Micah — Linguistic Gap Analysis (English → Portuguese)

0. Purpose and Method

This document executes PRD Phase 1 Step 8 for the book of Micah, extending — never contradicting — the Romans-anchored baseline Language Package (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, doctrine_risk_registry.json, 12_ai_translation_requirements.md). It covers the entire book of Micah, chapters 1–7, organized around the five curriculum doctrines (True Worship versus Empty Ritual; Justice, Mercy, and Humility; The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem; Judgment on Corrupt Leaders; Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness), with the core passage Micah 6:6–8 treated as the theological anchor rather than the analytical scope.

Four analytical tasks are performed below:

1. A doctrine vocabulary matrix — for each doctrine, the available Portuguese terms, their weaknesses, and the recommended handling strategy.
2. Missing vocabulary vs. crowded semantic neighborhoods — where Portuguese lacks a clean equivalent, versus where the natural Portuguese equivalent is already occupied by a rival Brazilian religious framework and must be “fenced.”
3. Transliteration vs. paraphrase decisions for proper names, idioms, and untranslatable wordplay.
4. A ranked list of this book’s highest-risk ambiguities, prioritized for Phase 2 human theologian routing.

Every chapter of Micah is represented at least once below; chapters contributing no new load-bearing vocabulary beyond what is already logged are explicitly marked “reviewed, no new terms.”

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1. Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix

1.1 True Worship versus Empty Ritual (Micah 1, 5:12–14, 6:6–8)

Element	Available Portuguese Term(s)	Weaknesses	Recommended Strategy
idols / graven images	ídolos / imagens esculpidas	”Imagens” alone collides with Catholic image veneration (santos, crucifixos) and with Candomblé/Umbanda material representations of orixás; risk of the text being read as a general anti-imagery polemic rather than a covenant-loyalty charge	Retain baseline pattern (cf. baseline’s “saints” note): always pair with a teaching gloss that the sin condemned is worship of rival gods / divided covenant loyalty, not visual art or devotional objects as such. Never render as blanket “imagens religiosas são proibidas.”
high places	lugares altos	No natural Brazilian cultural referent; readers may picture literal hills with no cultic meaning	Footnote as historical-geographic term: local shrines rivaling proper worship at the Jerusalem temple.
burnt offerings / sacrifice	holocaustos / sacrifício	Direct semantic overlap with (a) the Catholic Mass as “sacrifício eucarístico” and (b) Candomblé/Umbanda animal sacrifice and oferendas/ebós to orixás — both mainstream, organized Brazilian practices, not fringe	Require an explanatory note on every occurrence: these are Old Testament ritual categories shown insufficient apart from justice, mercy, humility (6:8); text is not commenting on any present-day sacrificial practice, Christian or Afro-Brazilian. Human theologian review.
firstborn (rhetorical)	primogênito	Same lexeme risks conflation with Christological “firstborn”/Son of God language central to the Romans baseline (Critical tier)	Mandatory translator’s note distinguishing Micah’s rhetorical rejection of pagan child sacrifice from Christ’s unique eternal Sonship; never cross-reference the two positively.
require / seek	pedir / requerer	Shares a Hebrew root (darash) elsewhere used of “consulting” a medium/necromancer (Deut 18:11) — a live, high-salience Brazilian practice (consulta espírita)	Footnote clarifying: here God is the one who requires of His people, not a spirit consulted through mediumship; the semantic range must not be allowed to suggest a “consulta” of God as of a spirit guide.
come before (the LORD)	vir perante / apresentar-me diante	Low risk	Standard cultic-approach vocabulary; no fencing needed.
God on high	Deus altíssimo	Risk of softening into a generic honorific, or of being read within a spirit-hierarchy framework (Kardecist/Umbanda hierarchies of more- and less-evolved/advanced spirits)	Must retain unrivaled, exclusive supremacy consistent with baseline’s Critical “Deus”/“Senhor” framing; never “o espírito mais elevado.”

