[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: (NT in Hebrew)bible--Aramaic or Greek?

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

> mentioned this and inquired about it to the group, a few people
> replied that no, the original text was indeed Greek.  If 'large
> chunks' of the OT are in Aramaic, what other language is the rest
> written in?  Is all the original NT written in Greek, then?  I'd
> appreciate any info you can give...

"Large chunks" in this case actually equates to several chapters' worth of
narrative in Ezra and Nehemiah and a few chapters in the prophetic books
such as Daniel.  These are, indeed, in Aramaic.  However, the vast bulk of
the OT was written in Hebrew.  Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related in any
case, but Hebrew was the language of the Jewish people specifically, whereas
Aramaic was more of a general Middle Eastern trade
language.

The entire NT was written in koine (or common) Greek.  By the first century,
Greek was far more widely spoken even among the Jewish people than Hebrew --
Hebrew had become more of a "holy" language spoken and read primarily by the
religious leaders and the highly educated.  In fact, so many Jewish people
had become rusty in or ignorant of Hebrew by this time that it was necessary
to make available a Greek translation of the OT for common use -- this was
known as the Septuagint, from the Greek word for "seventy", because it was
translated by a team of seventy Hebrew scholars who were also fluent in
Greek.  When the NT quotes from the OT, therefore (which it does often), the
quotes are generally taken from the Septuagint.

I hope this makes things somewhat more clear.  :)
--
Rebecca J. Bohner
rebeccaj at pobox.com
http://home.golden.net/~rebeccaj