Core Glossary

Judges — Core Glossary (Spanish Destination Language)

1. Divine Names and Titles

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew, translit.)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes / Rejected Alternatives
The LORD (YHWH, the covenant name)	יהוה, YHWH	Jehová	Critical	NEW	RV1960/RVA2015 precedent, consistent with baseline’s RV-anchored register. Rejected/flagged alternative: “el SEÑOR” (small caps, used by NVI/DHH/RVC precisely to avoid the collision below). Primary risk: in the contemporary Spanish-speaking world, “Jehová” is also the self-designation of Testigos de Jehová (Jehovah’s Witnesses), a non-Trinitarian group with wide visibility in Latin America and Spain. Every occurrence requires a teaching note affirming this is the historic Reina-Valera rendering of God’s covenant name — the same triune God as in Romans — not a Watchtower-specific title.
God (general)	אֱלֹהִים, Elohim	Dios	Critical	REUSED — baseline	Matches baseline “god” entry exactly; no change.
the angel of the LORD	מַלְאַךְ יהוה, mal’akh YHWH	el ángel de Jehová	High	NEW	A theophany — the figure speaks as YHWH himself (2:1; 6:11-24; 13:3-21), not a generic created angel. Risk: collides with the well-developed devotional category of angels (guardian angels, patron angels) in mainstream Hispanic Catholic piety, which is emphatically not deity. Requires explicit clarifying note at every occurrence.
Spirit of the LORD	רוּחַ יהוה, ruach YHWH	el Espíritu de Jehová	Critical	NEW (extends baseline “holy_spirit,” Critical)	Same divine Person as baseline’s Espíritu Santo, but a temporary, task-specific OT mode of empowerment. Dual risk: (1) doctrinal softening toward an impersonal “force” if not tied to the baseline’s Trinity doctrine; (2) vivid “coming upon/rushing upon/clothing” language (3:10; 6:34; 14:6,19; 15:14) is phenomenologically close to spirit-possession/mediumship imagery in Espiritismo and Santería, a risk the baseline already flagged for “holy_spirit.” Requires a personhood/deity clarifying note at every occurrence.
Baal (Baals)	בַּעַל / הַבְּעָלִים, Ba’al/ha-Be’alim	Baal / los baales	Medium	NEW	Retain as transliterated proper noun; the word literally means “lord/master,” a direct semantic rival to the baseline’s Critical “lord/Señor” (kyrios) doctrine of Christ’s exclusive lordship.
Ashtoreth / Ashtaroth (goddess)	עַשְׁתָּרוֹת, Ashtaroth	Astarot	Low-Medium	NEW	Standard RV1960/RVA2015 transliteration; retain as proper noun.
Asherah / Asheroth (goddess/cult object)	אֲשֵׁרוֹת, Asheroth	Asera / Aseras	Low-Medium	NEW	Distinguish from Ashtoreth/Astarot; may denote either the goddess or her cult pole. Consistency across chapters required.
Dagon	דָּגוֹן, Dagon	Dagón	Low	NEW	Proper noun, Philistine national deity (ch.16); low risk.
Baal-berith / El-berith	בַּעַל בְּרִית, Ba’al Berith	Baal-berit	High	NEW	Literally “Baal/lord of the covenant” — a striking syncretism where a pagan deity’s name co-opts Israel’s own covenant vocabulary (berith/pacto). Must be taught as a counterfeit appropriation, not evidence that “pacto” is a flexible or interchangeable term; reinforces rather than weakens the baseline’s Critical “covenant” entry.

2. Salvation, Deliverance, and Grace Vocabulary

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew, translit.)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes / Rejected Alternatives
saved / delivered (verb)	הוֹשִׁיעַ, hoshia (root יָשַׁע)	librar / libertar	High	NEW	RV tradition deliberately distinguishes this OT military/physical rescue vocabulary from the baseline’s Critical “salvación/salvar” (soteria), reserved for the fuller NT doctrine of salvation from sin in Christ. Rejected: “salvar/salvación” for this verb in Judges — would imply the judges are saviors in the baseline’s Critical soteriological sense, undermining the doctrine “God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers.”
deliverer (noun)	מוֹשִׁיעַ, moshia	libertador	High	NEW	See above; never “salvador” (capitalized or not) in this context — reserve “Salvador” exclusively for Christ per baseline consistency rules.
raised up (a deliverer)	הֵקִים, heqim (root קוּם)	levantó	Medium	NEW	Sovereign divine initiative; connects conceptually (not lexically) to baseline’s “calling”/“election” (llamado, elección) — brief teaching cross-reference recommended, no lexical merge.
grace (doctrinal concept, not a repeated Hebrew lexical item in Judges)	(theological inference from heqim + hoshia + nacham)	gracia	High	REUSED — baseline	Baseline’s “grace” entry (gracia, High risk) applies conceptually: God graciously raises up and empowers flawed, sometimes morally compromised deliverers despite Israel’s unfaithfulness — must not be taught as merit-based reward for Israel’s cry of distress.
moved to pity / relented	נִחַם, nacham	se compadeció / tuvo compasión	High	NEW	Anthropopathic; must not be rendered “se arrepintió” (which implies God erred/sinned) or read as divine caprice. Pairs with, and must be taught alongside, “provoked to anger” (below) so God’s character is not caricatured as unstable.
cried out	צָעַק / זָעַק, tsa’aq/za’aq	clamaron	Medium	NEW	The people’s own direct distress-cry to God; keep distinct from baseline’s “intercesión” (Critical — Spirit’s/Christ’s intercession on believers’ behalf).
groaning	נְאָקָה, ne’aqah	gemido	Low-Medium	NEW	Echoes Exodus 6:5 and anticipates Romans 8:26’s “groanings” (baseline “intercesión,” Critical) — useful typological cross-reference, not a lexical merge.

