Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Genesis (English → Spanish)
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json to the book of Genesis. Every term already present in the Romans baseline is reused with its exact recorded Spanish rendering and risk tier; new Genesis-specific terms are assigned risk tiers using the identical framework (Critical/High/Medium/Low) defined in the baseline’s doctrine_risk_registry.json. This file will feed a future genesis_translation_memory.json in the same schema as the baseline.
Legend
- Reused from baseline = identical term/concept already governed by the Romans Language Package; rendering is non-negotiable.
- New (Genesis) = introduced in this curriculum; rendering proposed and risk-assessed here for the first time.
Table 1 — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline
| Term | Hebrew root (translit.) | Spanish rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Genesis Occurrences | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | Elohim | Dios | Critical | Creation Ex Nihilo | 1:1 et al. | Reuse baseline exactly. |
| Lord | YHWH (Adonai) | Señor / Jehová | Critical | Providence and the Sovereignty of God | 15:2; 22:14 et al. | Follow baseline’s Reina-Valera “Jehová/Señor” convention for the tetragrammaton. |
| Holy Spirit / Spirit of God | ruach Elohim | Espíritu Santo / Espíritu de Dios | High | Creation Ex Nihilo; Providence | 1:2; 41:38 | Genesis reveals the Spirit’s presence and activity progressively; teach continuity with, not identity-collapse into, the fuller NT revelation. |
| Father | — (implicit) | Padre | Critical | (background for later Adoption doctrine) | not directly titled in Genesis | Held in reserve; God’s fatherly care is implicit in Genesis narrative before explicit “Padre” address develops later in Scripture. |
| Covenant | berit | pacto | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 6:18; 9:9-17; 15:18; 17:2-21 | Reuse baseline exactly; never substitute “alianza” as primary term in this curriculum, per baseline’s Protestant/Evangelical-leaning standardization (note “alianza” remains valid Catholic-tradition synonym). |
| Faith / believed | he’emin | fe / creyó | High/Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 15:6 | Direct root of Romans 4:3’s citation; align exactly with baseline “fe” entry. |
| Righteousness | tsedaqah | justicia | Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 15:6; 18:19; 38:26 | Reuse baseline exactly; teaching notes must distinguish the soteriological (15:6) from the ordinary-ethical (38:26) register. |
| Imputed righteousness | chashav li-tsedaqah | justicia imputada | Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 15:6 | This is the direct Old Testament textual anchor of the baseline’s Critical forbidden-substitution rule (“justicia infundida” is never acceptable here either). |
| Grace / favor | chen | gracia | High | Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace | 6:8; 19:19; 39:21 | Reuse baseline exactly; unmerited favor, not merit-earned rescue. |
| Blessing | barak/berakhah | bendición / bendijo | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 1:28; 12:2-3; 27; 48-49 | Elevated to High in this curriculum given prosperity-gospel flattening risk in popular piety; not present as a standalone baseline entry but doctrinally continuous with baseline’s “grace” cautions. |
| Holy / sanctified | qadash/qadosh | santo / santificó | High | Creation Ex Nihilo (Sabbath); Sanctification (forward link) | 2:3 | Reuse baseline “santo/santificación” family exactly; first scriptural occurrence of the root. |
| Saints (forward link) | — | santos | Critical | (anticipates Romans 1:7 baseline entry) | not directly used of believers in Genesis | Noted for cross-curriculum consistency; no Genesis occurrence requires action now. |
| Sin | chatta’ah | pecado | High | The Fall and the Origin of Sin | 4:7; 4:13; 18:20 | Reuse baseline exactly; never soften to “falta.” |
| Israel | Yisra’el | Israel | Low (Medium at etymology, 32:28) | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 32:28; 35:10 | Reuse baseline exactly as proper name; see semantic analysis for etymological teaching-note flag. |
| David (forward link) | — | David | Low | Davidic Covenant (Romans baseline) | not present in Genesis; seed/scepter promise anticipates the line | Genesis 49:10’s “scepter” and Genesis 15/22’s seed promise are the textual seedbed for the later Davidic covenant; no direct occurrence, cited for traceability. |
| Messiah (forward link) | — | Mesías | Critical | Messianic Promise | anticipated at 3:15; 22:18; 49:10 | Genesis contains no direct occurrence of the term but supplies its entire promissory foundation (seed of the woman; seed of Abraham; scepter of Judah/Shiloh); reuse baseline term when this material is taught alongside NT fulfillment. |
| Gentiles / nations | — | gentiles / naciones | Low/Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (forward link) | 10:1-32; 12:3 | Genesis’s Table of Nations and “all nations blessed” promise ground this later doctrine; reuse baseline “gentiles,” Low, with “naciones” for the broader pre-ethnic-distinction sense in Genesis 10. |
| Mission | — | misión | Medium | Mission to the Nations (forward link) | 12:1-3 | Reuse baseline exactly; retain baseline’s colonial-association caution. |
| Providence | pronoia (conceptual, cf. Rom 8:28) | providencia | Medium (elevated to Critical at 50:20 for this curriculum) | Providence and the Sovereignty of God | 22:14; 45:5-8; 50:20 | Reuse baseline term; risk elevated specifically at Genesis 50:20 given this curriculum’s named doctrine status — see Table 2. |
| Intercession | — (distinct Hebrew vocabulary, not lexically identical) | intercesión | Critical (by association) | Prayer and Intercession (forward link) | 18:22-33 (Abraham pleading for Sodom) | Not a lexical match to the baseline’s NT terms, but doctrinally continuous; flag as an early precursor to direct approach to God in prayer, consistent with baseline’s caution against saint/Marian-mediated models of intercession. |
