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1 2 Discover ARAMAIC – THE BIBLE'S SECOND HOLY LANGUAGE Discover ARAMAIC The Bible's SECOND Holy Language By Ewan MacLeod, B.Sc. Hons, M.Sc. 3 Ewan MacLeod is the creator of the following websites: JesusSpokeAramaic.com JesusSpokeAramaicBook.com BibleManuscriptSociety.com Copyright © Ewan MacLeod, JesusSpokeAramaic.com, 2016. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into, a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, scanning, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission from the copyright holder. The right of Ewan MacLeod to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the copyright holder's prior consent, in any form, or binding, or cover, other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Jesus Spoke AramaicTM is a Trademark. 4 Discover ARAMAIC – THE BIBLE'S SECOND HOLY LANGUAGE T ABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.............................................................................6 The Importance of Aramaic..................................................... 9 A Brief History of Aramaic...................................................... 11 In the beginning... Aramaic!..................................................... 17 Aramaic and the Old Testament............................................20 Aramaic and the Assyrian Empire..........................................26 Aramaic and the Babylonian Empire......................................35 The Babylonian Exile............................................................ 45 Aramaic and the Medo-Persian Empire..................................55 Aramaic and the Greek Empire.............................................. 64 The Maccabean Revolt...........................................................75 Aramaic and the Roman Empire.............................................90 A.D. 70 – The End of an Age.................................................97 The Bar Kokhba Revolt......................................................... 112 Aramaic, Hebrew and the Greek Septuagint Translation.......123 What Does Josephus Say?................................................... 130 5 Aramaic – The Language of Egypt...................................... 140 Aramaic in the New Testament...............................................145 Aramaic – The Language of Jesus........................................ 155 Did Jews speak Greek?........................................................ 164 Aramaic and the Church Fathers............................................ 171 Aramaic and the Dead Sea Scrolls.......................................180 What About Hebrew?!........................................................... 186 Was Latin spoken amongst Jews?.........................................192 Aramaic – Judaism’s Second Holy Language........................197 What is Biblical Aramaic?..................................................... 200 What are the Aramaic Targums?...........................................204 What is the Aramaic Peshitta OLD Testament?......................211 What is the Aramaic Peshitta NEW Testament?......................218 Armenian Bible – From Aramaic, not Greek!.........................226 The Arabic Bible – From The Aramaic New Testament!..........231 From Aramaic to Arabic........................................................ 235 Aramaic into Crusader Times............................................... 239 Aramaic (and the Gospel) Spread EAST............................248 The (Aramaic) Church of the East...................................... 260 Dialects of Aramaic............................................................. 270 The Syriac Dialect of Aramaic..............................................276 6 Discover ARAMAIC – THE BIBLE'S SECOND HOLY LANGUAGE Aramaic is Still Spoken Today.............................................. 282 How Different are Hebrew and Aramaic?.............................284 Glossary...............................................................................289 About Ewan MacLeod.......................................................... 291 Visit JesusSpokeAramaic.com..............................................293 INTRODUCTION 7 Introduction HANK YOU for your interest in Aramaic, and for being interested enough to read this book. Before you get started, Thowever, please take a few minutes to read this Introduction. It may help to put a few things into context. From a great deal of experience in talking to people about Aramaic, I invariably find that nearly everyone falls into one of two camps: ➔ Some people are reasonably open to, and interested in, the idea that Aramaic forms such a central part of the Holy Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. Whether atheists or Bible believers of one sort or another, they have little resistance to Aramaic, and are eager to learn more. ➔ I have learned from bitter first-hand experience, however, that other people are incredibly hostile against Aramaic, with attacks becoming very personal, very malicious, very illogical, very unpredictable and rather surprising. How so? Why the stark contrast? Why should it be such a divisive subject? Why are some people so vehemently against Aramaic? Well, I am well placed to answer that, because I used to be one of those people! I was (and still am) extremely pro-Hebrew. I believed (and still do) that Hebrew is the Holy Language. I was aware, of course, that portions of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic (Biblical Aramaic). But when I started to hear that Aramaic should be central to Bible studies and was the source of the New Testament, I initially attacked that idea. My resistance came, I suppose, because I felt that emphasizing Aramaic somehow detracted from the importance of Hebrew. Similarly, I often find that those who are pro-Hebrew are often very anti-Aramaic. 8 Discover ARAMAIC – THE BIBLE'S SECOND HOLY LANGUAGE That's a great pity. If you love Hebrew, you should love Aramaic for exactly the same reasons. There should be no resistance to another Semitic, Jewish, Biblical language being important. And Aramaic is important – it already forms part of the Hebrew Bible! It has been used down through Bible times for thousands of years! Therefore, if you feel some resistance to Aramaic because you are pro-Hebrew, please just respectfully read this book and understand that Aramaic is also important. There really is no reason why you should be anti-Aramaic. The two languages are both important. They are friends. They are on the same side. On the other hand, many people (especially Christians) feel that the concept of an Aramaic New Testament is completely new to them. You may never have heard of this idea before, you may have no framework in your mind to interpret that idea, you believe that the New Testament was originally written (only) in Greek, and that any claim of Aramaic being the 'original' is an insult, an outrage, a blasphemy, a heresy, and such a person should be hounded, persecuted, and ex-communicated. I know many people have treated me this way. But a Bible believer once said: “Men who will not investigate, yet denounce, are either fools or knaves. There are multitudes of this sort of people in all parts of the world. Their unwillingness to investigate what they denounce arises from a diversity of causes: pride, avarice, love of ease, dullness of intellect, indifference to truth and error, to right and wrong, etc. are among the conditions that involve men in such folly and wickedness.” In other words, truth should have nothing to fear from error. So, if you are currently anti-Aramaic, why don't you gird up the loins of your mind, temporarily set aside your enmity, and honestly investigate the evidence presented in this book? If it turns out that you were wrong, then the sooner you correct that error, the better. But if you are right, investigation into the matter can only help your spiritual journey. We always instinctively resist new ideas. I know I did. But investigating new ideas is the only way to learn. Or maybe you feel that, if there is an Aramaic New Testament, this INTRODUCTION 9 fact somehow implies that the Greek New Testament has no value. You recoil at such a thought. But why does there have to be a conflict? Does one have to be a winner, and the other a loser? Can we not use both Greek and Aramaic to help us understand the Bible better? The apostles were inspired, and they had the Holy Spirit gift of tongues. So why would you assume that if there is an Aramaic New Testament, then the Greek New Testament must not be inspired, that it is a duel to the death between one or the other? Instead of forcing sides and artificially pitting Aramaic and Greek against each other as an either/or choice, is it not more honest and resourceful to get what we can from each language, and benefit from both where appropriate? So, if you are currently very pro-Greek and very anti-Aramaic, I would respectfully ask you to put aside your hostility, be honest, and simply look at the evidence presented in this book. Give the evidence a fair hearing. Probably, in your search for Truth, you will find that you have gained a friend (Aramaic) to help you in your Bible