3. Sin, Apostasy, and Idolatry Vocabulary

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew, translit.)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes / Rejected Alternatives
evil (in the eyes of the LORD)	רַע, ra	lo malo (ante los ojos de Jehová)	Medium	NEW	Fixed cycle-refrain phrase (2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1); render identically at every occurrence.
served (the LORD / the Baals)	עָבַד, avad	sirvió / sirvieron	High	NEW	Same verb used for covenant loyalty and for idolatry — the narrator’s deliberate irony must be preserved by using “servir” consistently in both directions, not different verbs per context.
abandoned / forsook	עָזַב, azab	abandonaron	High	NEW	Covenant-breach vocabulary; never soften to “se olvidaron de” (removes moral culpability).
whored after (idolatry as covenant adultery)	זָנָה, zanah	se prostituyeron (yendo) tras	High	NEW	Central marital-infidelity metaphor for apostasy; rejected softening: “se desviaron/se apartaron tras” alone, which drains the verse of covenant-adultery force. Requires pastoral framing note on the marriage-covenant background.
turned aside / departed	סוּר, sur	se desviaron / se apartaron	Medium	NEW	Also reused in 16:20 of the LORD’s own presence departing from Samson — same root, opposite direction; note the connection in teaching material.
turned back (relapsed)	שׁוּב, shuv	volvieron a corromperse / se volvieron atrás	Medium-High	NEW	Deliberate narrative irony: the Bible’s primary repentance-verb used here for backsliding; must not be rendered with the same phrase used elsewhere for genuine repentance toward God.
more corrupt	שָׁחַת (hiphil), shachat	se corrompieron más	Medium	NEW	Retain the comparative (“más que sus padres”) to preserve the book’s escalating-decline structure.
stubborn ways	קָשֶׁה, qasheh	caminos obstinados	Medium	NEW	Names willful hardness of heart underlying the whole cycle; connects to “Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King.”
provoked to anger	כָּעַס (hiphil), ka’as	provocaron a ira	High	NEW	Pairs with “nacham” above; teach both together to avoid a caricature of divine instability.
sinned (confession)	חָטָא, chata	pecado / pecaron	High	REUSED — baseline	Matches baseline “sin” entry (pecado) exactly. New note: Judges 10:10,15 shows verbal confession without genuine repentance, since idolatry resumes — illustrates rather than alters the baseline’s High risk rating.
did not know (the LORD)	יָדַע, yada	no conocían	High	NEW	Relational/experiential knowledge, not mere information; never soften to “no habían oído de” (had not heard of).
carved image / molten image	פֶּסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה, pesel u-massekah	imagen esculpida / imagen fundida (footnote: “ídolo de madera / de metal fundido”)	Medium	NEW	Direct second-commandment violation; must read as idolatrous cult objects, not neutral art.
household idols	תְּרָפִים, teraphim	ídolos domésticos (transliterate “terafines” in footnote)	Medium	NEW	Domestic/family idolatry; brief cultural note on parallels with some contemporary household-altar/ancestor-veneration practices, similar to baseline’s Espiritismo/Santería caution.
ephod (idolatrous use)	עֵפוֹד, ephod	efod (transliterated, footnoted)	Medium	NEW	Same object-word denotes both the legitimate high-priestly garment (Exodus 28) and, in Judges 8:27 and 17:5, an idolatrous cult object — footnote must explain both senses and the danger of the latter.
sons of Belial / worthless men	בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל, benei beliyya’al	hombres perversos (RV tradition: “hijos de Belial”)	Medium	NEW	In Judges 19, still the earlier idiomatic sense (“wicked/worthless men”), not the later personified “Belial” = Satan-adjacent title found in 2 Corinthians 6:15 (part of the NT corpus this pipeline will also cover); avoid reading later demonology back into this text.

4. Leadership, Office, and Kingship Vocabulary

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew, translit.)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes / Rejected Alternatives
judge (office)	שֹׁפֵט / שֹׁפְטִים, shophet/shophetim	juez / jueces	High	NEW	LXX κριτής. Modern Spanish “juez” defaults to a courtroom magistrate; teaching material must clarify this is a Spirit-empowered military/political deliverer raised up in crisis, not primarily a judicial official — a false-friend risk specific to the modern secular sense of the Spanish word.
king	מֶלֶךְ, melek	rey	High	NEW	Central doctrinal keyword for “The Absence of a Righteous King.” Cultural resonance risk: strong historical association with “Reyes Católicos”/colonial monarchy, and separately with the Catholic devotional feast/title “Cristo Rey” (Christ the King) — must not be prematurely conflated with that devotional title; the book’s critique targets Israel’s lack of a righteous human king, resolved canonically in the Davidic-Messianic king (baseline Critical: “Mesías,” “Señor”).
to rule / reign	מָשַׁל, mashal	reinar / gobernar	Medium	NEW	Must be kept lexically distinct from “rey/reinado” so Gideon’s deliberate contrast (8:23, “I will not reign… the LORD will reign”) remains visible in Spanish.
prophetess	נְבִיאָה, nevi’ah	profetisa	Low	NEW	Consistent with baseline “prophet” (profeta) entry; no significant risk.
elders	זְקֵנִים, zeqenim	ancianos	Low	NEW	Standard term.
assembly / congregation	קָהָל, qahal	congregación / asamblea	Low-Medium	NEW	Loosely parallels baseline’s “church” (iglesia, Medium) as an OT covenant-community gathering; not a lexical merge, brief comparative note only.

5. Vow, Oath, and Consecration Vocabulary

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew, translit.)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes / Rejected Alternatives
Nazirite (vow/status)	נָזִיר, nazir	nazareo	Critical	NEW	Distinctive Spanish-specific collision: phonetically and visually close to “Nazareno” (“of Nazareth”), a major Christological devotional title in Hispanic Catholic culture (e.g., “El Señor de los Milagros,” universally called “el Nazareno” in Peru; “Jesús Nazareno” broadly). Every occurrence requires an explicit note distinguishing the OT consecration vow (Numbers 6; Judges 13-16) from the unrelated title derived from Jesus’s hometown.
vow	נֵדֶר, neder	voto	High	NEW	Jephthah’s rash, conditional vow (ch.11) will resonate strongly with the popular Catholic “manda/promesa” votive tradition (vows to a saint or the Virgin in exchange for a favor). Teaching opportunity and risk together: must be framed as a tragic example of rash, transactional bargaining with God, implicitly contrasted with the baseline’s Critical doctrine of grace as unmerited favor, not a model of pious devotion to imitate.
oath	שְׁבוּעָה, shevu’ah	juramento	Medium	NEW	Distinct from “voto” (a conditional bargain) — an oath is a sworn statement/prohibition (ch.21, the Mizpah oath). Keep lexically separate from “voto” so the book’s two related vow/oath crises remain distinguishable.
consecration / holy (general)	קָדוֹשׁ (cognate concept; not heavily lexicalized in Judges itself)	santo / santificación	High/Critical	REUSED — baseline	Matches baseline “holy,” “saints,” “sanctification” entries exactly; not independently developed as a repeated term in Judges but the Nazirite vow (above) is a concrete case study in personal consecration/separation unto God, connecting to the baseline’s “separation unto God’s service” doctrine.

6. Covenant, Judgment, and Cycle-Structure Vocabulary

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew, translit.)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes / Rejected Alternatives
covenant	בְּרִית, berith	pacto	Critical	REUSED — baseline	Matches baseline “covenant” entry exactly (pacto, not alianza, per this curriculum’s standardization). New Judges-specific note: see “Baal-berith” above for the counterfeit-appropriation collision.
anger of the LORD kindled	חָרָה אַף, chara aph	se encendió la ira de Jehová	Medium	NEW	Fixed covenant-curse refrain (2:14; 3:8; 10:7); render identically at every occurrence.
gave/sold into the hand of	נָתַן/מָכַר בְּיַד, natan/makar beyad	los entregó / los vendió en mano de	Medium-High	NEW	Active, judicial divine action, not passive neglect; never soften to “los dejó solos” (left them alone).
distress	צַר, tsar	angustia	Low-Medium	NEW	Visceral covenant-curse experience underlying the people’s cry (v.15, feeding v.18).
had rest (the land)	שָׁקַט, shaqat	reposó	Low-Medium	NEW	Temporary, cyclical national rest; distinguish briefly from baseline’s permanent “peace with God” (paz, Medium) doctrine established in Romans.
did not drive out / dispossess (negated)	יָרַשׁ (hiphil, negated), yarash	no expulsó / no logró desposeer	Medium-High	NEW	Root of the whole book’s apostasy; render consistently with the positive form “tomar posesión” (2:6) so the causal thread is visible.
take possession / inheritance	יָרַשׁ / נַחֲלָה, yarash/nachalah	tomar posesión / heredad	Medium	NEW	Covenant land-gift vocabulary, not conquered spoil.

