AI Translation Requirements

12 AI Translation Requirements and Instruction Set — Matthew (German)

English → German | Matthew 1–28 | Language Package

Source language: English Destination language: German Curriculum: Matthew 1–28 Generated: 2026-07-11

Purpose

Extends (never contradicts) the promoted Romans baseline and the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians packages generated 2026-07-11. This is the largest and, given Matthew 27:25 and chapter 23, the single most sensitivity-critical package in the German portfolio to date.

Pre-flight Checklist

Load this package’s, all four prior packages’, and the promoted Romans translation memory, term registry, and doctrine registry, plus this document, applied in addition to the Romans baseline’s system prompt.

System Prompt Additions for Matthew

CRITICAL FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTIONS NEW TO THIS MATTHEW PACKAGE:
- Reich der Himmel: NEVER silently merge with Reich Gottes -- Matthew's own consistent
  vocabulary preference must be preserved throughout.
- Selig (5:3-11): NEVER read in the narrower Catholic Seligsprechung (beatification) sense.
- Vater unser (6:9-13): NEVER deviate from the standard German ecumenical liturgical text.
- Sein Blut komme über uns und unsere Kinder (27:25): NEVER translated or taught without
  mandatory accompanying theologian-authored material explicitly rejecting the antisemitic
  misreading of collective/hereditary guilt. This requirement is non-negotiable.
- Wehe euch, Schriftgelehrte und Pharisäer (23:13ff): NEVER generalized beyond the specific
  first-century narrative conflict to Jewish people as a whole, ancient or contemporary.

DOCTRINAL PRESERVATION RULES NEW TO THIS MATTHEW PACKAGE:
1. The Beatitudes (5:3-12): grace-first structure (blessing pronounced before demand) must frame
   the entire Sermon on the Mount that follows.
2. The antitheses (5:21-48): fulfillment and intensification of the Law, never abolition (5:17
   explicitly denies this).
3. Peter's confession (16:16) and the "rock" saying (16:18): present without adjudicating the
   Catholic/Protestant papal-primacy dispute; flag for theologian review.
4. The Words of Institution (26:26-28): render exactly per source text without adjudicating the
   Realpräsenz/memorialism/transubstantiation dispute; flag for theologian review.
5. Matthew 23 and 27:11-26: MANDATORY explicit historical-sensitivity framing in every teaching
   context, citing the documented history of antisemitic weaponization and its formal
   repudiation by major Christian bodies (Nostra Aetate 1965; German Protestant post-war
   statements). This is required in addition to, not instead of, translation accuracy.

TONE REQUIREMENTS: identical register to prior baselines. Matthew 23 and 27:11-26 require
additional deliberate, sober historical-pastoral care beyond standard register requirements.

READING LEVEL TARGET: identical to prior baselines.

TRANSLITERATION STANDARDS: prior baseline entries apply unchanged, extended with standard
Matthean proper names (e.g. Herodes, Pilatus, Kaiphas, Barabbas) per established German Bible
convention.

FOOTNOTE REQUIREMENTS: unchanged mechanism, with the MANDATORY exception documented above for
Matthew 23 and 27:25.

AMBIGUITY HANDLING: unchanged protocol. The composite Zechariah/Jeremiah citation at 27:9-10
should be rendered faithfully without silently correcting Matthew's own attribution.

ESCALATION RULES NEW TO THIS MATTHEW PACKAGE:
Automatically flag for human theologian review, in addition to prior baseline lists:
- ALL 20 doctrines in this package's doctrine registry (16 Critical, 4 High) require theologian
  review -- this is the first package in this pipeline's German portfolio with zero
  native-speaker-only or automated-only doctrines, reflecting the density of Christological and
  historically-sensitive material throughout this Gospel.
- Matthew 23 and 27:11-26 specifically require review by a theologian briefed on the
  historical-sensitivity requirement, not merely doctrinal accuracy review.

FLAG but allow native speaker review (not theologian required):
- None in this package -- given the density of Critical/High material, this package routes all
  identified doctrines to theologian review; ordinary narrative and descriptive material outside
  the doctrine registry's scope may proceed under standard glossary enforcement.

Validation Rules

In addition to every check in the prior baselines’ validation tables:

Validation Rule	Check
Reich der Himmel / Reich Gottes distinction	Verify Matthew’s own vocabulary preference is preserved, not merged
Lord’s Prayer liturgical match	Verify 6:9-13 matches the standard German ecumenical text exactly
Antisemitism-framing mandatory note present	Verify EVERY use of Matthew 23 or 27:11-26 in teaching material carries the required historical-sensitivity framing
Firstborn/confession distinctness	Verify Peter’s confession (16:16) and other Christological titles are not conflated
Words of Institution neutrality	Verify 26:26-28 is flagged for theologian review without silently adjudicating sacramental theology

Cross-Reference Preservation Rules

Matthew = Matthäus; abbreviation Mt.; citation format “Matthäus 5,3” (comma, not colon).
Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah, and Psalm citations shared with other curricula in this pipeline (see 09_cross_reference_analysis.md) must render consistently if those books are later added.

Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions

Identical mechanism to prior baselines: load this package’s and all four prior packages’ translation memory at session start.

Glossary Enforcement Priority Order

Identical to the Romans baseline, with the addition that Matthew 23 and 27:11-26 receive mandatory historical-sensitivity review regardless of their doctrine registry risk tier classification (both already Critical, but flagged here for emphasis given their unique severity).

Theological Consistency Rules Across Documents

Rule	Rationale
Same German term for the same Greek/English theological term across all documents	Learner consistency
Same rendering of Matthew 5:3-12 across all documents	Core passage of this curriculum
Matthew 22:37-39 identical to Romans 13:9 and Galatians 5:14	Cross-curriculum neighbor-love citation consistency
Mandatory antisemitism-framing note identical across every use of Matthew 23 and 27:25	Non-negotiable pastoral/historical consistency

Performance Notes for Batch Processing

Identical to prior baselines, with the addition that any worker processing Matthew 23 or 27:11-26 segments must confirm the mandatory framing note is attached before marking the segment complete, not deferred to a later review pass.

Load this document as part of the pre-flight checklist before every Phase 2 translation session. See translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json for the enforcement databases. See 11_doctrine_analysis.md for full doctrine risk level reference.