8:22-23 | — | Gideon’s refusal of kingship (“the LORD will rule over you”) is a key positive anchor for this doctrine. |
| fable / parable | מָשָׁל (mashal, noun) | fábula/parábola | Medium | The Absence of a Righteous King | 9:7-15 | — | Jotham’s fable satirizes illegitimate self-seized kingship. |
| concubine | פִּילֶגֶשׁ (pilegesh) | concubina | Medium | Moral Decline | 19:1ff. | — | Names a socially vulnerable status; the narrative exposes, rather than endorses, her mistreatment. |
| assembly / congregation | קָהָל (qahal) | assembleia / congregação | Low-Medium | background (national unity misdirected into civil war) | 20:1 | — | Distinguish from NT “igreja” (baseline term). |
| land had rest | שָׁקַט (shaqat) | a terra teve sossego/descanso | Medium | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28 | — | Always temporary/provisional in Judges; contrast with final eschatological rest. |
| distress | צַר (tsar) | angústia / aflição | Low | Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance | 2:15; 10:9 | — | Standard term. |
C. Fixed High-Use Doctrinal Formulas Requiring Verbatim Cross-Document Consistency
Per this Language Package’s consistency rule (modeled on the baseline’s treatment of Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10), the following Judges formulas must be rendered identically in every lesson, translation segment, and cross-reference throughout the curriculum:
| Formula | Fixed Portuguese rendering | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| ”did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” | fizeram o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR | 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1 |
| ”the LORD raised up judges… who saved them” | o SENHOR suscitou juízes… que os livraram | 2:16, 18 |
| ”there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” | não havia rei em Israel; cada um fazia o que era certo aos seus próprios olhos | 17:6; 21:25 (with “não havia rei em Israel” alone also at 18:1; 19:1) |
D. Risk Summary for Judges New Terms
| Risk tier | Count of new Judges-specific entries | Review routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 7 (Spirit of the LORD; saved/delivered-livrar; deliverer-libertador; “did evil” formula; “right in his own eyes” formula; “no king in Israel” formula; Angel of the LORD) | Human theologian |
| High | 14 (judge; raised up; king; zanah/whored after; Baal-Berith; vow; Nazirite; pesel/massekah; nevalah; koach/strength; yada/knew; nicham/relented; charah aph/anger; avad/served; za’aq/cried out; shachat/corrupted; horish/drive out — note: several High-risk items grouped for brevity) | Human theologian |
| Medium-High | 6 (Baal; Ashtaroth; ephod; teraphim; cherem; benei beliyaal) | Human theologian or senior native speaker per routing table below |
| Medium | 8 (mashal-rule as noun/fable; pilegesh; qahal; shaqat; mas; nevi’ah; gibbor chayil; shuv) | Native speaker review |
| Low | 6 (dor; nachalah/yarash; tsar; oth; sign-related minor terms; shibboleth) | Automated review |
Review routing note: All Critical and High risk entries above require the same human theologian review process defined in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json. Medium-High entries (Baal, Ashtaroth, ephod, teraphim, cherem, benei beliyaal) are routed to human theologian review specifically because of their Brazilian syncretism-clarification requirements, even though their lexical ambiguity alone would otherwise suggest Medium risk.
Critical Risk Terms
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Espírito Santo
Transliteration: pneuma hagion
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges
Rejected alternatives: espíritos guias ou mentores espirituais (espiritismo), orixás e guias (Candomblé/Umbanda)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: the NT-form identity referent for the OT ‘Espírito do SENHOR’ (ruach YHWH) — see new entry below. Must be taught as the same personal, sovereign, holy third Person of the Trinity across both Testaments.
Lord
Approved rendering: Senhor
Transliteration: kyrios (NT) / Adonai (OT title) — distinguish from the Tetragrammaton rendering ‘SENHOR’ (small caps) for YHWH
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ / Exclusive Divine Lordship
Rejected alternatives: Senhor apenas em sentido devocional, sem reivindicação de senhorio total
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: ‘Baal’ literally means ‘lord/owner/master’ in Hebrew, creating a direct etymological collision risk with ‘Senhor.’ NEVER gloss or translate ‘Baal’ as ‘senhor’ in running text; when the shared root is explained pedagogically, state explicitly that Scripture reserves capitalized ‘SENHOR’ exclusively for YHWH.
Saints
Approved rendering: santos
Transliteration: hagioi
Doctrine: Sainthood (Called to be Holy)
Rejected alternatives: santos venerados e invocados como intercessores, entidades incorporadas em rituais mediúnicos
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges does not use this corporate term directly, but the word’s Brazilian collision risk (both the baseline’s canonized-saints reading and the Afro-Brazilian incorporated-entity reading — see ‘holy’ entry above) must be held in view whenever any Judges lesson material references NT sainthood alongside OT Spirit-empowerment narratives.
