Language Studies

In Mark 7:11 (the parallel passage is Matthew 15:5), Jesus critiques the Pharisees regarding their treatment of the Law. The Fifth Commandment commands them to honor their father and mother. But if a man tells his parents, “whatever you would have gained from me is Corban (that is, given to God),” then in the view of…

The majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew, but some are in Aramaic. During the 1950’s the work on the scrolls progressed, including the study of some of the Aramaic material. In the course of the study of some of those Aramaic fragments a text was found that included the Aramaic phrase “men of his good pleasure.”…

In the KJV, the second half of Luke 2:14 reads, “and on earth peace, good will toward men.” The new English Standard Version (ESV) reads, “and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” The NIV reads, “and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” The older version suggests the idea of a general…

It is often the case that archaeological discoveries in the Near East, either epigraphic (written items) or material remains (such as coins, pottery, and tools) have an impact on modern Bible translations. The average lay reader (by “lay” I do not mean laity as opposed to clergy, but rather non-academic as opposed to…

The standard Greek text of the New Testament is that of the 27th edition of Nestle-Aland and the 4th edition of the United Bible Society. These are identical as to the text presented, differing in the textual apparatus. The textual apparatus in the NA text presents more alternative readings, but cites fewer evidences. The…

Syriac is a later form of Aramaic (compared to Official Aramaic) that became the basis of the primary language of the church in western Asia. This is the language in which the Peshitta version of the Bible is written. It is much more closely related, however, to Official Aramaic than it is to the Modern Syriac that is still…

Biblical Aramaic, the Aramaic that is found in the Old Testament, falls under the general category of Official Aramaic. This was the form of Aramaic that is found in the in the written material that originated between roughly 700 and 200 BC. It is represented by texts found in Egypt (both Upper and Lower), Arabia, Palestine,…

A number of Aramaic (or more properly, Syriac) manuscripts and fragments of all or parts of the New Testament exist. These are usually categorized into five different Syriac versions that came into existence over the years, based on considerations of style, script, location, etc. The first of these is the Old Syriac version,…

Before we move into discussion of particular passages and particular terms related to Aramaic and the Bible, there is one more topic that needs to be discussed. That topic is the issue of the importance of Aramaic for study of the Bible, whether Old Testament or New Testament. Now, for the Old Testament, the relative importance…

Aramaic is a Semitic language, as are many other languages significant for the study of the Scriptures. Hebrew and Akkadian are both Semitic languages, as is Ugaritic. Both Akkadian and Ugaritic are much more significant for the study of the Old Testament than the New Testament. Other ancient Near Eastern languages, such…

Aramaic is one of the three languages used in writing the original texts of the Bible. It does not occur in the New Testament, which was composed entirely in Greek. However, some scholars are of the opinion that the Gospel According to Matthew may have originally been composed in Aramaic then translated later into…

  The sixth letter in the alphabet is waw (ܘ). The Hebrew equivalent is also called waw (ו), or in Modern Hebrew pronunciation, usually vav. The sound is the sound of English "w." There is no equivalent in Greek. It is, as…

As I've noted in previous columns, Syriac, and a number of other Semitic languages, were originally written without vowels. This brings us to an interesting side trail. Ethiopic is another Semitic language. It, however, is written with vowels. The catcher is this. Each Ethiopic consonant takes a somewhat different form,…

Another distinctive of many, but not all, Semitic languages is that the written form of the language originally used no vowels. The primary exception to this rule is Akkadian, which was the language of Babylon and Assyria. Akkadian was written in cuneiform, which uses combinations of wedge-shaped characters. In some ways,…