Linguistic Gap Analysis: Luke 1–24 (English → Telugu)

Purpose and Method

This document executes PRD Phase 1 Step 8 for the Luke curriculum. It does not re-derive the term inventory already established in analysis/08_core_glossary.md and the extended bible_term_registry.json; instead it analyzes the shape of the gap between English source vocabulary and Telugu destination vocabulary across the whole of Luke’s Gospel, chapter by chapter, and produces the ranked risk output required for Phase 2 review routing.

Three distinct gap-types recur throughout Luke and are tracked separately below:

• Type 1 — True missing vocabulary: no existing Telugu Christian term covers the concept; a new coinage or compound must be built (usually on an already-locked root).
• Type 2 — Crowded semantic neighborhood: a Telugu term exists and is even the correct, unavoidable choice, but it is simultaneously the primary vocabulary of a live, still-practiced non-Christian tradition in Telugu-speaking Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, requiring semantic “fencing” (context-anchoring, footnotes, or paired transliteration) rather than substitution.
• Type 3 — Single-source-word, multi-target-word: a Greek/English term covers a semantic range that Telugu naturally splits into two or more distinct words, requiring per-occurrence disambiguation.

Luke’s Gospel is a substantially different linguistic environment from Romans: it is narrative rather than epistolary, it is saturated with OT allusion requiring background supply, and — because its core passage (4:16-21) is Jesus’ own reading of Isaiah 61 in a synagogue — it activates religious-ritual vocabulary (anointing, release, fulfillment, sabbath, scripture-reading) that Romans never touches. This is the primary source of new gap pressure in this curriculum.

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Section 1 — Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix

Curriculum Doctrine	Available Telugu Terms	Weaknesses / Gaps	Recommended Strategy
Jesus as Savior for All Nations and All People (Jew/Gentile, Rich/Poor)	రక్షకుడు, రక్షణ, అన్యజనులు, సమస్త జనములు, ధనవంతుడు, దరిద్రులు/బీదలు	రక్షకుడు is a Type-1 transparent coinage on the locked రక్షణ root — solid, but readers may momentarily map it onto a generic “rescuer/liberator” register found in Telugu folk epics/cinema unless anchored tightly to 2:11 and 19:9-10. “Rich and Poor” pairing has no single Telugu idiom holding both senses together; must be taught as a deliberate pair.	Lock రక్షకుడు permanently; always co-occur with an explicit divine-agent clause (“దేవుడు ఇచ్చిన రక్షకుడు”) in first teaching use per lesson. Teach ధనవంతుడు/దరిద్రులు as a fixed literary pair, never split across separate glossary entries in learner materials.
The Holy Spirit’s Work in Salvation History	పరిశుద్ధాత్మ, అభిషేకించు, దేవుని సామర్థ్యం/సామర్థ్యం, పైనుండి కలుగు సామర్థ్యం, దర్శించు	The two most doctrinally central verbs in this whole doctrine — అభిషేకించు (4:18) and దర్శించు (1:68,78; 7:16; 19:44) — are also Andhra Pradesh’s two most religiously practiced verbs (temple abhishekam ritual; temple darshan pilgrimage). This is Type 2 at its most acute.	No substitution is viable (see Section 2 below); mandatory fencing via context-sentence anchoring and theologian-reviewed teaching notes at every occurrence, not just first occurrence.
Good News to the Poor and Marginalized	దరిద్రులు/బీదలు, ధన్యులు, తగ్గించుకొను/హెచ్చించు, శ్రమ	Risk is not vocabulary scarcity but spiritualization drift — a preacher’s instinct to read “poor” as “poor in spirit” collapses the doctrine this curriculum names explicitly.	Require దరిద్రులు (stronger destitution register) rather than the softer బీదలు at 4:18 and 6:20 specifically; teaching notes must state the literal-economic referent is primary, not merely metaphorical.
Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins	మారుమనస్సు, పాపక్షమాపణ/క్షమాపణ, విడుదల, మారుమనస్సునకు తగిన ఫలము	Type 3: ἄφεσις (Luke 4:18-19; 1:77; 3:3; 24:47) forces a single Greek/English word apart into two unrelated Telugu words, erasing the Isaiah 61/Jubilee wordplay Luke intends. See Section 4 (ranked #1).	Retain the split (విడుదల / క్షమాపణ) as linguistically necessary, but mandate an explicit teaching footnote at every occurrence connecting the two senses back to the single underlying Greek term — this is a content-supply fix for a translation-impossible gap.
Prayer and Dependence on God	ప్రార్థన, తండ్రి, ఉపవాసం, మేలైన భాగము	Low gap pressure; ప్రార్థన and తండ్రి are both already Critical-locked from the Romans baseline and carry no live competing framework of comparable strength. Residual risk is register: ensure prayer language stays intimate (అబ్బా-adjacent) rather than sliding into the more distant, ritual-request register used in Telugu puja vocabulary.	No new coinage needed; a tone/register instruction for translators is sufficient.
The Kingdom of God Present and Future	దేవుని రాజ్యం, మీ మధ్యనే, పరదైసు, పాతాళలోకం, నిత్యజీవం, మనుష్యకుమారుడు	This doctrine concentrates Luke’s hardest gaps: an eschatological-geography term with a directly competing, richly elaborated Puranic cosmology (పాతాళలోకం), a heaven-term with a near-miss false friend (స్వర్గం vs. పరదైసు), and a present/future tension (17:21) where two grammatically valid Telugu renderings produce two different doctrines.	See ranked risks #2-#4 below; all three require theologian-level, per-occurrence review, not just glossary lock-in.
The Cost and Joy of Discipleship	శిష్యుడు, సిలువ, వెంబడించు, తన్నుతాను ఉపేక్షించుకొను	Type 2: శిష్యుడు sits inside a live, socially prestigious guru-shishya cultural framework (personal submission to a human teacher for enlightenment) that is structurally inverted from the biblical sense (submission to a divine Lord/Savior, not a path to self-attained wisdom).	Cannot substitute — శిష్యుడు is the only viable Telugu Christian term and is already well established. Fence with explicit contrastive teaching (see Section 2) rather than attempting a new coinage, which would break a century of settled usage for no gain.
Jesus’ Compassion and Table Fellowship with Sinners	కనికరపడు, పాపి, సుంకరి, కూడి భోజనము చేయు, ప్రేమ, వైద్యుడు	Low-Medium gap pressure. కనికరపడు is available and strong; the residual risk is consistency (three separate narrative occurrences, 7:13/10:33/15:20, must not drift to weaker synonyms). కూడి భోజనము చేయు is a constructed phrase, not a single lexeme — acceptable, since Telugu has no single verb for “to share table fellowship with,” and the phrase resonates usefully with this region’s own caste-crossing Christian history.	Lock కనికరపడు as the sole rendering across all three occurrences; treat కూడి భోజనము చేయు as a fixed idiom, not a free paraphrase point.

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Section 2 — Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods

2.1 True Missing Vocabulary (Type 1)

Luke introduces comparatively few genuinely absent concepts relative to Romans, because Telugu’s century-old Bible tradition already built most Gospel-narrative vocabulary long before this curriculum. The clearest true gaps, all resolved in the core glossary by transparent compounding on already-locked roots, are:

Concept	Gap	Resolution
Savior (σωτήρ, noun form of already-locked రక్షణ)	Romans never uses the noun form; only the abstract “salvation”	రక్షకుడు — transparent agentive coinage, Critical risk, locked
Sinner (ἁμαρτωλός, noun form of already-locked పాపం)	Romans discusses sin abstractly; Luke needs a social category label	పాపి — transparent coinage, Medium risk, locked
Son of David / Chosen One / New Covenant	Romans never needs these as distinct phrases from their component roots	Compound constructions on దావీదు/నిబంధన/ఏర్పాటు — all Type 1, low incremental risk since roots are already Critical/High-locked
Fruit of repentance	No existing single Telugu term for “evidence, not payment”	మారుమనస్సునకు తగిన ఫలము — constructed phrase; Medium risk given its function of protecting the grace/works boundary

None of these require new theological argument; they are mechanically low-risk because they build on roots this Language Package has already stress-tested in Romans.