Salvation
Approved rendering: salvação
Transliteration: sōtēria
Doctrine: Temporal Deliverance versus Eternal Salvation
Rejected alternatives: evolução espiritual através de reencarnações sucessivas, livramento militar/político temporal (usage reserved for a distinct new entry, see ‘delivered_temporal’)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged, and actively PROTECTED by this curriculum: Judges’ many this-worldly military/political rescues (yasha/hoshia) must NEVER be rendered ‘salvou/salvação.’ This baseline Critical entry is reserved exclusively for the full eschatological, Christ-accomplished sense. See new entries ‘delivered_temporal’ and ‘deliverer_human’ for the fenced Judges-specific vocabulary.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Filho de Deus
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King (typological anchor)
Rejected alternatives: filho de Deus no sentido genérico aplicado a todo crente
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: cited only as the canonical terminus of this curriculum’s kingship trajectory — Abimelech’s illegitimate kingship (ch. 9) and the book’s closing crisis (chs. 17-21) prepare, by contrast, for the Davidic line fulfilled in Christ. Do not introduce this term into Judges narrative text itself; reserve for teaching-note bridges only.
God
Approved rendering: Deus
Transliteration: theos / Elohim / YHWH
Doctrine: Divine Compassion Amid Judgment
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: the personal covenant God who judges in anger (see ‘anger_of_the_lord_kindled’) and delivers in compassion (see ‘lord_relented’), never an impersonal cosmic mechanism.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Iēsous / Yeshua
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King (typological anchor)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: the canonical fulfillment of the righteous-king need the book’s closing chapters diagnose; reserve for teaching-note bridges, not narrative-text insertion.
Father
Approved rendering: Pai
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Divine Compassion Amid Judgment
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not directly used as a title in Judges narrative text, but retained here because God’s fatherly compassion (see ‘lord_relented,’ ‘soul_grieved’) is the relational category underlying his response to Israel’s cries throughout the cycle.
Spirit Of The Lord
Approved rendering: Espírito do SENHOR
Transliteration: ruach YHWH
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges
Rejected alternatives: força espiritual impessoal, energia divina
Original: רוּחַ יְהוָה
Category: Divine Presence and Empowerment
The OT-form counterpart to the baseline’s ‘Espírito Santo.’ The recurring phenomenon of the Spirit ‘coming upon’ (3:10; 11:29), ‘clothing’ (6:34), or ‘rushing upon’ (13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14) a person for sudden empowerment closely resembles incorporação (Candomblé/Umbanda spirit possession) and Kardecist mediumship trance — both mainstream Brazilian religious practices. Requires an explicit teaching note at every occurrence: this is the one sovereign, holy, personal third Person of the Trinity acting by his own initiative, never a spirit summoned, channeled, or incorporated through human ritual.
Spirit Empowerment Formula
Approved rendering: o Espírito do SENHOR se manifestou com poder sobre [nome]
Transliteration: hayah al / labash / tsalach (three distinct Hebrew idioms unified for translation)
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges
Rejected alternatives: vestiu-se de (parallels Umbanda/Candomblé ‘vestir o santo’), baixou sobre (parallels lay mediumship-trance description ‘o santo baixou’), incorporou (direct loanword from incorporação ritual vocabulary)
Fixed-phrase translation-memory decision locking a single controlled Portuguese rendering across all three distinct underlying Hebrew idioms (hayah al, ‘was/came upon,’ 3:10, 11:29; labash, ‘clothed,’ 6:34; tsalach, ‘rushed/leaped upon,’ 14:6, 19; 15:14), so that lexical variety across the seven occurrences does not multiply the number of possible Kardecist/Umbanda-adjacent readings. This single formula must be used at every occurrence, each accompanied by the standing teaching note recorded under ‘spirit_of_the_lord’ above.
Angel Of The Lord
Approved rendering: o Anjo do SENHOR
Transliteration: malakh YHWH
Doctrine: The Angel of the LORD as Theophany
Rejected alternatives: um anjo do Senhor (lowercase/indefinite — loses the theophanic reading)
Original: מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה
Category: Divine Presence and Empowerment
Likely a theophany (God’s own self-identified appearing), not an ordinary created angel. Must be capitalized and given heightened register. Must be distinguished from Catholic ‘anjo da guarda’ devotion, Kardecist ‘espíritos guias’/‘mentores espirituais,’ and Candomblé/Umbanda spirit-messenger figures — every occurrence (2:1-5; 6:11-24; 13:3-21) requires an explicit teaching note.
Did Evil In The Sight Of The Lord
Approved rendering: fizeram o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR
Transliteration: asah hara be’einei YHWH
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: any paraphrase varying the verb or omitting ‘aos olhos do SENHOR’
Original: עָשָׂה הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה
Category: Cycle of Judgment
FIXED FORMULA. Opens every apostasy cycle in Judges (2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1). Must be rendered identically at every occurrence so its deliberate ironic mirror-phrase at 17:6/21:25 (‘cada um fazia o que era certo aos seus próprios olhos’) remains recognizable to the Portuguese reader.