Table 2 — New Terms Introduced in Genesis (Not in Romans Baseline)
| Term (English gloss) | Hebrew (translit.) | Spanish rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Key Passages | Rejected alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create (ex nihilo) | bara | crear / creó | Critical | Creation Ex Nihilo | 1:1, 21, 27; 2:3 | ”hacer/formar” as interchangeable synonyms | Must remain lexically distinct in translation from יָצַר (yatsar, “formar”) and עָשָׂה (asah, “hacer”) wherever the Hebrew itself distinguishes them, to preserve ex-nihilo doctrine against a mere-reorganization reading. |
| Formless and empty | tohu va-vohu | desordenada y vacía | Medium | Creation Ex Nihilo | 1:2 | ”caos primigenio” (implying an independent, eternal chaos-deity) | Must not suggest an eternal rival chaos-force; this is the raw material God orders, not an evil independent power. |
| Image (of God) | tselem | imagen | Critical | The Image of God | 1:26-27; 5:1; 9:6 | ”réplica física,” “ídolo/imagen devocional” | Highest syncretism risk in this glossary: collides directly with Hispanic Catholic devotional culture’s dominant use of “imagen” for venerated statues/icons of saints and the Virgin. Mandatory teaching note in every occurrence: every human being, not a devotional object, images God. |
| Likeness | demut | semejanza | High | The Image of God | 1:26 | — | Always paired with “imagen” (“imagen y semejanza”) per historic Spanish Bible convention. |
| Living creature/soul | nefesh chayyah | ser viviente | Medium | The Image of God (by contrast) | 1:20-30; 2:7 | ”alma” alone (imports Greek dualism) | Applied to both animals and humans in Genesis; the additional, unique divine “breath” (nishmat chayyim, 2:7) and “image” (tselem, 1:26) mark humanity’s distinctiveness, not the shared nefesh chayyah vocabulary itself. |
| Breath of life | nishmat chayyim | soplo/aliento de vida | Medium | The Image of God | 2:7 | — | Distinct from animals’ general life-force; direct divine inbreathing. |
| Dominion / subdue | radah / kavash | dominio / señorear / sojuzgar | Medium | The Image of God | 1:26, 28 | ”explotar,” “dominar sin límite” | Accountable stewardship, not exploitative ownership; live contemporary ecological-ethics application point. |
| Male and female | zachar u-nekevah | varón y mujer | Medium-High | The Image of God | 1:27; 5:2 | any rendering obscuring the created binary distinction | Contemporary cultural sensitivity point; the plain sense of the text must not be softened through translation choice. |
| Rested / ceased | shabat | reposó / descansó | Medium | Creation Ex Nihilo (Sabbath ground) | 2:2-3 | ”se cansó” (implies divine fatigue) | Satisfied completion, not recovery from exhaustion; ground for, but not identical with, later Mosaic Sabbath legislation. |
| Tree of life | ets ha-chayyim | árbol de la vida | High | The Fall and the Origin of Sin (by contrast) | 2:9; 3:22, 24 | ”elixir mágico de inmortalidad” | Life contingent on communion with God, not an autonomous magical object. |
| Tree of the knowledge of good and evil | ets ha-da’at tov va-ra | árbol del conocimiento del bien y del mal | High | The Fall and the Origin of Sin | 2:9, 17; 3:1-7 | a rendering implying neutral informational knowledge | The moral test at the doctrine’s center. |
| Helper corresponding to him | ezer kenegdo | ayuda idónea / compañera adecuada | Medium-High | The Image of God (marriage) | 2:18, 20 | ”asistente/subordinada” | Ezer is used of God himself elsewhere (strong helper); must not imply inferiority. |
| One flesh | basar echad | una sola carne | Medium | The Image of God (marriage) | 2:24 | a merely biological/sexual-only gloss | Covenantal-relational union. |
| Serpent | nachash | serpiente | Medium | The Fall and the Origin of Sin | 3:1-15 | folk-magical “encantamiento de serpiente” framing | Actual creature as tempter’s instrument; deeper agent identified later in Scripture (Rev 12:9). |
| Cursed | arur | maldito(a) / maldición | High (Critical at 9:25, Canaan) | The Fall and the Origin of Sin; Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace | 3:14, 17; 9:25 | any framing suggesting a removable folk-magic hex | Major syncretism risk with Latin American “mal de ojo”/folk-curse culture; the Genesis 9:25 occurrence additionally requires a mandatory anti-racialization teaching note given its documented historical misuse. |
| Seed / offspring (messianic line) | zera | descendencia | Critical | The Fall and the Origin of Sin; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:15; 12:7; 15:5; 22:18; 49:10 | ”simiente” as the sole/primary term (reserve for direct RV1960 quotation) | Single consistent rendering required across all occurrences to preserve the traceable promise-line into the Messiah; directly connects to baseline’s Critical “Mesías” entry. |
| Garments of skin | kotnot or | túnicas de piel | Medium-High | The Fall and the Origin of Sin | 3:21 | — | First shadow of substitutionary atonement; flag for later theological development without over-allegorizing the base text. |
| Sin (personified) | chatta’ah (as crouching predator) | pecado (reuse baseline word; new personified sense) | High | The Fall and the Origin of Sin | 4:7 | a flattened abstract-noun-only rendering | First personification of sin as active predatory power. |
| Favor / grace (Noahic) | chen | gracia (reuse baseline) | High | Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace | 6:8 | any rendering implying Noah’s righteousness produced God’s favor | Favor precedes and grounds obedience. |
| God regretted/relented | nacham | se dolió / le pesó en su corazón | High | Providence and the Sovereignty of God | 6:6 | a rendering implying divine ignorance or reversal of eternal plan | Delicate anthropopathism; mandatory theologian review. |
