Topic 22 of 33 - Your Place in the Learning Journey
Aramaic
Aramaic is the language Jesus actually spoke. The Gospels were written in Greek, but Jesus and his disciples lived and conversed in Aramaic - the common spoken language of Judea and Galilee in the 1st century CE. When Mark preserves Jesus's words directly - "Talitha cumi" (little girl, get up), "Ephphatha" (be opened), "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani" (my God, my God, why have you forsaken me) - he is preserving the actual Aramaic sounds of Jesus's voice. These are among the most direct verbal connections to the historical Jesus that the Gospel tradition offers.
Aramaic is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew, and it served as the common tongue of the ancient Near East for several centuries following the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests. It displaced Hebrew as the everyday spoken language of Jewish communities during and after the exile, though Hebrew was preserved for scripture reading, prayer, and scholarly use. By the time of Jesus, most Jews in Judea and Galilee spoke Aramaic as their first language and encountered Hebrew primarily in the synagogue. This linguistic reality is important for understanding the Gospels: when Jesus reads from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue in Luke 4, he reads Hebrew and then apparently explains it in Aramaic - which is why Luke can say the eyes of everyone were fixed on him.
Aramaic also appears directly in the Old Testament. The book of Daniel is written partly in Hebrew (1:1-2:4a and 8-12) and partly in Aramaic (2:4b-7:28) - a division that scholars have analyzed extensively for what it reveals about the book's composition and purpose. Ezra 4:8-6:18 and 7:12-26 are also in Aramaic, preserving what appear to be official Persian documents in the language of imperial administration. These Aramaic sections are not errors or intrusions. They reflect the reality that Aramaic was the international language of the period, used for official correspondence across the Near East.
Aramaic Words Preserved in the New Testament
| Aramaic Word/Phrase | Meaning | Where in the NT | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abba | Father (intimate address) | Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6 | Jesus's address to God in Gethsemane; preserved as Jesus actually used it |
| Talitha cumi | Little girl, arise | Mark 5:41 | Jesus's actual words to Jairus's daughter; Mark preserves the Aramaic |
| Ephphatha | Be opened | Mark 7:34 | Jesus's word to the deaf-mute; Aramaic preserved in a Greek Gospel |
| Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani | My God, my God, why have you forsaken me | Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46 | The opening of Psalm 22 in Aramaic - Jesus's cry from the cross |
| Maranatha | Our Lord, come / Our Lord has come | 1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20 | An early Aramaic prayer preserved in Greek letters - evidence of Aramaic-speaking church |
| Cephas | Rock (Peter's Aramaic name) | John 1:42; Galatians 1:18 | Jesus renamed Simon as Kepha in Aramaic; Peter is the Greek equivalent |
| Golgotha | Place of the skull | Mark 15:22; John 19:17 | The Aramaic name for the crucifixion site, transliterated into Greek |
Explore Further
Aramaic and Hebrew
Aramaic and Hebrew are closely related Semitic languages that share an alphabet and much vocabulary but differ significantly in grammar and idiom. How the two languages relate and what each contributed to the Bible.
Read more →Jesus and Aramaic
The evidence that Jesus spoke Aramaic as his primary language - and what scholars have been able to reconstruct about his actual words as distinct from their Greek translation in the Gospels.
Read more →Aramaic in the Old Testament
The Aramaic sections of Daniel and Ezra, why they exist, and what they reveal about the composition of those books and the historical context they address.
Read more →The Targums
The Targums are Aramaic translations and paraphrases of the Hebrew scriptures used in synagogue worship. They offer a window into how Jewish communities read the scriptures in the centuries around the New Testament period.
Read more →Syriac Christianity
Syriac - a dialect of Aramaic - became the language of Christianity across the eastern church. The Peshitta, the Syriac Bible, is one of the oldest Christian translations and preserves ancient textual traditions.
Read more →Aramaic Today
Aramaic is not extinct. Small communities in Syria, Iraq, and the diaspora still speak varieties of Neo-Aramaic. What survives of the language Jesus spoke, and why its preservation matters.
Read more →