God

The established 1926 Protestant Bible term incorporates Trời (Heaven/Sky), the indigenous Vietnamese folk concept of a supreme cosmic authority, into a compound with Đức Chúa (Lord). This is a deliberate, settled rendering, but every occurrence should be taught as naming a personal, covenant-making God, not left to default to Ông Trời, the impersonal fate-dispensing ‘Heaven’ of everyday folk speech (as in the common exclamation ‘Trời ơi!’).