| Sons of God / Nephilim | bene ha-Elohim / nephilim | hijos de Dios / gigantes | High | Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace | 6:1-4 | a rendering silently resolving the angelic-vs.-human interpretive debate | Contested identity; do not foreclose interpretation through translation choice. |
| Sign (of covenant) | ot | señal | High | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 9:12-17; 17:11 | — | Reuse consistently for every covenant-sign occurrence. |
| Go forth (call narrative) | lekh lekha | vete | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 12:1 | a mild-suggestion rendering | Decisive divine summons; aligns with baseline “llamado” doctrine. |
| Steadfast love / covenant loyalty | chesed | misericordia / fidelidad amorosa | High | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 24:12, 27, 49; 32:10; 39:21; 47:29 | ”amor” alone (too generic); conflating with chen/“gracia” | Distinct covenant-loyalty nuance from unmerited favor (chen); no single Spanish word fully captures it — standing teaching note required. |
| Tested / tried | nissah | probó | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 22:1 | ”tentó” (implies incitement to sin) | God tests faith without being the source of temptation to evil. |
| The LORD will provide | YHWH yireh | Jehová provee / el SEÑOR provee | High | Providence and the Sovereignty of God | 22:14 | a generic “Dios proveerá” losing the covenant-name force | Names the curriculum’s providence doctrine directly. |
| Burnt offering | olah | holocausto / ofrenda quemada | Medium-High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise (typology) | 8:20; 22:2-13 | — | Substitutionary sacrifice typology. |
| Circumcision | milah | circuncisión | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 17:10-14 | a rendering implying circumcision as basis (not sign) of righteousness | Sign/seal following, not producing, imputed righteousness (cf. Romans 4:9-12). |
| Melchizedek | Malki-Tsedeq | Melquisedec | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise (typology) | 14:18-20 | — | Typologically significant priest-king; do not reduce to a minor footnote. |
| Righteousness and justice (paired) | tsedaqah u-mishpat | justicia y juicio/rectitud | High | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 18:19 | — | Links covenant identity to ethical practice. |
| Birthright | bekhorah | primogenitura | Medium-High | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 25:29-34; 27 | — | Covenant-transmission rights; contempt for it is morally significant (cf. Heb 12:16-17). |
| Vow | neder | voto | Medium | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations | 28:20-22 | a rendering modeling transactional bargaining as the norm for receiving blessing | Distinguish human vow-making from the prior, unconditional divine covenant promise. |
| Household gods / idols | teraphim | ídolos / dioses domésticos | High | Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace | 31:19, 34-35; 35:2, 4 | ”figuras familiares” (neutral heirloom framing) | Direct idolatry-contrast term; real contemporary syncretism relevance given object-veneration practices in parts of the Hispanic world. |
| Defiled | tame | contaminó / deshonró | Medium | Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace | 34 | — | Moral-relational, not merely ritual, defilement. |
| Dream (revelatory) | chalom | sueño | Medium | Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering | 37:5-11; 40-41 | a rendering assimilating this to esoteric dream-divination | God-given revelation, not occult prediction; parallels baseline’s “profecía” caution against horóscopo framing. |
| God sent me (providence formula) | Elohim shelachani | Dios me envió | High | Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering | 45:5-8 | ”estaba destinado” (fatalistic) | God’s sovereign purpose works through, without excusing, real human sin; echoes baseline’s rejection of “destino/suerte” for providence/election language. |
| God turned it for good | Elohim chashavah le-tovah | Dios lo tornó/transformó en bien | Critical (for this curriculum) | Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering | 50:20 | any rendering minimizing either the reality of the brothers’ evil intent or God’s sovereign overruling purpose | The doctrinal capstone verse of the whole Joseph narrative; requires mandatory theologian review. |
| God will surely visit you | paqad | os visitará / vendrá en vuestra ayuda | Medium-High | Covenant Faithfulness across Generations; Providence | 50:24-25 | a vague “ayudará” losing covenant-historical specificity | Bridges Genesis into Exodus; forward-looking covenant fulfillment language. |
| Scepter / Shiloh | shevet / Shiloh | cetro / Siloh | High | (Messianic Promise, forward link) | 49:10 | a rendering silently resolving the “Shiloh” interpretive debate | Direct messianic-line text connecting to the baseline’s Critical “Mesías” entry; flag for theologian review. |
| Kind / according to its kind | min | género / especie | Medium | Creation Ex Nihilo | 1:11-12, 21, 24-25 | ”especie” alone if implying strict modern taxonomic precision | Avoid importing modern biological-species precision not intended by the ancient text; recommend “según su género” for reading-level neutrality on origins-science debates. |
Risk Summary for Genesis Glossary
| Risk Tier | Count (new Genesis terms) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 (crear, imagen, descendencia, Dios lo tornó/transformó en bien) | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | 18 | Human theologian |
| Medium-High | 6 | Human theologian (treat as High for routing purposes) |
| Medium | 9 | Native speaker review |
| Total new terms | 37 | — |
This table excludes the 20 baseline-reused terms in Table 1, which retain their original baseline risk tiers and review routing exactly.
