Aramaic: A History of the First World Language

Although we commonly say that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, we know that portions of Ezra and Daniel were written in Aramaic. We also know that there are a few Aramaic words in the New Testament (Abba, Cephas, Maranatha, etc.). Benjamin D. Suchard has translated Holger Gzella’s Aramaic: A History of the First World Language (2017) and Eerdmans has recently published it (2021). You may not be as into languages as I am, but I think this is a fascinating book. The most important chapter, of course, is chapter 4, “Aramaic in the Bible and Early Judaism.”