Aramaic is the language that Jesus spoke, the language that was dominant in Second Temple Judaic literature like the Book of Enoch and also is the language of the Targums; the oral translation, interpretation and living commentaries of the Hebrew Bible. But where did it come from? We typically think of Jews today as speakers and readers of Hebrew but this was not always the case.

The origins go much further back than the first century AD. It is a part of the same cluster of languages that Hebrew and Phoenician come from which is the Semitic language family, specifically, Aramaic is a Northwest Semitic language and was the language of the Arameans, where it gets its name. The Arameans were a group of partially nomadic tribes that finally settled in Syria and Mesopotamia in the 12th Century BC. (Fitzmyer, J. A., The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire, 1995)

Aramaic would be the language that would replace Akkadian as the common language of trade, diplomacy and other international correspondence. This is around the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (934-609 BC). So within in 300 years or so of its first known origin it goes from local tribal language to the lingua franca of the ancient world spreading far out from its home.(Millard, A. R., “The Spread of Aramaic in the Ancient Near East,” Cambridge Ancient History, 1991)

The spread of Aramaic and its solidification as a language of international correspondence and thus the lingua franca of its day came with it being adopted by the Achaemenid Empire or Persian Empire, whose capital was Babylon, as the language of administration in the 6th Century BC. The founder of this empire was Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, the same Cyrus mentioned in the Book of Ezra who proclaimed “All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” The Persian Empire at its height under the rule of Darius the Great (522-546 BC) would span from the Balkans and Egypt in the west, West Asia as the base, the majority of Central Asia to the northeast, and the Indus Valley to the southeast. (Beyer, K., The Aramaic Language: Its Distribution and Subdivisions, 1986)

Aramaic began its significance as a religious language with its usage in the Hebrew bible, especially in Ezra and Daniel. Both being prophets sent by God, their incorporation of what was most likely deemed a foreign language by some, was a not considered a problem. Because of this new standard set by the Prophets Aramaic was brought into the Jewish liturgy and most interestingly as it pertains to the New Testament, the targums; the oral Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible. These were what Jesus would be quoting and teaching on in his ministry in the Gospels. (Kutscher, E. Y., A History of the Hebrew Language, 1982)

Although the structure of Aramaic reflects its North-western Semitic origins, it’s use as a language of international correspondence and adoption into a wide variety of regions throughout the Persian empire it became something like a linguistic sponge, absorbing components from the Akkadian language it replaced and later being influenced by Greek and Persian. Its adaptability only reinforced it’s mainstream use, very much like the English language of modern times. Where some languages are oriented around a nationalistic pride and rigid, thus dying with its peoples, Aramaic was flexible and could be used and incorporated by anyone, even beyond its original ethnic group. (Steiner, R. C., “The Aramaic Language and Its Dialects,” Orientalia, 1978)

The Babylonian exile in the 6th Century marks the beginning of Jews using Aramaic, this is due to the Persian empire having it as the common tongue. As foreigners they learned the lingua franca (Aramaic) in order to survive there. It became so dominant among the Hebrews that it supplanted Hebrew as the common tongue although Hebrew did remain a sacred and literary language, analogous to that of Latin in the Catholic Church today. (Sperber, A., A Historical Grammar of Biblical Aramaic, 1970)

Many may assume that the Old Testament scriptures are entirely written originally Hebrew but this is not true. Parts of Daniel and Ezra are actually originally written in Aramaic, reflecting its widespread use even for inspired writings. The fact that this language is even adopted into canonical scriptures reveals its integration in the theological mind of Jewish society. It is not just the common tongue of Jews in the 6th Century but also used for administrative and religious discourse. (Fitzmyer, J. A., The Semitic Background of the New Testament, 1997)

As the Hebrew language dropped in common usage and Aramaic rose to prominence it became integral to Jewish worship and religious life. This became dominant especially in the Synagogues where the Targums are the main method of teaching the scriptures to the common populace. Synagogues became the centre of Jewish religious life when there was no Temple, during the exile, and the Targums (Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew scriptures) and, most importantly, the teachings of the Rabbi’s on said scriptures were the living word of God in the hearts of Jews. This solidified Aramaic as a liturgical, pedagogical and common language of Judaism. (Alexander, P. S., “Jewish Aramaic Translations of Hebrew Scriptures,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 1988)

By the 4th Century BC, following Alexander the Great’s Hellenistic conquest, Greek began its encroachment upon Aramaic as the lingua franca, the common language. Similar to that of the period of the exile we see an incorporation into Jewish culture with the creation of the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. This served Greek speaking Jews who lost the common tongue of Aramaic, this was common for Jews who lived outside of Judea like the diaspora community in Egypt. (Hengel, M., Judaism and Hellenism, 1974)

The Roman period begins when the Roman General Pompey conquered Jerusalem and the surrounding area in 63BC. The Hasmonean dynasty who spoke Aramaic as their common tongue were deposed and were replaced with Herod the Great who was given the title ‘King of the Jews’. With the Romans taking official control of the region, Greek becomes the language of commerce and international correspondence in Judea but the common people retain Aramaic as their everyday language, especially those further out from the city in the countryside like Nazareth or Bethlehem. It is in this period, and this place at the start of the first Century AD that out Lord Jesus is born and raised speaking the language of the common folk, Aramaic.

Jesus and his disciples will all speak Aramaic but when it comes to the writing of the New Testament scriptures, Greek is picked as the language of its construction. The reason for this is that the Gospel is not intended for insular use. It is to spread out all over the known world. This means the language that it is written in has to be the language the most amount of people can understand. It reflects the desire to reach a much broader audience, using the Roman Empire as a conduit to deliver the Good News of the New Covenant. (Koester, H., History and Literature of Early Christianity, 2000)

The choice for Greek was forward thinking and elements of Aramaic still exist in the construction of the New Testament with certain sentence structures for example Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55. It can sound quite unusual in its structure, this isn’t an accident, its because its a Greek translation of uniquely Aramaic phrasing. Other components of the New Testament retain entire quotes of Aramaic such as Mark 5:41 “Talitha Koum”, Mark 7:34 “Ephphatha” and Matthew 27:46 “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani”. These Aramaicism in the New Testament speak to the bilingual nature of First Century Judea and Early Christianity but the choice to mainly write in Greek underscores the spreading out of the New Covenant promise to the Greek speaking Gentile world. (Moule, C. F. D., The Birth of the New Testament, 1962)