2.2 Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods Requiring Fencing (Type 2)

These are the analytically significant findings of this Step. Unlike Type 1 gaps, no additional coinage solves them — the correct Telugu word is also the name of a live devotional practice, and the fix must be procedural (mandatory footnotes, teaching notes, review flags), not lexical.

1. అభిషేకించు (“anoint,” Luke 4:18) — collides with daily abhishekam ritual at Tirupati’s Venkateswara temple, one of the world’s most-visited pilgrimage sites, located in Telugu-speaking territory. No substitute exists in the Telugu Bible tradition. Fencing requirement: every occurrence must be immediately followed, in teaching material, by explicit naming of the Spirit as agent and the messianic commissioning as purpose — never left as a bare verb.
2. దర్శించు (“visit,” 1:68,78; 7:16; 19:44) — collides with darshan, arguably the single most culturally central devotional concept in South Indian Hindu practice (the worshipper travels to glimpse the deity). The biblical sense reverses the direction of agency: God travels to visit/help his people, not the reverse. Fencing requirement: this reversal must be stated explicitly in every teaching context, not assumed as self-evident from the verb alone.
3. పాతాళలోకం (“Hades,” 16:23) — this is not merely adjacent to a Hindu concept; it is the standing Telugu Puranic term for a richly elaborated netherworld populated by serpent-deities (Nagaloka) and other beings, with no structural overlap with the biblical referent (a place of conscious post-mortem torment for one specific unrepentant individual in one specific parable). Fencing requirement: pair with transliteration హేడేసు at first occurrence and/or an explanatory footnote; flag for theologian review at the sole occurrence.
4. నీతి (“righteousness”) — already fenced at High risk in the Romans baseline against ధర్మం; in Luke’s more narrative, less argumentative register (1:75 is the main occurrence), the fencing risk is lower but not zero, since ధర్మం-adjacent cosmic-duty thinking remains part of the surrounding linguistic environment.
5. శిష్యుడు (“disciple”) — see Section 1 above; the guru-shishya framework runs in a structurally inverted direction (self-attained enlightenment vs. submission to a sent Savior) rather than a directly competing referent, making this a subtler fencing task than #1-#3 but still real given how frequently the term recurs (30+ occurrences across Luke).
6. పరదైసు vs. స్వర్గం — not a fencing problem for పరదైసు itself (a clean transliteration, low collision risk) but a forced-choice problem: the natural, unmarked Telugu word for “heaven” (స్వర్గం) carries strong svarga-loka associations (a temporary heavenly reward within an ongoing rebirth cycle) that would corrupt Luke 23:43’s promise of immediate, permanent, personal presence with Christ. The gap is solved by avoiding స్వర్గం here entirely, not by fencing it.
7. ప్రేమ (“love,” self-giving) — a Type-2 concern of a milder kind: ప్రేమ’s default register in contemporary Telugu (film, popular literature) skews romantic/affective, risking a flattened reading of 6:27-35’s command to love enemies. Fencing is contextual (translator must supply the object — enemy, neighbor — explicitly in surrounding text) rather than lexical.
8. భక్తి-adjacent drift on విశ్వాసం (“faith”) — inherited from the Romans baseline but recurring more often in Luke’s healing-faith formula (“your faith has saved/healed you,” 7:50; 8:48; 17:19; 18:42); the devotional-reverence connotation of భక్తి remains a background pull even though విశ్వాసం itself is the correct, locked term.

2.3 Structural (Type 3) Gaps: One Source Word, Several Target Words

Greek/English term	Telugu split	Risk driver
ἄφεσις (release / forgiveness)	విడుదల / క్షమాపణ-పాపక్షమాపణ	Destroys the Isaiah 61 Jubilee wordplay at the curriculum’s own core passage (4:18-19) unless a teaching footnote restores the connection
σῴζω (save / heal)	రక్షించు / స్వస్థపరచు	Loses Luke’s deliberate double meaning at ambiguous healing-faith verses (8:48; 17:19); per-occurrence judgment required, flagged for native-speaker review
δύναμις (abstract capacity / concrete deed)	సామర్థ్యం / అద్భుతకార్యము	Lower risk than the above two, but still requires per-occurrence disambiguation to avoid conflating “God’s power” as an attribute with “a miracle” as an event
κρίνω (condemn / discern-decide)	తీర్పు తీర్చు used contextually for both senses	Risk is more homiletical than doctrinal — flag if a translation renders 6:37’s prohibition and 7:43’s legitimate discernment identically without contextual signal