7. Refrain Phrases (Structural Keywords)

Term (English)	Original (Hebrew)	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Status	Notes
”did what was evil in the sight of the LORD”	עָשׂוּ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יהוה	”hicieron lo malo ante los ojos de Jehová”	Medium	NEW	Cycle-onset refrain; render identically at every occurrence (2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1).
“the LORD raised up judges/a deliverer”	הֵקִים יהוה שֹׁפְטִים / מוֹשִׁיעַ	”Jehová levantó jueces / levantó a un libertador”	High	NEW	Deliverance-onset refrain; keep “levantó” and “libertador” fixed per Sections 2 and 4 above.
”In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes”	וּבַיָּמִים הָהֵם אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל… אִישׁ הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו יַעֲשֶׂה	”En aquellos días no había rey en Israel; cada uno hacía lo que bien le parecía.”	High	NEW	The book’s central closing refrain (17:6; partial 18:1; partial 19:1; full 21:25). Must be rendered word-for-word identically at every occurrence, per the same consistency principle the baseline applies to Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10. Central to “The Absence of a Righteous King” and “Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King.”

8. Social/Cultural Terms Requiring a Clarifying Note (Low-Medium doctrinal risk, but High comprehension risk)

Term (English)	Original	Spanish Rendering	Risk	Notes
concubine	פִּילֶגֶש, pilegesh	concubina	Medium	Ancient recognized secondary-wife status, not the modern pejorative “mistress” sense; clarifying note required (ch.19).
forced labor / tribute	מַס, mas	tributo / trabajo forzado	Low	Pragmatic compromise short of full dispossession (ch.1).
snare / trap	מוֹקֵשׁ, moqesh	tropezadero / trampa	Low-Medium	Illustrates how even a legitimate religious object misused becomes a source of apostasy (Gideon’s ephod, ch.8).

Version and Escalation Notes for Phase 2

All entries marked Critical or High above require human theologian review of every occurrence, per the same routing convention as doctrine_risk_registry.json.
The YHWH/Jehová decision, the Nazirite/nazareo–Nazareno collision, and the judges/jueces false-friend risk are the three highest-priority new items for this curriculum, without close parallel in the Romans baseline, and should be prioritized for translator briefing before any Phase 2 segment translation begins.
All entries marked REUSED — baseline must be enforced exactly as recorded in the baseline translation_memory.json; this glossary introduces no deviation from any existing baseline rendering.
This glossary is a Phase 1 analysis artifact. Formal addition of the NEW entries above to translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json (with version increment) occurs in a subsequent pipeline step, not in this document.

Critical Risk Terms

God

Approved rendering: Dios
Transliteration: Elohim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: אֱלֹהִים
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package (baseline ‘god’ entry, unchanged). Judges extension: referenced alongside the covenant name YHWH/Jehová throughout the book (over 180 occurrences); see the new ‘yhwh’ entry below for the covenant name itself, which this curriculum resolves as a distinct lexical item the Romans baseline never had to address.

Lord

Approved rendering: Señor
Transliteration: kyrios (NT); adonai (OT honorific)
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Señor mío (devotional-only, without lordship claim over the whole of life)

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: ‘Baal’ literally means ‘lord/master,’ making Canaanite worship throughout Judges a direct lexical and theological rival to Christ’s exclusive lordship already Critical in the baseline. See new entries ‘baal’ and ‘baal_berith’.

Holy Spirit

Approved rendering: Espíritu Santo
Transliteration: pneuma hagion (NT)
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: una fuerza impersonal, un espíritu guía o ancestral

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: this is the same divine Person as ‘el Espíritu de Jehová’ (ruach YHWH), Judges’ distinct high-frequency OT expression for the Spirit’s temporary, task-specific empowerment of judges. The two entries must be taught as the same Person acting in two different modes (permanent NT indwelling vs. temporary OT empowerment), never as different spirits.

Father

Approved rendering: Padre
Transliteration: patēr (NT)
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not heavily lexicalized as a repeated term within the Judges narrative itself, but retained for cross-curriculum teaching consistency wherever God’s fatherhood is referenced in commentary alongside Judges material.

Covenant

Approved rendering: pacto
Transliteration: berith
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: contrato legal, alianza (valid Catholic-tradition synonym, not adopted for this curriculum)
Original: בְּרִית
Category: Covenant

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: 2:2’s Mosaic covenant stipulation against alliance with Canaanite peoples, whose violation (ch.1) produces the apostasy the book narrates; see also ‘baal_berith’ below for a documented case of a pagan deity’s name co-opting this very word (‘Baal, lord of the covenant’) — must be taught as counterfeit appropriation, never as evidence that ‘pacto’ is a flexible or interchangeable religious term.

Saints

Approved rendering: santos
Transliteration: hagioi (NT)
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: los santos (canonizados, objeto de veneración e intercesión)

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not textually used in Judges itself (the corporate-believer sense postdates the OT narrative), but retained here for cross-curriculum vocabulary consistency; do not conflate with the Nazirite’s individual OT consecration.

Intercession

Approved rendering: intercesión
Transliteration: hyperentynchanei / enteuxis (NT)
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: intercesión de los santos o de la Virgen como mediadores necesarios ante Dios

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: keep lexically distinct from Judges’ own vocabulary for the people’s direct cry to God (‘clamaron,’ tsa’aq/za’aq) and their legitimate direct inquiry of God (‘consultaron a Dios,’ sha’al b’Elohim) — Judges itself models direct address to God without a saint/Marian-style intermediary, reinforcing rather than complicating this baseline fence.

Messiah

Approved rendering: Mesías
Transliteration: Christos / Mashiach
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: un ungido más, entre otros santos o profetas venerados

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: the canonical resolution of ‘The Absence of a Righteous King’ doctrine. Must not be introduced prematurely or conflated with the ‘rey’ critique at first mention — allow the book’s own tension (8:22-23; 9; 17:6; 21:25) to be felt before drawing the typological line forward to the Davidic-Messianic king.

Salvation

Approved rendering: salvación
Transliteration: sōtēria
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: salvarse por buenas obras, merecer el cielo mediante sacramentos y penitencia

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. CRITICAL CONTRAST TERM for Judges: never use ‘salvar/salvación’ for the judges’ physical, military deliverance from oppressors. See new entries ‘delivered_saved_ot’ and ‘deliverer_noun,’ which reserve ‘librar/libertar/libertador’ for that OT sense, keeping the baseline’s Critical soteriological vocabulary exclusive to Christ.

