Hebrew & Aramaic Words in the Greek New Testament

  • The New Testament was originally written in Greek. Not in Hebrew or Aramaic, but in Greek. The Old Testament, on the other hand, was originally written in Hebrew though the following portions of the OT were originally in Aramaic: Genesis 31:47 (2 words), Jeremiah 10:11; Daniel 2:4-7:28, & Ezra 4:8-6:18, 7:12-26.
  • All Hebrew & Aramaic words that appear in the Greek New Testament were written in Greek letters, but they preserve the approximate sounds of the original Hebrew or Aramaic words, (i.e., they’re transliterated).
  • There is uncertainty on whether some of these transliterated words reflect an Aramaic or a Hebrew origin. This is common for languages in the same family.
  • The use of Hebrew & Aramaic words in the original Greek of the New Testament reflects normal practice in multicultural, multilingual contexts. For example, Paul is recorded as seamlessly switching from Greek to Aramaic in Acts 21:37-22:2, depending on the audience he is addressing. The entire episode is written in Greek, but it refers to the normal code-switching practices of bilingual people.
  • Within the transliterated Hebrew and Aramaic in the Greek New Testament, some of the words are loan-words (Luke 22:41), while others reflect moments of code-switching between languages (e.g., 1 Cor 1:12).

Aramaic words in the Greek New Testament

“empty headed”ῥακάMatt 5:22
“zealot” (Aram. kan’an)ΚαναναῖοςMatt 10:4; Mark 3:18.
“Save now” (Aram. Hosanna)ὡσαννὰMatt 21:9 (2x), 15; Mark 11:9; John 12:13
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”ελωι ελωι λεμα σαβαχθανιMark 15:34
“…why have you forsaken me?”λεμα σαβαχθανιMatt 27:46
“Little girl, rise.”ταλιθα κουμMark 5:41. The parallel in Matt 9:24 and Luke 8:54 omit this phrase.
“Be opened”εφφαθαMark 7:32
“Rabbi” (Aram. rabbouni)ῥαββουνίMark 10:51; John 20:16
“Father/Dad” (Aram. abba)αββαMark 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6

*Arranged according to their first occurrence in the canonical order of the NT. Compiled by searching “[ANY Aram]” in Accordance 13. Additional words were added based on the results from the transliterated Hebrew word search in the GNT, described below.


