Numbers → French: Phase 1 Executive Summary

Why it matters

Numbers is the first Old Testament, Hebrew-source curriculum built on top of the Romans (NT, Greek-source) Language Package for French. It introduces the destination-language pipeline’s first genuine OT/NT terminological fences — cases where a Hebrew term (chesed, edah/qahal) must be kept deliberately DISTINCT from a French word the baseline already reserves for an NT concept (grâce, l’Église). It also carries the single highest-stakes French-Catholic-culture collision risk documented in this pipeline to date: the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:8-9), a divinely-commanded image later destroyed as an idol (2 Kings 18:4) — a built-in biblical warning against relic veneration that French devotional culture (crucifixes, ex-votos, Lourdes) makes unusually easy to miss.

Key findings

• Full-book coverage confirmed: all 36 chapters reviewed; 22 doctrines identified and risk-tiered, anchored in the core passage Numbers 21:4-9 without treating it as the analysis boundary.
• 61 terms now enforced in the Numbers translation_memory.json: 20 inherited exactly (or risk-elevated) from the Romans baseline, 41 newly established for this book.
• Three genuinely new Critical-risk decisions beyond anything Romans required: the Tetragrammaton rendering (le SEIGNEUR, deliberately root-linked to the baseline’s NT “Seigneur”), the bronze serpent (serpent de bronze, never the archaic “serpent d’airain”), and the elevation of intercession from the baseline’s Medium risk to Critical, because Numbers supplies three named, narratively vivid human intercessors (Moses, Aaron, Phinehas) that French Catholic readers can concretely map onto “intercession des saints” in a way Romans’ more abstract treatment never risked.
• One absolute new prohibition: Hebrew chesed (covenant loyalty, Numbers 14:18) must NEVER be rendered “grâce” — doing so would retroactively blur the baseline’s own carefully guarded grace/merit distinction.

Risks

• 6 Critical-risk terms (Dieu/Elohim, le SEIGNEUR/YHWH, Esprit Saint/ruach, intercession, expiation/kipper, serpent de bronze) and 30 High-risk terms — 36 total requiring mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence.
• 12 of 22 doctrines (3 Critical: Bronze Serpent, Intercession, Atonement; 9 High: Unbelief, God’s Patience and Judgment, Balaam’s Blessing, Nazirite Separation, Priesthood, Covenant Loyalty/chesed, Holy War/cherem, Divination, Sexual-Covenant Unfaithfulness) require human theologian review routing; 7 require native speaker review; 3 are automated-only.
• Highest-probability failure modes ranked in 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md: (1) intercession collapsing into saint-veneration devotion, (2) bronze serpent read as a healing relic, (3) chesed rendered as grâce, (4) inconsistent YHWH rendering across Phase 2 workers, (5) Balaam’s blessing/cursing absorbed into French folk-magical “malédiction” currency.

Opportunities

• The Aaronic priestly blessing (Numbers 6:24-26, “qu’il te fasse grâce”) is a genuine, positive OT root for the baseline’s NT “grâce” term — a teachable bridge showing learners that grace is not an NT novelty.
• “Le SEIGNEUR” (YHWH) deliberately shares its French root with the baseline’s NT confession “Jésus est Seigneur” (Romans 10:9) — an intentional continuity the curriculum should make explicit, not leave implicit.
• Numbers’ Nazirite vow, priesthood, and firstborn-redemption material give the curriculum rich forward-links to NT Christology (firstborn, Colossians 1:15) and Hebrews’ priesthood/atonement argument, extending the Romans baseline’s soteriology into fuller redemptive-historical context.

Recommended actions

1. Load assets/translation_memory.json (Numbers extension) alongside the unmodified Romans baseline for every Phase 2 segment — never substitute one for the other.
2. Route all Critical/High-tier segments (36 terms, 12 doctrines) to human theologian review before any Phase 2 output is marked approved, per analysis/12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
3. Enforce the mandatory footnote requirements (bronze serpent no-power clause, intercession redemptive-historical qualifier, chesed/grâce fence, YHWH consistency) as blocking validation checks, not optional style suggestions.
4. Proportionally increase theologian-review time budget for Numbers relative to Romans, given its higher concentration of Critical/High terms per chapter.