Language of the New Testament
Encyclopedia
The mainstream consensus is that the New Testament
was written in a form of Koine Greek
, which was the common language
of the Eastern Mediterranean
from the Conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) till the evolution of Byzantine Greek (c. 600).
, Philo
, Demetrius the chronographer
, Eupolemus
, Pseudo-Eupolemus, Artapanus of Alexandria, Cleodemus Malchus
, Aristeas
, Hecatus of Abdera, Thallus, and Justus of Tiberias
, Pseudo-Philo
, many Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the Septuagint itself.
city states
used different dialects of Greek, a common standard, called Koine ( "common"), developed gradually in the 5th and 4th centuries BC as a consequence of the formation of larger political structures (like the Greek colonies, Athenian Empire, and the Macedonian Empire
) and a more intense cultural exchange in the Aegean
area, or in other words the Hellenization
of the empire of Alexander the Great.
In the Greek Dark Ages
and the Archaic Period, Greek colonies were founded all over the Mediterranean basin
. However, even though Greek goods were popular in the East, the cultural influence tended to work the other way around. Yet, with the conquests of Alexander the Great (333-323 BC) and the subsequent establishment of Hellenistic kingdoms (above all, the Seleucid Empire
and Ptolemaic Kingdom
), Koine Greek became the dominant language in politics, culture and commerce in the Near East.
During the following centuries, Rome conquered Greece
and the Macedonian Kingdoms piece for piece until, with the conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, she held all land around the Mediterranean. However, as Horace
gently puts it: "Conquered Greece has conquered the brute victor and brought her arts into rustic Latium" (Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio.) Roman art and literature were calque
d upon Hellenistic models.
Koine Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman Empire
, extending into the Byzantine Empire
as Byzantine Greek. In the city of Rome, Koine Greek was in widespread use among ordinary people, and the elite spoke and wrote Greek as fluently as Latin.
, Aramaic
replaced Biblical Hebrew as the everyday language in Palestine
. The two languages were as similar as two Romance languages
or two Germanic languages
today. Thus Biblical Hebrew, which was still used for religious purposes, was not totally unfamiliar, but still a somewhat strange norm that demanded a certain degree of training to be understood properly.
After Alexander, Palestine was ruled by the Ptolemies
and the Seleucids
for almost two hundred years. Jewish culture was heavily influenced by Hellenistic culture, and Koine Greek was used not only for international communication, but also as the first language of many Jews. This development was furthered by the fact that the largest Jewish community of the world lived in Ptolemaic Alexandria
. Many of these diaspora Jews
would have Greek as their first language, and first the Torah
and then other Jewish scriptures (later the Christian "Old Testament") were therefore translated into standard Koine Greek, i.e. the Septuagint.
Currently, 1,600 Jewish epitaphs (funerary inscriptions) are extant from ancient Palestine dating from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. Approximately 70 percent are in Greek, about 12 percent are in Latin, and only 18 percent are in Hebrew or Aramaic. "In Jerusalem itself about 40 percent of the Jewish inscriptions from the first century period
(before 70 C.E.) are in Greek. We may assume that most Jewish Jerusalemites who saw the inscriptions in situ
were able to read them".
") has not gained popularity. At any rate, since most of the texts are written by diaspora Jews
such as Paul of Tarsus
and his possibly Gentile companion, Luke
, and to a large extent addressed directly to Christian communities in Greek-speaking cities (often communities consisting largely of Paul's converts
, which appear to have been non-Jewish in the majority), and since the style of their Greek is impeccable, a Greek original is more probable than a translation.
Even Mark
, whose Greek is heavily influenced by his Semitic substratum, seems to presuppose a non-Hebrew audience. Thus, he explains Jewish customs (e.g. , see also Mark 7
), and he translates Jewish phrases into Greek (: boanerges; : talitha kum; : ephphatha; : abba; : Golgotha; , see also Aramaic of Jesus
and Sayings of Jesus on the cross
). In the Aramaic Syriac version
of the Bible, these translations are preserved, resulting in odd texts like Mark 15:34:
In the Peshitta:
. Since Jesus and his disciples
belonged to a lower stratum of the population, being carpenters, fishermen and the like (see also Cultural and historical background of Jesus
), it is sometimes assumed that, with the exception of Matthew the apostle as a government official, they would have known little or no Greek. Some scholars challenge this view and point to a number of passages in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, where Greek conversation is presupposed:
In none of these cases is an interpreter mentioned. Even though it is impossible to estimate how fluent or eloquent Jesus and the disciples would be in their Greek, it is possible that they would be able to communicate in Greek when it was needed. W. S. Vorster and J. Eugene Botha (1995) argue that "Greek was the language of the marketplace... It can be assumed that most Jews, including Jesus and his followers, were to a greater or lesser extent bilingual, and could also speak Greek."
