Many Jewish works from the diaspora, as well as some from Judea, were also written in Greek in this period. These translations-collectively called the “Septuagint”-became the main Scriptures used in the Jewish diaspora, the Jewish people living outside of the land of Israel. By the third century BC at the latest, the Jewish expatriate community in Egypt had largely lost the ability to speak Hebrew and/or Aramaic, and so they translated the books of the Hebrew Bible into their then-native Greek.

With the conquest of Alexander the Great in the late fourth century, Greek gained prominence as the common language of government, trade, and elite culture throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, including Judea and Galilee. Some portions of the Old Testament were originally written in Aramaic, especially parts of Daniel and Ezra, as were some of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other early Jewish literature. Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related languages of the so-called “Semitic” branch (of the Afroasiatic family), and they mixed and influenced each other to a large extent during this period. Under Persian imperial rule in the sixth through the early fourth centuries BC, Aramaic became the official language of government and most scribal education, and it gradually became the most common spoken language in the region. Before the exile of Judah in the early sixth century BC, Hebrew was the main spoken and written language in ancient Israel and Judah, and most of the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew.

In order to identify the original language of the New Testament, it is important to understand the language situation in the first century AD. The history of spoken and written languages in first-century Palestine In this article, we will survey the evidence and arguments that lead the vast majority of scholars today to believe that the original language of the New Testament was Greek. Some popular writers and religious groups, however, have claimed that much or all of the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic. This claim is not particularly controversial among biblical scholars, though some have argued that parts of the New Testament were originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic. The New Testament was originally written in Greek.

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Greek New Testament by Anonymous