What languages did Jesus speak?

[Quid est Veritas?]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well as quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

 

[Catherineanne]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

The Lord could only speak languages which he had learned; certainly no magical ability to understand every language. There is no reason why he would not have been able to speak Latin and Greek as well as Aramaic, and perhaps even some Coptic (from Egypt).

In multi-lingual communities it is normal enough for people to learn lots of languages. Even his name is the Hellenic form of Joshua, and there is no reason to think that the Bible gets it wrong (in spite of the modern propensity to change his name for no reason whatever); the Hellenic influence might be compared with that of the English language under the Raj. Anyone who was anyone would want to learn some English, or in this case Greek and/or Latin.

 

[Halbhh]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:1-3 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the Lingua Franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

Well....you should get answer(s) to that "He could" because He is Who He is, or put another way, He would not be subject to the Tower of Babel. Even future dialects or even far away tongues not relevant at a moment...open another interesting aspect though -- even very different cultures and languages would not really matter even in translation it seems because of the....sublime clarity of His wording. His wording seems to be able to go past even profound cultural barriers into any time and place in the world (yet to come at that time), and get right past those barriers, and speak to people, in spite of all the differences. It's like translation hardly affects the power of His Words in that way. There are all sorts of things about individual nations that are hard to communicate to people in other cultures far away, but the Words of Christ are different -- moving right past such barriers.

If we could look in another direction for moment, I think we can see He went much further than merely speaking an understandable tongue as needed where He was at. There's a more interesting thing. We see in the gospels how He spoke to individual hearts powerfully in person, directly, which means that He did perfectly what we at times struggle to get to with other believers, now and then. He spoke not merely the language of the people listening, but far more potently, He spoke straight to individual hearts of those that would be His, going past every barrier of communication we all struggle with even when we speak the same tongue ourselves to each other. Only a small bit among the deep and wonderful things awaiting us in the gospels.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well as quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

IDK. I'm under the impression that during Jesus' first advent, He was limited in basic human ways, but at times was given power by the Holy Spirit to go "beyond the flesh" as it were.

But, again, IDK. I think Jesus was a highly intelligent Jewish person of His time and at the top of His cultural game. And He also happened to be the Son of God. Beyond that, I feel I'm speculating as to what He could do or not do with language.

Peace,
2PhiloVoid

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

The Lord could only speak languages which he had learned; certainly no magical ability to understand every language. There is no reason why he would not have been able to speak Latin and Greek as well as Aramaic, and perhaps even some Coptic (from Egypt).

In multi-lingual communities it is normal enough for people to learn lots of languages. Even his name is the Hellenic form of Joshua, and there is no reason to think that the Bible gets it wrong (in spite of the modern propensity to change his name for no reason whatever); the Hellenic influence might be compared with that of the English language under the Raj. Anyone who was anyone would want to learn some English, or in this case Greek and/or Latin.

The young Jesus amongst the learned men in the Temple in Luke 2:41-51, implies to me knowledge of Hebrew, in order to astound them so. It is unlikely that Jesus would have had much exposure to Hebrew in rural Nazareth. This at the very least, suggests to me remarkable linguistic ability perhaps, in such a youth, which could be mirrored in His clear charisma to the crowds.

It raises another point though. If Jesus used the Greek form of His name Himself, as you suggest, perhaps Greek was His home language? Perhaps Mary and Joseph were Hellenistai? This would explain the LXX quotes, and the Aramaic expressions could be quoted on account of their peculiarity perhaps, to a mostly Greek speaking Jesus.
This is of course, highly suppositional. It would however also explain the extraordinary Hapax Legomenon in the Lord's Prayer: daily as 'epiousious'. This is the only place the word is found, yet it has such rich meaning - from Eucharistic to quotidian to basic interpretations. If this is a direct quotation of Jesus, it would explain the strange, but inspired, word very well.

 

[SteveCaruso]

It would however also explain the extraordinary Hapax Legomenon in the Lord's Prayer: daily as 'epiousious'.

Or, more likely, an attempt at rendering an abstract Galilean Aramaic phrase such as צורך /çorak/ (the closest in English is "as much as is required" as in above subsistence) in this context.

I highly doubt that Christ had a strong command of Greek or preached in it. There are too many underlying western Aramaic wordplays in his teachings that fall flat or are simply missed in the Greek.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I highly doubt that Christ had a strong command of Greek or preached in it. There are too many underlying western Aramaic wordplays in his teachings that fall flat or are simply missed in the Greek.

I realise it is difficult to explain wordplay, but could you elaborate a little on which passages you mean?

 

[Goatee]

Jesus, being God, I believe, He could speak any language He wanted.

Look, he could raise someone from the dead so as for what languages He could speak is a strange question indeed!

 

[SteveCaruso]

I realise it is difficult to explain wordplay, but could you elaborate a little on which passages you mean?

A few examples I can readily cite are Matthew 26:52 - "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword" where the phrase for "by (the) sword" in Galilean ( בסייף /b'saif/ ) is also a homophone for the phrase "in the end." This makes the parallel "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword" or "He who lives by the sword shall, in the end, die."

And there are also also long strings of punning in the Gospel of John between the "aba" sounds in "Abraham" (abraham), "father" (abba), "to do" ('abad), "slave" ('abad), etc. in John 8:33-41.