1.2 Justice, Mercy, and Humility (Micah 6:1–8; 2:1–2; 3:1–3; 6:9–12; 7:1–7)

Element	Available Portuguese Term(s)	Weaknesses	Recommended Strategy
do justice (mishpat)	praticar a justiça	Direct terminological collision: “justiça” is the exact baseline term for δικαιοσύνη/forensic righteousness (Romans 3–5, Critical tier). A reader trained on the Romans Language Package will default to a soteriological reading	Mandatory cross-reference note on every occurrence distinguishing Micah’s ethical/social mishpat (doing justice toward neighbor) from Romans’ justificação/justiça imputada (receiving a forensic verdict by faith). Neither collapses into the other. Human theologian review required, matching the baseline’s Critical-tier procedure.
mercy (chesed)	misericórdia (primary) vs. beneficência (ARA)	Almeida (ARA) tradition uses “beneficência” at Micah 6:8, which in contemporary Brazilian usage has narrowed toward institutional charity/philanthropy, losing chesed’s covenantal loyal-love breadth; “misericórdia” alone can also drift toward mere pity/compassion without the covenant-loyalty dimension	Adopt “misericórdia” as the Language Package standard (already logged in prior glossary); require translators quoting ARA hymnody/liturgy to reconcile explicitly rather than silently switch terms mid-document. Teach chesed as steadfast covenant loyalty, never merit-earning charity (guard against Kardecist merit-across-lifetimes framing, per baseline Grace/Election entries).
walk humbly (hatsnea lechet)	andar humildemente	Portuguese “humildade” in Catholic-influenced piety can narrow to an ascetic virtue proper to consecrated/religious-life vocations (“vida consagrada”), echoing the baseline’s caution about “vocação”	Teach as a whole-of-life posture required of every believer, in every domain (economic, judicial, domestic), not a specialized spiritual-elite virtue.
oppression / seizing land	opressão / usurpação de terras	Abstract “opressão” alone can lose the text’s specific, concrete economic-legal charge (illegal land/house seizure)	Retain concrete language in teaching notes; avoid spiritualizing into generic “sin” vocabulary.
covenant lawsuit (riv/yakach)	contenda / querela judicial	No equivalent literary genre marker exists in everyday Portuguese religious vocabulary; readers may mistake 6:6–8 for a freestanding ethical maxim	Explanatory genre-note required: frames the whole of 6:1–8 as a courtroom speech (heaven and earth as witnesses), not detachable wisdom literature.
redemptive acts (yatsa/padah)	resgatei / libertei	Low lexical risk, but sequencing risk: if taught out of order, hearers may infer the triad of 6:8 earns God’s redemption rather than responding to it	Must be taught in narrative sequence (6:4–5 grace recital, then 6:8 response) to reinforce the baseline’s Grace ≠ merit rule against Kardecist merit-across-lifetimes readings.
godly/faithful one (chasid)	o piedoso / o fiel	Some risk of “piedoso” narrowing to devotional/ritual piety divorced from ethical chesed	Keep vocabulary anchored to the same root family as “misericórdia” (6:8) so 7:2’s lament reads as the absence of what 6:8 required.