Delivered Temporal
Approved rendering: livrou / libertou
Transliteration: yasha / hoshia
Doctrine: Temporal Deliverance versus Eternal Salvation
Rejected alternatives: salvou / salvação (rejected — reserved exclusively for the baseline’s Critical eschatological entry)
Original: יָשַׁע / הוֹשִׁיעַ
Category: Cycle of Judgment
TRANSLATION-MEMORY DECISION protecting the baseline’s Critical ‘salvação’ entry from dilution into a merely this-worldly rescue or a Kardecist ‘evolução espiritual’ reading. Temporal, military-political rescue from a concrete historical enemy, accomplished through a judge (2:16, 18; 3:9, 31; 6:14-15). A teaching note stating the typological line — temporal livramento through flawed judges points forward to ultimate salvação in Christ — should accompany the first occurrence in any lesson. Prefer the noun ‘livramento’ over ‘libertação’ where an abstract noun is pedagogically needed, to avoid connotative collision with Latin American Liberation Theology’s ‘libertação’ as socio-political emancipation.
Deliverer Human
Approved rendering: libertador
Transliteration: moshia
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Rejected alternatives: Salvador (rejected — reserved exclusively for God/Christ)
Original: מוֹשִׁיעַ
Category: Cycle of Judgment
TRANSLATION-MEMORY DECISION ensuring no human judge (Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson — each deeply flawed) is linguistically equated with the divine Savior. Central guardrail for God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers. Judges 3:9, 15.
No King In Israel
Approved rendering: não havia rei em Israel
Transliteration: u-melekh ein be-Yisra’el
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King
Rejected alternatives: Israel não tinha rei (breaks fixed-formula consistency)
Original: וּמֶלֶךְ אֵין בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Kingship
FIXED FORMULA. Must be rendered identically at every occurrence (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) so the Portuguese reader can trace the refrain’s structural repetition — the single clearest textual anchor for this doctrine.
Right In His Own Eyes
Approved rendering: cada um fazia o que era certo aos seus próprios olhos
Transliteration: ish hayashar be’einav ya’aseh
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King
Rejected alternatives: cada um fazia o que bem queria (loses the ‘olhos’ mirror-image with 2:11)
Original: אִישׁ הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו יַעֲשֶׂה
Category: Kingship
FIXED FORMULA, the deliberate ironic mirror of ‘fizeram o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR.’ Must be fixed and identical at both occurrences (17:6; 21:25). Never let this read as an endorsement of admirable self-determination — it is the narrator’s condemnation.
High Risk Terms
Covenant
Approved rendering: aliança
Transliteration: diathēkē (NT Greek) / berith (OT Hebrew)
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant / Covenant as Relational Bond
Rejected alternatives: contrato legal
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: grounds ‘Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness’ (2:1, 20) and is bitterly inverted in the proper name Baal-Berith (8:33), which hijacks this exact word for a false deity.
Grace
Approved rendering: graça
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Rejected alternatives: mérito espiritual acumulado ao longo de vidas sucessivas
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: Gideon’s plea ‘if I have found favor (chen) in your sight’ (6:17) uses the OT root behind this NT doctrine; see also new entry ‘favor_grace_chen’ below for the OT-idiom occurrence.
Faith
Approved rendering: fé
Transliteration: pistis
Doctrine: Generational Apostasy and Covenant Ignorance
Rejected alternatives: convicção espírita
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: personal trust in the covenant LORD is the positive counterpart implied by 2:10’s diagnosis ‘did not know the LORD’ — see new entry ‘did_not_know_the_lord’ below, which parallels this baseline entry’s insistence on relational, not merely informational, trust.
Law
Approved rendering: lei
Transliteration: nomos (NT) / torah (OT)
Doctrine: Covenant as Relational Bond
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: background term for ‘the commandments of the LORD’ (2:17; see new entry ‘commandments’ below), which the fathers obeyed and the new generation abandoned. Distinguish clearly from the Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito.‘
Calling
Approved rendering: chamado
Transliteration: klēsis
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Rejected alternatives: vocação (narrow sense of a call to priesthood or religious life)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: applies to the sovereign appointment of each judge; use ‘chamado,’ never ‘vocação,’ to avoid narrowing to the Catholic-culture priesthood/religious-life sense — the same caution extends to the new ‘nazirite’ entry below.
Election
Approved rendering: eleição
Transliteration: eklogē
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Rejected alternatives: mérito conquistado ao longo de reencarnações
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: God’s sovereign choice of each judge, never a status earned through accumulated merit or moral evolution across lifetimes.
