What Original language used in writing the Scripture is the most accurate?
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Are you looking for what language each book of the Bible was originally written in, in order to avoid the interpretative influence of translators?
For 65 of the 66 books of the Protestant Bible the answer is quite straightforward:
- Old Testament: Hebrew...except for
- Ezra 4:8 to 6:18, 7:12-26; Daniel 2:4 to 7:28, plus a handful of words elsewhere: Aramaic (source)
- Mark through Revelation: Greek
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Matthew
The Greek text is used in textual criticism and is the best attested in early manuscripts. However...
Every early Christian historian who wrote on the matter stated that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew, not Greek. Relevant testimony was given by Papias, Pantaneus, Irenaues, Origen, Epiphanius, Eusebius, Jerome, and others. This site offers a review of the statements made by early church fathers on the matter.
Those rejecting this view must claim that the early historians were unanimously wrong. This is a tall order considering that Pantaneus claimed to have a copy of Matthew in Hebrew, and Origen was one of the greatest Hebrew scholars in Christian history.
A textual witness to a Hebrew original may survive: Shem Tob Matthew. It's a copy of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew that was written into a 14th century Jewish polemic against Christianity. For further discussion on this document and the possibility of a Hebrew original of the Gospel of Matthew, see my post here.
In the interest of being thorough I should acknowledge there is ancient testimony that Mark was originally written in Latin and Hebrews was originally written in Hebrew. But this testimony is limited and is unsupported by surviving documentation. Further discussion here.
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Source: stackoverflow.com
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