1.3 The Coming Ruler from Bethlehem (Micah 5:1–5)

Element	Available Portuguese Term(s)	Weaknesses	Recommended Strategy
ruler (moshel)	o que há de reinar / governante	Generic “governante” alone reads as merely political, understating the Messianic and divine claim; ties directly to baseline Critical “Messias” entry	Human theologian review every occurrence; must exclude Kardecist “most evolved spirit” framing; teach as fulfilled exclusively and uniquely in Jesus.
goings forth from of old, from everlasting	desde os tempos antigos, desde os dias da eternidade	No single Portuguese lexeme captures the pre-incarnate eternity claim compactly; risk of the phrase being flattened to mean merely “ancient lineage” (i.e., a human dynasty going back a long time) rather than the ruler’s own eternal pre-existence	Paraphrase (not single-term translation) required, as already logged; must be explicitly taught alongside baseline’s Deity of Christ / Sonship of Christ doctrines as the OT’s clearest pre-incarnate eternity claim. Human theologian review every occurrence.
shepherd (ra’ah)	pastorear	”Pastor” is the standard title of Evangelical/Pentecostal clergy in Brazil — an extremely high-frequency, everyday word in Brazilian religious life	Must categorically distinguish the Messianic Shepherd-Ruler from any human pastoral office; the latter derives legitimacy from, and remains subordinate to, the former. Flag for native speaker + theologian review given the term’s ubiquity in lived Brazilian church culture.
Bethlehem Ephrathah	Belém de Efrata	Low lexical risk; primary risk is low OT/geography literacy	Footnote on the town’s historical smallness/insignificance, contrasted with the greatness of the promised ruler; directly ties to Matthew 2:6 for later cross-curriculum consistency.
peace (shalom)	paz	None beyond baseline’s general note	Reuse baseline “paz” exactly; here tied specifically to the person and reign of the Messianic ruler.

1.4 Judgment on Corrupt Leaders (Micah 2–3, 6:9–7:6)

Element	Available Portuguese Term(s)	Weaknesses	Recommended Strategy
false prophets (for hire)	falsos profetas	Low lexical risk, but doctrinal risk if disconnected from the Spirit-empowerment contrast in 3:8	Teach in direct contrast with “Espírito do Senhor” (3:8): the issue is a message shaped for pay/popularity vs. Spirit-empowered truth-telling.
Spirit of the LORD	Espírito do Senhor	Same word family as baseline’s Critical “Espírito Santo”; must not be read as a lesser or different “spirit” than the third Person of the Trinity, nor conflated with Kardecist “espíritos guias” or Candomblé/Umbanda incorporated spirits	Cross-reference baseline Holy Spirit entry explicitly; Human theologian review, consistent with baseline’s Critical routing for Holy Spirit material.
sorceries / witchcraft (kesafim)	feitiçarias / bruxarias	Acute, direct lexical overlap with terms sometimes applied (often pejoratively, by outside observers) to Candomblé and Umbanda practice — a live, populous, organized Brazilian religious community, not a marginal folk phenomenon	Must be taught as God’s judgment on ancient Near Eastern occult practices tied to idolatrous covenant-breaking, not as a blanket denunciation of a living Brazilian religious community. Preserve the text’s actual condemnation (occult power as rival to trust in God) without weaponizing the vocabulary polemically. Human theologian review required for every occurrence.
eat the flesh of my people	comer a carne do meu povo	Literalist misreading risk (sensationalized as cannibalism)	Flag explicitly as figurative violent exploitation language in every occurrence.
bribery	suborno / por dinheiro	Low risk	Standard socio-ethical vocabulary.
dishonest scales	balanças enganosas	Low risk	Concrete commercial-ethical illustration; retain concreteness, don’t abstract into generic “desonestidade.”
household betrayal	os inimigos do homem serão os da sua própria casa	Requires NT cross-reference (Matthew 10:34–36) or risks reading as unrelated family-conflict trivia	Cross-reference note mandatory given direct dominical quotation.

