In what language was the bible origionaly written?

Question

also if it goes from ancient language to latin to whatever and then th english how much of it is actually the words of jesus?

Answer 1

The Old Testament was in Hebrew.

The New Testament was originally written in Aramaic and then later translated to Greek and Latin.  

Answer 2

The Old Testament = Hebrew

The New Testament = Greek.

"The Bible is a collection of 66 individual books that together tell the story of a group of people bound by a common faith in God. It is divided into two main sections: the Old Testament containing 39 books originally written primarily in Hebrew, and the New Testament containing 27 books originally written primarily in Greek."

"The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Hebrew Bible (also called by Jews Tanakh), known to Christians as the Old Testament. It is sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, or the New Covenant – which is the literal translation of the original Greek. The original texts were written in Koine Greek by various authors after c. AD 45 and before c. AD 140. Its 27 books were gradually collected into a single volume over a period of several centuries."

Answer 3

old testament in Aramaic

new testament Aramaic and Greek

I am talking only for the bible

Apostle Paul testaments in Greek and in Latin

St Johns Apocalypse in Greek  

Answer 4

OK, H actually gave a pretty good answer - unfortunately suffused (and skewed) with his bias in favor of Roman Catholicism.

Let's break this into sections:

I  What are the original languages of the scriptures included in the bible?

II What was the language of the first bible?

III From what are modern bibles translated?

I) What are the original languages of the scriptures included in the bible?

The simple answer is:

ancient Hebrew

ancient Aramaic and

ancient Greek.

Those who break it down further are prone to error, but here is a *factual* breakdown:

Hebrew Bible - ancient Hebrew and ancient Aramaic

Christian Old Testament - the **traditional** scriptures of the Old Testament were written in all 3 languages mentioned above.  Some Christians (by far the minority, but still a large number) accept only the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible in their Old Testament.

New Testament - ancient Greek and *possibly* ancient Aramaic.  There are some who contend that Aramaic was never an original language of any of the New Testament scriptures, and the safest thing to do is to qualify (as I have done).

II) What was the language of the first bible?

This depends on how you define the term "bible."  One definition is

A) A complete collection of Christian scriptures all translated into a single language and collected under a single cover.

If this is your definition, the earliest bibles we know are the 4th century C.E. Greek codices.  However, it should be recognized that these collections of scripture appear to have been made *without* considering which scriptures were authoritative (legitimate) and which were not.  These early codices include scriptures not normally included in any later bibles.

B) A complete collection of **approved** Christian scriptures all translated into a single language and collected under a single cover.

If this is your definition, the first bible was probably the Latin Vulgate from the very early 5th century C.E. (about 405 or probably later).  This was *not* entirely translated by Jerome, who may or may not have been a genius.  Additionally, it is unrealistic to credit the Roman Catholic Church with this accomplishment, as the Christian church of the time - which extended throughout the Roman Empire - was the hierarchichal predecessor of **many** modern sects, hardly only the Roman Catholics.  At the very minimum, the Eastern Orthodox sects must be given equal credit for the creation of this bible, and there are several other less well-known sects that split from this early Christian Church *after* the production of the Latin Vulgate, and so they, too, can properly claim credit for the process.

III) From what are modern bibles translated?

Nearly all modern, scholarly bible translations are translated directly from the original languages, with (in very specific instances) early translations being used to clarify the meaning of unknown words or passages that are incomprehensible in the currently available original language documents.  In other words, bibles are *not* translated from ancient Hebrew to Greek to Latin to French to English.  Such things *have been done* in the past.  However, nearly all modern, scholarly translations are translated from the most ancient and complete original language manuscripts that are known.  There are a very few exceptions - the New King James Bible (intentionally making use of less ancient source text) and the Knox Bible (intended and advertised as an English translation of the Latin Vulgate) come to mind.  So, **in general** and as much as is possible, any modern, scholarly bible translation is a translation of the original works from the original languages and does *not* suffer from more than one generation of translation.

Finally

"how much of it is actually the words of jesus?"

Not much.  We have some quotes from Jesus in the gospels and the beginning of Acts and in Revelation (and, as mentioned in a previous answer, the "red letter" bibles are really just a publisher's best guess).  We also have some quotes from contemporaries of Jesus who claim to be teaching the gospel of Jesus (I am speaking primarily of Paul here).  However, much of the teachings of Jesus that we have received even in scripture is second or even third hand.  Most Christians believe that the entire bible is the word of God, and that this means it is the word of Jesus as well.

Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

Answer 5

The orginal language of the Bible is:  Latin.  Are you surprised?  Do you know where the Bible came from?  It was the Holy Catholic Church who commissioned St. Jerome, a liguistics genius and Priest to translate the scrolls and letters used by the Jews and early Christians into the vernacular (common language of the people).  That translation was edited by the Church and became known as the Latin Vulgate Bible ("Vulgate" meaning: Of the people, as in the common language of the people).  This is the first Christian Bible.  When the Work was completed it was the Roman Catholic Church who declared  the Latin Vulgate Bible to be:  The Written Word of God.  The Catholic Church gave birth to the Bible somewhere around 400 AD.  

I think what you are asking is:  What were the original languages?  

Broadly speaking the Old Testament (of the Christian Bible) was written in Hebrew.  The New Testament was written in Greek.  The Language of Jesus was probably Aramaic.  How much of the Engish are the actual words of Jesus?  Nothing.  You are probably now asking about the 'Red Letter' edition of the Bible.  What appears in red is the presumed English translation of the words spoken by Jesus.  Since there were no sound recorders in existence during the time of Jesus it is impossible to say what were Jesus' exact words.

Most reputable Bibles will give you a good translation.  As for His exact words, just keep in mind that these were probably spoken in Aramic or Hebrew, translated by the scribes (people who wrote books by hand) into Greek, then translated by St. Jerome into Latin and finally into English.  If you are interested, the Douay-Rheims Bible is the English Language version of the Latin Vulgate.  The Latin Vulgate was in fact the original Bible.

H