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Section 3 — Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions

Term	Decision	Rationale
Messiah / Christ	Transliterate (మెస్సీయ) alongside the established title-form క్రీస్తు	Already locked in Romans baseline; Luke uses both forms side by side (2:11 uses క్రీస్తు, 9:20 uses క్రీస్తు as confession) and both must remain available without merging into a single word
Baptism	Transliterate (బాప్తిస్మం), not a descriptive paraphrase (“నీటిలో ముంచడం”)	Established sacramental/technical term; a descriptive paraphrase would lose its theological weight and its clear distinction from Jesus’ future Spirit-and-fire baptism (3:16)
Passover	Transliterate (పస్కా)	Low risk, established, no viable single-word Telugu equivalent that would not require the same background explanation anyway
Mammon	Transliterate (మామోను), not paraphrase as “money” (డబ్బు)	Paraphrase would flatten the personified, rival-master force Jesus explicitly gives it (16:13)
Abba	Transliterate (అబ్బా), retained alongside తండ్రి	Already established in the Romans baseline (8:15); though Luke’s own Gethsemane text (22:42) uses తండ్రి directly, the Abba pattern must remain available for cross-referencing Romans 8 in integrated teaching
Hades	Transliterate as a paired safeguard (హేడేసు) alongside the necessary but collision-prone పాతాళలోకం	See Section 2.2 #3; transliteration functions here as a fence, not a replacement
Amen / Hallelujah	Transliterate (ఆమేన్ / హల్లెలూయా)	Carried over unchanged from the Romans baseline instruction set
Rabbi / Teacher (ἐπιστάτης)	Paraphrase as బోధకుడా (“teacher,” vocative), NOT transliterate as a guru-title	Luke deliberately avoids “Rabbi” for a Gentile-inclusive readership; a Telugu guru-title would reintroduce exactly the self-attained-teaching-authority problem the baseline already rejects for “apostle”
Synagogue / Sabbath	Transliterate/established-compound (సమాజమందిరం / సబ్బాతు)	Both already fully settled in Telugu Bible tradition; no paraphrase gain available and paraphrase would blur their distinction from సంఘము (church, absent from Luke’s own text)
Paradise	Transliterate (పరదైసు), explicitly NOT the native word స్వర్గం	See Section 2.2 #6; this is a case where transliteration is chosen specifically to avoid a paraphrase-adjacent native word that carries doctrinally incompatible baggage
Anoint, Visit (divine)	Neither transliterated nor paraphrased — retain the native Telugu verb (అభిషేకించు, దర్శించు) because no viable alternative exists	See Section 2.2 #1-#2; fencing via teaching context is the only available strategy

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Section 4 — Ranked List of Highest-Risk Ambiguities in Luke

Ranked by combined doctrinal severity and likelihood of silent mistranslation, per the baseline’s Critical/High/Medium/Low framework. Ranks 1–6 require mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence (not merely first occurrence); ranks 7–10 require native-speaker review at minimum.