It should be pointed out that the Peshitta
does not use ܝܘܢܝܐ (Greeks) or the like in Mark 7:26 or John 12:20. In the Peshitta:
The translator of the Peshitta may have used context to determine whether to translate 'Greeks' literally or not.
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
was written in a form of Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
, which was the common language
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the Eastern Mediterranean
Eastern Mediterranean
The Eastern Mediterranean is a term that denotes the countries geographically to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. This region is also known as Greater Syria or the Levant....
from the Conquests of Alexander the Great (335–323 BC) till the evolution of Byzantine Greek (c. 600).
The Hellenistic Jewish world
The New Testament Gospels and Epistles were only part of a Hellenistic Jewish culture in the Roman Empire, where Alexandria had a larger Jewish population than Jerusalem, and Greek was spoken by more Jews than spoke Hebrew Other Jewish Hellenistic writings include those of JosephusJosephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
, Demetrius the chronographer
Demetrius the Chronographer
Demetrius the Chronographer was a Jewish chronicler of the late 3rd century BCE, who lived probably in Alexandria and wrote in Greek.-Works:...
, Eupolemus
Eupolemus
Eupolemus is the earliest Hellenistic Jewish historian whose work survives only in five fragments in the Eusebius of Caesarea's Praeparatio Evangelica embedded in quotations from the historian Alexander Polyhistor and in the Stromata of Clement of Alexandria.A sixth passage...
, Pseudo-Eupolemus, Artapanus of Alexandria, Cleodemus Malchus
Cleodemus Malchus
Cleodemus Malchus was a Jewish writer of whom only a few lines survive. He connects the descendants of Syria and North Africa with Abraham by identifying Abraham had three sons by Keturah, Apheran , Asoureim , and Iaphran .-References:...
, Aristeas
Aristeas
Aristeas was a semi-legendary Greek poet and miracle-worker, a native of Proconnesus in Asia Minor, active ca. 7th century BCE. In book IV of The Histories, Herodotus reports...
, Hecatus of Abdera, Thallus, and Justus of Tiberias
Justus of Tiberias
Justus of Tiberias was a Jewish author and historian living in the second half of the 1st century AD. Little is known about his life, except as told by his political and literary enemy Josephus Flavius....
, Pseudo-Philo
Pseudo-Philo
Pseudo-Philo is the name commonly used for a Jewish pseudepigraphical work in Latin, so called because it was transmitted along with Latin translations of the works of Philo of Alexandria but is very obviously not written by Philo...
, many Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the Septuagint itself.
Background on Koine Greek
Whereas the Classical GreekAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
city states
Polis
Polis , plural poleis , literally means city in Greek. It could also mean citizenship and body of citizens. In modern historiography "polis" is normally used to indicate the ancient Greek city-states, like Classical Athens and its contemporaries, so polis is often translated as "city-state."The...
used different dialects of Greek, a common standard, called Koine ( "common"), developed gradually in the 5th and 4th centuries BC as a consequence of the formation of larger political structures (like the Greek colonies, Athenian Empire, and the Macedonian Empire
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
) and a more intense cultural exchange in the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
area, or in other words the Hellenization
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
of the empire of Alexander the Great.
In the Greek Dark Ages
Greek Dark Ages
The Greek Dark Age or Ages also known as Geometric or Homeric Age are terms which have regularly been used to refer to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean Palatial civilization around 1200 BC, to the first signs of the Greek city-states in the 9th...
and the Archaic Period, Greek colonies were founded all over the Mediterranean basin
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
. However, even though Greek goods were popular in the East, the cultural influence tended to work the other way around. Yet, with the conquests of Alexander the Great (333-323 BC) and the subsequent establishment of Hellenistic kingdoms (above all, the Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
and Ptolemaic Kingdom
Ptolemaic Kingdom
The Ptolemaic Kingdom in and around Egypt began following Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BC and ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. It was founded when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt, creating a powerful Hellenistic state stretching from...