Yhwh

Approved rendering: Jehová
Transliteration: YHWH / Yahweh
Doctrine: The Covenant Name of God (YHWH / Jehová)
Rejected alternatives: el SEÑOR (small caps, NVI/DHH/RVC convention that avoids the collision below but breaks this package’s RV-anchored register)
Original: יהוה
Category: God

NEW. RV1960/RVA2015 precedent, used over 180 times in Judges. CRITICAL because ‘Jehová’ is also the primary self-designation of Testigos de Jehová (Jehovah’s Witnesses), a non-Trinitarian group with major visibility across Latin America and Spain. Every occurrence requires a proximate teaching note affirming this is the historic Bible-translation rendering of the same triune God taught throughout Romans (Dios, Padre, Espíritu Santo), not a Watchtower-specific title. Highest-frequency fencing requirement in the whole curriculum.

Spirit Of The Lord

Approved rendering: el Espíritu de Jehová
Transliteration: ruach YHWH
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges
Rejected alternatives: una fuerza impersonal, un espíritu que posee o ‘monta’ a un medium (marco de posesión espiritista)
Original: רוּחַ יהוה
Category: Divine Presence

NEW. Same divine Person as the baseline’s ‘holy_spirit,’ but a temporary, task-specific OT mode of empowerment (3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6,19; 15:14). Dual risk: (1) doctrinal drift toward an impersonal force; (2) phenomenological closeness to spirit-possession/mediumship imagery in Espiritismo and Santería. Every occurrence requires a personhood/deity clarifying note.

Nazirite

Approved rendering: nazareo
Transliteration: nazir
Doctrine: Nazirite Consecration and Vow
Rejected alternatives: Nazareno (rejected as a substitute spelling — collides catastrophically with the Christological devotional title)
Original: נָזִיר
Category: Consecration

NEW. CRITICAL Spanish-specific collision: ‘nazareo’ is phonetically and orthographically close to ‘Nazareno’ (‘of Nazareth’), an enormously prominent Christological devotional title in Hispanic Catholic culture (e.g., ‘El Señor de los Milagros’/‘el Nazareno’ in Peru; ‘Jesús Nazareno’ broadly). Every occurrence (13:5,7; 16:17) requires an explicit disambiguating note.

High Risk Terms

Grace

Approved rendering: gracia
Transliteration: charis (NT)
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: favor merecido, recompensa por buenas obras
Original: (theological inference from heqim + hoshia + nacham)
Category: Deliverance

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: unlike Romans 3-5, ‘gracia’ is NOT a repeated lexical item in the Hebrew text of Judges itself; it is a doctrinal inference drawn from the narrative pattern of God graciously raising up (heqim) and empowering flawed deliverers despite Israel’s unfaithfulness (avad to Baal, zanah). Do not insert ‘gracia’ into translated narrative text where the Hebrew source does not use a corresponding term; teach this doctrine through commentary, not lexical insertion.

Sin

Approved rendering: pecado
Transliteration: chata
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: falta (minimizing euphemism common in pastoral speech)
Original: חָטָא
Category: Sin

Inherited from Romans package (baseline translation_memory.json recorded ‘Medium’; this package’s Judges-specific analysis, consistent with bible_term_registry.json’s Judges extension, elevates enforcement to High given the term’s centrality to the book’s Critical ‘Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness’ doctrine). Judges 10:10,15 shows Israel’s explicit corporate confession (‘hemos pecado’) followed immediately by continued idolatry — illustrating that verbal confession without genuine repentance does not break the cycle.

Holy

Approved rendering: santo
Transliteration: hagios (NT); qadosh (OT cognate concept)
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: puro en sentido ritual

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: the Nazirite vow (Numbers 6; Judges 13-16) is a concrete OT narrative case study in personal consecration/separation unto God, connecting to but not lexically merging with this doctrine; see new entry ‘nazirite’.

Sanctification

Approved rendering: santificación
Transliteration: hagiasmos (NT)
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: purificación penitencial, vía purgativa

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: same case-study connection as ‘holy’ above via the Nazirite vow.

Calling

Approved rendering: llamado
Transliteration: klēsis / klētos
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: vocación (in the narrow sense of a call to priesthood or religious life)

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: connects conceptually, but not lexically, to ‘heqim’ (raised up) — God’s sovereign initiative in establishing a judge as deliverer. Recommend a brief teaching cross-reference without merging the two terms; see new entry ‘raised_up’.

Angel Of The Lord

Approved rendering: el ángel de Jehová
Transliteration: mal’akh YHWH
Doctrine: The Theophany of the Angel of the LORD
Rejected alternatives: un ángel (generic devotional angel — flattens a theophany into an ordinary created being)
Original: מַלְאַךְ יהוה
Category: Divine Presence

NEW. A theophanic figure who speaks in the first person as YHWH himself (2:1; 6:11-24; 13:3-21). Mainstream Hispanic Catholic popular piety has a well-developed, beloved devotional category of angels (guardian angels, patron angels) that is explicitly not deity; rendering this figure as simply ‘un ángel’ understates the passage’s claim. Requires an explicit clarifying note at every occurrence.

Spirit Clothed Gideon

Approved rendering: se vistió del Espíritu / el Espíritu lo revistió
Transliteration: labash
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges
Rejected alternatives: el Espíritu vino sobre él (flattens the distinct garment metaphor)
Original: לָבַשׁ
Category: Divine Presence

NEW. A distinct verb (6:34) imaging the Spirit’s empowerment as putting on a garment rather than merely ‘coming upon.’ Same Critical-adjacent risk profile as ‘spirit_of_the_lord’; the garment metaphor intensifies, rather than reduces, the possession-adjacent cultural risk.

Spirit Rushed Upon Samson

Approved rendering: vino con fuerza / se apoderó de él
Transliteration: tsalach
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Empowering of Judges
Original: צָלַח
Category: Divine Presence

NEW. A more forceful verb than ‘came upon,’ describing the Spirit’s empowerment of Samson before feats of strength (14:6,19; 15:14). Intensifying language heightens the spirit-possession-adjacent cultural risk shared with ‘spirit_of_the_lord’; requires the same explicit clarifying note every time.

Baal Berith

Approved rendering: Baal-berit
Transliteration: Ba’al Berith
Doctrine: Syncretistic Appropriation of Covenant Language
Rejected alternatives: señor del pacto (translating rather than retaining the proper noun, which would obscure the syncretism)
Original: בַּעַל בְּרִית
Category: Idolatry

NEW. Literally ‘Baal/lord of the covenant,’ the local deity worshiped at Shechem (9:4,46; cf. ‘El-berith,’ 9:46). A genuine, textually attested syncretism in which Canaanite religion co-opts Israel’s own covenant vocabulary (berith/pacto, Critical in the baseline). Must be taught as a counterfeit appropriation, never as evidence ‘pacto’ is a flexible, interchangeable religious term.

