In
exile and under the empire
Aramaic letters replaced the old (Phoenician) script for writing
Hebrew, first in everyday life and then for copying the Bible.Aramaic is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. Its dialects have been in use since the ninth century BC. The Assyrians made Aramaic the common language of the Near East. Some parts of the Old Testament are written in Aramaic (Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Dan 2:4-7:28 and perhaps a few other verses).
Hebrew in old (Phoenician), Qumran (Aramaic) and modern scripts
In
exile and under the empire
Aramaic letters replaced the old (Phoenician) script for writing
Hebrew, first in everyday life and then for copying the Bible.
The presence of some Aramaic words in the NT (e.g..: "talitha cumi", "maranatha" and "golgotha") suggests that Jesus spoke a dialect of Aramaic.
This page is part of the Hypertext Bible Commentary - Amos , if you have reached it as a standalone
page, to view it in context, go to www.bible.gen.nz
© Tim Bulkeley, 1996-2005, Tim
Bulkeley. All rights reserved.