1.5 Hope of Restoration and Forgiveness (Micah 2:12–13; 4; 5:7–8; 7:7–20)

Element	Available Portuguese Term(s)	Weaknesses	Recommended Strategy
remnant / remnant of Jacob	remanescente / remanescente de Jacó	Risk of reading as “those who survived because they were more worthy/more evolved” — a natural drift point given both Tridentine merit categories and Kardecist “more advanced souls” framing	Teach explicitly as God’s own preserving initiative and covenant chesed, not the remnant’s self-earned survival.
who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity	quem é Deus como tu, que perdoas a iniquidade	Contains an untranslatable Hebrew name-pun (Micah = “Who is like Yah?”) with no Portuguese equivalent	Paraphrase with mandatory translator’s note explaining the wordplay; contrast explicitly and sharply with Kardecist “lei de causa e efeito” (impersonal karmic law worked off across reincarnations). Human theologian review every occurrence.
cast our sins into the depths of the sea	lançarás os nossos pecados nas profundezas do mar	Acute Brazil-specific collision: offerings cast into the sea for Iemanjá (Candomblé/Umbanda orixá of the sea), especially at New Year’s Eve (Réveillon), are a mainstream, highly visible national practice	Must be explicitly taught as God’s own sovereign act of forgiving and removing sin — not a human ritual offering made to petition or appease a sea deity. Human theologian review required for every occurrence; strongest candidate in the whole book for confusion by visual/ritual association rather than lexical ambiguity.
faithfulness/mercy to Abraham	fidelidade / misericórdia (a Abraão)	Must stay vocabulary-consistent with “misericórdia” (chesed) established at 6:8, or readers lose the thread connecting 6:8’s demand to 7:20’s promise	Enforce vocabulary consistency across the whole book; do not allow a synonym drift (e.g., “bondade,” “clemência”) between chapters.
many nations / gentiles	muitas nações / gentios	Low risk; positive bridge to Romans baseline’s Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine	Reuse baseline “gentios” exactly where referent matches; flag as an OT anticipation of the Romans doctrine for cross-curriculum teaching notes.
swords into plowshares; vine and fig tree	espadas em relhas de arado; vinha e figueira	Low risk; well-established Almeida idioms	Reuse ARA wording verbatim for tradition-consistency; no fencing needed.
the Breaker	o que abre caminho	Low risk	Brief explanatory gloss; prefigures ch. 5 shepherd-ruler imagery.

1.6 Cross-cutting / Supporting Doctrines

Element	Available Portuguese Term(s)	Weaknesses	Recommended Strategy
word of the LORD (Inspiration of Scripture)	a palavra do Senhor	Must be sharply distinguished from Kardecist psicografia (mediumistic transcription), a mainstream rival “revelation” claim in Brazil, per baseline’s Inspiration of Scripture doctrine	Reuse baseline doctrine note verbatim; Human theologian review.
transgression (pesha) / sin (chatta’ah)	transgressão / pecado	Both terms risk being softened into Kardecism’s “erro” — a correctable moral failure worked off across future incarnations	Reuse baseline “pecado” exactly; render pesha as “transgressão” (active covenant rebellion) to preserve a distinction of intensity from chatta’ah, but both must exclude the karmic-error framing.
latter days / mountain of the LORD’s house (judgment vs. restoration)	os últimos dias / o monte da casa do Senhor	Risk of a purely negative (ch. 3) or purely nationalist-political (ch. 4) standalone reading if the two mountain-of-the-house passages are taught in isolation from each other	Must be taught as a matched pair: the same site judged in ch. 3, glorified in ch. 4 — one divine story, not two.

Chapter coverage check: Micah 1 (idols, high places, mourning, word of the LORD — covered §1.1, §1.6); Micah 2 (oppression, false prophets, remnant, the Breaker — §1.2–§1.5); Micah 3 (rulers, eat the flesh, bribery, Spirit of the LORD, mountain of the house/judgment — §1.4, §1.6); Micah 4 (latter days, mountain of the LORD’s house/restoration, many nations, swords/plowshares, vine/fig tree, daughter of Zion — §1.5, §1.6); Micah 5 (Bethlehem Ephrathah, ruler, goings forth, shepherd, peace, remnant of Jacob, sorceries — §1.3–§1.5); Micah 6 (covenant lawsuit, come before, God on high, burnt offerings, firstborn, sin, do justice, mercy, walk humbly, your God, require/seek, dishonest scales — §1.1–§1.2, §1.4); Micah 7 (godly/faithful one, household betrayal, watchman, look to the LORD, God of my salvation, who is a God like you, cast sins into the sea, faithfulness to Abraham — §1.2, §1.4–§1.5). No chapter is silently omitted.