Delivered Saved Ot

Approved rendering: librar / libertar
Transliteration: hoshia (root yasha)
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Rejected alternatives: salvar / salvación (reserved exclusively for the baseline’s Critical NT soteriological doctrine)
Original: הוֹשִׁיעַ (root יָשַׁע)
Category: Deliverance

NEW. Physical, historical, military rescue of Israel from an oppressing nation, effected through a raised-up judge (2:16,18; 3:9,15,31; 6:14-15; 10:1; etc.). RV tradition deliberately distinguishes this OT rescue vocabulary from ‘salvación/salvar.’ Never use ‘salvar’ here — doing so implies these flawed judges are saviors in the baseline’s unique soteriological sense.

Deliverer Noun

Approved rendering: libertador
Transliteration: moshia
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Rejected alternatives: salvador (capitalized or not — reserved exclusively for Christ per baseline consistency rules)
Original: מוֹשִׁיעַ
Category: Deliverance

NEW. The noun ‘deliverer’ describing a judge’s rescuing role (3:9,15). Same rationale as ‘delivered_saved_ot’; never ‘salvador.‘

Moved To Pity

Approved rendering: se compadecía / tuvo compasión
Transliteration: nacham (niphal)
Doctrine: Divine Compassion amid Judgment
Rejected alternatives: se arrepintió (implies God erred or turned from personal sin, a wrong implication for God)
Original: נִחַם (niphal)
Category: Deliverance

NEW. God’s compassionate responsiveness to Israel’s suffering despite their unfaithfulness (2:18; 10:16). Anthropopathic language requiring careful handling; must be taught alongside ‘provoked_to_anger’ so God’s character is not caricatured as unstable or capricious.

Served

Approved rendering: sirvió / sirvieron
Transliteration: avad
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Rejected alternatives: adoraron (only for the Baal-worship direction; would break the narrator’s single-verb irony)
Original: עָבַד
Category: Sin

NEW. The single verb used both for covenant service/worship of YHWH and for idolatrous service to the Baals/foreign kings. The narrator’s deliberate irony depends on one Spanish verb carrying both senses; do not choose different verbs per context.

Abandoned Forsook

Approved rendering: abandonaron
Transliteration: azab
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Rejected alternatives: se olvidaron de (removes moral culpability, reduces willful covenant breach to an innocent memory lapse)
Original: עָזַב
Category: Sin

NEW. Covenant-breach vocabulary describing Israel’s forsaking of the LORD for other gods (2:12-13). Never soften to ‘se olvidaron de.‘

Whored After

Approved rendering: se prostituyeron (yendo) tras
Transliteration: zanah
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Rejected alternatives: se desviaron/se apartaron tras (alone; drains the verse of its marital-betrayal force)
Original: זָנָה
Category: Sin

NEW. The prophetic-covenantal metaphor picturing idolatry as marital infidelity/prostitution (2:17). The single strongest image in the core passage for apostasy as covenant adultery, not intellectual error. Requires a pastoral teaching note explaining the marriage-covenant background.

Turned Back Relapsed

Approved rendering: volvieron a corromperse
Transliteration: shuv
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: se arrepintieron / volvieron a Dios (would falsely apply the Bible’s primary repentance phrase to backsliding, collapsing the narrator’s irony)
Original: שׁוּב
Category: Sin

NEW. The Hebrew Bible’s primary repentance verb, used ironically here for relapse into idolatry after a judge’s death (2:19). Must not be rendered with the same phrase used elsewhere for genuine repentance toward God.

Provoked To Anger

Approved rendering: provocaron a ira
Transliteration: ka’as (hiphil)
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Original: כָּעַס (hiphil)
Category: Sin

NEW. God’s righteous, personal response of anger to covenant betrayal (2:12), an anthropopathic expression of holy jealousy (cf. Exodus 20:5), not divine petulance. Must be taught paired with ‘moved_to_pity.‘

Did Not Know

Approved rendering: no conocían
Transliteration: yada
Doctrine: Generational Failure to Know the LORD
Rejected alternatives: no habían oído de (reduces a relational catastrophe to a mere information gap)
Original: יָדַע
Category: Sin

NEW. The relational, experiential loss of covenant knowledge of the LORD by the generation after Joshua (2:10). Never soften to ‘no habían oído de.‘

Judge Office

Approved rendering: juez / jueces
Transliteration: shophet / shophetim
Doctrine: The Judge as Spirit-Empowered Deliverer, not Magistrate
Rejected alternatives: magistrado (would reinforce, not correct, the courtroom-official false-friend risk)
Original: שֹׁפֵט / שֹׁפְטִים
Category: Leadership

NEW. LXX kritēs. Modern Spanish ‘juez’ defaults to a courtroom magistrate. Teaching material must explicitly clarify that a shophet in this book is a Spirit-empowered military, political, and tribal-arbitration deliverer raised up by God in national crisis, or readers will import an anachronistic bureaucratic image onto figures such as Deborah, Gideon, and Samson.

King

Approved rendering: rey
Transliteration: melek
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King
Original: מֶלֶךְ
Category: Leadership

NEW. The absent office whose lack structures the book’s central theological critique (8:22-23; 9; 17:6; 21:25). Strong cultural resonance in the Spanish-speaking world with ‘Reyes Católicos’/colonial monarchy and, separately, the Catholic devotional title ‘Cristo Rey.’ Teaching material must clarify the critique targets the absence of a righteous human king in Israel specifically, not kingship as a category, and must not be prematurely conflated with ‘Cristo Rey’ before the canonical resolution (Mesías, Señor) is explicitly taught.

Vow

Approved rendering: voto
Transliteration: neder
Doctrine: Rash Vows and Oaths
Original: נֵדֶר
Category: Consecration

NEW. A solemn, conditional, binding vow made to God (‘if you do X, I will do Y’); Jephthah’s rash vow and its tragic fulfillment (11:30-31,39). Will resonate strongly with the popular Catholic ‘manda/promesa’ votive tradition. Must be framed as a tragic example of rash, transactional bargaining with God, contrasted with the baseline’s Critical grace doctrine, not a model of pious devotion to imitate.

Gave Sold Into Hand

Approved rendering: los entregó / los vendió en mano de
Transliteration: natan / makar beyad
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: los dejó solos (loses the verb’s active, judgment-executing force)
Original: נָתַן / מָכַר בְּיַד
Category: Covenant

NEW. God’s active, judicial handing of Israel over to enemy oppression as covenant judgment (2:14). Must never be softened to ‘los dejó solos.‘

Did Not Drive Out

Approved rendering: no expulsó / no logró desposeer
Transliteration: yarash (hiphil, negated)
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and the Covenant Land
Original: יָרַשׁ (hiphil, negated)
Category: Covenant

NEW. Israel’s repeated failure to complete the conquest (1:19,21,27-33). Not a military footnote but the narrative origin of every subsequent apostasy cycle. Must be rendered consistently with the positive form ‘tomar posesión’ (2:6) so the causal thread is visible.

