Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth. He would have spoken a variant of Aramaic, perhaps a type of Palestinian Jewish Aramaic, as well as being cognizant of other languages such as Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. These influences would add context to many of the sayings and actions of Jesus.

When approaching scripture, it is worthwhile studying the sayings of Jesus through the lens of Galilean culture and language. It is also important to understand the development of Aramaic historically and geographically so that you are not coming to the wrong conclusions. For example, the Aramaic that Daniel spoke is different from that spoken in the later Babylonian academies and targums (Onkelos and Jonathan). This Aramaic is also different from that spoken in Palestine or Samaria. Syriac has different manifestations of Aramaic depending on whether it is early, late, western, or eastern. Jesus cried out to his father on the cross in Aramaic. He also uttered the words, ‘talitha cumi’ to the young girl who died. These are a couple of times when the New Testament records his words in Aramaic.

Finding and applying the correct dialect will help to explain not only what he said but why he said it. Palestinian Jewish Aramaic speakers of Jesus’ era were notable for the simple storytelling style of teaching. Likewise, Jesus taught in a parabolic, simple, earthy style that would have appealed to his Galilean disciples.

The booklet below will help you take an important step in understanding the language of Jesus

COURSE BOOKLET ‘ 10 CHAPTERS – Eli Lama Sabacthani’ :

i- About the Aramaic language

ii- The relevance of Aramaic to modern biblical students

iii- types of Aramaic

iv- the Aramaic of Jesus

v- Aramaic grammar

vi- writing basic Aramaic

vii- Constructing sentences

vii- reading the Old and New Testaments

viii- an examination of passages in the bible in Aramaic

ix-  Speaking Aramaic and the Passion of the Christ

x-   Aramaic   variants

QUESTION BOOKLET  

Questions from the course in Aramaic. After taking this course, the student should be able to answer these questions

VIDEO COURSE

A short course in Aramaic taught by R Christopher

     LESSON ONE: An Introduction to Aramaic

      LESSON TWO: The Aramaic of Jesus

Galilee: the place of Messiah’s childhood