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Father's Heart Bible™ key-term glossary — anchored to the historic French Scriptures · Script: Latin

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 French Bible register in the Louis Segond / Nouvelle Édition de Genève 1979 tradition — the most-trusted and most-read French Protestant Bible — warmed toward the accessible, natural phrasing of the Segond 21 and la Bible du Semeur so that a French Christian reader hears the intimacy of a child addressing their own father, not a formal deity.

Quotation marks

French guillemets « … » with a non-breaking space inside each mark; dialogue and speech commonly opened with an em-dash (—).

Poetry lines

Poetry set as indented verse lines, one poetic colon/stich per line, with continuation (runover) lines further indented; strophes separated by a blank line — as in the Segond/NEG Psalms layout.

#English termProposed renderingLiteral back-translationWhy
1 our Heavenly Father notre Père céleste our heavenly Father Warm filial divine name; 'céleste' is the standard Segond adjective for the Father in heaven (cf. Mt 6:26), never 'Dieu'.
2 our Father notre Père our Father Primary filial name; identical to the opening of the Lord's Prayer 'Notre Père', instantly heard as personal address. NEVER Dieu / l'Éternel.
3 the Father le Père the Father Definite filial form as in Jn 5:19–23; the article marks the known, beloved Father, not a title of deity.
4 Heavenly Father le Père céleste the heavenly Father Filial form without the possessive; keeps 'Père' as head noun so the filial stem is preserved.
5 Abba, Father Abba ! Père ! Abba, Father Anchored to Louis Segond (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: "Abba, Père". Sweep 2026-07-22 (Kevin: mine the existing translations, don't invent)
6 God Dieu God REVERSION TOKEN — the generic deity word; used only where English keeps God-as-God, never as a substitute for 'notre Père'.
7 the LORD l'Éternel the Eternal (One) REVERSION TOKEN — Segond's distinctive covenant-name rendering of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH). Contrast term only; the generic title 'Lord' for Jesus = Seigneur, distinct.
8 the Holy Spirit le Saint-Esprit the Holy Spirit Standard Segond/NEG rendering (Jn 14:26); hyphenated form is the fixed liturgical spelling.
9 the Spirit of our Father l'Esprit de notre Père the Spirit of our Father Relational (by belonging), not by-identity; keeps 'notre Père' intact so the filial link is explicit (cf. Mt 10:20).
10 the Son of Man le Fils de l'homme the Son of man Fixed Segond Christological title (Jn 3:14); lowercase 'homme' per French usage.
11 the Son le Fils the Son Absolute use for Jesus in relation to the Father (Jn 3:35); capital F distinguishes from a human son.
12 the Son of God le Fils de Dieu the Son of God Traditional Christological title (Jn 3:18). 'de Dieu' is retained here as a formal title, not a reversion of the Father-name; reviewer to confirm vs 'le Fils du Père'.
13 one and only Son Fils unique only Son Exact Segond/NEG wording of Jn 3:16 ('son Fils unique'); 'unique' carries the monogenēs sense of the one and only.
14 the kingdom of our Father le royaume de notre Père the kingdom of our Father FHB renders 'kingdom of God' filially; 'royaume' is the Segond term, refitted with 'notre Père' (Jn 3:3,5).
15 Jesus Jésus Jesus Standard French form of the name.
16 Christ le Christ the Christ / the Anointed Segond form; the article is used where the title sense is in view (Jn 3:28), bare 'Christ' as a name elsewhere.
17 Messiah le Messie the Messiah Standard French transliteration (Jn 1:41), paired naturally with 'le Christ' as its Hebrew equivalent.
18 covenant alliance covenant / alliance Fixed Segond term for berith/diathēkē (Lc 22:20 'la nouvelle alliance').
19 steadfast love amour fidèle faithful love Renders hesed's loyal covenant love; chosen over Segond's older 'bonté' because 'amour fidèle' (as in modern French versions) keeps both the warmth and the loyalty. Reviewer to confirm vs 'bonté'.
20 compassion compassion compassion Segond uses 'ému de compassion' for splanchnizomai; captures the gut-level tender mercy of racham. Alt 'tendresse' if a softer note is wanted.
21 righteousness justice righteousness / justice Standard Segond rendering of tsedaqah/dikaiosynē (Mt 6:33).
22 eternal life la vie éternelle the eternal life Exact Segond/NEG wording of Jn 3:16.
23 born again naître de nouveau to be born anew / again Segond rendering of Jn 3:3,7 ('naître de nouveau'); 'de nouveau' is the received French form, over the alt 'naître d'en haut' (from above).

Machine conformance stems (every filial rendering must contain one): Père · notre Père · Père céleste

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