But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.’ During and before the time of Jesus, there wasn’t just one version of Aramaic being used in Judea and beyond. Some Aramaic was official and formal. This is preserved, as you would expect, in official documents and inscriptions. Some was informal and common. This was spoken and has mostly been lost to modern scholars. The fact that Aramaic was used by Jews in Judea is supported by its use in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are mostly in Hebrew, however), and in some ancient documents and inscriptions. Even many grave inscriptions around Jerusalem are in Aramaic, not Hebrew. It’s most likely that in Galilee, where Jesus was raised and where he began his ministry, Aramaic was the most common language of the people, though many would have been able to understand Hebrew and to get along in Greek as well. Did Jesus also speak Greek? This seems to be the case judging from the conversation he had with a centurion seeking healing for his slave (Matthew 8:5-13). A centurion was a senior officer of the Roman army. Many senior military personnel spoke Greek. What language did Jesus speak during the trial by the Roman governor Pilate before he was sentenced to death by crucifixion (Mark 15:2)? It may also have been Greek. Abba, an originally Aramaic form borrowed into the Greek Old Testament as a name (2Chr 29:1) [standing for the Hebrew Abijah ( אביה‎)], common in Mishnaic Hebrew and still used in Modern Hebrew [32] (written Αββά[ς] in Greek, and ’abbā in Aramaic), is immediately followed by the Greek equivalent (Πατήρ) with no explicit mention of it being a translation. In Aramaic, it would be אבא. But given the multi-lingual context in which Jesus lived, it’s not surprising that he would have been reasonably fluent in Greek and Hebrew, in addition to Aramaic. People in the United States often have a hard time understanding this. But if you’ve known people who have grown up in Europe, for example, they often can get by in several languages, including English, German, Spanish, and French, even if their first language is Italian.

Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism [PDF] [EPUB] Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. In the next verse, in both accounts, some who hear Jesus' cry imagine that he is calling for help from Elijah ( Ēlīyā in Aramaic). Every now and then, I have run into commentators who argue that some of the sayings of Jesus imply that he knew Greek. If, for example, there is a play on words that works in Greek but not in Aramaic or Hebrew, this points to a Greek original. At this moment I can’t remember any specific examples. Perhaps a commenter can fill us in. But, to this point, I have not been convinced that any of the sayings must have had a Greek origin. I have been more convinced by those who propose a Semitic (Aramaic or Hebrew) original for the sayings of Jesus. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). There are a few Aramaic words in the New Testament. The sentences below, according to the Gospel of Mark, were spoken by Jesus. Words in bold are Aramaic.I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” John 19:17 says: “[A]nd carrying the cross by himself, [Jesus] went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha [ ho legetai Hebraisti Golgotha].” Once again, the word Golgotha is in Aramaic. In addition to Aramaic and Hebrew, Greek and Latin were also common in Jesus’ time. After Alexander the Great’s conquest of Mesopotamia and the rest of the Persian Empire in the fourth century B.C., Greek supplanted other tongues as the official language in much of the region. In the first century A.D., Judea was part of the eastern Roman Empire, which embraced Greek as its lingua franca and reserved Latin for legal and military matters. In Mark 3, we find the story of Jesus’ calling of the twelve disciples. In the list of those whom he called, we find these names: “James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder)” (Mark 3:17). The word boanerges is a Greek transliteration of an Aramaic phrase, though the precise phrase is not altogether clear. Several Aramaic options are possible. A painting of the Crucifixion of Jesus, from a church in Taormina, on the island of Sicily. Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism | Carl Medearis

