Does Jesus speak Greek?

[JoeyKnothead]

I've heard it on more'n one occassion that English language bibles are faulty, 'cause they ain't written in the "original" Greek.

Which leads me to ask for debate:


Did Jesus speak Greek?

If English translations of Greek are faulty, ain't Greek translations of Jesus' Aramaic faulty?

If a translation is faulty, should it be relied upon to make life impacting decisions?

[Student]

[Replying to JoeyKnothead]I believe that the following comments by Bruce Metzger, says as much as we might surmise about Jesus' possible familiarity & facility with various languages:

III. THE LANGUAGES CURRENT IN PALESTINE
Fastened to the top of the cross on which Jesus was crucified was an inscription which was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek (John 19:20). This trilingual inscription accords with what is known from other sources to be a fact, namely that Palestine was a cosmopolitan country in which several different languages were current.

Latin was the official language of the conquerors. It was used by the governors as well as by the soldiers of the Roman army of occupation. Very few Palestinian Jews knew more than the most common of everyday Latin words which had been, so to speak, naturalized wherever the Roman garrisons had been stationed. These were words such as "centurion," "legion," "denarius," "praetorium," "colony," and the like. The trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate would obviously have required the use of an interpreter.
The Greek language, on the contrary, was widely understood in Palestine, particularly in the north, which was commonly called "Galilee of the Gentiles." Here, more frequently than in Judea to the south, Jews would come into contact with Greek-speaking Gentiles, and, in order to hold one's own in the market place, bilingualism was an economic necessity. As was explained earlier, this bilingualism had its historical roots in the second century before Christ, when the Seleucid rulers promoted the deliberate policy of Grecizing the Jewish population of Palestine. Though the Maccabean reaction had temporarily delayed the process of Hellenization, inevitably more and more of Greek culture and language permeated Palestine.

The third language in common use in Palestine was Aramaic, the mother tongue of the great majority of Jews. Though the rabbis and learned scribes still had a fluent command of the classical Hebrew of the Old Testament, for the ordinary Jewish populace Hebrew was approaching the status of a dead language. During the exile in the sixth century the Jews had begun to use Aramaic, a Semitic language related to Hebrew somewhat as Spanish is related to Portuguese. At the beginning of the Christian era, in the synagogues of Palestine as well as of Babylon, the text of the Old Testament was read not only in the original Hebrew but also in an Aramaic paraphrase (called a Targum) for the benefit of those Jews in the congregation who knew little or no Hebrew. At least two dialectal forms of Aramaic were current in Palestine. The dialect used in Galilee was recognizably different in pronunciation from the southern dialect spoken in and around Jerusalem (Matt. 26:73).

It is altogether probable that Jesus grew up in his home at Nazareth using Aramaic as his mother tongue. In later life he doubtless acquired some facility in speaking Greek and in reading Hebrew. His teaching and preaching to the common people would have been carried on in Aramaic; his debates with the learned scribes may have been conducted in Hebrew. When he occasionally conversed with non-Jewish persons (for example, the Roman centurion and the Syro-Phoenician woman), he probably used Greek, the lingua franca of the Greco-Roman world.

[Bruce M. Metzger; The New Testament, Its Background, Growth and Content; pp32-33]

So, according to Metzger, the overwhelming bulk of Jesus preaching would probably have been conducted in Aramaic with the occasional diversion into Hebrew and perhaps even less in Greek.

[4insight]

I've heard it on more'n one occassion that English language bibles are faulty, 'cause they ain't written in the "original" Greek.

Which leads me to ask for debate:


Did Jesus speak Greek?

If English translations of Greek are faulty, ain't Greek translations of Jesus' Aramaic faulty?

If a translation is faulty, should it be relied upon to make life impacting decisions?

His name is a Greek word for the Hebrew word Yoshua (Joshua). But He also had spoke Hebrew which none of them except for a few scribes and pharisees had spoken.

At the cross, Jesus spoke in the Jews native tongue, but they could understand what He was saying. Some had thought that He was calling out to Elijah because Eloihim does sound alike like the name Elijah to someone that doesn't know how to speak Hebrew.


Exodus 4:10 Moses said to the Lord, Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. 11 The Lord said to him, Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.

13 But Moses said, Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.

14 Then the Lords anger burned against Moses and he said, What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.


Acts 7:20 At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaohs daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

[21stCenturyIconoclast]

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Moderator Intervention

JoeyKnothead,

Truthfully, I am surprised that you haven't been banned as yet, by insinuating that Jesus was gay by your blatant innuendo of "did Jesus speak Greek?"

Questioning if Jesus spoke Greek is NOT a blatant innuendo and is not in violation of Forum Rules and Guidelines. However, making personal comments to another member IS a violation.

Barring that there are many passages that may allude to the possible fact that Jesus may have been gay, seemingly this topic should not be brought up in this forum or when with family. Some things should remain in the closet.

Homosexuality is not in the closet here. If discussions of that topic disturb someone they are free to refrain from reading material that offends them.

Rules
C&A Guidelines

______________

Moderator interventions do not count as a strike against any posters. They are given at the discretion of a moderator when he or she feels that some sort of intervention is required.

Zzyzx,

The personal comment I made to Joey was insinuating, and where I live, the term did Jesus speak Greek is in fact an innuendo, and is used colloquially as a person being gay, therefore, the inference.


