What language did Jesus speak?

[christianmomof3]

When the Bible records the words of Jesus in the New Testament, they are in Greek. But did He speak them in Greek? Or did He speak Hebrew? I have heard he may have spoken Aramaic. What is Aramaic? Does anyone speak it now?

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Aramaic is a Semitic language which was the common language in the Holy Land. Hebrew was also used, though perhaps mostly as the liturgical language. Many people also spoke Greek, as it was the language of commerce in that time, much as English is today. Aramaic is still spoken by a very few people today and is used in the Liturgy of a few Orthodox churches in Palestine.

Mary

 

[dvd_holc]

Well, it has been argued that Aramaic was the common tongue of Jesus as Hebrew did not exist. The issue is not more complicated than that...Hebrew did exist and was used. As evidence by Dead Sea Scrolls (wrote before the first century) and the Mishnah (wrote around 200 AD), Hebrew was alive and kicking in the first century; both were written nearly all in Hebrew. It was the practice of rabbis to recite the Scriptures, pray, give legal interpretations of Torah, and parables in Hebrew. Even both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds were nearly all Hebrew. The form of Hebrew has been referred to as Mishnaic Hebrew. When we read the gospels, most of it was the things that we recited in Hebrew. Now, the Galileans were known to have problems speaking Hebrew because of there accent which is spoken of both in the Mishnah and New Testament but this did not mean that Galileans did not speak Hebrew…

I state my case on David Flusser, Robert Lindsey, Brad Young, and David Bivin who have published a great deal of material on the subject. For instance, David Bivin's New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus discusses this...

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

Likely Aramaic.

In fact, if you take the Lucan Lord's Prayer with the Matthean debts-debtor language and translate it back from Greek into Aramaic... it rhymns. As though it were passed down orally through the early church's liturgical culture.

Yitqadas semak, teta mal qutak...

 

[Guran]

... if you take the Lucan Lord's Prayer with the Matthean debts-debtor language and translate it back from Greek into Aramaic... it rhymns. As though it were passed down orally through the early church's liturgical culture.

You see, that actually makes sense. So often you read "if you read such-and-such in this particular translation, and back-translate through Greek, you get such-and-such" which often only proves what the author wanted to prove. But a wonderful rationale, such as oral transmission of liturgy, adds the missing ingredient there. Nice one!

- Guran

 

[christianmomof3]

Well, I wondered what language He spoke because I had heard that in the Bible where He says believe in me and some places where it says believe in God, the greek word that is used actually means into. So, the better translation is to believe into God.
However, then I wondered what language Jesus actually spoke that in because that and many other translation issues are based on which exact Greek words were used and if Jesus did not even speak Greek anyway, then how on earth can we get so technical about things? Not that I think it is wrong, but I just wondered.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Interesting thought. I wonder if Jesus would only have used Aramaic to teach the people who were following Him around, or if He spoke Greek to them? It's not something I've ever thought about.

Mary

 

[Concetta]

Great question, and interesting info about back translating the Lord's Prayer. GBU all

 

[cyberlizard]

judging from evidence coming to the fore, it is likely he spoke hebrew or aramaic. though he would have been fluent in all three.

i know paul often spoke hebrew

 

[Kristos]

Why wouldn't He speak in whatever language they understood?

The whole question seems odd to me. It would be easier to answer if it was phrased differently - like, what language did Jesus NOT speak? Answer: None.

 

[slamminsam]

Likely Aramaic.

In fact, if you take the Lucan Lord's Prayer with the Matthean debts-debtor language and translate it back from Greek into Aramaic... it rhymns. As though it were passed down orally through the early church's liturgical culture.

Yitqadas semak, teta mal qutak...

Logical; flawlessly logical! That's good Bible study!

You see, that actually makes sense. So often you read "if you read such-and-such in this particular translation, and back-translate through Greek, you get such-and-such" which often only proves what the author wanted to prove. But a wonderful rationale, such as oral transmission of liturgy, adds the missing ingredient there. Nice one!

- Guran

Agreed, Guran!
This thread is getting interesting.

Jesus surely spoke Aramaic-that's logical. He had some rabbinical training and that brings in Hebrew. Being an educated person in that time meant you had to speak Greek, so He may have spoken that, too. He could have learned Latin; he spoke to at least one Roman soldier, but they could have conversed in Greek. I seriously doubt He spoke any other language during His earthly ministry.
Does it matter? He speaks to me even now.
Scoff if you want, that doesn't change anything.

 

[Kristos]

He lived in Egypt too - so what did they speak back then? Coptic?

 

[cyberlizard]

lake kinneret was a very busy trading area and it was not uncommon for four languages to be commonplace in the area, these being, greek, latin (the official roman language), aramaic and hebrew and it is believed that the bulk of people in that area would have been able to converse to some degree in most, just like a lot of people in LA speak both spanish and that language you americans insist on calling english

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

Well, since everybody here seems to appreciate the Lord's Prayer -> Aramaic argument, here's Joachim Jeremias' translation:

abba

yitqaddas semak
te'teh malkutak

lahmana di misteya hab
lanah yoma denah

usebuq lanah boayna
kedi sebaqna lehayyahbayna

we al ta'elinnana lenisyon


Very easy to memorize with its tight and laconic structure, with a two-and-four-beat rhythm.