1. ἄφεσις wordplay at the core passage, Luke 4:18-19 — the single highest-priority item in this whole curriculum, since the core passage (4:16-21) is the theological anchor for the entire Luke curriculum and its Isaiah 61 citation is built on a single Greek word Telugu cannot render as one word. Silent loss of this connection weakens the curriculum’s own thesis text. Critical.
2. υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου / మనుష్యకుమారుడు (“Son of Man”) — 25+ occurrences; must simultaneously hold genuine humanity and Daniel-7 divine authority without a native Telugu idiom that does this automatically; a translator defaulting to “a human being” for smoothness silently erases the Christological force. Critical.
3. ἐντὸς ὑμῶν / మీ మధ్యనే (Luke 17:21, “the kingdom is within/among you”) — two grammatically valid Telugu renderings (corporate “in your midst” vs. individual “within you”) produce two different doctrines of the Kingdom’s present reality; this is the single most consequential one-verse translation decision in the Kingdom-of-God doctrine. High/Critical boundary — flagged Critical for review routing given doctrinal stakes.
4. ᾅδης / పాతాళలోకం (16:23) — direct collision with an elaborated, actively-practiced Puranic cosmology rather than a mere devotional-adjacent term; readers may import Nagaloka mythology wholesale absent a fence. Critical.
5. χρίω / అభిషేకించు (4:18) — no viable substitute exists in Telugu Bible tradition, and the competing referent (Tirupati abhishekam) is arguably the single most nationally famous ritual practice this Language Package must fence against. Placed just below #1-#4 because the term itself is well-established and the risk is comprehension/association rather than a forced grammatical choice. Critical.
6. σῴζω / రక్షించు vs. స్వస్థపరచు (ambiguous healing-faith formula, e.g. 8:48; 17:19) — Luke’s own theology depends on the double meaning (physical healing as a sign of, and metaphor for, spiritual salvation) which the Telugu split necessarily obscures at exactly the verses most memorized by congregations. High.
7. ἐπισκέπτομαι / దర్శించు (“divine visitation,” 1:68,78; 7:16; 19:44) — the agency-reversal problem (God visits us, vs. worshippers seeking darshan of God) is subtle enough to be missed by a translator without explicit sensitization, yet doctrinally significant for how grace is received rather than sought. High.
8. κεχαριτωμένη / కృపపొందినదానా (Mary, 1:28) — a live Protestant/Catholic Marian-doctrine fault line specific to Telugu’s dual-tradition Christian population; the passive-recipient rendering is doctrinally correct but must be defended consistently against a “full of grace” possessed-quality misreading that a text drawing on Catholic-tradition Telugu hymnody might otherwise introduce. High.
9. πτωχός / దరిద్రులు vs. బίదలు, spiritualization drift (4:18; 6:20) — not a translation-choice ambiguity so much as a downstream teaching risk: the correct Telugu word is not in doubt, but oral paraphrase in sermons/lessons routinely spiritualizes “poor” in ways the underlying Telugu word does not license. High, flagged for native-speaker + theologian teaching-note review rather than lexical revision.
10. παράδεισος / పరదైసు vs. స్వర్గం (23:43) — lower rank than #4’s Hades collision because the resolution (transliteration) is already settled and stable, but retained on this list because a well-meaning translator unfamiliar with the svarga-loka collision risk could easily “helpfully” substitute the more natural-sounding స్వర్గం. High.

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Section 5 — Full-Book Chapter Coverage Note (Luke 1–24)

Per the PRD Phase 1 full-coverage mandate, every chapter of Luke has been reviewed for gap-relevant vocabulary. Chapters not separately itemized above contributed no additional gap-type beyond those already cataloged; this is recorded explicitly below rather than left as a silent omission.

