What language did Jesus & apostles read scriptures

3John2 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 02:27 PM

This might sound dumb but what language did Jesus & the Apostles read the scriptures in? Was it in Hebrew or did they read the Greek Septuagint?

BobVigneault · #2 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 03:01 PM

Greek Septuagint and the KJV of course.

3John2 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 03:24 PM

I KNEW about the KJV but I thought perhaps they might use the Hebrew texts as they were Jews however the more I've studied I started to get confused as it appears (as you pointed out) that they used the Greek Septuagint.

BobVigneault · #4 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 03:28 PM

Yes, Alexander made sure that everyone was on the same page. Koine greek was the common language of trade and travel and so it was the best language to propagate the Word for the time.

3John2 · #5 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 10:45 PM

Funny but really sad though a year ago I had a discussion which later turned into an argument (the guy lost & almost hit my pastor, very much like a demon possession type of thing) with a then friend of mine who pretended to be a christian. We would sit around & discuss the Word etc well one day he told me he belonged to a "church" (cult) called "The Order of Melchizedek". Well as soon as he said that I knew he was in trouble. Told me they used the Peshitta at his church because Aramaic was the language that Jesus & His apostles used ("Did you know that? "). I was like sure whatever I use a KJV & have over 17 other translation at home & I DO use them all. Anyways I later mentioned "I sure would like to learn Greek". This was prior to me joining/starting seminary. He replied "Why would you want to do that?". I said well it was the language that the New Testament was written in. It wasn't written in Aramaic. Only a few portions from Daniel were. Really when you read the Peshitta you are reading a translation of a translation. It was translated from Greek or Hebrew INTO Aramaic then from that translated to English. "
The look on his face was priceless as was his response "where did you get THAT from?" As if I was wrong. Anyways the guy had a VERY bad breakdown at a bible study with my pastor & thought we were nuts for being Reformed. Never heard from him again.

Wannabee · #6 (**permalink**) 11-07-2007, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobVigneault

Yes, Alexander made sure that everyone was on the same page. Koine greek was the common language of trade and travel and so it was the best language to propagate the Word for the time.

Alexander did his work well. The Jews of Jesus' time obviously were familiar with the LXX. However, how can we be sure that this was exclusive? I see no reason why they wouldn't have been reading from the Hebrew as well. There were purists who resented anything Greek, Roman, Hellenistic. Do we have documentation to prove whether or not the Hebrew texts were read as well?

Jerusalem Blade · #7 (**permalink**) 11-07-2007, 04:22 PM

I posit the following to uphold the view that the Lord and His apostles read the Hebrew Scriptures. There is a good bit of information here, for it is an interesting topic.

This quote is from The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Vol. 1, pp.129, 130; by Alfred Edersheim:

If Greek was the language of the court and camp, and indeed must have been spoken by most in the land, the language of the people, spoken also by Christ and His Apostles, was a dialect of the ancient Hebrew, the Western or Palestinian Aramaic. It seem strange that this could ever have been doubted. A Jewish Messiah Who would urge His claim upon Israel in Greek, seems almost a contradiction in terms. We know, that the language of the Temple and the Synagogue was Hebrew, and that the addresses of the Rabbis had to be “targumed” into the vernacular Aramaen – and can we believe that, in a Hebrew service, the Messiah could have arisen to address the people in Greek, or that He could have argued with the Pharisees and Scribes in that tongue, especially remembering that its study was actually forbidden by the Rabbis?

A thread here at PB discussing the LXX’s Ps. 14:3 and the alleged use of it in Romans 3:12-18 can be found here (my input is in post #5): Psalm 14:3 in LXX.

Further discussion of the LXX can be found here on PB in the thread, "The Apostles' Bible"

What follows is excerpted from an essay on the OT text (by Dr. Thomas Strouse), and here in particular what was used by Jesus:

First, the Bible clearly shows that the Lord Jesus Christ used the Hebrew text as His Scriptures. When Satan tempted Him, the Lord submitted Himself to the written Words of God [xxvi] by stating, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Mt. 4:4). The expression "It is written" (gegraptai) is in the perfect tense indicating past action with continuing results. In effect the Lord said this Hebrew verse to which He alluded (Dt. 8:3), and obviously the Hebrew Book of Deuteronomy and consequently the Hebrew Pentateuch, had been written (by Moses the Hebrew) and was still written to His very day. The Lord Jesus Christ had the preserved Words of the Hebrew OT available to Him just as He had promised (cf. Dt. 4:2; 12:32; 17:18-20; 29:1, 29; 30:11-14 [vide Rom. 10:6-8]; 31:9-13, 24-27; Josh. 1:7-8; Ps. 12:6-7; 119:111, 152, 160).  

The Lord taught that the jots and tittles of the Hebrew OT would be preserved, stating, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Mt. 5:18). He believed that the very consonants and the very vowels of the OT Hebrew words of prophecies (and of course all the other words of Scripture) were preserved perfectly intact in His day and would continue until final fulfillment (cf. Jn. 12:48). Since the Greek OT (LXX) does not have jots and tittles He was not referring to this inferior translation which has a historical background and timetable that are very suspect.  

Again the Lord Jesus alluded to the three-fold division of the Hebrew OT, which division the LXX does not follow, when He affirmed, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me" (Lk. 24:44; cf. v. 27; also Acts 26:22). The law (torah), the prophets (nebiim), and the writings (kethubim [of which Psalms was first]) made up the Hebrew OT and is called the Tanak. He elaborated on His use of the Hebrew OT when the Lord identified the Pharisees' persecution of the prophets with their murderous Jewish ancestors, stating, "From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation" (Lk. 11:51). He surveyed the whole scope of the Hebrew OT, using the examples of the murder of the righteous Abel from the first book (Genesis 4:8) to the murder of the righteous Zacharias from the last book (II Chronicles 24:20-22).  

The Biblical truths that the Lord Jesus always used the Hebrew text for His Scriptures includes His reference to the perfectly preserved Hebrew text, His reference to the perfect preservation of the smallest components of Hebrew words, and His reference to the three-fold division of the Hebrew OT are indisputable. The NT does not countenance the assumed position that Christ used the LXX because it clearly contradicts this false assumption. The Lord consistently alluded to the Hebrew OT. Since the nature and character of the LXX are extremely questionable, the alleged argument that the NT quotes the LXX must be rejected. The supposed NT quotes of the LXX must be understood in another way. The simple fact of the matter is that the LXX was in part or whole post-first century and never used by Christ or the Apostles.

Excerpt taken from: SCHOLARLY MYTHS PERPETUATED ON REJECTING THE MASORETIC TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Hope this is of help.