Did Jesus speak Koine Greek?

[The Liturgist]

I understand Hebrew was no longer a spoken language and it's pronunciation was largely lost. Many Jews spoke Yiddish before the Zionist movement revived the language and gave it sound again in the early 19th century. Is this correct ?

Yes, Ashkenazim tended to speak Yiddish, and Sephardim spoke Ladino, while Jews living in and around the Holy Land spoke dialects of neo-Aramaic.

 

[FireDragon76]

We should be careful to not anachronize too much. In the middle ages there was a massive work of Hebrew revival undertaken by Jewish religious leaders, because outside of those educated elite who studied Hebrew the language was effectively dead. This had been the case for a long time. The average Jewish person didn't know Hebrew, which is why rabbinical leaders made the teaching and learning of Hebrew a high priority. That's how niqqud were developed among the Masoretic scholars, the vowel markers to help facilitate the reading and proper pronunciation of Hebrew.

Prior to this, and in Jesus' time, Jews relied extensively on Aramaic translations, the Targums. Or on other translations, like the Septuagint. The largest and most important body of religious literature in Judaism, other than the Bible itself, the Talmud, was also written in Aramaic.

Chances are slim that Hebrew was studied and known outside of the educated elite specializing in the study of the Torah. It's more than probable that when we read of Jesus reading from the Isaiah scroll at the synagogue in Nazareth that it was either in Aramaic or Greek, not Hebrew.

So while, in our time, learning enough Hebrew to read from the Torah for a Bar Mitzvah is normal in Jewish communities; this is more than likely a result of that Hebrew revival that began in the middle ages, and doesn't reflect 2nd Temple period norms.

Remembering also that modern Judaism took shape following that destruction of the Temple, as Pharisaism evolved into Rabbinic Judaism and became centralized among the Jewish rabbinical leaders in the Persian Empire during and at the beginning of the Talmudic period (with the Temple gone in 70 AD, Jerusalem utterly ruined and turned into a Roman colony after the Bar Kochba War in the early-mid 2nd century, and the expulsion of the Jews by the Romans, the center of Jewish learning moved east to Mesopotamia). This is why we speak of the Babylonian Talmud (there were two forms of the Talmud, there was also a Jerusalem Talmud from Palestine, but which only exists in fragments today).



Exactly, and without Hebrew revival movements among Jewish leaders in the various Diaspora communities, Hebrew would have remained a virtually dead language--much like Latin--reserved only for the study of the educated elite and certain religious contexts.

-CryptoLutheran

Even today some traditional Jewish prayers are in Aramaic.

 

[The Liturgist]

Even today some traditional Jewish prayers are in Aramaic.

A huge chunk of the Jewish liturgy is in Aramaic, and so are the Talmuds (both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, albeit in different dialects).

 

[Betho]

Luke 4:17
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon: STRONGS NT 2147: εὑρίσκω - b. without previous search, to find (by chance), to fall in with: τινα, Matthew 18:28; Matthew 27:32; John 1:41 (), (); ; Acts 13:6; Acts 18:2; Acts 19:1; Acts 28:14; followed by ἐν with the dative of place, John 2:14. τί, Matthew 13:44; Matthew 17:27; Luke 4:17; John 12:14; Acts 17:23; followed by ἐν, with the dative of place, Matthew 8:10; Luke 7:9

The meaning of εὑρίσκω also encompasses "finding without seeking, that is, by chance." This definition is further emphasized by the fact that the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah was delivered to Jesus. Regardless of the language, whether it be Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew, the text in Luke 4:17 portrays Jesus as remarkably proficient in that scripture.

Luke 24:27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon: STRONGS NT 1329: διερμηνεύω: 2. to translate into one's native language: Acts 9:36 (2 Macc. 1:36; Polybius 3, 22, 3, and several times in Philo (cf. Siegfried, Glossar. Phil. under the word)).

In ancient literature, there are accounts of linguistic competitions among different peoples, highlighting the skill of translating words. This verse suggests that Jesus possessed a remarkable multilingual ability, transcending translation between Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, demonstrating exceptional linguistic prowess.

Acts 26:14
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Both the books of Luke and Acts of the Apostles also share common themes and cross-references, indicating that they are from the same author. Bible scholars who view these two books as a single work in two volumes refer to the combination as Luke-Acts.

What actually supports this argument is that Jesus was multilingual, speaking Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic.

 

[VanlifeSam]

What actually supports this argument is that Jesus was multilingual, speaking Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic.

The archaeological evidence that we have, real actual documents, engravings, etc, all point to the fact that three languages were actively in use at the time and location of the early church. Based on the actual physical evidence there was roughly a three way split between Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Speculation that avoids engaging in the actual physical evidence we have from the time is really just unfounded speculation. When someone tries to assert Hebrew had died out by the first century, they are typically ignoring the hard evidence in the form of documents, inscriptions, tombstones, etc. In terms of listening to academic debate on this topic, If someone is avoiding engaging in the actual physical evidence we have, I am not sure their argument is legitimate. Find people who engage in the real evidence.

 

[The Liturgist]

The archaeological evidence that we have, real actual documents, engravings, etc, all point to the fact that three languages were actively in use at the time and location of the early church. Based on the actual physical evidence there was roughly a three way split between Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Speculation that avoids engaging in the actual physical evidence we have from the time is really just unfounded speculation. When someone tries to assert Hebrew had died out by the first century, they are typically ignoring the hard evidence in the form of documents, inscriptions, tombstones, etc. In terms of listening to academic debate on this topic, If someone is avoiding engaging in the actual physical evidence we have, I am not sure their argument is legitimate. Find people who engage in the real evidence.

Actually we have very little reason to believe the early church used Hebrew aside from in the study of the Old Testament, and even here the Greek Septuagint was used primarily. At the time of Christ, Hebrew was a liturgical language used mainly in the context of Synagogue and Temple worship, rather than the vernacular language it had been (and was recently revived as), having been displaced as the main vernacular of the Jews by Aramaic. Indeed Hebrew was even written in Aramaic letters, and some early church fathers referred to Aramaic as used by the Jews as “Hebrew”, with only some, such as St. Jerome and the Syriac fathers, knowing the difference (Syriac quickly became the main Aramaic dialect used by the Church, writing using the Estrangela script).

 

[VanlifeSam]

Actually we have very little reason to believe the early church used Hebrew aside from in the study of the Old Testament, and even here the Greek Septuagint was used primarily. At the time of Christ, Hebrew was a liturgical language used mainly in the context of Synagogue and Temple worship, rather than the vernacular language it had been ....

You are expressing the traditional view of the state of Hebrew in the first century, that was predominant prior to the more recent archaeological discoveries and analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In more recent studies, such as the book "The Language Environment of First Century Judaea" it is shown that the actual real world data we have suggests that there was a multilingual environment where Hebrew was still in use.

The evidence is quite plain and clear and mostly uncontroversial, and the scholars involved in tabulating the evidence are quite fair in their analysis. The evidence is available in print:

The Language Environment of First Century Judaea

"The Language Environment of First Century Judaea" published on 06 Mar 2014 by Brill.

brill.com

 

[Yusuphhai]

Jesus(Yeshua) mainly spoke Aramaic with his disciples. Matthew was originally written in Aramaic. The other Apostle Scriptures were written in Greek but in the authers' mind they translated Aramaic and Hebrew into Greek.

 

[Yusuphhai]

Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. （Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews ）