Was the Old Testament in Hebrew? Yes!!! Then why wasn't the New Testament written in Hebrew? Did Jesus and His followers really speak in Aramaic?

Did the Rabbi's in the Temple speak Aramaic? Was the Hebrew language preserved and still spoken in the Temple? Didn't they read the original Hebrew scriptures in the Temple where they would have kept them? Or had they written the scriptures down in Aramaic, sometimes in the past, and that was the only language at that time?

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When a man sleeps in his bed, his soul leaves him to soar above, each soul according to its own way.......
The Zohar

The N.T. was written to an audience that had spread to various areas around the Mediterranean region where Koine Greek was widely spoken and read. If the N.T. was written in Aramaic or Hebrew, its audience would have been much more limited since, undoubtedly, most people in the diasporah didn't speak or read either.

Yes, Hebrew was the language of the Temple, but it was not the language of everyday Jews during Jesus' time, which was Aramaic. On top of that, the Hebrew used then had already evolved and there was some difficulty at times with translating some of the texts. For example, many of the birds that are considered "treif" (forbidden to eat) we are not certain exactly what they are.

Also, some parts of the Tanakh ("N.T.") appear to have been written originally in other languages, including Aramaic, but then translated into Hebrew. Even though we don't have any of the non-Hebrew versions, certain words and phrases seemingly imply a different language was originally used.

Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

And a lot could've been written in Greek and then translated into Hebrw as well as other Languages?

So the followers of Jesus were already, beginning pretty quickly, spreding the word by writing it down and then translating it to as many other languages as they could?

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When a man sleeps in his bed, his soul leaves him to soar above, each soul according to its own way.......
The Zohar

Not so much that as trying to make the Letter's of Paul (the first NT writings) available to as wide a range of folk as possible.

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"True godliness doesn't turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavor to mend it: not hide their candle under a bushel, but set it upon a table in a candlestick." - William Penn, 1682

The N.T. was not translated into Hebrew until much much later in time. From Greek, the probable next translation went into Latin and became what was called the Vulgate. It stayed into Latin for many centuries until the Protestant Reformation, which demanded that the text be made available for public reading. Common people prior to the Reformation were discouraged from reading the Bible on their own because of the fear that they may "mistranslate" and "misunderstand" what's written.




Some of the apostles may, but much was probably written their followers such as Mark with Peter and Luke with Paul. Even some of Paul's epistles are believed to possibly be written by a follower rather than Paul himself. That really shouldn't bother anyone since it would be considered quite proper for a disciple to write and give credit to his mentor rather than himself.

Again, it really wasn't until about 1500 years after Jesus that the Bible was written in most of the languages we're familiar with. The first English translation was the King James Version and was taken from Luther's German translation if my memory is correct. Later it was revised using older Greek and Hebrew translations. But before the 1500's, it was mainly just the Latin Vulgate that was used.



Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Excuse me, but what do you mean by "the Tanakh ("N.T.")"?

Oops! That should read "...the Tanakh ('O.T.')...".

Thanks for the heads up.

Shalom,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Welcome to the forum Jayhawker Soule. Glad to see you here. Looking forward to hearing more about you and your thoughts. You're among friends.

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Only Love Prevails,
Don

Ditto Jayhawker. Until this post by wwwdlhow, I didn't pay attention to who had sent the post. Any of your history you want to share with us?

Shalom and welcome,
Vern

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Well, I was born at a very young age, circumcised, and couldn't walk for over a year ....

By the way, you wrote:

Quote:

Also, some parts of the Tanakh ("N.T.") appear to have been written originally in other languages, including Aramaic, but then translated into Hebrew.

May I ask which books?