End of 08_core_glossary.md
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dios
Transliteration: Elohim
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo / Deity of God
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Genesis extension: teach that Elohim’s grammatically plural Hebrew form is a plural of majesty, not polytheism, and is fully compatible with later Trinitarian revelation.
Lord
Approved rendering: Señor / Jehová
Transliteration: YHWH (Adonai)
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: Yahveh (breaks with established Reina-Valera convention)
Original: יהוה
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly for ‘Señor’; extended with the Reina-Valera ‘Jehová’ convention for the tetragrammaton in compound covenant names (e.g., Jehová-jireh, Genesis 22:14). Must retain exclusive, personal covenant-name force.
Create Ex Nihilo
Approved rendering: crear / creó
Transliteration: bara
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Rejected alternatives: hacer/formar como sinónimos intercambiables con crear
Original: בָּרָא
Category: Creation
Must remain lexically distinct from ‘formó’ (yatsar, 2:7) and ‘hizo’ (asah, 1:7, 16) wherever the Hebrew distinguishes the verbs, or the ex-nihilo doctrine collapses into mere reorganization of pre-existing matter.
Image Of God
Approved rendering: imagen
Transliteration: tselem
Doctrine: The Image of God
Rejected alternatives: réplica física de la forma de Dios, ídolo/imagen devocional
Original: צֶלֶם
Category: Anthropology
HIGHEST SYNCRETISM RISK IN THIS GLOSSARY. ‘Imagen’ is the standard Spanish word for a venerated statue or holy card of a saint or the Virgin in Hispanic Catholic devotional culture. Mandatory teaching note every occurrence: every human being, not a devotional object, images God. Always pair with ‘semejanza’ as ‘imagen y semejanza,’ per the historic Spanish Bible phrase.
Curse Of Canaan
Approved rendering: maldito sea Canaán
Transliteration: arur Kena’an
Doctrine: Curse of Canaan — Historical Misuse Caution
Rejected alternatives: cualquier gloss que implique una categoría racial o étnica moderna
Original: אָרוּר (כְּנַעַן)
Category: Sin
CRITICAL, real-world harm risk beyond ordinary doctrinal drift: documented historical misuse to justify racialized chattel slavery and subjugation of Black and Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Mandatory anti-racialization teaching note in every occurrence.
Seed Offspring Messianic
Approved rendering: descendencia
Transliteration: zera
Doctrine: Protoevangelium — The Messianic Seed Promise
Rejected alternatives: simiente (como término primario; reservado solo para cita directa estilo RV1960)
Original: זֶרַע
Category: Covenant
Single, consistent rendering required across every seed-line occurrence (3:15; 12:7; 15:5; 22:18; 49:10) so the reader can trace the unfolding promise into the baseline’s Critical ‘Mesías’ entry.
Imputed Righteousness Ot
Approved rendering: lo contó / imputó por justicia
Transliteration: chashav li-tsedaqah
Doctrine: Justification by Faith — Old Testament Anchor (Genesis 15:6)
Rejected alternatives: justicia infundida (categoría tridentina, prohibida por la regla del baseline)
Original: חָשַׁב לִצְדָקָה
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly (‘justicia imputada’ family). This is the single most important Old Testament text for cross-Testament consistency — quoted verbatim in Romans 4:3. Must be cross-checked against the Romans 4:3 rendering used elsewhere in this Language Package; never drift toward ‘justicia infundida.‘
Righteousness General
Approved rendering: justicia
Transliteration: tsedaqah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: rectitud moral autónoma, mérito acumulado
Original: צְדָקָה
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Teaching notes must distinguish the soteriological, forensic register anchored at 15:6 from the ordinary-ethical, comparative register at 18:19 and 38:26.
God Turned It For Good
Approved rendering: Dios lo tornó / transformó en bien
Transliteration: Elohim chashavah le-tovah
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Rejected alternatives: rendering que minimice la realidad o culpa de la intención maligna de los hermanos, rendering que minimice el propósito soberano de Dios
Original: אֱלֹהִים חֲשָׁבָהּ לְטוֹבָה
Category: Providence
The doctrinal capstone verse of the entire Joseph narrative (50:20), and the named theological climax of this curriculum. Must preserve both the brothers’ genuine evil intent and God’s overruling sovereign good purpose in the same breath. Mandatory theologian review.
Intercession Ot Precursor
Approved rendering: intercedió / rogó
Transliteration: — (Abraham’s plea, 18:22-33)
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession — Old Testament Precursor
Rejected alternatives: framing que refuerce el modelo de mediación de los santos o la Virgen
Original: — (Abraham’s plea, 18:22-33)
Category: Faith
Critical by direct association with the baseline’s Critical ‘intercesión’ entry. Abraham’s direct pleading with God models unmediated approach to God in prayer; must not reinforce popular Catholic piety’s default saint/Marian-mediated model.
Father God Implicit
Approved rendering: Padre
Transliteration: — (implicit)
Doctrine: (background for Adoption doctrine)
Original: — (implicit)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly, held in reserve. No direct Genesis occurrence requires translation action now; teaching notes should trace God’s fatherly care in Genesis’s covenant narrative forward to the explicit New Testament address.
Saints Forward Link
Approved rendering: santos
Transliteration: — (forward link)
Doctrine: (anticipates Romans 1:7 sainthood doctrine)
Rejected alternatives: los santos (canonizados, objeto de veneración e intercesión)
Original: — (forward link)
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package exactly, retained for cross-curriculum consistency. Genesis 2:3’s sanctification of the seventh day is the textual root of the q-d-sh word family later applied to God’s people.
Messiah Forward Link
Approved rendering: Mesías
Transliteration: — (forward link)
Doctrine: Protoevangelium — The Messianic Seed Promise
Rejected alternatives: un ungido más, entre otros santos o profetas venerados
Original: — (forward link)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Genesis contains no direct occurrence of the term itself but supplies its entire promissory foundation (3:15; 22:18; 49:10); reuse when this material is taught alongside New Testament fulfillment.
High Risk Terms
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Espíritu de Dios / Espíritu Santo
Transliteration: ruach Elohim
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo; Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: un viento/aliento de Dios (fenómeno meteorológico impersonal), una fuerza impersonal, un espíritu guía o ancestral
Original: רוּחַ אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Extends the baseline’s High-risk ‘Espíritu Santo’ entry. Genesis’s progressive revelation uses ‘Espíritu de Dios’ (1:2; 41:38); teach continuity with, not identity-collapse into, the fuller New Testament title. Must never be rendered as an impersonal force, given live Caribbean Espiritismo/Santería frameworks.
Likeness
Approved rendering: semejanza
Transliteration: demut
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: דְּמוּת
Category: Anthropology
Always paired with ‘imagen’ as ‘imagen y semejanza,’ so an isolated ‘imagen’ is not misheard by a Catholic-formed ear as a devotional statue reference.
Male And Female
Approved rendering: varón y mujer
Transliteration: zachar u-nekevah
Doctrine: Male and Female in God’s Image
Rejected alternatives: cualquier rendering que oscurezca la distinción binaria creada
Original: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה
Category: Anthropology
Live contemporary flashpoint in Spanish-speaking cultural and ecclesial gender-identity discourse; the text’s plain sense must not be softened or reinterpreted through translation choice.
Helper Corresponding To Him
Approved rendering: ayuda idónea / compañera adecuada
Transliteration: ezer kenegdo
Doctrine: Marriage as Covenant Union
Rejected alternatives: asistente / subordinada (implica inferioridad servil)
Original: עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ
Category: Anthropology
‘Ezer’ elsewhere describes God himself as Israel’s strong helper (Psalm 121:1-2); live contemporary flashpoint given ongoing gender-role debates in Hispanic evangelical and Catholic contexts.
Tree Of Life
Approved rendering: árbol de la vida
Transliteration: ets ha-chayyim
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin (by contrast)
Rejected alternatives: elixir mágico de inmortalidad
Original: עֵץ הַחַיִּים
Category: Anthropology
Access to unending life is contingent on continued communion with God, not an autonomous magical object independent of relationship with him.
Tree Of Knowledge
Approved rendering: árbol del conocimiento del bien y del mal
Transliteration: ets ha-da’at tov va-ra
Doctrine: The Fall and the Origin of Sin
Rejected alternatives: rendering que sugiera información neutral o sabiduría mágica
Original: עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע
Category: Sin
The single moral test at the doctrine’s center; must not suggest the tree grants neutral information.
Sanctified Seventh Day
Approved rendering: santificó
Transliteration: qadash
Doctrine: Sabbath Rest and the Sanctification of Time
Rejected alternatives: purificación penitencial, vía purgativa
Original: קָדַש
Category: Creation
Extends the baseline’s ‘santo/santificación’ family to its first scriptural occurrence (Genesis 2:3). Anchors holiness as God-given set-apartness, not merit-earned ritual purity — consonant with the baseline’s warning against a penitential framing of ‘santificación.‘
Cursed
Approved rendering: maldito(a) / maldición
Transliteration: arur
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences (Curse Pronouncements)
Rejected alternatives: cualquier framing que sugiera una maldición removible mediante magia popular o limpia
Original: אָרוּר
Category: Sin
Major syncretism risk: in Latin American popular culture ‘maldición’ is strongly associated with folk witchcraft, ‘mal de ojo,’ and curses removable by a curandero. Must be taught as a formal, judicial divine pronouncement, never an impersonal magical hex.
Garments Of Skin
Approved rendering: túnicas de piel
Transliteration: kotnot or
Doctrine: Substitutionary Covering (Garments of Skin)
Original: כְּתֹנוֹת עוֹר
Category: Sin
The first shadow of substitutionary atonement — God himself provides a covering requiring an animal’s death. Do not over-allegorize the base translation, but flag for later theological development in teaching notes.
Sin Personified
Approved rendering: pecado
Transliteration: chatta’ah (rovets)
Doctrine: Sin as an Active, Personified Power
Rejected alternatives: rendering plano de sustantivo abstracto sin la imagen del depredador
Original: חַטָּאת
Category: Sin
Reuses the baseline’s ‘pecado’ term exactly (never soften to ‘falta’), extended to Scripture’s first personification of sin as a crouching predator (Genesis 4:7); retain the vivid imagery.
Sin General
Approved rendering: pecado
Transliteration: chatta’ah
Doctrine: The Universal Spread of Sin
Rejected alternatives: falta (eufemismo minimizador)
Original: חַטָּאת
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Recurs throughout Genesis (4:7,13; 18:20; 20:9; 39:9); never soften to ‘falta.‘
Divine Grief Nacham
Approved rendering: se dolió / le pesó en su corazón
Transliteration: nacham
Doctrine: Divine Grief and Unchanging Providence
Rejected alternatives: rendering que implique ignorancia divina o un cambio del plan eterno
Original: נִחַם
Category: Providence
Delicate anthropopathism (Genesis 6:6-7); mandatory theologian review so the note can distinguish genuine relational grief-language from any implication that God lacks foreknowledge or sovereign control.