There are too many to list in this thread here.

 

[RC1970]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well as quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

I would assume he was able to speak Hebrew (of course) as well as Aramaic, Greek and Latin.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I have a tendency to agree that if He had the ability to raise people from the dead and see into people's hearts, He could just as easily make use of what is later called the least of charisms - being able to understand and be understood in different tongues, when necessary.

By what mechanism, or the details, I wouldn't speculate. But I tend to believe it would have been possible for Him. It seems a relatively small thing.

 

[Neostarwcc]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well as quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

Jesus as God can speak and understand all languages. But while he was on earth he spoke Hebrew,Aramaic,Greek and Latin.

 

[Goatee]

Jesus as God can speak and understand all languages. But while he was on earth he spoke Hebrew,Aramaic,Greek and Latin.

As far as we know. But, as John said, there would not be enough books in the world to record all the teachings of Jesus!

 

[Neostarwcc]

As far as we know. But, as John said, there would not be enough books in the world to record all the teachings of Jesus!

Yeah, those languages we know for sure. He might have spoken some other languages when he was on Earth But, I don't know. I really wish the apostles did write more on the teachings of Jesus. It would be interesting if they had written a book solely on his teachings.

 

[Goatee]

Yeah, those languages we know for sure. He might have spoken some other languages when he was on Earth But, I don't know. I really wish the apostles did write more on the teachings of Jesus. It would be interesting if they had written a book solely on his teachings.

Yes, it would have been great if they did.

 

[Bob Crowley]

If Christ was usually talking to the common people and his disciples, who were from the ranks of the common people, He would have spoken Aramaic as the language of the common people. He may have had some fluency in Greek (as the cultural language of the day), He may have had some fluency in Latin (as the Roman language) and He may have had some fluency in Hebrew (as the traditional Jewish language).

But to all intents and purposes He would have spoken in Aramaic, for the simple reason that would have been the language used by His own people at that time, to whom He had been sent.

When the Gospels and Epistles were written years later, they were generally written for an audience outside Israel, and in Greek, which was the cultural language of the time.

I think He would have spoken Aramaic most of the time. But when the Gospel writers switched from Greek to Aramaic eg. "Eli, Eli etc.", they would have done so to make a point.

If Christ quoted from the Septaguint from time to time, so what? He would have picked up elements of Septuagint texts when He attended the synagogues weekly (and perhaps even more often) as a Jewish child and man for twenty or more years before He began His ministry. The Jews didn't have a hard and fast canon, and much of the hullabaloo about whether the Septuagint was a valid text or not did not arise with the Jews, but centuries later when there was a bun fight between the Reformers and the Catholic Church about which books were canonical.

 

[JackRT]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well as quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

We should also remember that Jesus was a 'tekton' or skilled worker. Perhaps his trade was carpentry or maybe he was a smith or a potter or a cartwright. As such a workman a knowledge of Greek would be handy but not an absolute necessity. However, as a Rabbi it would almost have been a necessity. Latin would be most unlikely since it was only spoken widely in Italy and by the military. Hebrew too would be unlikely since at the time it was literally a dying language and most Rabbis were not fluent in it at all (Matthew wasn't). Coptic (Egyptian) is also a remote possibility.

 

[Radagast]

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

Indeed. And it is possible that Jesus spoke Greek, Latin, and/or Hebrew. There isn't much evidence, though, and I for one would not like to speculate.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I don't think this is something we can say. We could speculate that because He is God He could speak and know all languages--but that's impossible to say one way or the other. The Incarnation being such an unbelievably unique event has no ground rules to follow so that we can always say "Yes on X" or "No on Y", and frequently the Incarnation breaks all the ordinary rules anyway--God who cannot die, died.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[compassion 4 humanity]

In the movie 'The Passion of the Christ', there is an interesting touch during Jesus' trial: Pilate speaks Aramaic to Jesus, who then responds in Latin. Pilate looks taken aback for a second, then continues thereafter speaking Latin to Jesus.

It is unlikely that Pilate would have spoken Aramaic, as his administration would be perfectly competent in Greek, which as an educated Roman he would have spoken as well. Although in Judaea for 10 years, Romans seldom learned the native language, nor would it be required in this case.

Now we all know Jesus spoke Aramaic, for Aramaic phrases are found within the text - notably "Eli Eli lama sabachtani" on the cross and "talitha koum" when raising the young girl from the dead in Mark 5.

In Mark 7: 6-8, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 from the Septuagint. This suggests he knew Greek. In the first century, Greek was the lingua franca in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, and a significant group of Jews, the Hellenistai, spoke it as their first language. Stephen certainly was likely a Hellenistos, as perhaps was Thomas (called Didymus after all, for twin). Or perhaps this is an artifact of the Gospels being written in Greek and Jesus did not speak it?

Further, astounding the elders and the scribes with his knowledge, as well as quoting the tetragrammaton in John 8:58, suggests knowledge of Hebrew.

So a fairly good argument could be made for a polyglot Jesus, conversant in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. My question though, is could Jesus perhaps speak Latin? Could God in the Incarnation perhaps speak all languages, or would He not understand certain ones?

Christianity teaches that Jesus is God. Because God has all-knowledge, that means Christ could speak every language.