Providence
Approved rendering: providência
Transliteration: pronoia
Doctrine: Divine Compassion Amid Judgment
Rejected alternatives: lei de causa e efeito espírita (regência cármica das reencarnações)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: the same Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito’ collision flagged for Romans 8:28 is, if anything, more acute here, since Judges narrates the sin-judgment-deliverance cycle seven full times across the book; see new entries ‘anger_of_the_lord_kindled,’ ‘lord_relented,’ and ‘soul_grieved.‘
Drive Out
Approved rendering: expulsar / desapossar
Transliteration: horish (hiphil of yarash)
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and Covenant Compromise
Rejected alternatives: conquistar (too neutral; loses willful non-completion of a divine mandate)
Original: הוֹרִישׁ
Category: Land and Covenant Inheritance
The recurring refrain ‘did not drive out’ (1:19, 21, 27-33) names Israel’s repeated, partial covenant failure at the book’s very start — the narrative root cause of the entire sin-judgment-deliverance cycle. Must convey active, willful non-completion, not mere military difficulty.
Covenant Unfaithfulness
Approved rendering: se prostituíram após
Transliteration: zanah
Doctrine: Covenant Unfaithfulness as Spiritual Adultery
Rejected alternatives: seguiram (too weak; loses the covenant-adultery metaphor)
Original: זָנָה
Category: Covenant
The strongest available Hebrew idiom for covenant betrayal, framing Israel’s relationship to YHWH as a marriage bond violated by idolatry. Retain the graphic metaphor; every occurrence (2:17; 8:27, 33) requires a teaching note clarifying this names relational/covenantal betrayal, not merely sexual behavior.
Baal Berith
Approved rendering: Baal-Berite
Transliteration: Ba’al-berith
Doctrine: Covenant as Relational Bond
Rejected alternatives: leaving untranslated without explanation (loses the irony)
Original: בַּעַל בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
‘Lord/Baal of the covenant’ — a local Canaanite deity worshiped at Shechem immediately after Gideon’s death (8:33; 9:4). This name hijacks the Hebrew root behind the fixed High-risk ‘aliança’ for a false deity; the irony must be explained in teaching notes, not silently transliterated.
Served
Approved rendering: servir
Transliteration: avad
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: adorar (as an inconsistent substitute in only some occurrences — loses the deliberate lexical pivot)
Original: עָבַד
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Must remain the identical Portuguese verb whether the object is the LORD (2:7) or the Baals (2:11, 13, 19), so the reader sees the direct covenantal contrast the Hebrew text builds. Guard against a Kardecist reading of generic religious devotion rather than exclusive covenant allegiance.
Did Not Know The Lord
Approved rendering: conhecer / não conheciam o SENHOR
Transliteration: yada (negated)
Doctrine: Generational Apostasy and Covenant Ignorance
Rejected alternatives: não tinham ouvido falar do SENHOR (reduces to informational ignorance)
Original: יָדַע
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Relational, covenantal knowing, not mere cognitive awareness (2:10) — the diagnosed root of the entire cycle. Requires a translator note clarifying the relational-covenantal sense, paralleling the baseline’s insistence that ‘fé’ is personal trust, not generic belief.
Anger Of The Lord Kindled
Approved rendering: a ira do SENHOR se acendeu
Transliteration: charah aph
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: a ira se acendeu (drops personal agency)
Original: חָרָה אַף
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Preserve personal agency (‘do SENHOR’). Must not be taught as the impersonal Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito.’ God actively relents (2:18), unlike a mechanical law running its course. Judges 2:14, 20; 3:8; 10:7.
Judge Office
Approved rendering: juiz / juízes
Transliteration: shophet / shophtim
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: governador, líder militar
Original: שֹׁפֵט / שֹׁפְטִים
Category: Cycle of Judgment
A temporary, Spirit-raised military-political deliverer/governor, not a modern courtroom magistrate. Teaching note required at first occurrence in each lesson; keep the semantic link to ‘raised_up’ visible. Judges 2:16-19; throughout chs. 3-16.
Raised Up
Approved rendering: suscitou
Transliteration: heqim
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Rejected alternatives: ressurgiu, reapareceu
Original: הֵקִים
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Sovereign divine initiative appointing a person to office (2:16, 18; 3:9, 15). Must not carry any suggestion of a spirit or deliverer ‘returning’ or ‘resurfacing’ across lifetimes — a possible surface echo of Kardecist reincarnation language given how repeatedly this pattern recurs across twelve deliverer-figures. Each judge is a distinct, singly-appointed individual.
Cried Out
Approved rendering: clamaram
Transliteration: za’aq / tsa’aq
Doctrine: The Cry of Distress and Unearned Deliverance
Original: זָעַק / צָעַק
Category: Cycle of Judgment
The consistent trigger of divine deliverance throughout the book (3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6-7; 10:10). An appeal of desperate dependence, not a formula that earns rescue by right.
Lord Relented
Approved rendering: se compadecia
Transliteration: nicham
Doctrine: Divine Compassion Amid Judgment
Rejected alternatives: a lei de causa e efeito se resolveu (or any impersonal-mechanism paraphrase)
Original: נִחַם
Category: Cycle of Judgment
God being moved with personal compassion at Israel’s suffering (2:18). Must convey free, voluntary divine compassion, guarding directly against the Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito’ reading — the same anti-mechanism caution the baseline flags for ‘providence.‘
More Corrupt
Approved rendering: se corrompiam
Transliteration: shachat (hiphil)
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Rejected alternatives: pecavam da mesma forma (flattens the explicit escalation claim)
Original: שָׁחַת
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Must carry genuinely escalating, degenerative force (‘mais corruptos que seus pais,’ 2:19), not flat repetition; essential to the book’s argument that the cycle trends toward crisis.
Soul Grieved
Approved rendering: sua alma já não podia suportar
Transliteration: qatserah naphsho
Doctrine: Divine Compassion Amid Judgment
Original: קָצְרָה נַפְשׁוֹ
Category: Cycle of Judgment
God’s soul ‘shortened/grieved’ by Israel’s misery (10:16). A remarkable anthropopathic statement of personal divine emotional engagement; explicitly not an impersonal karmic reflex.
Carved Image
Approved rendering: ídolo de escultura / imagem de fundição
Transliteration: pesel / massekah
Doctrine: Domestic Idolatry and Religious Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: imagem religiosa (too broad; risks condemning legitimate Christian iconography by association)
Original: פֶּסֶל / מַסֵּכָה
Category: Idolatry and Apostasy
Manufactured cultic images central to Micah’s shrine (17:3-4; 18:14-20). Critique targets fabricated substitutes for God’s prescribed worship, not devotional imagery as a category; requires pastoral sensitivity given Brazilian Catholic and Afro-Brazilian material devotional practice.
King
Approved rendering: rei
Transliteration: melek
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King
Original: מֶלֶךְ
Category: Kingship
Both a positive theological ideal (God as true King, 8:23) and a cautionary example (Abimelech’s illegitimate seizure, ch. 9). Culturally thinner resonance in Brazil given no living national monarchy; anchor pedagogically to the functional referent (a righteous, God-appointed standard external to individual preference) rather than relying on the word alone.
Rule Reign
Approved rendering: reinar / dominar
Transliteration: mashal
Doctrine: Gideon’s Refusal of Kingship
Original: מָשַׁל
Category: Kingship
Gideon’s explicit refusal, ‘the LORD will rule over you’ (8:23) — the book’s clearest positive statement on kingship. Must be rendered with full theological conviction, not diluted into mere political modesty.
Vow
Approved rendering: voto
Transliteration: neder
Doctrine: Jephthah’s Rash Vow
Original: נֶדֶר
Category: Consecration and Vows
Jephthah’s rash vow (11:30-31, 34-40). Requires a strong pastoral teaching note given the prevalence of ‘fazer/pagar uma promessa’ devotional vow-practice in Brazilian folk Catholicism. Must be taught as a tragic error, not a devotional model.
Nazirite
Approved rendering: nazireu
Transliteration: nazir
Doctrine: Samson’s Nazirite Consecration and Compromise
Rejected alternatives: monge, religioso consagrado (imports later monastic categories)
Original: נָזִיר
Category: Consecration and Vows
One under a special vow of consecration to God from birth (13:5, 7), later violated (16:17). Distinguish from Catholic-culture ‘vida consagrada’/monastic vow categories, paralleling the baseline’s ‘vocação’ caution. A distinct, voluntary OT institution, not a template for a specially holy class apart from the calling of every believer.
Strength
Approved rendering: força
Transliteration: koach
Doctrine: Samson’s Nazirite Consecration and Compromise
Rejected alternatives: poder mágico do cabelo (the narrative itself rejects this magical reading)
Original: כֹּחַ
Category: Consecration and Vows
Samson repeatedly misattributes his strength to his uncut hair rather than to the Spirit of the LORD (16:5-20; esp. 16:20). Teaching note essential: strength was never inherent in his hair as a magical object, guarding against magical-object thinking across Brazilian folk-Catholic, Kardecist, and Afro-Brazilian devotional practice.
Outrage
Approved rendering: loucura vergonhosa / ato abominável
Transliteration: nevalah
Doctrine: The Gibeah Atrocity and Societal Collapse
Rejected alternatives: erro (far too weak for the narrator’s explicit moral condemnation)
Original: נְבָלָה
Category: Moral Decline
The narrator’s unambiguous moral verdict on the Gibeah atrocity (19:23-24; also 20:6, 10). Retain the narrator’s strong condemnation. NOTE: ‘loucura’ risks a clinical/psychiatric misreading in contemporary Portuguese; teaching note required clarifying this names willful, culpable moral depravity, not a mental-health condition.
