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Why was the New Testament originally written in Greek and not in Hebrew or Aramaic and are there any original Greek manuscripts in existence?
Wiki User
∙ 8y ago
Most scholars agree that the New Testament was written in Greek. There are no surviving original manuscripts, but there are some reasonably old ones. One reasons that the New Testament was written in Greek and not Hebrew is that Hebrew was no longer a day-to-day language, even among the Palestinian Jews, who now spoke Aramaic. The Diaspora Jews spoke Greek.Among the major books of the New Testament:
- The Epistle to the Hebrews is almost universally regarded as an exceptional work of Greek writing. Even in the early centuries of the Church, commentators wrote of its elegant Greek style.
- Paul's epistles were written in Greek, for a Gentile audience.
- Mark, Matthew and Luke contain substantial sections of text that are identical in Greek, because the authors of Matthew and Luke used Mark as their major source. If translation from or to Aramaic (or Hebrew) had been involved, the translation process would have resulted in changes to the text, but not the meaning. Matthew used the Greek 'Septuagint' translation of the Hebrew Bible for his Old Testament references, indicating that he was more familiar with Greek than with Hebrew. Luke inadvertently conjoined Mark's previous/subsequent text surrounding the Missing Block, using the same Greek words. So, all the New Testament gospels were written in Greek.
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∙ 8y ago
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What was the original language of the bible?
The Old Testament was primarily written originally in Hebrew, though some sections were originally in Aramaic. The New Testament was originally written in Greek, although again a minority of scholars believe that Matthew was originally written in Aramaic. Counting the apocrypha (Judith, Tobith, Wisdom, Sirach, etc.) as deuterocanonical, they were originally written in Greek, for the most part.
What languages were the books of the Bible written in?
The original langues were Hebrew (old Testament) Chaldee (during the captivity of Judah in Babylon) and Greek (new Testament). These have been translated into nearly every language in existence
Most accurate version of the Bible?
The original manuscripts
When was The New Testament in the Original Greek created?
The New Testament in the Original Greek was created in 1881.
How old are the original greek manuscripts of bible?
1500 Years old.
Is amen in he original manuscripts of New Testament writing?
No original manuscripts of the New Testament exist.Therefore, whether or not a certain word appeared or not in the original manuscripts is largely a matter of conjecture or debate. Strictly speaking, even the existence of "the original manuscripts of New Testament writing" in a form that we would all recognize as such, hasn't been proven, even though most people may assume that they existed in some form. http://www.answers.com/topic/biblicalmanuscript#Dating_the_New_Testament_manuscripts This link, attached below, states; The New Testament books appear to have been completed within the 1st century. However, the original manuscripts of the New Testament books do not survive today. The autographs were lost or destroyed a long time ago. What survives are copies of the original. Generally speaking, these copies were made centuries after the originals from other copies rather than from the autograph. However, the word "amen" does exist in most copies of the New Testament available nowadays. Further up on the page from the link provided, it states; There has been an estimate of between 200,000 and 300,000 variations among all the manuscripts (from the 2nd to 15th century) which is more variations than words in the New Testament. Nevertheless, the use of the word "amen" in Hebrew at that time (and previously) seems to lend credence to the belief that its use in any "original manuscripts" of New Testament writings is indeed plausible.
What were the original documents in the New Testament called?
If you are referring to the manuscripts of the writings of the Apostles and some disciples, these eventually became known as the New Testament.
what languages was the original bible written in?
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, with some parts in Aramaic and a few words of Persian.The New Testament was originally written in Greek.aramaicAnswer:The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, with some portions written in Aramaic. The New Testament was originally written entirely in Koine (common) Greek.
What are the earliest known surviving manuscript?
Firstly, it needs to be understood that there are no surviving original manuscripts of the New Testament. The earliest surviving manuscripts of the Old Testament date to the 10th Century AD. There are 5,686 manuscripts of the New Testament in existence. Manuscript fragment p52, also known as the John Rylands fragment which contains John 18:3`1-33, 37-38, is dated around 125 AD, although some scholars date it as early as 110 AD. Many other manuscript fragments date from late in the second century although some scholars date them somewhat earlier. The Codex Vaticanus is the earliest known complete manuscript to have survived being dated to around 325-350 AD.
How many manuscripts are there of the New Testament?
There are more than 24,000 surviving manuscripts or pieces of the New Testament manuscripts. Of these the earliest manuscripts date back to 130 AD. This is just decades after Mark was written in 50 AD. And of the discrepancies that are "found" they are differences of 'he' verses 'him' or 'they' and 'them' or misspellings of the word because at that time the early Christians had to spread the Gospel quickly and the error checking like that of the Old Testament was not available and was not the most viable solution. Keep in mind Plato was written between 427-347 BC and the earliest copy is from 900AD. That is 1200 years and there are only 7 copies of the original.
What was the original language of the bible?
The Old Testament was primarily written originally in Hebrew, though some sections were originally in Aramaic. The New Testament was originally written in Greek, although again a minority of scholars believe that Matthew was originally written in Aramaic. Counting the apocrypha (Judith, Tobith, Wisdom, Sirach, etc.) as deuterocanonical, they were originally written in Greek, for the most part.
What languages were the books of the Bible written in?
The original langues were Hebrew (old Testament) Chaldee (during the captivity of Judah in Babylon) and Greek (new Testament). These have been translated into nearly every language in existence
Most accurate version of the Bible?
The original manuscripts
What name do you give for an author's original copy of a book?
Manuscripts
When was The New Testament in the Original Greek created?
The New Testament in the Original Greek was created in 1881.
How can you tell you have an original Bible?
I have a degree in Biblical Studies and I've never heard of a Bible referred to as "an original Bible." The original manuscripts (autographs) of the books that became the canon (our Bible) are not extant (still in existence). Bibles are mass-produced. They are printed from electronic copy by the company that owns the license for that particular translation. No Bible is more or less original than others.
If the Dead Sea Scroll was written hundred of years before the New Testament but survived then why then are there no original manuscripts of the New Testament today?
The Dead Sea Scrolls survived as a result of the fortunes of war and climate. After the end of the Jewish War in 70 CE, the Essenes abandoned the scrolls in remote caves near the Dead Sea. They remained undisturbed for nearly two thousand years in a dry climate favourable for their survival. Even so, many of the scrolls are mere fragments. On the other hand, the earliest New Testament documents would have been working documents - read, preached from, and copied, until they simply disintegrated. We should read nothing from the lack of original New Testament manuscripts.
