The Bible to the Christians is something like what a textbook is to a student. It is something very basic that we associate Christians with. When I was younger, I have once also thought that the original language of the Bible is in English, as the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible sounded like olden-styled English to me. It is quite hard to imagine that Jesus did not speak English at all; when He was on earth, he probably spoke Aramaic on a daily basis, based on what scholars have come up with. In fact, it is known that the Bible is written in 2 main languages: Greek and Hebrew.
The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, also what we know now as Biblical Hebrew. In modern times, there is a Hebrew language, which has a significant number of speakers in Israel and the United States, particularly in the Jewish community. Hebrew, as a language in daily lives, was largely understood to have been in use until the second century BC. After which, it was taken over by other languages. However, its written form has survived longer, in part due to its religious relevance. Modern Hebrew, though, is a revived language, and only became widely used in recent times, through the efforts of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who sparked the revival of modern Hebrew language. What is the difference between Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew? A coarse example will be like the difference between Shakespearean English and Modern English. A Modern English speaker should be able to read most of Shakespearean English in modern pronunciation, though his understanding may not be as natural.
Based on the reading from online sources, the Hebrew alphabet comprises 22 letters. These letters are all consonants. This type of writing system is called abjad, which is a writing system characterized by languages like Arabic, where the presence of vowels is not so clearly demarcated in the writing system.
Another language used in the Old testament is Aramaic, which is used to write a small portion of the verses in OT. They are found mainly in the books of Daniel and Ezra. As mentioned previously, after a certain point in time, the Hebrew language lost its status as the main lingua franca of that time, and Aramaic took over the position. Thus, it is said that Aramaic was the native language of Jesus when he was on Earth during the first century AD. This is especially poignant when our Lord was at the cross, and He used Aramaic to express Himself, as read in Mark 15:34:
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
In the New Testament (NT), Greek was used as the main language to record down the gospel and other teachings. The Greek used in the NT is also referred to as Koine Greek, and it is said to be relatively closer to Modern Greek than Biblical Hebrew is to Modern Hebrew. In fact, both versions of Greek use similar alphabets, and the writing system is in fact similar to English. And the interesting thing is that Greek alphabets are not as foreign to us as the Hebrew writing, as many of the Greek alphabets are being used in the areas of modern math and science. Examples include alpha, beta, gamma etc.
If Aramaic was also a commonly spoken language during that period, why did God choose Greek as the language to record the New Testament? One reason suggested by scholars was that the NT was meant to be spread to all men, including Gentiles, and not limited to the Jewish communities. Thus, it was God’s wisdom to use the main language understood by the Roman empire (Gentiles). Since it was also the main language used for trade at that time, having the gospel written in Greek helped the message to be spread the widest in the region.
All in all, no matter what language we read the Bible in now, be it in English or other languages, it will most likely be a translated version of the Bible. Thus, we need to also be mindful of this fact, and that even the King James Version of the Bible is also not the Bible in its original language, though it may feel like it due to its style of English. Therefore, it might be common where we find it hard to understand certain passages, and I believe we should adopt the tools that were taught to us to try to understand them. One of the key ideas is the use of contextual clues to aid in our understanding. We can also try to discuss with other brethren on the passages to work together to understand the passages better.
Ask Yourself:
The Bible is written in 2 languages. True/False
What is the key tool we can adopt when encountering difficult passages?
Suggested Answers:
False. There are 3 languages - Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic
Contextual Understanding