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Miss a class? Need to catch up? Below: Revelation (Ch.1, Parts A, B, C)
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
"Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: 'Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!' Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?' " (Acts 2: 5-12)
The Language of Jesus
Aramaic appeared in the 10th century BC. By the 5th century, it had become the major language of the Near East, spoken and written from Egypt to India. In Eretz Yusraek*, Hebrew was still spoken in a late dialect which survived until near the end of the 2nd century AD. The language, however, that was spoken by most of the population was a dialect of Aramaic known as Western Aramaic.
*Eretz Yisrael - (Hebrew) Land of Israel; (modern) Jewish homeland to be established in the general area of Palestine. In Ottoman Turkish times, Eretz Yisrael and Eretz Hakodesh (the Holy Land) were used to designate the area surrounding Jerusalem and including areas from the Litani river in the north to modern Eilat. Under the British mandate, Eretz Yisrael came to designate the area of the Mandate, which was called in Hebrew - Palestina A"Y - Palestine - Eretz Yisrael. (description on zionism-israel.com)
Near the end of the Second Temple Period, the only language spoken by the Jews in Galilee was Aramaic, with Hebrew being preserved only in southern Judea. From this, we may assume that the language of Jesus was Aramaic.
Aramaic remained the language of the Jewish, and later Christian, population of Eretz Israel during the Byzantine and later Muslim Periods. Over history, it steadily lost ground to Arabic. We have a vast number of Christian texts, from the 6th century on, from Eretz Israel written in Aramaic for the Aramaic-speaking Christian community which continued to exist until late into the Middle Ages.
Aramaic in the dialect called Syriac has remained the language of prayer for millions of Christians, both in the Middle East and in the Diaspora, although unfortunately, in its spoken form it is quickly losing ground.
Pilgrims to Israel can become acquainted with this ancient language by visiting masses celebrated by the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church and the Maronites.