I was wondering why some of the names in the bible are in Greek? Like Leviticus?? and why it seems none of them are Hebrew, since that was the original language. I mean, John, Samuel, Tim, Mary, these dont sound jewish/middle eastern to me...
(Yeshua does though. :D)
2007-03-01 16:41:39 · 8 answers · asked by dandy_punk 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The bible you have has all the names anglicized... not the original Hebrew bible.
The first five books:
Bereshit
Shmot
Vayikra
Bamidbar
Devarim
Those sound Hebrew, right? Here's what you call them:
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Dueteronomy
Those aren't the real names of the books, just names given to them for people who couldn't pronounce the real names. Where's Tim in the bible? John is short for Jonathan, which is Yonaton in Hebrew, Samuel is Shmuel, and I also don't know where the name Mary came from. CHeck a baby name book.
2007-03-03 07:49:38 · answer #1 · answered by maoseh 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The names of the old testament were tranlated first into Greek and then later into Latin. These were the languages of the early Christians. (The first 5 books are called in Hebrew the Torah.)
Samuel is actually a Hebrew name. John is an angicized version of the name Ioannes, which was Greek. The names you cite from the New Testament don't sound otherwise middle-eastern because they have been transmitted through at least 4 languages to reach the English speaking world. (Aramaic, Greek, Latin, English.) However, most of the names in the Old Testament are transliterations (words written to sound like the original Hebrew).
2007-03-01 16:48:59 · answer #2 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most languages have their own versions of a name (for example Steven-Stepan-Stefano-Stefania-Stephanos,etc.). Christianity didn't becoming popular until it started spreading through Greece, where the Bible was translated into Greek, therefore having Greek names instead of Hebrew and Aramaic . The name Jesus is actually the Greek form of the name Joshua, which in reality he would've been called Yeshua because he was Jewish.
2007-03-01 16:51:27 · answer #3 · answered by Ambrielle 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
All the names you mentioned are English. The OT was written in Hebrew and the NT in Greek and Aramaic. You need to look at the original language of these to judge if they sound Middle Eastern or not.
2007-03-01 16:45:55 · answer #4 · answered by IKB 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because over the years, the Bible has been translated into different languages. MANY different languages and sometimes it's easier to translate a name or something like that. Just remember, your bible isn't exactly the "original" version.
2007-03-01 16:46:43 · answer #5 · answered by pretty shy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
my bible does have the names in hebrew - they are greek in the christian bible because the KJV of the christian bible was translated into english from greek versions of the christian bible.
2007-03-01 16:49:59 · answer #6 · answered by mommynow 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, the names in my bible are all in hebrew...
which ones do you need to know? adam = adam. eve=chavah. abraham = avraham. isaac = yitzhak. jacob = yaakov. rebecca = rivkah. hannah = chanah. david = david. samuel = shmuel. elijah = eliyahu. jeremiah = yirmiyahu. deborah = devorah. moses = moshe. aaron = aharon. miriam = miryam. etc.
2007-03-01 16:44:56 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
we are reading the anglicized version of greek, hebrew, and aramic names.
2007-03-01 16:46:29 · answer #8 · answered by HISgirl 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