Vietnamese · Tiếng Việt
Father's Heart Bible™ key-term glossary — anchored to the historic Vietnamese Scriptures · Script: Latin (chữ Quốc ngữ, with full diacritics)
For the reviewer
These are the proposed renderings of FHB's key terms. The heart of the review: wherever English says our Father, the rendering must feel like a beloved child addressing their own father — warm, reverent, natural to your language's Bible — and never the distant generic word for "God." Mark anything that reads wrong, stiff, or irreverent. Tip: your browser's translate feature can back-translate this page as a second witness. Approvals or corrections go to Kevin White.
Register
Reverent contemporary Protestant Vietnamese, matching the Kinh Thánh Bản Truyền Thống Hiệu Đính 2011 (RVV11) — the revision of the beloved 1926 Bản Truyền Thống that Vietnamese evangelicals hold most dear. Crucially it adopts RVV11's intimate child-to-parent register 'chúng con' (the Lord's-Prayer 'Lạy Cha chúng con ở trên trời'), so the reader stands as a beloved child speaking to their own father, not a subject before a deity.
Quotation marks
Double quotation marks “ ” for direct speech, nested single ‘ ’; some editions use guillemets « » — follow RVV11's straight-double style.
Poetry lines
Poetry (Psalms, prophets, canticles) set as verse: each poetic/parallel line on its own line, continuation lines indented one level, couplet parallelism preserved as in RVV11.
| # | English term | Proposed rendering | Literal back-translation | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | our Heavenly Father | Cha chúng ta ở trên trời | Heavenly Father of us (children) | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Mt 6:9) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "Cha Thiên Thượng của chúng con". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 2 | our Father | Cha chúng ta | Father of us (children) | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Mt 6:9 / Rom 1:7) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "Cha chúng con". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 3 | the Father | Đức Chúa Cha | Father | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Jn 14:9ff) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "Cha". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 4 | Heavenly Father | Cha trên trời | Heavenly Father | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Mt 6:14) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "Cha Thiên Thượng". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 5 | Abba, Father | A-ba, Cha | Abba, O (dear) Father! | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Rom 8:15 / Mk 14:36) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "A-ba, Cha ơi!". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 6 | God | Đức Chúa Trời | God (the Lord of Heaven) | REVERSION / non-filial contrast term. Standard Protestant Vietnamese word for God-as-God. Contains no 'Cha' stem — use ONLY where English keeps 'God', never for 'our Father'. |
| 7 | the LORD | Đức Giê-hô-va | the LORD (Jehovah / Yahweh) | REVERSION / non-filial contrast term. Bản Truyền Thống & RVV11 covenant name. Generic 'Lord' for Jesus = Chúa / Đức Chúa (distinct). Use ONLY where English keeps the covenant name; never for 'our Father'. |
| 8 | the Holy Spirit | Đức Thánh Linh | the Holy Spirit | Standard Protestant Vietnamese (RVV11); not the Catholic 'Chúa Thánh Thần'. Confirmed register for John 3. |
| 9 | the Spirit of our Father | Thánh Linh của Cha chúng ta | the Spirit of our Father (of us children) | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Mt 10:20) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "Thần của Cha chúng con". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 10 | the Son of Man | Con Người | the Son of Man (Son of a human) | Fixed Christological idiom in every Vietnamese Bible; retained unchanged. |
| 11 | the Son | Con | the Son | Capitalized 'Con' (the child's own word) as the relational counterpart to 'Cha'; avoids the creedal 'Đức Chúa Con' for the same filial reason as 'the Father'. |
| 12 | the Son of God | Con Đức Chúa Trời | the Son of God | Traditional title where English legitimately keeps 'God' as God-as-God (RVV11). REVIEWER: confirm vs the filial alternative 'Con của Cha' (Son of the Father) — flagged parallel to Telugu తండ్రి కుమారుడు. |
| 13 | one and only Son | Con Một | the one/only Son | RVV11 John 3:16 wording ('Con Một'); warmer than the 1926 'Con độc sanh' (only-begotten). Carries the 'Con' stem. |
| 14 | the kingdom of our Father | nước của Cha chúng ta | the kingdom/realm of our Father (of us children) | Anchored to Bản Truyền Thống (Mt 26:29) — the established rendering this language's church already prays; FHB shifts only the person (our), never the construction. Was: "Nước của Cha chúng con". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent) |
| 15 | Jesus | Jêsus | Jesus | Protestant traditional spelling (as in 'Đức Chúa Jêsus'); not the Catholic 'Giêsu' nor BDM 'Giê-su'. |
| 16 | Christ | Đấng Christ | the Christ (the Anointed One) | Traditional Protestant form; 'Đấng' is the honorific classifier for a holy person. Confirmed for John 3:28. |
| 17 | Messiah | Đấng Mê-si-a | the Messiah | Transliteration with honorific 'Đấng'; semantic twin of 'Đấng Christ' (Anointed One), as in John 1:41. |
| 18 | covenant | giao ước | covenant / solemn agreement | Standard Vietnamese Bible term across all traditions. |
| 19 | steadfast love | tình yêu thành tín | faithful/loyal love | Renders hesed as loyal covenant love; 'thành tín' (faithful, unwavering) carries the loyalty. REVIEWER: confirm vs the traditional 'sự nhân từ' (lovingkindness/mercy) used widely in Bản Truyền Thống. |
| 20 | compassion | lòng thương xót | compassion / tender mercy (of the inmost self) | Renders racham / splanchnizomai; 'lòng' (the seat of feeling, viscera) captures the gut-level tenderness, as in 'động lòng thương xót' = moved with compassion. |
| 21 | righteousness | sự công chính | righteousness | RVV11 form; updates the 1926 'sự công bình' (which reviewer may prefer for older readers). |
| 22 | eternal life | sự sống đời đời | life forever / everlasting life | The fixed John 3:16 wording in every Vietnamese Bible. |
| 23 | born again | được sinh lại | to be born again / born anew | RVV11 spelling 'sinh lại' (1926 'sanh lại'); John 3:3,7 also carries the sense 'born from above' (sinh lại từ trên cao). |
Terms we deliberately avoid
These common words carry another religion's meaning, so Scripture in Vietnamese has always chosen different vocabulary — and so do we. Please don't recommend them; the established Bible alternative is listed beside each.
- luân hồi (samsara / reincarnation cycle) → sinh lại (born again, Jn 3:3)
- đầu thai (reincarnate into a new body) → sinh lại
- niết bàn (Buddhist nirvana) → sự sống đời đời (eternal life)
- nghiệp (karma) → việc làm (deeds), never fate-theology
Machine conformance stems (every filial rendering must contain one): Cha
Submit your review
Your review goes directly to Kevin White. Corrections can be written in Vietnamese or English.