The word Aramaic comes from "Aram" the Hebrew word for ancient Syria. Aramaic was originally spoken by Arameans in Northern Syria and Mesopotamia and used in commercial and diplomatic transactions. The language eventually replaced Hebrew and was spoken at the time of Jesus. At that time, Hebrew scriptures were translated into Aramaic paraphrases called "Targums." There are several places in the Greek New Testament which reflect Aramaic background and thought. This includes several words which have been preserved from Aramaic in Mark 5:41, 7:34, and 15:34. However, it is unlikely that entire sections of the New Testament are a direct translation from Aramaic.

Today, people in Ma'lula and a few other Christian villages continue to use a modern form of Aramaic, influenced by Arabic.
 

The Old Testament, not including the Apocrypha, is written in Hebrew, with the exception of Daniel 2: 4 to 7: 28; Ezra 4: 8 to 6: 18, and 7: 12-26, which are written in Aramaic, called also Chaldee. One verse of Jeremiah (10: 11) is also written in Aramaic.

The Hebrew language is one of a large group of dialects embraced under the term Semitic, from Shem, the oldest son of Noah. The Semitic language, or languages, includes the Assyrian, Babylonian, Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic, Syriac, Phoenician, Punic or language of Carthage, Ethiopic, and a few other dialects known only from monumental inscriptions.

Old Testament Hebrew was closely related to the languages of the nations bordering on Palestine in early times, as is shown by the inscription on the Moabite stone, and by many Phoenician inscriptions. As a spoken language it was subject to certain provincialism, as all languages are; but as a written language, and especially for sacred purposes, it remained comparatively unchanged from the time of Moses to the captivity. After the captivity the language was considerably affected by intercourse with foreign peoples.  The Aramaic, in which portions of Ezra and Daniel are written, was the speech of Aram (Padan-Aram), or that part of Syria included between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. But, being a trade language, it spread among many nations, and encroached upon the Hebrew in northern Palestine. Some have thought that the Jews brought back the Aramaic language
with them from the captivity, and for this reason the Aramaic portions of the Bible are sometimes called Chaldee, but there is nothing in the language to connect it with Chaldea.

In later times, two or three centuries before Christ, the Greek language threatened to
displace both the Hebrew and Aramaic in Palestine, but this was prevented by a reaction brought about through the Rabbinic schools.
 

The language of the New Testament is Greek. It is not, however, the Greek of classical writers, but a mixed Greek, called Judeo-Greek or Hellenistic, a dialect aptly described as "Hebrew thought in Greek clothing." The Septuagint version was written in this language, and it was largely used in Egypt, Asia Minor and Palestine, though it varied greatly in the Asiatic and African provinces subject to Macedonian rule. We have but an imperfect knowledge of this language as spoken, but it seems to have been absorbed by contact with other languages better adapted for commerce.
 
 

The Old Testament of the Bible was originally written in the Hebrew language with a few sections written in the Aramaic language. The OT contains the sacred writings of the Hebrews and contains books of the Law, history of Israel, wisdom, and prophecy. The events of the OT occurred between roughly 1800 B.C. and 400 B.C. A Greek translation of the OT, called the Septuagint, was produced between 200 and 100 B.C. for the benefit of Greek speaking Jews in Alexandria, Egypt.

The New Testament emerged in the late second century, A.D. The early church leaders included books they believed were written by eyewitnesses to the events narrated, while rejecting many other early Christian writings. Eventually, the 27 books which form the present New Testament, along with the OT books, became the Christian Bible as we know it today.

The New Testament contains the four gospels, or "good news," of Jesus Christ, some history of the early Christian church, and a number of letters written by the Apostle Paul and other Christian leaders. All the NT books were written in Greek over the period of about 50 to 120 A.D. The earliest works in the NT are the letters of Paul to the early Christian communities. The first of the Gospels was probably Mark, written around 70 A.D., about 40 years after Jesus was crucified. Matthew, Luke and Acts were written between 80 and 90 A.D. Finally, The Gospel of
John appeared in its final form around 95 A.D.

The Apocrypha, a group of 15 late OT books, was written during the period 170 B.C. to 70 A.D. These Jewish books were included in many versions of the Septuagint in circulation as the New Testament was being formed, but were excluded from the official canon of Judaism, established about 100 A.D. Today, the books of the Apocrypha are included in Catholic versions of the OT, but not in most Protestant versions.

During the first centuries A.D., Latin replaced Greek as the language of the Roman
Empire. In 405 a Latin translation of the Old and New Testaments was completed. This version, known as the Vulgate, became the standard Bible of Christianity for many centuries.

The first English version of the full Bible was John Wycliffe's translation of the Vulgate in 1384. Several other English versions followed, and the beloved King James version was published in 1611.

None of the original texts of the OT or NT are known to exist; the best available sources are hand-made copies of copies. However, developments in archaeology and biblical scholarship have made possible a number of modern, more accurate English translations of the scriptures. These newer versions are translated from the best available ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, rather than from the King James version or the Latin Vulgate.
 
 

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