french

French, or français, is spoken mainly in France, but is also spoken in southern Belgium, western Switzerland, and Quebec, and is a lingua franca in many west African countries. Most French speaking Christians are Catholic, with a historic evangelical Protestant minority, mainly Reformed. The Scriptures were first produced in French in 1530. The classical Protestant translation is the Louis Segond which was finished in Geneva in 1880, and revised as the Nouvelle Version Segond Revisee (Colombe) (NVS) 1978, and as the Nouvelle Bible Segond (NBS) in 2002. The Catholic translation is the Jerusalem Bible (JB) which appeared in French in 1954 and was revised in 1973, and updated as the Nouvelle Bible de Jerusalem (NBJ) in 1998. The Traduction Oecumenique de la Bible (Ecumenical Translation or TOB) was produced in 1988 and revised in 2004. The TOB puts the Old Testament in Jewish (Tanakh) order. La Bible en Français Courant (FC) was produced in 1997. The Parole de Vie (PDV) was produced in 2000.

Bible work is done by the French Bible Society and the Canadian Bible Society. French Bibles are produced in Protestant and Catholic editions.