Covenant
Approved rendering: pacto
Transliteration: berit
Doctrine: The Noahic Covenant; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Rejected alternatives: alianza (como término primario; permanece como sinónimo válido de tradición católica solo en entornos ecuménicos), contrato legal
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package exactly, per this Language Package’s Reina-Valera-tradition standardization. Never reduce ‘pacto’ to a bare legal contract.
Sons Of God Nephilim
Approved rendering: hijos de Dios / gigantes
Transliteration: bene ha-Elohim / nephilim
Doctrine: Sons of God / Nephilim — Interpretive Caution
Rejected alternatives: gloss que resuelva unilateralmente el debate ángeles-vs-humanos
Original: בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים / נְפִלִים
Category: Sin
Contested identity among orthodox commentators (Genesis 6:1-4). Translation and teaching notes must not silently foreclose the interpretive debate.
Covenant Sign
Approved rendering: señal
Transliteration: ot
Doctrine: The Noahic Covenant; Covenant Sign and Seal (Circumcision)
Original: אוֹת
Category: Covenant
Render consistently for every covenant-sign occurrence: the rainbow (9:12-17) and circumcision (17:11).
Blessing
Approved rendering: bendición / bendijo
Transliteration: barak / berakhah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: bendición como garantía de prosperidad material, saludo social casual vacío de contenido teológico
Original: בָּרַךְ / בְּרָכָה
Category: Covenant
Not a standalone baseline Romans entry; new to this curriculum but doctrinally continuous with the baseline’s grace/merit cautions. Elevated to High given real prosperity-gospel flattening risk in contemporary Latin American popular piety and broadcast religion. Genesis’s blessing (1:28; 12:2-3; 27; 48-49) is vocational and covenantal, not a prosperity guarantee.
Go Forth Calling
Approved rendering: vete
Transliteration: lekh lekha
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: mild-suggestion rendering (‘podrías ir’, ‘sería bueno que fueras’)
Original: לֶךְ־לְךָ
Category: Covenant
God’s intensified imperative summons to Abram (12:1); must convey a decisive, sovereign summons, aligning register with the baseline’s High-risk ‘llamado’ doctrine notes.
Faith Believed
Approved rendering: fe / creyó
Transliteration: he’emin
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: devoción religiosa general, creencia cultural heredada
Original: הֶאֱמִין
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Direct Old Testament root of the personal-trust sense the baseline requires (Genesis 15:6); distinct from inherited cultural religiosity or devotional loyalty to a saint or the Virgin.
Melchizedek
Approved rendering: Melquisedec
Transliteration: Malki-Tsedeq
Doctrine: Melchizedek Typology
Original: מֶלְכִּי־צֶדֶק
Category: Covenant
Standard transliteration. Typologically significant priest-king (cf. Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5-7) whose name embeds the ‘justicia’ root; do not reduce to a minor genealogical footnote.
Tested Nissah
Approved rendering: probó
Transliteration: nissah
Doctrine: The Testing of Faith (Genesis 22)
Rejected alternatives: tentó (implica que Dios incita a Abraham hacia el pecado)
Original: נִסָּה
Category: Covenant
God tests Abraham’s faith without himself being the source of temptation to evil (cf. James 1:13); this fine but important distinction must survive translation.
Yhwh Yireh Providence
Approved rendering: Jehová provee / el Señor provee
Transliteration: YHWH yireh
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: Dios proveerá (genérico, pierde la fuerza del nombre pactual)
Original: יהוה יִרְאֶה
Category: Providence
Compound covenant-name formed from the Genesis 22 sacrifice narrative; use the baseline’s established Reina-Valera divine-name convention rather than a generic substitute.
Burnt Offering
Approved rendering: holocausto / ofrenda quemada
Transliteration: olah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise (typology)
Original: עוֹלָה
Category: Covenant
Substitutionary sacrifice typology (8:20; 22:2-13) — the ram/lamb dies in Isaac’s place. Do not over-allegorize the base translation, but teach with the fuller New Testament atonement trajectory in view.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: circuncisión
Transliteration: berit milah
Doctrine: Covenant Sign and Seal (Circumcision)
Rejected alternatives: rendering que implique la circuncisión como base, no señal, de la justicia
Original: בְּרִית מִילָה
Category: Covenant
Sign/seal following, not producing, Abraham’s already-imputed righteousness from Genesis 15 — parallels the baseline’s warning against a merit-based misreading of grace, matching Romans 4:9-12.
Righteousness And Justice Paired
Approved rendering: justicia y juicio
Transliteration: tsedaqah u-mishpat
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט
Category: Covenant
Genesis 18:19; reuses baseline ‘justicia’ exactly for the first term. Links covenant identity to ethical practice, not mere ritual identity.