Hebrew words in the Greek new testament

“Accuser/Satan” (Heb. satan)σατανᾶςMatt 4:10; 12:26 (2x); 16:23; Mark 1:13; 3:23 (2x); 26; 4:15; 8:33; Luke 10:18; 11:18; 13:16; 22:3, 31; John 13:27; Acts 5:3; 26:18; Rom 16:20; 1 Cor 5:5, 2 Cor 2:11; 11:14; 12:7; 1 Thess 2:18; 2 Thess 2:9; 1 Tim 1:20; 5:15; Rev 2:9, 13 (2x), 24; 3:9 ; 12:9; 20:2, 7
“Truly, Amen”ἀμὴνMatt 5:18, 26; 6:2, 5, 16; 8:10; 10:15, 23, 42; 11:11; 13:17; 16:28; 17:20; 18:3, 13, 18, 19, 23, 28; 21:21, 31; 23:36; 24:2, 34, 47; 25:12, 40, 45; 26:13, 21, 34; Mark 3:28; 8:12; 9:1; 9:41; 10:15, 29; 11:23; 12:43; 13:30; 15:9, 18, 25, 30; [16:8b]; Luke 4:24, 37; 18:17, 29; 21:32, 43; John 1:51; 3:2 (2x), 5 (2x), 11 (2x); 5:19 (2x), 24 (2x); 6:26 (2x), 32 (2x), 47 (2x), 53 (2x); 8:34 (2x), 51 (2x), 58 (2x); 10:1 (2x), 7 (2x); 12:24 (2x); 13:16 (2x); 20 (2x), 21 (2x), 21 (2x), 38 (2x); 14:12 (2x); 16:20 (2x), 23 (2x); 21:18 (2x); Rom 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 15:22; 16:27; 1 Cor 14:16; 2 Cor 1:20; Gal 1:5; 6:18; Eph 3:21; Phil 4:20; 1 Thess 3:13; 1 Tim 1:17; 6:16; 2 Tim 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1 Peter 4:11; 5:11; [2 Pet 3:18]; Jude 25; Rev 1:6, 7; 3:14; 5:14; 7:12; Rev 19:4; Rev 22:20
“Gehenna”γέενναMatt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; Jas 3:6
“moth”σήςMatt 6:19, 20; Luke 12:33
“wealth” (Heb. mammon)μαμωνᾶςMatt 6:24; Luke 16:9, 11, 13
“sack cloth” (Heb. sak)σάκκοςMatt 11:21; Luke 10:13; Rev 6:12; 11:3
“Sabbath”σαββάτουMatt 12:1, 2, 5 (2x), 8, 10, 11, 12; 24:20; 28:1 (2x); Mark 1:21; 2:23, 24, 27 (2x), 28; 3:2, 4; 6:2; 16:1, 2, [9]; Luke 4:16, 31; 6:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9; 13:10, 14 (2x), 15, 16; 14:1, 3, 5; 18:12; 23:54, 56; 24:1; John 5:9, 10, 16, 18; 7:22, 23 (2x); 9:14, 16; 19:21 (2x); 20:1, 19; Acts 1:12; 13:14, 27, 42, 44; 15:21; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4; 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2; Col 2:16
A measure of quantity (Heb. sata)σάτονMatt 13:33; Luke 13:21
“Rabbi”ῥαββίMatt 23:7, 8; 26:25; Mark 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; John 1:38, 49; 3:2; 26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8
“Passover” (Heb. pesach)πάσχαMatt 26:2, 17, 18, 19; Mark 14:1, 12 (2x), 14, 16; Luke 2:41; 22:1, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15; John 2:13, 23; 6:4; 11:55; 12:1; 13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14; Acts 12:4; 1 Cor 5:7; Heb 11:28
“My God, my God…”ηλι ηλιMatt 27:46. The rest of this line is Aramaic.
Proper name “Boanerges” (Heb. “sons of thunder/earthquake/noise)βοανηργέςMark 3:17
(Heb. “man from Kyriot”[?])ἸσκαριώθMark 3:19; 14:10; Luke 6:16. The more Greek version Iskariot is in Matt 10:4; 26:14; Luke 22:3; John 6:71; 12:4; 13:2, 26; 14:22.
“Offering”κορβᾶνMark 7:11
“Beer” (Heb. shik’ra)σίκεραLuke 1:15
A liquid measureβάτοςLuke 16:6
A measure of quantityκόροςLuke 16:7
“Fine linen”βύσσοςLuke 16:19
Mulberry treeσυκάμινοςLuke 17:6
A unit of coinage (Heb. Mina)μνᾶςLuke 19:13, 16 (2x), 18 (2x), 20, 24 (2x), 25
   
“Rock” (Heb. Kepha)ΚηφᾶςJohn 1:42; 1 Cor 1:12; 3:22; 9:5; 15:5; Gal 1:18; 2:9, 11, 14
“Manna”μάνναJohn 6:31, 49; Heb 9:4; Rev 2:17
“Hyssop” (Heb. ayzov”)ὕσσωποςJohn 19:29
“of hosts”σαβαὼθRom 9:29; Jas 5:4
“Our Lord come!”μαράνα θά1 Cor 16:22. The same phrase in Revelation 22:21 has been translated into Greek.
Pledge/Down Payment (Heb. erabon)ἀρραβών2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14
“basket” (Heb sarag)σαργάνη2 Cor 11:33
“Hallelujah”ἁλληλουϊάRev 19:1, 3, 4, 6

*Arranged according to their first occurrence in the canonical order of the NT. Compiled by searching “[ANY Heb]” in the GNT in Accordance 13, and then comparing those results to the lists of Jeff A. Benner, “Hebrew Words in the Greek New Testament,” Ancient Hebrew Research Center. https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/semitic-origins/hebrew-words-in-the-greek-new-testament.htm; David N. Bivin and Joshua N. Tilton, “LOY Excursus: Greek Transliterations of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Hebrew/Aramaic Words in the Synoptic Gospels,” Jerusalem Perspective (2014). https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/12404/; and Walter Bauer, “An Introduction to the Lexicon of the Greek New Testament,” BDAG, xxii. Finally, each occurrence of each word word from the resultant list was independently verified to be in the GNT.

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