The reason Jeremias goes with the Matthew's debts-debtors language but favors Luke's shorter version is because debts-debtors was used as language for sin in Hebrew culture, whereas debts are never used as metaphors for sins in Greek literature, .

 

[PrimeTimeNuttah]

JEsUS SpokE ThE WOrd d fo GOD! DURH! YOU'D KNOW theasT if yOU Read The BIbL!

 

[LamorakDesGalis]

When the Bible records the words of Jesus in the New Testament, they are in Greek. But did He speak them in Greek?

Hi christianmomof3,

Its very likely that Jesus spoke three languages: Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. Its possible that Jesus spoke some of the Bible passages in Greek. We can't really tell precisely which language He used when He taught on various occasions. Its possible that He spoke Greek when He communicated with Gentiles. Jesus also may have read Isaiah 61:1-2 in the Greek, in Luke 4:17-19. The reading of Isa 61:1-2 follows the Greek version and not the Hebrew. The evidence though is that the Jews of the 1st century spoke, wrote and read three languages: Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.

The physical evidence for the Jews being tri-lingual include coins, tomb inscriptions and town plaques. This points to what the common, ordinary folks saw and used. And they all include Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew. Even around 70 AD, the Jews on Masada wrote both Greek and Aramaic on pottery shards. Then of course the Jews accepted all three different language translations - the Greek, the Hebrew and the Aramaic - as God's Word. The NT itself quotes the Greek most often, but also quoted Hebrew and Aramaic passages as well.

The Biblical writers wrote in Greek because Greek could be read by a wider audience. Greek was the universal language of the eastern Mediterranean. However it extended even in Rome itself, where the lower classes spoke Greek.

Or did He speak Hebrew? I have heard he may have spoken Aramaic. What is Aramaic? Does anyone speak it now?

Yes, Jesus knew both Hebrew and Aramaic. Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related. We do have explanations of words here and there in Scripture that Jesus spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. That includes some of what Jesus said while on the cross.

Aramaic was common not only in Galilee and Judea, but also in the lands we now call Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Like Greek, it served as a universal language and included a lot of area outside the Roman empire. Both Greek and Aramaic were very useful for commerce.

The modern descendants or dialects of Aramaic (i.e. Syriac) are still spoken by around 500,000 people in the Middle East.


LDG

 

[flaja]

Interesting thought. I wonder if Jesus would only have used Aramaic to teach the people who were following Him around, or if He spoke Greek to them? It's not something I've ever thought about.

Mary

Since Matthew was a tax collector for the Roman Empire he would have had to deal with government officials on a regular basis. Outside of the city limits of Rome the language of the government was Greek, so surely Matthew spoke Greek. And when Peter and the other fishermen went to the market to sell their catch they likely used Greek as well. The same goes for Jesus and Joseph whenever they had to sell their carpentry products. I cannot think of the name right off but Nazareth was just a stone’s throw from a major Greco-Roman city that was built while Jesus was growing up. He and Joseph likely worked in this city so it is practically impossible that Jesus didn’t use Greek regardless of whatever other language He may have used.

 

[flaja]

Hi christianmomof3,

Its very likely that Jesus spoke three languages: Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. Its possible that Jesus spoke some of the Bible passages in Greek. We can't really tell precisely which language He used when He taught on various occasions. Its possible that He spoke Greek when He communicated with Gentiles. Jesus also may have read Isaiah 61:1-2 in the Greek, in Luke 4:17-19. The reading of Isa 61:1-2 follows the Greek version and not the Hebrew. The evidence though is that the Jews of the 1st century spoke, wrote and read three languages: Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.

Since the entire NT was written in Greek while Christians for the first half of the 1st century were mainly Jews, I would guess that the Jews all knew Greek even if they did not use it exclusively. If there were Jews that didn’t know Greek, I find it strange that no Hebrew/Aramaic NT has ever been found.

 

[cyberlizard]

according to the early church fathers, Matthews gospel was not written in Greek, it was written in Hebrew, and 'each person did his best to translate it as he could".

as to the above post, fragments have been found, particularly the gospel of the hebrews (probably matthew). Also we find in Acts, that it is specifally mentioned when Paul spoke Hebrew. Why would he do this. I suspect to show differences between the wording of the Masoretic hebrew text and the LXX in Greek (some of the changes being quite marked).

Steve

 

[flaja]

according to the early church fathers, Matthews gospel was not written in Greek, it was written in Hebrew, and 'each person did his best to translate it as he could".

The Jesus papyrus: the most sensational evidence on the origins of the Gospels since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew D'Ancona

This book discusses a papyrus fragment that is contained in one of the libraries at Oxford. The fragment is part of the Gospel of Matthew and it was written in Greek. According to the author it dates to sometime before the year 50 AD, meaning it was written way before the Gospels were supposedly written.

Also we find in Acts, that it is specifally mentioned when Paul spoke Hebrew. Why would he do this. I suspect to show differences between the wording of the Masoretic hebrew text and the LXX in Greek (some of the changes being quite marked).

Much of Paul’s work was done outside of Judea, in the Greek speaking world at large. Could he have used Hebrew in Acts in this instance in order to emphasize to his Jewish audience that he was Jewish himself?