Chapter(s)	Gap-relevant content	Status
1	Favored one (κεχαριτωμένη), Mercy/covenant (κανικαρము), Visit (ἐπισκέπτομαι), Redemption, Holy Spirit’s role in the annunciation	Covered — ranks #7, #8 above
2	Savior, Christ the Lord, Glory, Peace, Temple setting, Redemption (Anna)	Covered — Section 1, 2.2 #6
3	Repentance, Baptism, Wrath, Fruit of repentance, John as prophet	Covered — Section 2.3, 3
4 (core passage 4:16-21)	Anoint, Release/Forgiveness (ἄφεσις wordplay), Fulfilled (perfect tense), Scripture, Synagogue, Sabbath, Poor, Devil/temptation, Authority, Power of God, Demon	Covered — ranks #1, #4, #5 above; this chapter carries the single highest concentration of gap-risk in the entire book
5	Sinner, Disciple, Follow, Table fellowship (Levi), Physician metaphor, σῴζω/healing	Covered — Section 2.3, rank #6
6	Beatitudes (Blessed/ధన్యులు), Woe, Love (self-giving), Judge/condemn, Apostle naming	Covered — Section 1, 2.2 #7
7	Compassion (widow of Nain), Faith-healing formula, Tax collector, Prophet recognition, Forgiveness (sinful woman)	Covered — ranks #6, #9; Section 1 compassion doctrine
8	Word of God (Sower), Demon (Gerasene), σῴζω ambiguous case (8:48), Kingdom parables	Covered — rank #6, Section 2.3
9	Son of Man (multiple), Transfiguration, Kingdom of God, Cross/discipleship cost, Authority/power sent with the Twelve	Covered — rank #2; Section 1 discipleship doctrine
10	Mission (Seventy-two), Neighbor (Good Samaritan), Compassion, Power over demons, Good portion (Mary/Martha)	Covered — Section 2.2 #5 (neighbor-adjacent), Section 1 compassion doctrine
11	Prayer/Lord’s Prayer, Blasphemy against the Spirit, Devil, Kingdom of God present	Covered — Section 1 prayer and Holy Spirit doctrines; blasphemy flagged High in registry
12	Son of Man, Blasphemy against the Spirit, Mammon-adjacent anxiety teaching, Hypocrite	Covered — rank #2, transliteration decision (Mammon at ch. 16 is the concentrated occurrence)
13	Repentance call, Kingdom parables (mustard seed/yeast), Narrow door, Woe (Jerusalem lament)	Reviewed — no new gap-type; reinforces Kingdom present/future tension already ranked #3
14	Poor/rich banquet reversal, Humble/exalt, Disciple cost (cross-bearing, counting the cost)	Reviewed — reinforces Section 1 poverty and discipleship doctrines; no new term
15	Lost (sheep/coin/son), Joy, Repentance, Compassion (father), Sinner, Tax collector	Covered — Section 1 repentance/joy and compassion doctrines
16	Mammon, Rich man and Lazarus, Hades/Paradise-adjacent afterlife imagery, Law and Prophets	Covered — ranks #4, #10; transliteration decision (Mammon)
17	Kingdom “within/among you” (17:21), σῴζω ambiguous case (17:19), Forgiveness/rebuke cycle, Faith	Covered — rank #3 (single most important verse in this chapter for the whole curriculum), rank #6
18	Justification (Pharisee/tax collector parable), Humble/exalt, Son of David (blind beggar), Kingdom entry (children), Eternal life (rich ruler)	Covered — Section 1 justification/righteousness, Section 2.2 #6-adjacent eternal-life caution already noted in glossary
19	Salvation “today” (Zacchaeus, thesis verse 19:10), Lost (mission summary), Mighty works, Kingdom of God (parable of talents), Temple cleansing (house of prayer)	Covered — curriculum thesis-statement verse per Section D of the core glossary; requires locked, identical rendering across all lessons
20	Son of David/Psalm 110 riddle, Resurrection debate (Sadducees), Law, David	Covered — Section 1 messianic/resurrection doctrines, no new gap-type
21	Kingdom of God near, Power/glory (Son of Man’s return), Wrath (“distress”), Redemption (final)	Reviewed — reinforces Kingdom present/future tension already ranked #3; no new term
22	New covenant, Passover, Agony (Gethsemane), Son of Man (trial), Prayer, Cross anticipation	Covered — transliteration decision (Passover), Section 1 discipleship-cost doctrine
23	King (mocking/true), Chosen One (mocking irony), Paradise (thief), Cross, Son of Man	Covered — rank #10, Section 2.2 #6, Section 1 Christology
24	Resurrection, Fulfilled (perfect tense, echoing ch. 4), Scripture opened, All nations, Power from on high, Ascension, Joy	Covered — echoes core-passage vocabulary (rank #1’s “fulfilled” companion term), Great Commission thesis-statement verse (24:47) requiring locked rendering alongside 19:10

Conclusion: Every chapter of Luke has been reviewed. The overwhelming majority of gap-risk in this curriculum concentrates in chapter 4 (the core passage itself) and in the recurring cross-chapter terms Son of Man, Kingdom of God, and the σῴζω/ἄφεσις word-family — precisely the terms ranked highest in Section 4. No chapter has been silently omitted; chapters 13, 14, 21 are recorded above as reviewed-with-no-new-gap-type, consistent with the full-coverage mandate.

This analysis must be read alongside analysis/08_core_glossary.md (term inventory) and the extended assets/bible_term_registry.json (per-term registry entries) before Phase 2 segment translation of Luke begins. It does not introduce new translation-memory entries; it explains and ranks the risk structure behind the entries already proposed there.