Refrain Raised Up Deliverer

Approved rendering: Jehová levantó jueces / levantó a un libertador
Transliteration: heqim YHWH shophetim / moshia
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: הֵקִים יהוה שֹׁפְטִים / מוֹשִׁיעַ
Category: Cycle Refrains

NEW. The deliverance-onset structural refrain. Keep ‘levantó’ and ‘libertador’ fixed at every occurrence so the cycle structure remains visible to Spanish readers moving between lessons.

Refrain No King Right In Own Eyes

Approved rendering: En aquellos días no había rey en Israel; cada uno hacía lo que bien le parecía
Transliteration: u-vayamim hahem ein melek be-Yisra’el… ish hayashar be’einav ya’aseh
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Rejected alternatives: paraphrases or abbreviations varying by chapter (rejected — the repetition itself is the doctrinal argument)
Original: וּבַיָּמִים הָהֵם אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל… אִישׁ הַיָּשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו יַעֲשֶׂה
Category: Cycle Refrains

NEW. The book’s central closing refrain (17:6; partial 18:1; partial 19:1; full 21:25). Must be rendered word-for-word identically at every full occurrence, per the same consistency principle the baseline applies to Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10. Partial occurrences (18:1; 19:1) must be genuine partial quotations of this same fixed clause, not independently worded sentences.

Lord Departed From Samson

Approved rendering: Jehová se había apartado de él
Transliteration: YHWH sar me’alav (root sur)
Doctrine: Divine Presence and Departure from a Disobedient Servant

NEW. Reuses ‘sur’ (turned aside, 2:17), now applied to God’s own withdrawn presence and empowerment from a disobedient judge (16:20) after Samson’s broken Nazirite vow. Must be taught alongside the baseline’s Critical assurance-of-salvation doctrine (Romans 8) as a specific narrative illustration of covenant unfaithfulness under the Old Covenant’s conditional blessings, not as a template undermining New Testament believers’ security in Christ.

Medium Risk Terms

Peace

Approved rendering: paz
Transliteration: eirēnē (NT); shalom (OT cognate)
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: tranquilidad emocional

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: must be distinguished from two related-but-distinct Judges senses: (1) ‘shaqat’ (reposó), the cyclical, temporary national rest following each judge’s victory — see new entry ‘land_had_rest’; and (2) ‘Jehová-salom,’ the personal altar-name Gideon gives after a reassuring theophany (6:24) — see new entry ‘jehovah_shalom’. Neither is the New Testament’s permanent, justification-based peace with God.

Providence

Approved rendering: providencia
Transliteration: pronoia (theological label, not a fixed NT lexeme)
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: destino, la suerte

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: connects loosely to ‘nasah’ (to test/prove, 2:22, God’s sovereign purpose in leaving nations in the land) and to ‘heqim’ (raised up) — God’s personal, purposive governance, never fatalistic destino/suerte.

Kingdom Of God

Approved rendering: reino de Dios
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: Gideon’s refusal of kingship, ‘Jehová reinará sobre vosotros’ (8:23), is a narrative enactment of this doctrine centuries before Romans. Must be kept lexically distinct from ‘rey/reinado’ (human kingship) so Gideon’s deliberate contrast remains visible in Spanish; see new entries ‘king’ and ‘rule_reign’.

Church

Approved rendering: iglesia
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: la Iglesia (institución jerárquica en sentido católico-institucional)

Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Judges extension: ‘qahal’ (congregación/asamblea, ch.20) is a related but non-identical OT covenant-assembly concept, here tragically employed for civil war rather than covenant renewal; a brief comparative note is useful, but do not lexically merge the two terms. See new entry ‘assembly_congregation’.

Baal

Approved rendering: Baal / los baales
Transliteration: Ba’al / ha-Be’alim
Doctrine: Baal Worship as Rival Lordship
Rejected alternatives: un dios cualquiera (translating as a generic common noun rather than retaining the proper noun)
Original: בַּעַל / הַבְּעָלִים
Category: Idolatry

NEW. Term-level risk Medium; the associated doctrine (‘Baal Worship as Rival Lordship’) is High risk and requires theologian review per doctrine_risk_registry.json. Baal literally means ‘lord/master,’ a direct semantic rival to Christ’s exclusive lordship (Señor, Critical in the baseline). Retain as a transliterated proper noun, never translate as a common noun.

Ashtoreth

Approved rendering: Astarot
Transliteration: Ashtaroth
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Rejected alternatives: una diosa cualquiera (common-noun translation)
Original: עַשְׁתָּרוֹת
Category: Idolatry

NEW. A Canaanite fertility-and-war goddess, consort figure to Baal, often paired with him as a fixed idiom for the whole Canaanite pantheon (2:13; 10:6). Retain the standard RV1960/RVA2015 transliteration.

Asherah

Approved rendering: Asera / Aseras
Transliteration: Asheroth
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Rejected alternatives: poste sagrado (common-noun translation obscuring the proper noun)
Original: אֲשֵׁרוֹת
Category: Idolatry

NEW. Either the Canaanite goddess Asherah or her associated cult pole/object; distinguish from Ashtoreth/Astarot. Consistency of rendering across chapters is required.

Raised Up

Approved rendering: levantó
Transliteration: heqim (hiphil of qum)
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Original: הֵקִים (hiphil of קוּם)
Category: Deliverance

NEW. God’s sovereign act of establishing/appointing a judge as deliverer (2:16,18; 3:9,15); judges are not self-appointed heroes or elected officials. Connects conceptually, not lexically, to the baseline’s ‘calling’/‘election’ doctrines — brief teaching cross-reference recommended, no lexical merge.

Cried Out

Approved rendering: clamaron
Transliteration: tsa’aq / za’aq
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: צָעַק / זָעַק
Category: Deliverance

NEW. The people’s direct cry of distress to God that triggers his raising up of a deliverer (3:9,15; 4:3; 6:6-7; 10:10). Keep distinct from the baseline’s ‘intercesión’ — this is the people’s own direct cry, not the Spirit’s or Christ’s mediating intercession, though both share the theme of God hearing distress.

Groaning

Approved rendering: gemido
Transliteration: ne’aqah
Doctrine: Divine Compassion amid Judgment
Original: נְאָקָה
Category: Deliverance

NEW. The visceral, wordless cry of the oppressed that moves God to act (2:18). Echoes Exodus 6:5 and anticipates Romans 8:26’s ‘groanings’ (baseline ‘intercesión,’ Critical); useful for typological cross-reference in teaching material, but must not be lexically merged with that distinct New Testament referent.

Evil In Sight Of Lord

Approved rendering: hicieron lo malo ante los ojos de Jehová
Transliteration: ra … be’einei YHWH
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Rejected alternatives: pecaron gravemente (paraphrase that loses the fixed refrain form)
Original: רַע … בְּעֵינֵי יהוה
Category: Sin

NEW. The fixed cycle-onset refrain (2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1). Frames sin as transacted before a personal, observing God. Must be rendered identically at every occurrence as the technical marker that a new cycle has begun.

