What do we know about the language Jesus spoke? Jimmy Akin shares the basics (and teaches us a new word!) on Catholic Answers Live.
Transcript:
Caller: What kind of ancient Aramaic did Jesus speak? Cuz he went through a lot of places, y’know, he was from Nazareth, so I just wanted to know what kind of ancient Aramaic did he speak, and how can I—let’s say I wanna translate a word, how do I translate it?
Jimmy Akin: The dialect of Aramaic that Jesus would have spoken would have been Galilean first-century Palestinian Aramaic. So it’s Galilean because he was from Galilee, and the dialect was a little bit different in Galilee than it was down in the Jerusalem area; it’s Palestinian because that’s where the Holy Land is—in geographical Palestine; and it’s Aramaic because it’s the Aramaic language; and also it’s the first century, so that’s why it’s first-century. So the basic dialect Jesus would have spoken was first-century Galilean Palestinian Jewish Aramaic.
And we do have books available that describe this dialect. They’re a little bit hard to find, you know, because they’re published for scholars and not that many scholars have a deep study of Aramaic, but we do have such books. If you want to learn Aramaic in general, I would probably start with just a standard textbook on Aramaic or Syriac—that’s another dialect of Aramaic, but it’s very commonly used, and Syriac is also the dialect that’s used in the Aramaic version of the New Testament, which is known as the Pesh*tta. And it’s something that can be picked up, I’ve taken some Aramaic myself.
And just to reward you for having an interest in our Lord’s native tongue, lemme teach you a word in Aramaic. The word for “hello” is also the word for “peace” or “health,” and it’s “shlam’a.” So you can hear how that kinda sounds like the Hebrew word “shalom,” which means the same thing, but in Aramaic it’s “shlam’a.” And so if you wanna greet somebody in Jesus’ dialect, you can say “Shlam’a” to them.
Host: Okay, Christian?
Caller: Oh yeah, yes, because, you know, when he died on the cross, right, when he was dying on the cross suffering, he was speaking in Aramaic, which is “Father, why have you forsaken me?” So that’s the Aramaic he spoke, basically, what, first-century Galilean Aramaic, you said?
Jimmy Akin: First-century Galilean Palestinian Jewish Aramaic, yes.
FAQs
Now, it's virtually undisputed that Jesus spoke or at least understood three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
What language did Jesus actually speak? ›
There exists a consensus among scholars that the language of Jesus and his disciples was Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language of Judea in the first century AD. The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities.
What language did Jesus speak Catholic answers? ›
Jimmy Akin: The dialect of Aramaic that Jesus would have spoken would have been Galilean first-century Palestinian Aramaic.
Is Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani in Aramaic? ›
And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, for what have you forsaken me?"
What language is Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani? ›
The quote in Mark is almost identical with the Aramaic phrase, written as “Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?” (15:34).
Did Jesus speak in tongues? ›
The Bible offers no evidence that Jesus spoke in tongues. Many today see “tongues” as some sort of unintelligible, supernatural form of speech. Biblically, the gift of speaking in tongues occurs when someone speaks a language he does not know in order to edify someone who does speak that language (1 Corinthians 14:6).
What did Jesus call God? ›
The essential uses of the name of God the Father in the New Testament are Theos (θεός the Greek term for God), Kyrios (i.e. Lord in Greek) and Patēr (πατήρ i.e. Father in Greek). The Aramaic word "Abba" (אבא), meaning "Father" is used by Jesus in Mark 14:36 and also appears in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6.
What language did Adam and Eve speak? ›
Traditional Jewish exegesis such as Midrash says that Adam spoke the Hebrew language because the names he gives Eve – Isha and Chava – only make sense in Hebrew. By contrast, Kabbalism assumed an "eternal Torah" which was not identical to the Torah written in Hebrew.
Why did Jesus speak Aramaic instead of Hebrew? ›
Because Aramaic was the common language of the day, many historians assert that Jesus, as a common man in Judea, would have spoken Aramaic. Famous archeologist Yigael Yadin, who did much work pertaining to the Dead Sea Scrolls, observed that Aramaic was used in many early documents during the first century.
How do you say god in Aramaic? ›
Elah means "god", with the suffix -i meaning "my." Being Aramaic and not Hebrew (there is no singular possessive for "god" in Biblical Hebrew), in the Old Testament, Elahi is found only in the books of Ezra and Daniel. It is best known for its transliteration in Mark 15:34, "ἐλωΐ ἐλωΐ" eloi eloi.
The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means "the god", and is linguistically related to the Aramaic words Elah and Syriac ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ (ʼAlāhā) and the Hebrew word El (Elohim) for God.
What is Jesus called in Aramaic? ›
However, both the Western and Eastern Syriac Christian traditions use the Aramaic name ܝܫܘܥ (in Hebrew script: ישוע) Yeshuʿ and Yishoʿ, respectively, including the ʿayin.
What Aramaic word did Jesus call God? ›
We can further grasp the importance of the word Abba to the early Christians by the several places where Mark and Paul, who wrote in Greek, remembered and preserved the word in the original Aramaic form that Christ spoke. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Only he, by nature, can call God Abba.
What does inri mean on the cross? ›
INRI stems from the Latin phrase 'Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum' meaning 'Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews'.
What does Sabachthani mean in Hebrew? ›
Sabachthani generally means to have been abandoned or left behind, but it means to have been abandoned for a purpose or reason. When we generally think of “forsaken,” we think of an uncaring abandonment.
Why Jesus cried Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani? ›
Why did Jesus cry out "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?" as His mission reached its fulfillment and He was held personally responsible for all sin? Because, with that immense load of guilt, our guilt, upon Him, for just a very few seconds, God couldn't stand the sight of Him.
How do you say God in Aramaic? ›
Elah means "god", with the suffix -i meaning "my." Being Aramaic and not Hebrew (there is no singular possessive for "god" in Biblical Hebrew), in the Old Testament, Elahi is found only in the books of Ezra and Daniel. It is best known for its transliteration in Mark 15:34, "ἐλωΐ ἐλωΐ" eloi eloi.
Is Aramaic the same as Arabic? ›
No. Arabic and Aramaic are both Semitic languages, but they are mutually unintelligible (you can understand some words here and there because they have the same etymology as the corresponding ones in Arabic, but they are insufficient to fully understand the context).
What is the real name of Jesus in Aramaic? ›
However, both the Western and Eastern Syriac Christian traditions use the Aramaic name ܝܫܘܥ (in Hebrew script: ישוע) Yeshuʿ and Yishoʿ, respectively, including the ʿayin.
