Sorry to say, but the language of the area was not Greek. It was Aramaic. The area was not Hellenized since many Jews who came to Jerusalem for the Passover needed interpreters to speak to the locals, Maybe some of the Romans, and some of the scribes and priests may have spoken Greek, but the Apostles spoke only Aramaic and maybe Hebrew. Paul, though, being a well learned man did speak Greek, along with Hebrew and Latin, and maybe Aramaic also. Read the contemporary historians who commented on the area, such a Pliny the younger, Clio, Herodotus, etc.
PAX DOMINI
Shalom Aleichem
I don’t understand your statement. If only aramaic /hebrew was used why did the Jews that came into the land need interpreters?
I am not saying that Jesus did not speak Aramaic.
Not every Jew would have to know Greek, especially those that stayed in their immediate villages. To get along with everyday business of living in a land controlled by people that speak Greek they had to have known Greek.
jerusalemperspective.com/Default.aspx?tabid=27&ArticleID=1604
*The land of Israel was under the influence of Greek culture from the time of its conquest by Alexander the Great at the end of the fourth century B.C.E. Although scholars have divergent views regarding the influence of Hellenism on religious works, literature and everyday life in first-century Israel, it is generally accepted that the Greek language was used by many of the inhabitants.
Latin was also used to some extent in the land of Israel in the time of Jesus. For example, John 19:20 and a few manuscripts of Luke 23:38 record that the sign above the cross was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek, and the names of the Roman legions which served in the land were sometimes inscribed in Latin over wells and on garrison buildings. Apparently, however, Latin was used only by the Romans for matters of army administration. Civil administration was conducted entirely in Greek, and inscriptions written by non-Jews that have been found in Israel are all in Greek.*
answering-islam.org/Bible/nt-languages.html
This led to the translation of the Old Testament into Koine Greek (as opposed to classical Greek of the philosophers) in the Septuagint (LXX) in Alexandria in the middle of the third century B.C. This is affirmed in the Interpreter’s DICTIONARY of the BIBLE (Vol. R-Z, p. 277, Abington:1962):
“NT Koine is not simply the everyday Greek of an Eastern people in the first Christian Century; its religious vocabulary derives ultimately, not from the Greek world, but from the Hebrew world of the OT through the medium of LXX Greek.”
The situation in NT times was similar to what we have today, but with different languages. The Jews used the ancient Hebrew when reading their prayers and scrolls in the synagogue, but needed a modern Koine Greek translation to understand what they were reading. Most quotations in the NT from the OT are from the Greek LXX which explains some of the differences in wording between the Hebrew and the Greek in our present day translations.
The Jews of NT times spoke Aramaic at home and in conversations. Aramaic was similar Hebrew and Arabic. (al-Rahmaan, al-Rahiim, in the Fatiha of the Quran were probably derived from the Aramaic language). In business life and official writings they used the common Koine Greek that all peoples in the area used for hundreds of years. They actually thought and talked in at least two or three languages as people do today. The Roman occupiers of the Holy Land at that time spoke Latin and Greek. Evidence of the three languages used in that time is found in the New Testament itself in the Gospel of John 19:19-20: (NIV)
“Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, The King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.”
There are other evidences such as “talitha cumi”, little girl arise, and “maranatha” Lord come, in Aramaic. These show that the people were multi-lingual. Greek was the main means of communication but the heart language of the people was Aramaic. The language of formal worship was Hebrew, most likely with Aramaic interpretation and explaination. The New Testament and Gospels, which were written for Jews scattered all over the Mediterranean world were naturally written in the common language of Koine Greek so that all could understand and benefit. Koine Greek was much more expressive and more easily translated into western Latin based languages and therefore the entire world benefited
