What languages were the Old and New Testament first written in?

[Peter Tran]

I'm assuming the Old Testament was first written directly from god in Hebrew, is this the same for the New Testament?

Reason I'm asking is, that if I truly decide to follow this spiritual path, I wouldn't want to read something filtered out from man in the form of translations, but learn the language itself and read directly what God wrote.

 

[Willtor]

I'm assuming the Old Testament was first written directly from god in Hebrew, is this the same for the New Testament?

The New Testament was written in Greek.

For the whole thing, Old and New Testaments, it is a human document that was inspired by God and intended for use as Holy Scripture.

 

[Peter Tran]

The New Testament was written in Greek.

For the whole thing, Old and New Testaments, it is a human document that was inspired by God and intended for use as Holy Scripture.

I thought they were God's words himself? Only that man did truly write it down, it needed not interpretation but simply written?

 

[Willtor]

I thought they were God's words himself? Only that man did truly write it down, it needed not interpretation but simply written?

They are God's words in the sense that He raises them up and speaks to us through them. But this is by His will.

Consider, for example, the Qur'an (in Islam) is in Arabic. Any translation is just that: a translation. In Christianity, with the Bible, a translation is still Holy Writ and also rightly called, "the Bible."

 

[Peter Tran]

They are God's words in the sense that He raises them up and speaks to us through them. But this is by His will.

Consider, for example, the Qur'an (in Islam) is in Arabic. Any translation is just that: a translation. In Christianity, with the Bible, a translation is still Holy Writ and also rightly called, "the Bible."

I understand that, but I truly believe you can't get the most out of it in it's altered forms. Since the translations required much thought and interpretation, I believe there could be room for error. I may be going too far in my personal beliefs, but I still am grateful for you answering my question.

 

[Willtor]

I understand that, but I truly believe you can't get the most out of it in it's altered forms. Since the translations required much thought and interpretation, I believe there could be room for error. I may be going too far in my personal beliefs, but I still am grateful for you answering my question.

My pleasure.

It _is_ interesting to see what kinds of choices people made in translation. And it certainly is useful to study the original texts (insofar as we have access to them) for studying dogmatics. However, the "most you can get out of them" is when God speaks to you through them. This is the highest of all things, and it can be done in any language.

I wish you well in your language studies. If you have a seminary near you, they will offer courses in Greek and Hebrew. Other colleges will often teach Classical Greek (which is a little bit older than the form of Greek in which the New Testament was written).

 

[Peter Tran]

Thank you, but that does raise a question; why was the New Testament written in Greek anyways?

 

[Willtor]

Thank you, but that does raise a question; why was the New Testament written in Greek anyways?

The New Testament was written in Greek because that was the common language spoken throughout the Mediterranean world at that time. When Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great conquered that part of the world, they brought Greek culture and language with them. Greek was the language of commerce. If one wanted to communicate something to as wide an audience as possible, one would communicate it in Greek.

Even the Jewish people had largely stopped speaking Hebrew. I believe most knew enough Hebrew to understand Torah (the books of Moses). But even then, the Old Testament was translated into Greek by a group of Jewish scholars a few hundred years before Christ so that it wouldn't be lost.

 

[ebia]

I'm assuming the Old Testament was first written directly from god in Hebrew,

It's "God breathed" by God but written by people. Almost all of the OT is in Hebrew but there are a few bits in Aramaic, and some of the intertestimental books were originally written in Aramaic or Greek.

By the 1st Century Hebrew was barely a living language - the ordinary language of Palestine was Aramaic and the trading language of everywhere was Greek.

is this the same for the New Testament?

The New Testament is in Greek.

Thank you, but that does raise a question; why was the New Testament written in Greek anyways?

Much the same reason so much stuff is written in English now - Greek was the practical trade language of the time - the first language for some, and the second language for virtually everybody living around the Med. For much the same reason the OT had been translated into Greek a hundred or two years previously (a translation known as the LXX or Septuagint) which was the version of the Old Testament used by almost all Jews outside Palestine (and possible some within Palestine). When its possible to tell, the New Testament always quotes from the LXX not the original Hebrew. So in that sense using a translation has scriptural precedent itself.

 

[Peter Tran]

Thanks, this does raise another question; so did God tell man word for word what to write down in the bible? Or how? If so, why didn't god just write it hmself and give it to us. Makes more sense.

 

[Willtor]

Thanks, this does raise another question; so did God tell man word for word what to write down in the bible? Or how? If so, why didn't god just write it hmself and give it to us. Makes more sense.

To start with the last part, God makes humans His messengers. Recall, for example, that Christ commanded his disciples to go out and baptize the nations. Humans as the bringers of His Word is a prominent theme throughout the Bible. God will tell something to a prophet and the prophet will have to bring it before the people. I suspect that God does this because He expects us to hear Him through other people. It is inherently building to a community. We are not a crowd that happens to gather as it listens to a booming voice from Heaven. We are a community of the faithful who hear the voice of God as He speaks through one another.

More to the former part (whether God dictated it word-for-word), this is harder to answer. There are different views. Mine is that the question is a little bit faulty in that it emphasizes something it shouldn't. Rather than considering whether particular phraseology is given by God, there is the consideration of what the author intended to communicate -- and what the author intended to communicate is what God intends to communicate. In this sense, every word is inspired by God but the choice of words was a human author's. Philologists can analyze the various texts and "hear" different voices. Some of this even comes through in the English, insofar as authors use different ranges of vocabulary. Even so, every word attests to God's self-revelation.