), Koine Greek became the dominant language in politics, culture and commerce in the Near East.
During the following centuries, Rome conquered Greece
Roman Greece
Roman Greece is the period of Greek history following the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC until the reestablishment of the city of Byzantium and the naming of the city by the Emperor Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire...
and the Macedonian Kingdoms piece for piece until, with the conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, she held all land around the Mediterranean. However, as Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
gently puts it: "Conquered Greece has conquered the brute victor and brought her arts into rustic Latium" (Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio.) Roman art and literature were calque
Calque
In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation.-Calque:...
d upon Hellenistic models.
Koine Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, extending into the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
as Byzantine Greek. In the city of Rome, Koine Greek was in widespread use among ordinary people, and the elite spoke and wrote Greek as fluently as Latin.
Languages used in ancient Palestine
After the Babylonian captivityBabylonian captivity
The Babylonian captivity was the period in Jewish history during which the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylon—conventionally 587–538 BCE....
, Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
replaced Biblical Hebrew as the everyday language in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. The two languages were as similar as two Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
or two Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
today. Thus Biblical Hebrew, which was still used for religious purposes, was not totally unfamiliar, but still a somewhat strange norm that demanded a certain degree of training to be understood properly.
After Alexander, Palestine was ruled by the Ptolemies
Ptolemaic Kingdom
The Ptolemaic Kingdom in and around Egypt began following Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BC and ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. It was founded when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt, creating a powerful Hellenistic state stretching from...
and the Seleucids
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
for almost two hundred years. Jewish culture was heavily influenced by Hellenistic culture, and Koine Greek was used not only for international communication, but also as the first language of many Jews. This development was furthered by the fact that the largest Jewish community of the world lived in Ptolemaic Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. Many of these diaspora Jews
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
would have Greek as their first language, and first the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
and then other Jewish scriptures (later the Christian "Old Testament") were therefore translated into standard Koine Greek, i.e. the Septuagint.
Currently, 1,600 Jewish epitaphs (funerary inscriptions) are extant from ancient Palestine dating from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. Approximately 70 percent are in Greek, about 12 percent are in Latin, and only 18 percent are in Hebrew or Aramaic. "In Jerusalem itself about 40 percent of the Jewish inscriptions from the first century period
Iudaea Province
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
(before 70 C.E.) are in Greek. We may assume that most Jewish Jerusalemites who saw the inscriptions in situ
In situ
In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...
were able to read them".
The language of the New Testament
Most biblical scholars adhere to the view that the Greek text of the New Testament is the original version. An opposite view, that it is a translation from an Aramaic original (recently called "Aramaic primacyAramaic primacy
The hypothesis of Aramaic primacy holds that the original text of the New Testament was not written in Greek, as held by the majority of scholars, but in the Aramaic language, which was the primary language of Jesus and his Twelve Apostles....
") has not gained popularity. At any rate, since most of the texts are written by diaspora Jews
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
such as Paul of Tarsus
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
and his possibly Gentile companion, Luke
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...
, and to a large extent addressed directly to Christian communities in Greek-speaking cities (often communities consisting largely of Paul's converts
Pauline Christianity
Pauline Christianity is a term used to refer to the Christianity associated with the beliefs and doctrines espoused by Paul of Tarsus through his writings. Most of orthodox Christianity relies heavily on these teachings and considers them to be amplifications and explanations of the teachings of...
, which appear to have been non-Jewish in the majority), and since the style of their Greek is impeccable, a Greek original is more probable than a translation.
Even Mark
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
, whose Greek is heavily influenced by his Semitic substratum, seems to presuppose a non-Hebrew audience. Thus, he explains Jewish customs (e.g. , see also Mark 7
Mark 7
Mark 7 is the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter explores Jesus's relationship's with both fellow Jews and Gentiles. Jesus rejects Jewish kosher food laws and then heals two gentiles, one begrudgingly...