Chesed Steadfast Love
Approved rendering: misericordia / fidelidad amorosa
Transliteration: chesed
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Rejected alternatives: amor (demasiado genérico), conflación con gracia/chen
Original: חֶסֶד
Category: Covenant
No single Spanish word fully captures chesed’s covenant-loyalty nuance. Standing teaching note required at every recurrence (24:12,27,49; 32:10; 39:21; 47:29) distinguishing it from ‘gracia’ (chen) and from generic ‘amor.‘
Household Gods Idols
Approved rendering: ídolos / dioses domésticos
Transliteration: teraphim
Doctrine: Idolatry and Household Gods
Rejected alternatives: figuras familiares (framing neutral de reliquia)
Original: תְּרָפִים
Category: Sin
Real contemporary syncretism relevance given object-veneration practices still present in parts of the Hispanic world; must render unambiguously as false gods/idols (31:19, 34-35; 35:2, 4).
God Sent Me
Approved rendering: Dios me envió
Transliteration: Elohim shelachani
Doctrine: Joseph and God’s Providence in Suffering
Rejected alternatives: estaba destinado (framing fatalista)
Original: אֱלֹהִים שְׁלָחַנִי
Category: Providence
Joseph’s providential reinterpretation of his brothers’ evil act (45:5-8); echoes the baseline’s explicit rejection of ‘destino/suerte’ language for providence and election. God’s sovereign purpose works through, without excusing, the brothers’ genuine sin.
God Will Visit
Approved rendering: os visitará / vendrá en vuestra ayuda
Transliteration: paqad
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: ayudará (vaga, pierde el sentido de visitación histórico-pactual)
Original: פָּקַד
Category: Providence
Covenant-visitation language anticipating God’s future action on Israel’s behalf (50:24-25), bridging Genesis into Exodus.
Scepter Shiloh
Approved rendering: cetro / Siloh
Transliteration: shevet / Shiloh
Doctrine: Davidic-Messianic Trajectory (Scepter of Judah)
Rejected alternatives: hasta que venga el legítimo dueño (resuelve unilateralmente el debate interpretativo)
Original: שֵׁבֶט / שִׁילֹה
Category: Christology
‘Siloh’ (49:10) is interpretively disputed; flag for theologian review and avoid a rendering that silently forecloses the debate while preserving the passage’s clear messianic trajectory to the baseline’s Critical ‘Mesías’ entry.
Medium Risk Terms
Formless And Empty
Approved rendering: desordenada y vacía
Transliteration: tohu va-vohu
Doctrine: Divine Ordering of Creation
Rejected alternatives: caos primigenio (implica un dios-caos independiente y eterno)
Original: תֹּהוּ וָבֹהוּ
Category: Creation
Genesis 1:2. Must not suggest a rival, eternal chaos-force; this is God’s own raw material, not a co-eternal opposing power.
Good Tov
Approved rendering: bueno
Transliteration: tov
Doctrine: The Goodness of Creation
Rejected alternatives: útil / conveniente (softening funcional)
Original: טוֹב
Category: Creation
Retain full moral-aesthetic weight; essential counterweight so the Fall reads as intrusion into, not continuation of, an already-flawed creation.
Very Good
Approved rendering: muy bueno
Transliteration: tov me’od
Doctrine: The Goodness of Creation
Rejected alternatives: bueno (repetición plana que pierde la fuerza superlativa)
Original: טוֹב מְאֹד
Category: Creation
Genesis 1:31. Preserve the superlative, climactic force of the creation refrain.
Kind Min
Approved rendering: género / especie
Transliteration: min
Doctrine: Divine Ordering of Creation
Rejected alternatives: especie sola (importa precisión taxonómica moderna no pretendida por el texto antiguo)
Original: מִין
Category: Creation
Recommend ‘según su género’ for reading-level neutrality on contemporary origins-science debates.
Living Creature
Approved rendering: ser viviente
Transliteration: nefesh chayyah
Doctrine: The Image of God (by contrast)
Rejected alternatives: alma (importa dualismo cuerpo/alma de estilo griego)
Original: נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
Category: Anthropology
Applied to both animals and humans; humanity’s distinctiveness comes from ‘imagen’ and direct divine breath (nishmat chayyim), not this shared vocabulary.
Breath Of Life
Approved rendering: soplo de vida / aliento de vida
Transliteration: nishmat chayyim
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים
Category: Anthropology
Genesis 2:7. Distinct from animals’ general ‘ser viviente’ formula; the doctrinal point is the directness of God’s own inbreathing action.
Dominion Stewardship
Approved rendering: dominio / señorear / sojuzgar
Transliteration: radah / kavash
Doctrine: Dominion and Stewardship
Rejected alternatives: explotar, dominar sin límite
Original: רָדָה / כָּבַשׁ
Category: Anthropology
Accountable, care-oriented stewardship under God, not exploitative ownership; live contemporary ecological/land-use application risk in Latin America.
Man Adam
Approved rendering: hombre / Adán
Transliteration: adam
Doctrine: The Image of God
Original: אָדָם
Category: Anthropology
Track the referent verse by verse: generic humanity vs. the individual named Adam; mistranslation obscures the Fall’s universal scope.
One Flesh
Approved rendering: una sola carne
Transliteration: basar echad
Doctrine: Marriage as Covenant Union
Rejected alternatives: gloss puramente biológico/sexual
Original: בָּשָׂר אֶחָד
Category: Anthropology
Covenantal-relational union of husband and wife, not merely a physiological description.
Sabbath Rest
Approved rendering: reposó / descansó
Transliteration: shabat
Doctrine: Sabbath Rest and the Sanctification of Time
Rejected alternatives: se cansó (implica fatiga divina)
Original: שָׁבַת
Category: Creation
Satisfied completion of a finished, good work, not recovery from exhaustion; ground for, but not identical with, later Mosaic Sabbath legislation.