When Christians understand why you dismiss all the other gods in the Before Common Era, then you will understand why I dismiss yours.

__________________________________

[Donray]

Since Jesus is God, He could read and write in any know language. He could most likely read and write English and all current languages as will.

God/Jesus would not be limited in knowledge.

[Elijah John]

Zzyzx,

The personal comment I made to Joey was insinuating, and where I live, the term did Jesus speak Greek is in fact an innuendo, and is used colloquially as a person being gay, therefore, the inference.

Moderator Warning


Challenging, questioning or commenting on moderator actions should not be done here on the boards, but always via PM.

Please review our Rules.

______________

Moderator warnings count as a strike against users. Additional violations in the future may warrant a final warning. Any challenges or replies to moderator postings should be made via Private Message to avoid derailing topics.

[Willum]

[Replying to 4insight]

You could believe that somehow Jesus is Greek for Joshua (Iousua), or you could believe that anyone who spoke Greek or Latin would LISTEN AND HEAR:

I Zeus, or if you spoke Latin or Greek would be understood as "Hail Zeus."

What do you believe?
That the majority of the civilized world names a guy Iesous (when it should be Ieseoues), because it was Joshua.

Or names him Ie Zeus, after his father Jov (pron - Je o veh)?

It was nothing but a successful attempt by Rome to get the Jews worshiping Jove.

[21stCenturyIconoclast]

Zzyzx,

The personal comment I made to Joey was insinuating, and where I live, the term did Jesus speak Greek is in fact an innuendo, and is used colloquially as a person being gay, therefore, the inference.

Moderator Warning


Challenging, questioning or commenting on moderator actions should not be done here on the boards, but always via PM.

Please review our Rules.

______________

Moderator warnings count as a strike against users. Additional violations in the future may warrant a final warning. Any challenges or replies to moderator postings should be made via Private Message to avoid derailing topics.

Elijah John,

There you are, weve got some catching up to do!

You have yet to respond to my DIRECT POSTS to you in this thread, numbers 40, 17, and post 10, while you address other posts from the alumni. Once again, if you cant respond to these posts because of what they represent in your bible is too disgusting to even try, then just be honest and tell me, okay?


When Christians understand why you dismiss all the other gods in the Before Common Era, then you will understand why I dismiss yours.

______________________________a

[JoeyKnothead]

[Replying to post 27 by JLB32168]
Just wanted to point the post out, where I submitted a request for moderator clarification.

Can we please get an official ruling on the use of Wikipedia as a source?

I await moderator clarification before I post what may or may not be valid arguments based on my use of wikipedia as a source.

[4insight]

[Replying to 4insight]

You could believe that somehow Jesus is Greek for Joshua (Iousua), or you could believe that anyone who spoke Greek or Latin would LISTEN AND HEAR:

I Zeus, or if you spoke Latin or Greek would be understood as "Hail Zeus."

What do you believe?
That the majority of the civilized world names a guy Iesous (when it should be Ieseoues), because it was Joshua.

Or names him Ie Zeus, after his father Jov (pron - Je o veh)?

It was nothing but a successful attempt by Rome to get the Jews worshiping Jove.

History reveals that the letter "J" did not exist about 500 years ago. One of the most asked questions of the century. How can the Messiah's Name be Jesus if the letter "J" did not exist 500 years ago? When did the letter "J" come into existent and is it accurate to say the Messiah's Name is indeed Jesus? The Messiah walked on earth about 2,000 years ago. If the letter and sound of "J" did not exist when the Messiah walked on this earth, what was His Name and when did the letter and sound of "J" come into existence?

In the English Alphabet, the letter "J" was originally used for the letter "I". The first to distinguish the difference between the letter "J" and the letter "I" was in Gian Giorgio's 1524 "Trissino's Epistola del Trissino de le lettere nuwvamente aggiunte ne la lingua ialiana" (Trissino's epistle about the letters recently added in the Italian language) "I" and "J" were originally the same letter but different shapes both equally the same letter. However, poets began to use it developing new sounds for "I" and "J". According to the history of the English Alphabet, the official and original sound of the letter "J" was the sound of "Y" in "yet" or "yellow". However, the very first English-language book to make clear distinction between the sound of "I" and the sound of "J" was not written until 1634. It wasn't until then, after the 1611 Bible was published, that the English language officially accepted the shape and sound of the letter "J" as "jay" and no longer the "yuh" "Y" sound.

There is not now nor was there ever an equivalent letter "J" in all the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Nor is there any Hebrew letter that carries even an approximate sound of the consonant letter "J". Neither is there a letter "J" in the Greek alphabet.
http://theletterj.followersofyah.com/

[JoeyKnothead]

From Post 38:

JoeyKnothead,

Truthfully, I am surprised that you haven't been banned as yet, by insinuating that Jesus was gay by your blatant innuendo of "did Jesus speak Greek?"

I asked if he spoke a language that some folks speak, that such language happens to be Greek is not to ask if he spoke with something poking him.

Barring that there are many passages that may allude to the possible fact that Jesus may have been gay, seemingly this topic should not be brought up in this forum or when with family. Some things should remain in the closet.

I object to the notion that homosexuality should be confined to "the closet", on the basis of the traumas and horrors homosexuals have faced throughout history, and still face to this day.

They have every right in the world to have their story told, they need their story told and if one's "family" ain't comfortable with it, I propose it's one's "family" who needs to hide in the closet.