), and he translates Jewish phrases into Greek (: boanerges; : talitha kum; : ephphatha; : abba; : Golgotha; , see also Aramaic of Jesus
Aramaic of Jesus
It is generally agreed that the historical Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic, perhaps along with some Hebrew and Greek . The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities, although Greek was widely spoken in the major cities of the Eastern Mediterranean...
and Sayings of Jesus on the cross
Sayings of Jesus on the cross
There are seven expressions traditionally attributed to Jesus during his crucifixion, gathered from the four Canonical Gospels. Three of the sayings appear exclusively in the Gospel of Luke and three appear exclusively in the Gospel of John. The other saying appears both in the Gospel of Mark and...
). In the Aramaic Syriac version
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...
of the Bible, these translations are preserved, resulting in odd texts like Mark 15:34:
- Greek text
- Syriac text (with rough transliteration)
ܘܒ݂ܰܬ݂ܫܰܥ ܫܳܥܺܝܢ ܩܥܳܐ ܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܒ݁ܩܳܠܳܐ ܪܳܡܳܐ ܘܶܐܡܰܪ ܐܺܝܠ ܐܺܝܠ ܠܡܳܢܳܐ ܫܒ݂ܰܩܬ݁ܳܢܝ ܕ݁ܺܐܝܬ݂ܶܝܗ ܐܰܠܳܗܝ ܐܰܠܳܗܝ ܠܡܳܢܳܐ ܫܒ݂ܰܩܬ݁ܳܢܝ܂
wbatša‘ šā‘yin: q‘ā’ yešua‘ bqālā’ rāmā’ we’mar, ’ēl ’ēl lmānā’ šbaqtāni di’aiteyh ’elāhi ’elāhi lmānā’ šbaqtāni - King James
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
In the Peshitta:
- Mark 7:34 does not contain the doubled-up meaning.
- Mark 15:34 have two versions of the same expression: the former in Jesus's spoken dialect, the latter in another dialect
Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic, did they also speak Greek?
Most scholars acknowledge that Jesus likely used Aramaic as his everyday language. Occasionally, the Greek text of the gospels quote Aramaic phrases uttered by JesusAramaic of Jesus
It is generally agreed that the historical Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic, perhaps along with some Hebrew and Greek . The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities, although Greek was widely spoken in the major cities of the Eastern Mediterranean...
. Since Jesus and his disciples
Disciple (Christianity)
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
belonged to a lower stratum of the population, being carpenters, fishermen and the like (see also Cultural and historical background of Jesus
Cultural and historical background of Jesus
Most scholars who study the Historical Jesus and Early Christianity believe that the Canonical Gospels and life of Jesus must be viewed as firmly placed within his historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy...
), it is sometimes assumed that, with the exception of Matthew the apostle as a government official, they would have known little or no Greek. Some scholars challenge this view and point to a number of passages in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, where Greek conversation is presupposed:
- Jesus speaks to a Syro-Phoenician woman who is described as a Hellēnis, "a Greek" (Mark 7:26).
- Jesus journeys in the Phoenician cities Tyre and SidonSidonSidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
and the Greek DecapolisDecapolisThe Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Judea and Syria. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status...
(Mark 7:31-37). - A Roman centurion approaches Jesus for the sake of his boy or slave (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10)
- Some Hellēnes, "Greeks", went to see Jesus (John 12:20-36).
- Pontius PilatePontius PilatePontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...
questions Jesus (Mark 15;2-5; Matthew 27:11-14; Luke 23:3; John 18:33-38). - The Apostolic ChurchApostolic AgeThe Apostolic Age of the history of Christianity is traditionally the period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Great Commission in Jerusalem until the death of John the Apostle in Anatolia...
included a group called Hellēnistai, probably Greek-speaking Jews .
In none of these cases is an interpreter mentioned. Even though it is impossible to estimate how fluent or eloquent Jesus and the disciples would be in their Greek, it is possible that they would be able to communicate in Greek when it was needed. W. S. Vorster and J. Eugene Botha (1995) argue that "Greek was the language of the marketplace... It can be assumed that most Jews, including Jesus and his followers, were to a greater or lesser extent bilingual, and could also speak Greek."
It should be pointed out that the Peshitta
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...
does not use ܝܘܢܝܐ (Greeks) or the like in Mark 7:26 or John 12:20. In the Peshitta:
- Mark 7:26 uses ܚܢܦܬܐ (godless, Gentile, heathen, foreigner, profane)
- John 12:20 uses ܥܡܡܐ (meaning peoples, nations, Gentiles)
The translator of the Peshitta may have used context to determine whether to translate 'Greeks' literally or not.