Favor Grace Chen
Approved rendering: graça
Transliteration: chen
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
MUST reuse the baseline ‘grace’ rendering exactly. Gideon’s plea, ‘if I have found favor in your sight’ (6:17), uses the OT root behind the NT doctrine of grace. A teaching note should draw the doctrinal line forward: the same grace-vocabulary describing Gideon’s small request is later filled with full soteriological content in the NT.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: santo
Transliteration: hagios (NT) / qadosh (OT)
Doctrine: Separation unto God’s Service
Rejected alternatives: puro em sentido ritual
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: AVOID this word entirely in teaching material adjacent to Spirit-empowerment narratives (chs. 3, 6, 11, 13-16), since Afro-Brazilian Candomblé/Umbanda colloquial usage employs ‘santo’ to denote the incorporated orixá/entity itself (‘o santo desceu,’ ‘vestir o santo’), a second collision layer beyond the baseline’s canonized-saints risk.
Sin
Approved rendering: pecado
Transliteration: hamartia (NT) / chattah, avon (OT)
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: erro a ser corrigido em vidas futuras (leitura espírita)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: the recurring formula ‘fizeram o que era mau aos olhos do SENHOR’ (see new entry below) is this doctrine’s specific narrative enactment throughout the book.
Called
Approved rendering: chamado
Transliteration: klētos
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Rejected alternatives: convocado (bureaucratic register)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: judges are ‘raised up’ (suscitou, see new entry ‘raised_up’) rather than dynastically succeeding or self-appointing, a specific instance of this general doctrine.
Forced Labor
Approved rendering: trabalhos forçados / tributo
Transliteration: mas
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and Covenant Compromise
Original: מַס
Category: Land and Covenant Inheritance
Conscripted labor/tribute imposed on subjugated Canaanites instead of the commanded expulsion. Must read as compromise disobedience, not pragmatic success. Judges 1:28, 30, 33, 35.
Abandoned
Approved rendering: abandonaram
Transliteration: azav
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: deixaram de lado (too soft; reads as mere neglect)
Original: עָזַב
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Israel’s desertion of the covenant relationship (2:12); preserve the relational-betrayal force.
Bowed Down
Approved rendering: prostraram-se / curvaram-se
Transliteration: hishtachavah
Doctrine: Baal and Astarte Worship
Original: הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Physical prostration denoting cultic worship, transferred from YHWH to idols (2:12). Must not be softened to a merely social gesture.
Provoked To Anger
Approved rendering: provocaram a ira do SENHOR
Transliteration: ka’as
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: כָּעַס
Category: Cycle of Judgment
God’s anger is personal and covenantal (2:12); do not render as an impersonal law of consequence automatically triggered.
Gave Into Hand
Approved rendering: entregou nas mãos de
Transliteration: natan beyad
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: נָתַן בְּיַד
Category: Cycle of Judgment
God’s sovereign, active judgment (2:14); judgment is not autonomous fate but personal divine action.
Sold
Approved rendering: vendeu
Transliteration: makar
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: entregou (already used for natan beyad — text intentionally piles up two distinct judgment images)
Original: מָכַר
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Metaphorically, God treating Israel as a master selling a forfeited slave (2:14). Retain the harsh commercial metaphor.
Turned Back
Approved rendering: voltavam / tornavam
Transliteration: shuv
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: שׁוּב
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Ironic use of the same root Portuguese Bible tradition uses for ‘repentance/return to God’ (‘arrepender-se, voltar-se para o SENHOR’) — here (2:19) denotes the opposite: relapse into apostasy. Flag the irony in teaching notes.
Stubborn Ways
Approved rendering: obstinado / duro
Transliteration: qasheh
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Original: קָשֶׁה
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Willful, entrenched resistance to correction (2:19), not passive difficulty.
Land Had Rest
Approved rendering: a terra teve sossego/descanso
Transliteration: shaqat
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: שָׁקַט
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Always temporary/provisional in Judges (3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28); distinguish from final eschatological rest.
Ashtaroth
Approved rendering: Astarotes
Transliteration: Ashtaroth
Doctrine: Baal and Astarte Worship
Original: עַשְׁתָּרוֹת
Category: Idolatry and Apostasy
Paired with Baal as shorthand for the Canaanite pantheon (2:13; 10:6). Same syncretism-clarification note as Baal: not a benign feminine nature-spirit comparable to Iemanjá/Oxum.
Fable Parable
Approved rendering: fábula / parábola
Transliteration: mashal (noun)
Doctrine: Abimelech’s Illegitimate Kingship
Original: מָשָׁל
Category: Kingship
Jotham’s fable of the trees seeking a king (9:7-15), satirizing the pursuit of kingship by the unworthy.
