Languages
The Languages of the Bible
Every translation is a negotiation between languages that make different distinctions. Greek renders fine gradations through verbal aspect, participles, and articles; Biblical Hebrew is compressed, wordplay-rich, and deliberately ambiguous; Latin has a precise case system and flexible word order — but not always the same subtleties as Greek or Hebrew.
c. 1200 BCE – 200 CE
Biblical Hebrew
Northwest Semitic
Compressed, concrete, and rooted in three-consonant word families.
9 documents·6 ms / 2 ver / 1 tr
c. 900 BCE – 200 CE
Biblical Aramaic
Northwest Semitic
The lingua franca of the ancient Near East, and the everyday language of Jesus.
2 documents·1 ms / 0 ver / 1 tr
c. 1000 – 100 BCE
Paleo-Hebrew
Northwest Semitic
The pre-exilic script of ancient Israel, preserved by the Samaritans.
2 documents·1 ms / 1 ver / 0 tr
c. 300 BCE – 300 CE
Koine Greek
Hellenic (Indo-European)
The precise, philosophically-rich common Greek of the Hellenistic world.
15 documents·13 ms / 1 ver / 1 tr
c. 200 BCE – present (Ecclesiastical Latin)
Latin
Italic (Indo-European)
The rigorous, case-driven language of the Western Church for a millennium.
4 documents·2 ms / 2 ver / 0 tr
c. 1st c. CE – present
Syriac
Northwest Semitic (Eastern Aramaic)
The Aramaic dialect of Edessa and the language of Eastern Christianity.
2 documents·1 ms / 1 ver / 0 tr
c. 200 CE – 1300 CE
Coptic
Afro-Asiatic (Egyptian)
The final phase of the Egyptian language, and a key early witness to the New Testament.
1 document·0 ms / 1 ver / 0 tr
c. 1150 – 1500 CE
Middle English
West Germanic (Indo-European)
The English of Chaucer and Wycliffe — post-Norman, pre-printing.
1 document·0 ms / 1 ver / 0 tr
c. 1500 – 1700 CE
Early Modern English
West Germanic (Indo-European)
The English of Tyndale, Shakespeare, and the King James Bible.
5 documents·0 ms / 5 ver / 0 tr