In | Languages in Jesus’ Time

Psalm scroll in Hebrew

A bronze diploma grant of Roman citizenship in Latin

Papyrus fragment in Greek

Jesus lived in a multilingual world. Jewish Scriptures were read in Hebrew in synagogues, but Jews spoke Aramaic. In parts of cosmopolitan society, people spoke Greek. It was a common language used across the empire for people with different native tongues to converse as well as for commerce and literature. The New Testament, for example, is believed to have been originally composed largely or entirely in Greek. Latin, the language of the Romans, was largely associated with political, military and legal matters and not as prominent as Greek at this point. Mark is a writer sensitive to the many languages of his era.