Burnt Offering
Approved rendering: holocausto / oferta queimada
Transliteration: olah
Doctrine: Jephthah’s Rash Vow
Original: עֹלָה
Category: Consecration and Vows
The horror of Jephthah’s vow implies human sacrifice, categorically forbidden elsewhere in the Law. Teaching note: the narrative exposes, not endorses, this tragic cost.
Sons Of Belial
Approved rendering: homens perversos / filhos de Belial
Transliteration: benei beliyaal
Doctrine: The Gibeah Atrocity and Societal Collapse
Original: בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל
Category: Moral Decline
Hebrew idiom for scoundrels/moral reprobates (19:22; 20:13); later personified in Second Temple and NT usage as a name for Satan (2 Coríntios 6:15) — an optional, not required, teaching note.
Concubine
Approved rendering: concubina
Transliteration: pilegesh
Doctrine: The Gibeah Atrocity and Societal Collapse
Original: פִּילֶגֶשׁ
Category: Moral Decline
A secondary wife of lesser legal/social standing (19:1ff); the vulnerable central figure of ch. 19. The narrative exposes, not endorses, her mistreatment.
Assembly
Approved rendering: assembleia / congregação
Transliteration: qahal
Doctrine: Civil War and Communal Breakdown
Original: קָהָל
Category: Moral Decline
A formally gathered body of the people for covenant, legal, or military purposes (20:1). Do not conflate with the NT ‘ekklesia’/baseline ‘igreja’; this is a national-tribal gathering.
Mighty Man Of Valor
Approved rendering: homem valoroso / guerreiro poderoso
Transliteration: gibbor chayil
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Original: גִּבּוֹר הֶחָיִל
Category: Leadership
Ironic title spoken over Gideon while hiding from the Midianites (6:12) — God’s declaration of what Gideon will become by grace, spoken in advance of, not recognition of, his courage.
Servant Of The Lord
Approved rendering: servo do SENHOR
Transliteration: eved YHWH
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Original: עֶבֶד יְהוָה
Category: Leadership
Honorific title applied to Joshua at his death (2:8). Use ‘SENHOR’ (Tetragrammaton small-caps convention), not a generic ‘Deus.‘
Commandments
Approved rendering: mandamentos
Transliteration: mitzvot
Doctrine: Covenant as Relational Bond
Original: מִצְוֹת
Category: Covenant
The commandments of the LORD which the fathers obeyed and the new generation abandoned (2:17). Background term for the baseline’s fixed High-risk ‘lei’ entry; distinguish clearly from the Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito.‘
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: Davi
Transliteration: Dawid
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant (typological anchor)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: not named within Judges itself, but the book’s kingship crisis (Gideon’s refusal, Abimelech’s usurpation, the closing ‘no king’ refrain) is the direct narrative setup for the line to David this curriculum draws forward.
Prophet
Approved rendering: profeta
Transliteration: prophētēs
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Rejected alternatives: médium (channeler of spirit messages)
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges-specific: underlies the new entry ‘prophetess’ (Deborah, 4:4).
Inheritance
Approved rendering: herança
Transliteration: nachalah
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and Covenant Compromise
Original: נַחֲלָה
Category: Land and Covenant Inheritance
The tribal land allotment given to Israel as a covenant gift from God. Foreshadows, typologically, the believer’s inheritance already fixed in the baseline ‘adoption’ entry. No Kardecist collision. Judges 1:*, 2:6, 9.
Take Possession
Approved rendering: possuir / tomar posse de
Transliteration: yarash
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and Covenant Compromise
Original: יָרַשׁ
Category: Land and Covenant Inheritance
To take possession of, occupy, or inherit land promised by God; covenant fulfillment contingent on faithfulness. Judges 1:*, 2:6.
Canaanite
Approved rendering: cananeu(s)
Transliteration: kena’ani
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and Covenant Compromise
Original: כְּנַעֲנִי
Category: Land and Covenant Inheritance
Standard ethnic/geographic proper name; the people group whose religion (Baal/Astarte worship) becomes Israel’s snare.
Hand Of The Lord
Approved rendering: a mão do SENHOR
Transliteration: yad YHWH
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: יַד־יְהוָה
Category: Divine Presence and Empowerment
Idiom for God’s active power, exercised either to judge (2:15) or to deliver (2:16, 18). Standard, unambiguous once personal divine agency is retained.
Generation
Approved rendering: geração
Transliteration: dor
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: דּוֹר
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Marks that covenant faithfulness must be freshly taught and freshly chosen by each new generation (2:10).
Other Gods
Approved rendering: outros deuses
Transliteration: elohim acherim
Doctrine: Baal and Astarte Worship
Original: אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Generic object of Israel’s apostasy (2:12), preparing for the specific catalogue at 10:6.
Swore
Approved rendering: jurou
Transliteration: nishba
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: נִשְׁבַּע
Category: Cycle of Judgment
God’s prior covenant warnings (2:15), which judgment now fulfills.