 

[Van]

Hi Peter, it is easy to say God should have done this or that because it makes more sense. At its core, it reflects the idea of judging God by our standards. It begs the question, could something that seems foolish to us actually be divine truth? What if our measuring stick is bent.

What does it mean when Paul says all scripture is "inspired" or "God breathed?" One, it means the thoughts expressed are from God and are not the invention of the person being inspired. But how the thought is expressed, what language and word choices used come from the person being inspired. So Paul does not express himself the same way John does, and even when they use the same Greek word, sometimes they are not talking about the same concept.

Besides Hebrew and Greek, there are some Aramaic words in the New Testament and whole passages in Aramaic in the Old Testament.

Here is a quote from one internet source I found:

"Passages of the Old Testament written in the Aramaic language are called Biblical Aramaic. They occur in Ezra 4:8; 6:18 and 7:12-26. Daniel 2:4,7:28; and the gloss in Jer. 10:11 and Gen 31:47.

Various scholars have tried to show that the original language of a number of books from the Persian and Hellenistic periods, were written in Aramaic, and that they were later translated into Hebrew. This view has been presented in connection with Job, Koheleth, Daniel, Esther, 1 and 2 Chronicles, proverbs, and Ezekiel11

In the New Testament, various Aramaic words or expressions occur, e.g. "Talitha Cumi" (little girl, stand up) Mark 5:41; "Ephphata" (etphtah, be opened) Mark 7:34; "Eli, Eli, Lama Shabachthani" (my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me) Matt.27:46, Mark 15:34; "Rabboni" (my Lord) Mark 10:51, John 20:16; "Maran Atha" (our Lord, come) Cor. 16:22.

Aramaic influence is apparent in personal names such as " Cephas" John 1:42, 1 Cor 1:12 and "Tabitha" Acts 9:36, 40, and in place names, including "Akeldama" (field of blood) Acts 1:19; "Gesthsemane (oil press) Matt 26:36, Mark 14:32; and "Golgotha" (skull) Mark 15:22"

 

[Peter Tran]

Van, that makes total sense... God may have created us in his image, but we do live in this physical world by the laws of nature God created, yet God lives beyond these laws we live and built from. Perhaps WE don't make sense.

And thank you Wiltor, this leads to my origional thought; man may have physically wrote the Bible, but it has to be in some sort of way influenced by God because a lot on the Bible could not simply be lies. Imagining it from people in the old worlds perspective, man was still intelligient, we always were ever since God created us. People would not have followed the Bible in such faith if it did not provide them of proof. Such as Moses's miracles. If that never happened, I can imagine in modern time some guy writes a fiction book and presents it to me saying everything in this book is true. Belive it. Obviously I would dismiss the man and not see the book as real, it's obviously not. Sure this may have some followers (The man who devloped Scientology was a science fiction writer after all, as a good example.) it never amasses as much as Judasim (Im talking before Christ here.) did, where people were willing to die by their faith on a daily bases.

Makes much more sense now, thank you.

 

[ebia]

Thanks, this does raise another question; so did God tell man word for word what to write down in the bible?

He inspired people to write.

Or how? If so, why didn't god just write it hmself and give it to us. Makes more sense.

God is committed to working in and through people to redeem them and through them to redeem creation.

 

[Van]

Did God tell the Scripture writers "word for word" what to say?

Moses wrote (and/or compiled) the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Here is what he said, (Exodus 4:11-12) "The LORD said to him (Moses) "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD. Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say? Then in Ex. 4:22, the LORD told Moses what to say. So the answer, Peter, is yes sometimes God told the writers word for word what to say, but this evidence does not suggest that is the only way God inspired the writers.

In 2 Samuel 23:2, David says "His (God's) word was on my tongue." This does say His words were what David spoke, but only that David spoke God's message.

In Jeremiah 1:9 Jeremiah says "Now, I (God) have put my words in your mouth." So again we have an example of the very words being given.

In Jeremiah 36:2 we see that God told Jeremiah to "write down all the words I (God) have spoken to you...."

 

[Spoonbill]

I'm assuming the Old Testament was first written directly from god in Hebrew, is this the same for the New Testament?

Reason I'm asking is, that if I truly decide to follow this spiritual path, I wouldn't want to read something filtered out from man in the form of translations, but learn the language itself and read directly what God wrote.

Man, I totally agree with you. Seeing as I am not a Christian, I think a lot to do with that fact is, lets face it, the English translation has some critical mistakes and errors (due to translation problems, not problems with the original). I would love to be able to read the original transcript. That might change my thoughts about Christianity a lot.

Pity Hebrew is not exactly easy to learn to read.

 

[Peter Tran]

Man, I totally agree with you. Seeing as I am not a Christian, I think a lot to do with that fact is, lets face it, the English translation has some critical mistakes and errors (due to translation problems, not problems with the original). I would love to be able to read the original transcript. That might change my thoughts about Christianity a lot.

Pity Hebrew is not exactly easy to learn to read.

No task is too diffcult when it is done for God.