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2. Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods

2.1 Missing Vocabulary (no natural single-word Portuguese equivalent; requires compound phrase or paraphrase)

Concept	Why Portuguese Lacks a Direct Equivalent	Resolution
goings forth from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2)	No single Portuguese noun/phrase compactly encodes “originating point + reaching back into eternity” without sounding either merely genealogical (“linhagem antiga”) or philosophically abstract	Full paraphrase: “desde os tempos antigos, desde os dias da eternidade,” retained as a fixed multi-word unit with mandatory theological note.
who is a God like you (Micah 7:18) name-pun	The Hebrew wordplay on “Micah” (Mi-kah = “Who is like Yah?”) has zero phonetic equivalent in Portuguese	Paraphrase the content (“quem é Deus como tu, que perdoas a iniquidade”) plus an explanatory footnote describing the untranslatable pun rather than attempting a forced Portuguese pun.
covenant lawsuit / riv (Micah 6:1-2)	Portuguese has no single word for this specific ANE legal-prophetic genre; “processo,” “julgamento,” or “acusação” each capture only part of the sense	Compound phrase “contenda / querela judicial” plus a genre-explanation footnote.
chasid / chesed word-family cohesion (Micah 6:8, 7:2, 7:20)	Hebrew maintains one root across three related concepts (mercy shown, the person who embodies it, and the mercy pledged to Abraham); Portuguese has no single root that spans all three without becoming either too narrow (institutional “beneficência”) or too diffuse (“bondade”)	Deliberate vocabulary discipline: anchor all three occurrences to “misericórdia” / “o piedoso, o fiel” / “misericórdia (a Abraão)” so the family relationship is preserved through consistency rather than shared morphology.

2.2 Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods Requiring Fencing

These are cases where Portuguese does have a ready natural-sounding equivalent, but that equivalent is already heavily occupied by a rival Brazilian religious/cultural framework, creating high risk of syncretistic misreading if left unfenced.

Term	Occupying Framework(s)	Fencing Strategy
”justiça” (do justice, mishpat)	Baseline’s own forensic-soteriological “justiça”/justificação (Romans)	Explicit cross-reference note on every Micah occurrence distinguishing social/ethical mishpat from forensic justificação. This is a self-inflicted risk unique to running Micah alongside the Romans baseline in the same curriculum, and is this Language Package’s single most distinctive fencing requirement.
”feitiçarias/bruxarias” (sorceries)	Candomblé, Umbanda (organized, populous, historically rooted Afro-Brazilian religions)	Frame strictly as judgment on ANE occult practice tied to idolatry; explicit non-polemical note against blanket application to a living religious community.
”holocaustos/sacrifício” (burnt offerings)	Catholic Mass-sacrifice theology; Candomblé/Umbanda animal sacrifice and oferendas/ebós	Explanatory note: OT ritual background shown insufficient apart from justice/mercy/humility; no comment on present-day sacrificial practice of any tradition.
”lançarás os nossos pecados nas profundezas do mar” (cast sins into the sea)	Iemanjá offerings cast into the sea (Candomblé/Umbanda, especially Réveillon)	Explicit note: God’s own sovereign forgiving act, not a human ritual offering to a sea deity.
”pastorear” / “pastor” (shepherd)	The everyday title of Evangelical/Pentecostal clergy in Brazil	Categorical distinction: the Messianic Shepherd-Ruler is unique and the source of legitimacy for, not one instance among, human pastoral offices.
”pedir/requerer” and the darash root (require/seek)	Kardecist “consulta espírita” (consulting a medium/spirit)	Footnote distinguishing God’s requirement of His people from consulting a spirit through mediumship.
”Deus altíssimo” (God on high)	Kardecist/Umbanda spirit hierarchies (more- vs. less-evolved/advanced spirits)	Retain unrivaled, exclusive supremacy; never render in a way suggestive of “the highest-ranking spirit” within a graded hierarchy.
”ídolos/imagens esculpidas” (idols)	Catholic image veneration (santos, images of Mary); Candomblé/Umbanda material orixá representations	Frame as covenant-loyalty violation (worship of rival gods), not a general statement about religious imagery.
”remanescente” (remnant)	Tridentine “the worthy remain” merit categories; Kardecist “more evolved souls advance”	Teach as preserved by God’s initiative/covenant chesed, not self-earned survival.
”espíritos guias/mentores,” “Espírito do Senhor” adjacency	Kardecist spirit guides; Candomblé/Umbanda incorporated spirits	Explicit cross-reference to baseline’s Critical Holy Spirit entry; same divine Spirit, not a lesser or different spiritual agent.

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3. Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions

Item	Decision	Rationale
Micah (prophet’s name)	Transliterate as “Miquéias” (established Almeida form)	Standard Portuguese Bible-translation form; consistent with baseline’s proper-name convention (cf. Isaías, Davi).
Bethlehem Ephrathah	Transliterate as “Belém de Efrata”	Established proper name; paired with a historical-geographic footnote rather than a paraphrase, since the town’s real smallness is the rhetorical point.
Abba-style Hebrew/Aramaic retention	Not applicable in Micah (no Aramaic terms of the “Abba” type occur)	Noted for completeness; no action needed.
”goings forth from of old, from everlasting”	Paraphrase (not transliteration; not single-term translation)	See §2.1 — no compact Portuguese equivalent exists; the full theological weight requires a multi-word phrase held constant across all occurrences and cross-referenced to baseline Christology doctrines.
”who is a God like you” (Micah name-pun)	Paraphrase content + explanatory footnote; do not attempt a manufactured Portuguese pun	Forcing a false pun (“Miquéias… quem é…”) would misrepresent the original wordplay’s mechanism and risk sounding contrived; better to name the phenomenon in a note.
chesed	Translate (never transliterate) as “misericórdia”	Unlike “Abba” in the Romans baseline, chesed has no established Portuguese Bible tradition of transliteration; a translated rendering is expected and necessary for comprehension. Transliterating “chesed” would strand ordinary readers.
mishpat / pesha / chatta’ah	Translate, not transliterate (“justiça” [with fencing note] / “transgressão” / “pecado”)	These map onto existing, catechetically load-bearing Portuguese theological vocabulary already established by the Romans baseline; transliteration would fragment the glossary unnecessarily.
”swords into plowshares,” “vine and fig tree”	Translate using the exact existing Almeida (ARA) idiomatic renderings	These idioms already have settled, natural Portuguese Bible-tradition forms; inventing new phrasing would break consistency with readers’ existing Bible exposure.
bamot (high places)	Translate as “lugares altos” with footnote, not transliterate	No established Portuguese transliteration tradition exists for this term (unlike, e.g., “Sheol” or “Abba” elsewhere); a translated common-noun phrase plus footnote is standard practice and sufficient.

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4. Ranked List of This Book’s Highest-Risk Ambiguities

Ranked by combined severity (doctrinal centrality × probability of syncretistic or intra-curriculum misreading), for Phase 2 review-routing priority. All Critical/High entries require human theologian review per the baseline’s Glossary Enforcement Priority Order.

1. “praticar a justiça” (do justice, Micah 6:8) vs. baseline “justificação”/“justiça imputada” (Romans 3–5). — Critical. Unique to this curriculum: the single highest-probability confusion point precisely because both Micah and Romans are taught from the same Language Package and share the identical Portuguese lexeme for two theologically distinct concepts (social/ethical justice-doing vs. forensic righteousness-receiving). Requires a standing cross-reference note wired into every occurrence in both books.

2. “lançarás os nossos pecados nas profundezas do mar” (Micah 7:19) vs. Iemanjá sea-offerings. — High/Critical in practice. Visual and ritual (not merely lexical) collision with one of Brazil’s most nationally visible religious practices (Réveillon offerings). Misreading risk is unusually high because the image is vivid and memorable, making an unfenced reading likely to stick.

