Aramaic is the language Jesus spoke. I've been learning about the language, and own a Bible that is translated from the ancient near eastern Peshitta—directly from Aramaic. What do you say?— J.M.
True, Aramaic was the common language of Jews living in Palestine. Outside Palestine, most spoke Greek. And yes, the Peshitta is written in Syriac, which is a dialect of Aramaic. The Peshitta occasionally sheds light on biblical interpretation, but it is not the original language of the Bible—apart from 1% of the Old Testament.
All scholars acknowledge that 1% of the Old Testament is in Aramaic (mainly parts of Daniel and Ezra). The other 99% is in Hebrew. The Old Testament Peshitta dates to the 2nd century AD.
As for the New Testament, a handful of scholars believe Matthew (only) was written in Hebrew or Aramaic. The New Testament Peshitta dates to sometime before 400 AD, while Greek manuscripts of NT books date back to the 3rd and 2nd centuries.
The original language of the NT is Greek—the language most commonly spoken in the 1st century Mediterranean. The opinion that the original Bible was in Aramaic is the same error as that lying behind The Passion “Translation," which we discussed in a recent Q&A.