Serpent
Approved rendering: serpiente
Transliteration: nachash
Doctrine: The Serpent and the Nature of Temptation
Rejected alternatives: encantamiento de serpiente (framing folclórico-mágico)
Original: נָחָשׁ
Category: Sin
The tempter’s instrument, an actual created creature; the deeper spiritual agent is identified only in later revelation (Rev 12:9). Avoid folk-magical serpent-charm framings present in some Latin American popular religion.
Corrupted Shachat
Approved rendering: se había corrompido
Transliteration: shachat
Doctrine: The Universal Spread of Sin
Original: שָׁחַת
Category: Sin
Establishes the universal scope of sin’s corrupting effect prior to the Flood (6:11-12); background for Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace.
Pleasing Aroma
Approved rendering: olor grato / aroma agradable
Transliteration: reiach ha-nichoach
Doctrine: Common Grace
Rejected alternatives: rendering que sugiera aplacar a una deidad enojada
Original: רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ
Category: Covenant
Genesis 8:21, the first occurrence of sacrificial-acceptance language. Teach as God’s gracious acceptance of costly worship, not appeasement, distinguishing from folk-religious ‘offering to appease’ frameworks.
El Shaddai El Elyon
Approved rendering: Dios Todopoderoso / Dios Altísimo
Transliteration: El Shaddai / El Elyon
Doctrine: Providence and the Sovereignty of God
Rejected alternatives: transliteración directa ‘El Shaddai / El Elyon’ sin traducir
Original: אֵל שַׁדַּי / אֵל עֶלְיוֹן
Category: God
Long-standing, doctrinally safe Spanish devotional equivalents already exist; paraphrase into these established titles rather than transliterate.
Birthright
Approved rendering: primogenitura
Transliteration: bekhorah
Doctrine: Birthright and Covenant Transmission
Original: בְּכוֹרָה
Category: Covenant
Firstborn’s inheritance and covenant-transmission rights (25:29-34; cf. Hebrews 12:16-17); teach the covenant-transmission weight explicitly, not as mere legal inheritance.
Vow
Approved rendering: voto
Transliteration: neder
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: נֶדֶר
Category: Covenant
Jacob’s conditional vow at Bethel (28:20-22); flag with a teaching note distinguishing human vow-making from the unconditional divine covenant promise already given.
Israel Etymology
Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Yisra’el
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: יִשְׂרָאֵל
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package exactly as a proper name (baseline Low risk). The etymology (‘he strives/struggles with God,’ 32:28) is a Medium-risk teaching note that must be preserved for understanding Israel’s covenant identity into Romans 9-11.
Defiled
Approved rendering: contaminó / deshonró
Transliteration: tame
Doctrine: Sin’s Consequences and Common Grace
Rejected alternatives: gloss puramente ceremonial
Original: טָמֵא
Category: Sin
Moral-relational, not merely ritual, defilement following Shechem’s assault on Dinah (Genesis 34).
Dream Revelatory
Approved rendering: sueño
Transliteration: chalom
Doctrine: Revelatory Dreams as a Vehicle of Providence
Rejected alternatives: asimilación a manuales populares de interpretación de sueños/adivinación
Original: חֲלוֹם
Category: Providence
God-given revelation, not occult prediction; parallels the baseline’s rejection of ‘horóscopo’/‘predicción esotérica’ for ‘profecía’ (37:5-11; 40-41).
Gentiles Nations
Approved rendering: gentiles / naciones
Transliteration: goyim
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations — Seedbed in Genesis; Unity of Peoples
Rejected alternatives: paganos (pejorativo en el español contemporáneo)
Original: גּוֹיִם
Category: Church
Inherited baseline ‘gentiles’ (Low) for the later ethnic-distinction sense, extended with ‘naciones’ for the broader pre-ethnic-distinction sense of the Table of Nations (Genesis 10).
Mission To Nations Seedbed
Approved rendering: misión
Transliteration: kol mishpechot ha-adamah
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations — Seedbed in Genesis
Original: כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Retains the baseline’s caution about ‘misión’s’ mild historical association with the Spanish colonial mission system in the Americas. Paul cites this text (Galatians 3:8) for the gospel’s reach to the nations.
Low Risk Terms
Light And Darkness
Approved rendering: luz / oscuridad
Transliteration: or / choshekh
Doctrine: Divine Ordering of Creation
Original: אוֹר / חֹשֶׁךְ
Category: Creation
Standard rendering; no significant rival-meaning risk. Do not import later moral/christological light-darkness imagery into the base Genesis 1 translation.
Expanse Firmament
Approved rendering: expansión / firmamento
Transliteration: raqia
Doctrine: Creation Ex Nihilo
Original: רָקִיע
Category: Creation
Recommend ‘expansión’ for reading-level clarity; ‘firmamento’ remains acceptable in direct Reina-Valera-style quotation, per the register rule.
Generations Formula
Approved rendering: generaciones / esta es la historia de…
Transliteration: toledot
Doctrine: Covenant Faithfulness across Generations
Original: תּוֹלְדֹת
Category: Covenant
Recurring structural marker at every major Genesis narrative transition (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 25:12,19; 36:1; 37:2); render identically at every recurrence for structural consistency.
David Forward Link
Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: — (forward link)
Doctrine: Davidic-Messianic Trajectory
Original: — (forward link)
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Genesis 49:10’s scepter promise and the seed-line promises of chapters 3, 12, 15, 22 anticipate the later Davidic line; cited here for traceability across the whole Bible.
Referenced passages