3. “ruler” (moshel) and “goings forth from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2) vs. Kardecist Christology. — Critical. Direct doctrinal collision with baseline’s Messianic Promise / Deity of Christ / Sonship of Christ entries; this is Micah’s Old Testament anchor for claims the Romans baseline treats as Critical, so any softening here undermines the whole curriculum’s Christology.

4. “feitiçarias/bruxarias” (sorceries, Micah 5:12) vs. Candomblé/Umbanda. — High. Direct lexical overlap with vocabulary used (often pejoratively) of a large, organized, living Brazilian religious community; mishandling risks either polemical harm or, if over-softened, loss of the text’s actual condemnation of occult power.

5. “holocaustos/sacrifício” (burnt offerings, Micah 6:6-7) vs. Catholic Mass theology and Candomblé/Umbanda sacrifice/oferendas. — High. Two simultaneous rival associations (Catholic sacramental and Afro-Brazilian ritual) converge on one Portuguese term; requires the most carefully worded footnote in the True Worship doctrine cluster.

6. “quem é Deus como tu, que perdoas a iniquidade” (Micah 7:18) vs. Kardecist “lei de causa e efeito.” — Critical. The book’s climactic forgiveness claim is the passage most directly opposed to the karmic-law framework that assurance-of-salvation teaching in the Romans baseline also targets (cf. baseline’s Assurance of Salvation entry); consistency between the two books’ handling of this contrast is essential.

7. “pastorear”/“pastor” (Messianic Shepherd, Micah 5:4) vs. Evangelical clergy title. — High. Not a rival-religion collision but an intra-Christian register collision; the everyday ubiquity of “pastor” as a title in Brazilian church life makes it easy for the Messianic uniqueness of the term to be flattened without deliberate teaching.

8. “Espírito do Senhor” (Micah 3:8) vs. Kardecist “espíritos guias” and Candomblé/Umbanda incorporated spirits. — High. Same collision class as baseline’s Critical Holy Spirit entry; must inherit that entry’s full weight rather than being treated as a lesser, merely Old Testament reference.

9. “remanescente” (remnant, Micah 2:12, 5:7-8) vs. merit-based survival readings (Tridentine and Kardecist). — High. Subtle risk: the term itself is neutral, but the unstated inference (“those who made it were more faithful/more evolved”) is easy to draw without explicit correction.

10. “require/seek” (darash) vs. “consulta espírita” (Micah 6:8). — Medium-High. Lower doctrinal centrality than items 1–9, but a live cultural practice (mediumistic consultation) makes the shared root risk concrete and immediate for readers who move in both worlds.

11. “misericórdia” vs. ARA’s “beneficência” (chesed, Micah 6:8, 7:20). — High. Primarily an internal Portuguese Bible-tradition consistency risk rather than a syncretism risk, but left unresolved it will produce visible inconsistency across curriculum materials and hymnody quotations.

12. “ídolos/imagens esculpidas” (Micah 1:7) vs. Catholic image veneration. — High. Risk of the material being misused as polemic against Catholic devotional practice rather than teaching the text’s actual covenant-loyalty point; requires pastoral care in framing, not just lexical accuracy.

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5. Summary of Required Actions Before Phase 2

1. Register all “new” terms from 08_core_glossary.md and bible_term_registry.json into translation_memory.json, incrementing the version number per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions.
2. Obtain human theologian sign-off on all Critical-tier and High-tier items identified above (items 1–9 minimum) before any Phase 2 segment touching Micah 5, 6, or 7 is processed.
3. Add a standing cross-reference rule to the AI system prompt (to be delivered in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md update for this curriculum): whenever “justiça” appears in a Micah segment, check whether the sense is mishpat (ethical) or the Romans-baseline forensic sense, and attach the appropriate disambiguation note.
4. Ensure the “misericórdia” vs. “beneficência” reconciliation decision is applied consistently across all Micah 6:8 and 7:20 occurrences in every downstream document.
5. Confirm no chapter of Micah has been silently omitted from doctrine coverage (see chapter coverage check, §1.6).