text: Many people believe that Christ spoke primarily Hebrew or Aramaic (While there were differences, these languages were basically the same).  While there is no question that He did speak Aramaic, he probably primarily spoke Greek (probably all Jews at that time primarily spoke Greek).\n\nThere are numerous reasons that I believe this is so:\n\n1)  Greek was the common language of the world at this time.  This is why the New Testament was written in Greek.  When Alexander the Great conquered this part of the world, he truly assimilated much of their culture.  So much so that it can still be seen today.  Try going to a Greek restaurant sometime, and then go to a Middle Eastern restaurant.  You will be amazed at how similar the menus are.\n\n2)  Most of the "Bibles" we find from that time, or quotes from the Bible at that time come from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.\n\n3)  When Jesus cried out in Aramaic on the cross, many of the people misunderstood him!  That seems to indicate that many of the people in the crowd (and they would almost certainly have been 99% Jew - especially at the time of the Passover) did not understand Aramaic!\n\n4)  When Jesus quoted the Old Testament, he quoted the Septuagint.\n\n5)  We find no almost no early manuscripts of the New Testament in Aramaic and Hebrew (I don't think there are ANY, actually, although I am not sure) in the area of Jerusalem, but we have found 1,000s in Greek.\n\n6)  Common Greek of the time is often said to be one of the most exact languages ever spoken.  It left very little room for misunderstandings of meanings.  Many Bible scholars believe God chose that time to send Jesus because His words would be recorded in that language.  It seems logical that if the is the case, Jesus also would have chosen to speak in that language.\n\n7)  Matthew was a Jew, and his gospel was written to Jews.  Yet he felt he needed to explain what Jesus said in Aramaic on the cross.  If all the Jews knew Aramaic, there would be no need to translate it for them!