Jesus spoke more than one language. The common tongue at his time in the Holy Land was Aramaic. From the cross, the Lord cried out loudly in Aramaic, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) He wanted listeners to know what was happening.
Jesus also used Aramaic to raise a small girl who had died, “Talitha koum,” or “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” (Mark 5:41) Though she was dead, he spoke to her in her native tongue.
Mark 7: 32-34 records that Jesus spoke Aramaic when he healed a deaf man. “They brought a man to him who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They pleaded with Jesus to place his hand on him. Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. After he looked up to heaven, he sighed and said, ‘Ephphatha!’ (which means ‘Be opened!’)” The man hadn’t been able to hear any language, but the first word he ever heard was Jesus speaking the Aramaic, “Ephphatha!”
Language is important to God. He communicates with his people through words. Even, his Son is called The Word. (John 1:1)
The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, but during the exile of the Israelites to Babylon, parts of the books of Daniel, Ezra and Jeremiah were recorded in Aramaic.
Over time, Aramaic displaced Hebrew as the everyday language of the Jewish people. The precedence of Aramaic continued until the rise of Islam, when Arabic replaced Aramaic in the Holy Land, approximately 600 years after the Lord ascended.
Aramaic is still used today by small groups of Christians in northern Syria, Iraq, Iran, southeast Turkey and in diasporic communities of Armenia, Georgia and Russia.
The Syriac Bible, a dialect of Aramaic is still used today by the Syrian Orthodox Church, whose headquarters are in Syria, where we were first called “Christians.” This branch of the church was the second established after that in Jerusalem. After 2,000 years, these believers are the physical and spiritual descendants of the early church. They have kept the holy places and the living language of Christ.
Jesus also used Aramaic for teaching, “raca” or “fool,” and “mammon” meaning “wealth.” He wanted the people themselves to know and understand him, the Father and the kingdom of heaven. For that, they needed to hear in their own tongue. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. They learned “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Listen to Jonathan Roumie pray “The Lord’s Prayer” in Aramaic. It is quite moving.
To honor the Lord and the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Aramaic word “Jesus” has been embroidered in this artwork titled “I AM.”
Please share!
More about the art piece: “I AM”
(C) Kelly Jadon, 2025