Would people in Nazareth have spoken Greek? Not as their first language. But many of them would have been familiar with Greek and used it in their businesses. In fact, Nazareth was a short walk from Sepphoris, one of the major cities of Galilee, where Greek would have been the everyday language of the marketplace. As a craftsman living near Sepphoris, Jesus might well have known enough Greek to do business with the people there. Once again, the Aramaic word is given with the transliteration, only this time, the word to be transliterated is more complicated. In Greek, the Aramaic is written ἐφφαθά. This could be from the Aramaic ethpthaḥ, the passive imperative of the verb pthaḥ, 'to open', since the th could assimilate in western Aramaic. The pharyngeal ḥ was often omitted in Greek transcriptions in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) and was also softened in Galilean speech. [31] The clearest example of Aramaic on the lips of Jesus in the Gospels occurs in Mark 5:41. Jesus entered the home of a synagogue leader whose daughter had died. “Holding her hand, he said to her, ‘ Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” Both Matthew and Luke tell this same story, but without the Aramaic sentence (Matt 9:24; Luke 8:54). Matthew simply describes the healing while Luke includes only the Greek translation. Mark, however, passes on what appears to be the actual words of Jesus, word in Aramaic. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. Note, the name Barabbas is a Hellenization of the Aramaic Bar Abba (בר אבא), literally "Son of the Father". I must admit that I was stunned by the extent to which some people get worked up about the language(s) of Jesus. As one who believes about Jesus all the things orthodox Christians do, it would not impact my faith one jot or tittle if Jesus spoke Hebrew rather than Aramaic, or Greek rather than Hebrew. Thus I am not caught up in the emotional maelstrom of this language of Jesus debate. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! In the last couple of years, I have run into a new reason why some people dispute the notion that Jesus spoke Aramaic. It has to do with the passion among some Muslims for an Aramaic-speaking Jesus. Presumably, and I have not followed these arguments carefully, certain Muslims use the idea that Jesus spoke Aramaic as a support for the truth of Islam. In response, some Christians have taken up arms in favor of the Hebrew-speaking Jesus. Those who fight this battle have accused me of giving aid and comfort to the “opponents of Christianity” by suggesting that Jesus probably spoke Aramaic. (Note: If you are aware of other reasons why the language(s) of Jesus matter so much to some people, please let me know by leaving a comment below.)

Language Did Jesus Speak? | Zondervan Academic What Language Did Jesus Speak? | Zondervan Academic

And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Jesus demonstrated the significance of His blood as part of the Last Supper with His disciples. As the disciples sat together, Jesus said, " ‘Take it and eat it, for this is my body' " (Matthew 26:26). He then gave thanks and offered them the cup and said, " ‘Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which seals the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many " (Matthew 26:27-28). The Gospels describe Jesus' main actions and the message he proclaimed. Those Gospels were written in Greek, but according to some scholars they were based on older versions in Aramaic. It is not surprising that the Gospels were ultimately written in Greek: Greek was the imperial language of that time. Greek-speaking Jews and non-Jewish members of the early Christian congregations could read these Gospels. Yet there is evidence in those Greek Gospels that Jesus Read this passagespoke Aramaic. Sometimes they give the Aramaic words Jesus used, such as Abba (Aramaic for "father"). I am not an expert in the study of ancient languages. I’m not a historian of the languages in the Ancient Near East. Nor am I a sociolinguist (who studies the relationship of languages and societies). Nor am I an expert in the cultures of first-century Judea, where Jesus lived and spoke. In what I write in this series on the language of Jesus, I am standing on the shoulders of many fine scholars. I am also, therefore, open to correction from those who are experts in the academic disciplines that help us to determine the language or languages spoken by Jesus. In several ways, these experts have helped my thinking to mature since I first wrote about the language of Jesus six years ago.And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. In my next and final post in this series, I’ll suggest some reasons why I think the language of Jesus matters . . . or, better, why the languages of Jesus matter. Who is my neighbour? The Good Samaritan in a different light Prof. Annette Merz Jesus’ parables are among the most beloved Bible stories. They seem simple and are easy to remember. At the... There is one story in the Gospels that strongly suggests Jesus knew and spoke Hebrew. In Luke 4, Jesus went to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth. In the midst of the gathering, he read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. This reading was most certainly in Hebrew. Even though he spoke Aramaic as his first language, Jesus had learned Hebrew, like almost all Jewish men in his day. But we don’t know whether Jesus, upon finishing his biblical reading, continued to speak in Hebrew, or rather transitioned into Aramaic.