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Language spoken by Jesus

There exists a consensus among scholars that the language of Jesus and his disciples was Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language of Judea in the first century AD. The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic speaking communities. Jesus probably spoke a Galilean variant of the language, distinguishable from that of Jerusalem. Based on the symbolic renaming or nicknaming of some of his apostles it is also likely that Jesus and at least one of his apostles knew enough Koine Greek to converse with those not native to Judea. It is reasonable to assume that Jesus was well versed in Hebrew for religious purposes.

Aramaic was the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean during and after the Neo Assyrian, Neo Babylonian, and Achaemenid empires (722–330 BC) and remained a common language of the region in the first century AD. In spite of the increasing importance of Greek, the use of Aramaic was also expanding, and it would eventually be dominant among Jews both in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the Middle East around 200 AD and would remain so until the Islamic conquests in the seventh century.

According to Dead Sea Scrolls archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Aramaic was the language of Hebrews until Simon Bar Kokhba's revolt (132 AD to 135 AD). Yadin noticed the shift from Aramaic to Hebrew in the documents he studied, which had been written during the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt. In his book, Bar Kokhba: The rediscovery of the legendary hero of the last Jewish Revolt Against Imperial Rome, Yigael Yadin notes, "It is interesting that the earlier documents are written in Aramaic while the later ones are in Hebrew. Possibly the change was made by a special decree of Bar Kokhba who wanted to restore Hebrew as the official language of the state". In another book by Sigalit Ben Zion, Yadin said: "it seems that this change came as a result of the order that was given by Bar Kokhba, who wanted to revive the Hebrew language and make it the official language of the state." Yadin points out that Aramaic was the lingua franca at the time.

The Greek New Testament transliterates a few Semitic words. When the text itself refers to the language of such Semitic glosses, it uses words meaning "Hebrew"/"Jewish" (Acts 21:40; 22:2; 26:14: têi hebraḯdi dialéktōi, ) but this term is often applied to unmistakably Aramaic words and phrases; for this reason, it is often interpreted as meaning "the (Aramaic) vernacular of the Jews" in recent translations. A small minority of scholars believe that most or all of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic. This theory is known as Aramaic primacy.

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. (KJV)

Also in Mark 10:51. Hebrew form rabbi used as title of Jesus in Matthew 26:25,49; Mark 9:5, 11:21, 14:45; John 1:38, 1:49, 4:31, 6:25, 9:2, 11:8. In Aramaic, it would have been רבוני.

This phrase, one of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross, is given in two versions: in the Gospel of Matthew, it is transliterated in Greek as Ἠλί, Ἠλί, λεμὰ σαβαχθανί; in the Gospel of Mark, it is given as Ἐλωΐ, Ἐλωΐ, λαμὰ σαβαχθανί. The differences between the two are the use, in Mark, of elōi rather than ēli, and of lama rather than lema. Overall, both versions can be said to be in Aramaic, rather than in Hebrew, because of the verb שבק (šbq) "abandon", which exists only in Aramaic. The Biblical Hebrew counterpart to this word, עזב (‘zb) is seen in the second line of the Old Testament's Psalm 22, which the saying appears to quote. Thus, Jesus is not quoting the canonical Hebrew version (ēlī ēlī lāmā ‘azabtānī), spoken by King David himself, but rather the version in an Aramaic Targum (translation of the Bible). Surviving Aramaic Targums do use the verb šbq in their translations of the Psalm 22. The word used in the Gospel of Mark for "my god", Ἐλωΐ, corresponds to the Aramaic form אלהי, elāhī. The one used in Matthew, Ἠλί, fits in better with the אלי of the original Hebrew Psalm, as has been pointed out in the literature; however, it may also be Aramaic because this form is attested abundantly in Aramaic as well. In the next verse, in both accounts, some who hear Jesus' cry imagine that he is calling for help from Elijah (Ēlīyā in Aramaic). Almost all ancient Greek manuscripts show signs of trying to normalize the two slightly different versions of Jesus's saying, presented in Mark and Matthew. For instance, the peculiar Codex Bezae renders both versions with ηλι ηλι λαμα ζαφθανι (ēli ēli lama zaphthani). The Alexandrian, Western and Caesarean textual families all reflect harmonization of the texts between Matthew and Mark. Only the Byzantine textual tradition preserves a distinction. The Aramaic word form šəḇaqtanī is based on the verb šǝḇaq/šāḇaq, 'to allow, to permit, to forgive, and to forsake', with the perfect aspect ending t (second person singular: 'you'), and the object suffix anī (first person singular: 'me'). The most likely rendition of the phrase in its original Aramaic, as said by Jesus, would have been "אלי, אלי, למה שבקתני", transliterated as Eli, Eli, ləmā šəḇaqtanī. In Hebrew, the saying would be "אֵלִי אֵלִי, לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי" (ēlī ēlī, lāmā ‘azabtānī in Biblical Hebrew, eli eli lama azavtani in Modern Hebrew pronunciation), while the Syriac Aramaic phrase according to the Peshitta would be (Matthew 27:46) or (Mark 15:34). This saying is taken by some as an abandonment of the Son by the Father. Another interpretation holds that at the moment when Jesus took upon himself the sins of humanity, the Father had to turn away from the Son because the Father is "of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong" (ESV). Other theologians understand the cry as that of one who was truly human and who felt forsaken. Put to death by his foes, very largely deserted by his friends, he may have also felt deserted by God. Others see these words in the context of Psalm 22 and suggest that Jesus recited these words, perhaps even the whole psalm, "that he might show himself to be the very Being to whom the words refer; so that the Jewish scribes and people might examine and see the cause why he would not descend from the cross; namely, because this very psalm showed that it was appointed that he should suffer these things."

Personal names in the New Testament come from a number of languages; Hebrew and Greek are most common. However, there are a few Aramaic names as well. The most prominent feature in Aramaic names is bar (Greek transliteration βαρ, Aramaic bar), meaning 'son of', a common patronym prefix. Its Hebrew equivalent, ben, is conspicuous by its absence. Some examples are:
 – Bartholomew (Βαρθολομαῖος from bar Tōlmay, perhaps "son of furrows" or "ploughman"). – Simon bar Jona (Σίμων Βαριωνᾶς from Šim‘ōn bar Yōnā, "Simon son of Jonah"). – Simon bar Jochanan ("Simon son of John"). – Barabbas (Βαραββᾶς from bar Abbā, "son of the father"). – Bartimaeus (Βαρτιμαῖος possibly from combination of Aramaic bar and Greek timaios meaning "honorable" or "highly prized", perhaps "honorable son"). – Barsabbas (Βαρσαββᾶς from bar Šabbā, "son of the Sabbath"). – Joseph who is called Barnabas (Βαρνάβας from bar Navā meaning "son of prophecy", "the prophet", but given the Greek translation υἱὸς παρακλήσεως; usually translated as "son of consolation/encouragement", the Greek could mean "invocation" as well). – Bar Jesus (Βαριησοῦς from bar Išo, "son of Jesus/Joshua").