Distress
Approved rendering: angústia / aflição
Transliteration: tsar
Doctrine: The Cry of Distress and Unearned Deliverance
Original: צַר
Category: Cycle of Judgment
The felt experience driving Israel to cry out (2:15; 10:9).
Groaning
Approved rendering: gemido
Transliteration: ne’aqah
Doctrine: Divine Compassion Amid Judgment
Original: נְאָקָה
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Echoes Israel’s cry under Egyptian bondage (Exodus 2:24, same root), linking the judges-cycle deliverances typologically to the Exodus (2:18).
Oppressed
Approved rendering: oprimiam
Transliteration: lachats
Doctrine: Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: לָחַץ
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Concrete political/military subjugation (2:18), not abstract guilt.
Practices
Approved rendering: práticas
Transliteration: ma’alalim
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Original: מַעֲלָלִים
Category: Cycle of Judgment
Entrenched, willful patterns of idolatrous conduct (2:19).
Barren
Approved rendering: estéril
Transliteration: aqarah
Doctrine: Samson’s Nazirite Consecration and Compromise
Original: עֲקָרָה
Category: Consecration and Vows
Samson’s mother’s condition before the Angel of the LORD’s announcement (13:2-3); marks his birth as a gift of divine initiative, not human achievement.
Sign
Approved rendering: sinal
Transliteration: oth
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Original: אוֹת
Category: Consecration and Vows
Gideon’s fleece requests (6:17, 36-40); God graciously accommodates doubt-laden faith rather than rebuking it outright.
Shibboleth
Approved rendering: Shibolete
Transliteration: shibboleth
Doctrine: Civil War and Communal Breakdown
Original: שִׁבֹּלֶת
Category: Moral Decline
Dialectal test word distinguishing Ephraimites from Gileadites (12:6); evidence of accelerating intra-Israelite decline.
Prophetess
Approved rendering: profetisa
Transliteration: nevi’ah
Doctrine: Divine Calling and the Raising Up of Leaders
Original: נְבִיאָה
Category: Leadership
Deborah functions as prophetess, judge, and military strategist simultaneously (4:4); God’s empowerment is not limited by surrounding cultural expectations.
Trumpet
Approved rendering: trombetas
Transliteration: shophar
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Original: שׁוֹפָר
Category: Leadership
Gideon’s reduced army of 300, armed only with trumpets and torches (ch. 7), ensuring victory is unmistakably God’s, not human strength.
Sword Of The Lord
Approved rendering: espada
Transliteration: cherev
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Original: חֶרֶב
Category: Leadership
The battle cry ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’ (7:20). Preserve word order ‘do SENHOR e de Gideão’ to retain the ordering crediting God’s initiative first.
Medium-High Risk Terms
Baal
Approved rendering: Baal / Baalins
Transliteration: Ba’al / Ba’alim
Doctrine: Baal and Astarte Worship
Rejected alternatives: espíritos da natureza (would legitimize as a benign nature-spirit category)
Original: בַּעַל / בְּעָלִים
Category: Idolatry and Apostasy
The primary rival Canaanite storm/fertility deity. Historical, false, condemned; flag the functional-parallel association Brazilian learners may draw to nature/fertility-associated entidades in Candomblé/Umbanda (e.g., orixás linked to storms, harvests, waters), without treating it as a comparable legitimate spiritual path. NEVER gloss as ‘senhor’ (see ‘lord’ entry above). Judges 2:11, 13; 3:7; 6:25-32; 8:33; 10:6.
Household Idols
Approved rendering: ídolos domésticos
Transliteration: teraphim
Doctrine: Domestic Idolatry and Religious Syncretism
Original: תְּרָפִים
Category: Idolatry and Apostasy
Small domestic images used for guidance/protection/divination (17:5; 18:14, 17-18, 20). Same pastoral sensitivity as ‘carved_image.‘
Ephod
Approved rendering: éfode
Transliteration: ephod
Doctrine: Domestic Idolatry and Religious Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: vestimenta sagrada (alone; obscures its illegitimate use here)
Original: אֵפוֹד
Category: Idolatry and Apostasy
Legitimate priestly object (Exodus 28) turned illegitimate object of veneration in Gideon’s (8:27) and Micah’s (17:5; 18:14-20) hands. Caution against superstitious use of religious objects, comparable in cautionary function to warnings against amuletic use of medalhas, imagens, guias.
Devoted To Destruction
Approved rendering: anátema / destruição total
Transliteration: cherem
Doctrine: Civil War and Communal Breakdown
Original: חֵרֶם
Category: Moral Decline
A category of total consecration to God through destruction, invoked against Jabesh-gilead for failing to join the assembly against Benjamin (21:5, 11). Requires strict narrative contextualization; not a template for present-day interpersonal or communal application.
Referenced passages