Jesus Spoke Aramaic, Not Greek or English

While the New Testament was written in Greek, Jesus' daily language was Aramaic — a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew that had become the common tongue across the ancient Near East after the Babylonian exile.

Several moments in the Gospels preserve Jesus' actual Aramaic words: "Talitha koum" (Mark 5:41), "Ephphatha" (Mark 7:34), and "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani" (Mark 15:34). These phrases survived because the Gospel writers considered them too important to only paraphrase.

Jesus would also have known Hebrew — used in synagogue readings and religious discourse — and likely understood some Greek, the trade language of the Roman Empire. But His parables, prayers, and teachings were delivered in the language of ordinary people: Aramaic.