Turned Aside

Approved rendering: se desviaron / se apartaron
Transliteration: sur
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Original: סוּר
Category: Sin

NEW. To turn away/depart from a marked path (2:17); also reused of the LORD’s own presence departing from Samson (16:20; see new entry ‘lord_departed_from_samson’). Pictures apostasy as leaving a defined road, not neutral wandering.

More Corrupt

Approved rendering: se corrompieron más
Transliteration: shachat (hiphil)
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Original: שָׁחַת (hiphil הִשְׁחִיתוּ)
Category: Sin

NEW. Each generation’s apostasy being worse than the last (2:19). Retain the comparative (‘más que sus padres’) so the book’s escalating moral decline remains visible across chapters.

Stubborn Ways

Approved rendering: caminos obstinados
Transliteration: qasheh
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Original: קָשֶׁה
Category: Sin

NEW. Willful hardness of heart persisting in idolatrous practice (2:19); the root moral condition underlying the entire cycle.

Carved Molten Image

Approved rendering: imagen esculpida / imagen fundida
Transliteration: pesel u-massekah
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Rejected alternatives: una obra de arte religiosa (would neutralize the idolatrous force of the object)
Original: פֶּסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה
Category: Idolatry

NEW. A carved image and a cast/molten image fashioned by Micah in direct violation of the second commandment (17:3-4). Must read as idolatrous cult objects, not neutral decorative art. Render as a fixed compound pair with a footnote explaining the two manufacturing methods.

Household Idols Teraphim

Approved rendering: ídolos domésticos (transliterado: terafines)
Transliteration: teraphim
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King
Original: תְּרָפִים
Category: Idolatry

NEW. Small household idols, sometimes associated with divination or family/ancestral cult (17:5; 18:14-20). Note possible resonance with contemporary household-altar and ancestor-veneration practices in some Latin American folk-religious traditions, a parallel worth a brief cultural note similar to the baseline’s Espiritismo/Santería caution.

Ephod Idolatrous

Approved rendering: efod
Transliteration: ephod
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Rejected alternatives: vestimenta ritual (would collapse the distinct legitimate/illegitimate senses into one vague gloss)
Original: עֵפוֹד
Category: Idolatry

NEW. A priestly garment (cf. Exodus 28) repurposed by Gideon (8:27) and Micah (17:5; 18:14-20) as an idolatrous cult object. No natural Spanish equivalent; transliterate (‘efod’) with a footnote explaining both its legitimate priestly use and its illegitimate, idolatrous repurposing in these two narratives.

Sons Of Belial

Approved rendering: hombres perversos (RV: hijos de Belial)
Transliteration: benei beliyya’al
Doctrine: Moral and Social Collapse in Israel
Rejected alternatives: hijos de Satanás (would prematurely import later, developed demonology onto an earlier idiomatic sense)
Original: בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל
Category: Sin

NEW. An idiom for utterly wicked, lawless men (19:22), not yet a personified demonic title. Later biblical usage (2 Corinthians 6:15) develops ‘Belial’ into a name functionally equivalent to Satan; here it is still the earlier idiomatic sense.

Rule Reign

Approved rendering: reinar / gobernar
Transliteration: mashal
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King
Original: מָשַׁל
Category: Leadership

NEW. To rule/have dominion, used in Gideon’s refusal of kingship: ‘The LORD shall rule over you’ (8:23). Must be kept lexically distinct from ‘rey/reinado’ so Gideon’s deliberate contrast remains visible: ‘Yo no reinaré… Jehová reinará sobre vosotros.‘

Assembly Congregation

Approved rendering: congregación / asamblea
Transliteration: qahal
Doctrine: Moral and Social Collapse in Israel
Original: קָהָל
Category: Leadership

NEW. Israel’s convened covenant-community assembly, here employed for civil war against Benjamin (ch.20) rather than covenant renewal. A useful, but not identical, OT backdrop to the baseline’s ‘church’ (iglesia); brief comparative note only, no lexical merge.

Servant Of The Lord

Approved rendering: siervo de Jehová
Transliteration: eved YHWH
Doctrine: Generational Failure to Know the LORD
Original: עֶבֶד יהוה
Category: Leadership

NEW. An honorific covenant title applied to Joshua marking faithful leadership (2:8). Must read as honorific, not as implying literal slavery or a lesser class of believer; the risk here runs opposite to the baseline’s caution on ‘santos’ — ‘siervo’ could sound demeaning rather than honorific if not taught carefully.

Oath

Approved rendering: juramento
Transliteration: shevu’ah
Doctrine: Rash Vows and Oaths
Original: שְׁבוּעָה
Category: Consecration

NEW. A solemn sworn statement or prohibition, distinct from a conditional votive bargain; the men of Israel’s oath at Mizpah not to give daughters to Benjamin (21:1,7). Keep lexically distinct from ‘voto’ so the book’s two related but different vow/oath crises remain distinguishable.

Anger Kindled

Approved rendering: se encendió la ira de Jehová
Transliteration: chara aph
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: חָרָה אַף
Category: Covenant

NEW. The fixed covenant-curse idiom (2:14; 3:8; 10:7; cf. Deuteronomy 28-29), judicial rather than random. Render identically at every occurrence as a fixed refrain.

Distress

Approved rendering: angustia
Transliteration: tsar
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: צַר
Category: Covenant

NEW. Dire straits, anguish — the felt, visceral experience of covenant-curse consequences (2:15); sets up the emotional weight behind the people’s groaning (v.18).

Land Had Rest

Approved rendering: reposó
Transliteration: shaqat
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance
Original: שָׁקַט
Category: Covenant

NEW. Temporary national peace marking the resolution phase of each cycle (e.g., 3:11; 5:31; 8:28). Distinguish from the baseline’s permanent ‘peace with God’ (paz) established through justification in Romans — related but not identical.

Take Possession Inheritance

Approved rendering: tomar posesión / heredad
Transliteration: yarash / nachalah
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and the Covenant Land
Rejected alternatives: propiedad (purely commercial sense, loses the covenant-gift framing)
Original: יָרַשׁ / נַחֲלָה
Category: Covenant

NEW. To take possession of the allotted, hereditary covenant land (2:6). The land is Israel’s covenant inheritance from God (cf. Genesis 15; Joshua 13-21), not conquered spoil.

Concubine

Approved rendering: concubina
Transliteration: pilegesh
Doctrine: Moral and Social Collapse in Israel
Rejected alternatives: amante / querida (modern pejorative terms that further distort the ancient legal category)
Original: פִּילֶגֶש
Category: Social Custom

NEW. A secondary wife of lower legal/social status than a full wife, a recognized (though lesser) marital relationship in the ancient Near East (ch.19). ‘Concubina’ carries a strongly pejorative connotation in contemporary usage that can distract from the passage’s real horror (the town’s brutal violence); retain the term with a clarifying note on its ancient social meaning.

Curse

Approved rendering: maldición
Transliteration: qelalah
Doctrine: The Absence of a Righteous King
Original: קְלָלָה
Category: Covenant

NEW. Jotham’s curse on Abimelech and Shechem (9:20,57). Functions within the same covenant-curse logic established in 2:14-15.

