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Four Adventist scholars participate in a new translation of the French Bible

This New Bible in current French is addressed to all cultures, faiths and ages.

Four Adventist scholars participate in a new translation of the French Bible

Why a new translation?

The launch of the current New Bible in current French took place on Thursday evening, October 3, 2019, at the City Hall of the 15th district of Paris. Why a new translation, when there are already so many?

On October 31st, 1873, on the need to translate biblical texts, Louis Segond, the father of the famous Segond translation still popular in Adventist circles, wrote in the foreword to the first edition of his translation of the Old Testament:

« The Jews attributed divine authority to most of these books, and their doctors made it the starting point for the teachings they gave to the people. So when the Hebrew language had ceased to be a spoken language, they were the first to feel the need to have, for their use, translations into the languages of the peoples among whom they lived dispersed. »

The quality of the Segond's text comes from his mastery of both biblical and French languages, but also because he only used the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, the oldest known at the time. He was the first Bible translator to work in this way. Like many of his predecessors, he did not rely on texts that were already translations, such as the Septuagint, the Vulgate, or on existing French editions. This French Protestant translation, the Segond Bible, revised several times, was very quickly adopted by Adventists in the French-speaking world. From the second half of the 20th century, translations or revisions of texts are no longer done by a single specialist, but by teams of biblical experts from various Christian families.

The Bible accessible to all

The New Bible in current French is already well known since its first publication in 1982 (1971 for the New Testament). It is currently one of the most widely used French Bibles in various denominational environments. It is this version, with the TOB, which is used in the editions of the Interlinear Old Testament and the Interlinear New Testament. This version is also used in The Explained Bible for the ZeBible. Like every Bible translation, the New Bible in current French had to be revised not only because of the evolution of the French language, but also because of the discoveries of specialists (archaeologists, papyologists, historians, exegetes…).

This enormous work has been carried out in three years thanks to an editorial committee composed of particularly competent specialists: Mrs Katie Badie, Editorial Director of Bibli'O Publishing, Valérie Duval-Poujol, biblist, Roselyne Dupont-Roc, biblist, and Mr Thierry Legrand, religious historian. This editorial board has gathered seventy reviewers, specialists and proofreaders in order to produce high quality scientific work.

This New Bible in current French is addressed to all cultures, faiths and ages. The revision of the text according to the best manuscripts, the richness of the notes accompanying the text and the introductions to the books give this document its full value. We need it so much to understand our history and rejoice in the presence of our God in our current lives as we await a life without suffering that will never stop again.