Jehovah Shalom

Approved rendering: Jehová-salom (Jehová es paz)
Transliteration: YHWH Shalom
Doctrine: Baal Worship as Rival Lordship
Original: יהוה שָׁלוֹם
Category: Covenant

NEW. ‘The LORD is Peace,’ the name Gideon gives his altar after a reassuring theophany (6:24). Builds on the baseline’s ‘peace’ (paz) entry but functions as a personal divine name/title rather than an abstract noun; must not be confused with the baseline’s New Testament, justification-based peace-with-God doctrine.

Inquired Of God

Approved rendering: consultaron a Dios / preguntaron a Jehová
Transliteration: sha’al b’Elohim
Doctrine: Legitimate Inquiry of God versus Idolatrous Divination
Original: שָׁאַל בֵּאלֹהִים
Category: Leadership

NEW. To consult God for guidance, often through a priest, oracle, or lot (ch.20). A legitimate practice, contrasted with the illegitimate use of stolen idolatrous cult objects for the same purpose in chs.17-18; a positive counter-example worth noting alongside the baseline’s ‘providencia’ and ‘intercesión’ doctrines without merging the terms.

Sha Ma Listen Obey

Approved rendering: no escucharon / no obedecieron
Transliteration: shama
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Original: שָׁמַע
Category: Sin

NEW. To hear/heed/obey — Israel ‘did not listen to’ their judges (2:17). Hebrew does not lexically separate hearing from obeying the way Spanish does; Spanish must supply ‘obedecer’ in context.

Went After

Approved rendering: fueron en pos de
Transliteration: halak acharei
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness

NEW. To walk/go after, follow (2:12); the same verb used for covenant loyalty to YHWH elsewhere is repurposed here for idol allegiance. Retain the RV-tradition idiom ‘fueron en pos de’ for register consistency.

Other Gods

Approved rendering: dioses ajenos / otros dioses
Transliteration: elohim acherim
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Rejected alternatives: religiones diferentes (a modern-pluralist gloss that loses the sense of rival claimants to exclusive covenant loyalty)

NEW. Other/foreign gods (2:12); not merely ‘different religions’ in a modern pluralist sense but rival claimants to the exclusive covenant loyalty YHWH demands.

Bowed Down

Approved rendering: se postraron / se inclinaron
Transliteration: hishtachawah
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness

NEW. To prostrate oneself, bow low, worship (2:12); the physical, embodied act of worship being given to a false object.

Sworn By The Lord

Approved rendering: había jurado
Transliteration: nishba
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance

NEW. To swear an oath (2:15) — God’s own sworn covenant word (the Deuteronomic covenant curses), distinct from human vow/oath vocabulary (‘voto,’ ‘juramento’); do not conflate the three.

Afflicted Oppressed

Approved rendering: afligían / oprimían
Transliteration: lachats / dachaq
Doctrine: The Cycle of Sin, Judgment, and Deliverance

NEW. To press, squeeze, oppress, harass (2:18); names the concrete, physical experience of covenant-curse subjugation under foreign enemies.

Did Not Abandon Practices

Approved rendering: no abandonaron
Transliteration: lo hipilu (hiphil of naphal)
Doctrine: Moral Decline and the Need for a Righteous King

NEW. Literally ‘they did not let fall’ — an idiom for willful, stubborn persistence in idolatrous practice (2:19), not passive drift.

Nasah Test

Approved rendering: probar
Transliteration: nasah
Doctrine: Providence

NEW. To test/prove (2:22) — God’s sovereign purpose in leaving nations in the land; even judgment and testing serve his covenant purposes, not blind providence apart from him.

Qatsar Nephesh

Approved rendering: no pudo soportar más
Transliteration: qatsar nephesh
Doctrine: Divine Compassion amid Judgment
Rejected alternatives: Dios se cansó de ellos (risks implying divine fatigue/weakness rather than covenantal grief)

NEW. Literally ‘his soul/being grew short’ — idiom for ‘could no longer bear/was impatient with’ (10:16). An anthropopathic idiom describing God’s felt limit of forbearance toward ongoing rebellion; must be taught alongside ‘moved_to_pity’ as two sides of the same covenant relationship, not contradictory divine moods.

Low Risk Terms

Dagon

Approved rendering: Dagón
Transliteration: Dagon
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness
Original: דָּגוֹן
Category: Idolatry

NEW. The chief national deity of the Philistines, climactically confronted in the Samson narrative (16:23-24). Standard proper-noun transliteration; low ambiguity risk.

Prophetess

Approved rendering: profetisa
Transliteration: nevi’ah
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: נְבִיאָה
Category: Leadership

NEW. A female prophet; Deborah’s title alongside judge (4:4). Consistent with the baseline’s ‘prophet’ (profeta) entry; low risk.

Elders

Approved rendering: ancianos
Transliteration: zeqenim
Doctrine: Generational Failure to Know the LORD
Original: זְקֵנִים
Category: Leadership

NEW. Tribal leaders by virtue of age and experience; the firsthand-covenant-memory generation of 2:7. Standard, unambiguous term.

Generation

Approved rendering: generación
Transliteration: dor
Doctrine: Generational Failure to Know the LORD
Original: דּוֹר
Category: Leadership

NEW. A generation/age-cohort; marks the generational transmission failure of 2:10. Standard term.

Forced Labor Tribute

Approved rendering: tributo / trabajo forzado
Transliteration: mas
Doctrine: Incomplete Conquest and the Covenant Land
Original: מַס
Category: Social Custom

NEW. Corvée labor/tribute exacted from a subjugated population instead of full dispossession (1:28-35); a pragmatic compromise that further normalizes coexistence with idolatrous peoples.

Snare Trap

Approved rendering: tropezadero / trampa
Transliteration: moqesh
Doctrine: God’s Grace through Flawed Deliverers
Original: מוֹקֵשׁ
Category: Social Custom

NEW. A trap/snare; describes how Gideon’s golden ephod became ‘a snare to Gideon and to his house’ (8:27). Illustrates how even a well-intentioned religious object, divorced from proper worship, becomes a source of apostasy.

Bakah Wept

Approved rendering: lloraron
Transliteration: bakah
Doctrine: Apostasy and Covenant Unfaithfulness

NEW. To weep, cry (2:5); gives the place its name, Bokim (‘weepers’), a rare moment of corporate, appropriate grief over covenant failure, contrasted with the unrepentant ‘stubborn ways’ of 2:19.

Shibboleth

Approved rendering: Sibolet / Shibolet (transliterado)
Transliteration: shibbolet
Doctrine: Moral and Social Collapse in Israel
Rejected alternatives: inventar un marcador dialectal español equivalente (would introduce a misleading, non-source dialect marker)

NEW — flagged in linguistic gap analysis for registry addition. The Ephraimite mispronunciation test (12:5-6) is an untranslatable phonetic plot device, not a theological term. Low doctrinal risk but Medium-High comprehension risk if silently dropped; transliterate with a footnote explaining the narrative device.

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