The document discusses the origins and languages of the Bible. It is divided into three major sections: 1) The Old Testament was primarily written in Hebrew, with some portions in Aramaic. The books are arranged differently in the Hebrew Bible than in English Bibles. 2) Aramaic became common in Palestine after the exile and some portions of the Old and New Testaments are written in Aramaic. 3) The New Testament was written in Greek, as that was the most widely spoken language in the first century. While Jesus and early Christians spoke Aramaic, the texts were penned in Greek to allow broader reach.

1. HOW WE GOT THE BIBLE
….CONT.
THE BIRTH OF THE BIBLE
THE FORM OF OUR BIBLE
THEME:
TOPIC:
By Preacher Ike Ansah
Church of Christ
Bubiashie Ayigbe-Town
Accra - Ghana

2. INTRODUCTION
1. The bible we all know is divided into two major
sections.
2. We have the Old Testament and the New Testament.

3. DISCUSSION
A. WHAT IS A TESTAMENT? THE GREEK – “DIATHAKE” MEANS A CONTRACT OR
COVENANT.
1. Upon this we can conclude that:
i. the basic structure of the bible hinges on the idea that God has made two
significant covenant with His people and that the New has taken over the Old.
B. THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN OUR ENGLISH BIBLE.
1. The five books of Law or the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy).
2. The twelve books of History (Joshua to Esther)
3. Five books of Poetry (Job to Song of Solomon)
4. Seventeen books of Prophecy (Isaiah to Malachi). Remember scholars
sometimes divides this further into two ( 2) .
a. Five books of major Prophets and
b. Twelve books of Minor prophets.
** This arrangement of the Old Testament books as found in the English
Bible is derived from the Latin Vulgate translation which in turn is derived
from the Septuagint or the Greek Version.

4. C. HOW THE HEBREW BIBLE BOOKS ARE GROUPED.
1. LAW:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
2. PROPHETS
a. Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and
1 and 2 Kings.
b. Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Book of the Twelve.
3. WRITINGS
Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Songs of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentation, Ecclesiastes,
Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

5. D. COMPARING THE TWO ARRANGEMENTS.
1. The Hebrew Bible has three major divisions ( the law , the prophets and the
writings cf Luke 24:44.
2. There is not a different structure, but also a different designations for the books.
3. The twelve Minor Prophets are taken together as one book and known simply
as the twelve.
4. Note the name or terming of the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel
and 1 and 2 Kings as Former Prophets. Of which we refer to as Historical.
They termed it prophetic because the writers were prophets
5. Despite all these, all the books and their names remains the same as found in
the Hebrew Bible.
E. THE GROUPING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS.
1. The New Testament books are grouped together in three parts:
A. The five books of History( Matthew to Acts)
B. Twenty one books of Doctrine ( Romans to Jude) and
C. One book of prophecy( Revelation).

6. ** Note ! Note!! Note!!!
1. The five books of History may further be divided into the four Gospels and
Acts of the Apostles.
2. The gospels are so called because they present the message of God’s Good News
revealed in Jesus Christ. Which is also referred to in larger sense as the lives of Jesus,
also known as the great teachings and achievements of that unique life of Christ.
3. The first three are known as the Synoptic gospel; because of their similar content.
So therefore, you always have to view them together before giving a meaning to
what they say.
4. John was written at a later date and seem to presuppose a knowledge of many
events of Jesus’ life.

7. 5. The Acts of the Apostles is a kind of continuation of the Gospel of Luke.
Reason: Both works were from the hand of Luke, and because of their
interconnection, they are sometimes referred to as Luke- Acts.
6. The twenty-one books of Doctrine are the epistles written by the various inspired
men.
a. The first 13 are sometimes referred to as Pauline Epistles: which in turn are
grouped into two(2) :
i . Those written before his imprisonment in Rome( cf Acts 28:30)
ii . And those written later 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus which we sometimes called
the Pastoral Epistles. The book of Hebrew is at times numbered among the Pauline
group, although scholars still debate its authorship.

8. THE GENERAL OR CATHOLIC ( universal) EPISTLES.
These are James, 1 and 2 Peter,1,2 and 3 John and Jude.
Note: For record purposes .
In the early Greek manuscript these books are found immediately following the Acts
of Apostles and before the Pauline collection of letters.
THE PROPHETIC BOOK OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The apocalypse, suitably appears at the end of the Bible since it gives a prophetic
foretaste of things to come.

9. TOPIC:
THE LANGUAGES OF THE BIBLE

10. INTRODUCTION
1. Following from our previous studies, it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt
that the Bible has gotten to this stage through gradual stages of growth.
2. We need therefore to give urgent attention to the languages in which the various
books of the Bible were originally written.
3. Though, our English translations are wonderful and beautiful literary works, but
it would be more beneficial for Bible students to learn and know the originality of
our Bible languages.
4. Our Bible was written originally in three languages namely (1) Hebrew, (2)
2. Aramaic, and (3) Greek.
5. Contrary to the opinion of some people, these languages are still spoken
languages today:

11. DISCUSSION
I. HEBREW LANGUAGE
A. It is the spoken language of the state of Israel.
1. Almost all the thirty- nine books of the Old Testament are written in Hebrew. It is
known as a language of a large family called Semitic: This language is closely related
languages such as Aramaic, Syriac, Akkadian (which was the spoken language of the
Assyrian and the Babylonian) and Arabic.
NOTE! NOTE!!
** Hebrew language - is a strange language. It is written “ backwards “ (from right to
left), had many sounds that are foreign to ears of an English related.
** The vocabulary of the Hebrew language is unrelated to English words.
** The Hebrew alphabet is without vowels. This is exactly the same way of which the Old
Testament was written.

12. II. THE ARAMAIC LANGUAGE
A. Aramaic is a kindred language to the Hebrew, and after the time of the exile (500 B.C)
became the known or common tongue of the people of Palestine.
B. It is therefore, became a common issue in Israel that many did not understand the
pure Hebrew language and that Nehemiah 8:8 has to be translated into Aramaic for
the people to understand and do what the Lord commanded.
C. Aramaic was a spoken language by the Jews several years even before Christ. It is
therefore not surprising to see some portions of the Old Testament written in Aramaic
instead of Hebrew.
D. SOME VERSES FROM THE BIBLE WITH ARAMAIC.
Genesis 31:47, Jeremiah 10:11, Daniel 2:4b-7 :28, Ezra 4:8 - 6:18; l7:12 -26.

13. E. ARAMAIC AS SPREAD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
1. The Aramaic language spread for centuries as the vernacular of Palestine.
As seen being used by Jesus and the Apostle Paul:
Mark 5:41”talitha cumi” (little girl, get up)
Mark 7:34 “ephphatha” (be opened) Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani (My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?)
Matthew 27:46,Mark 15:34. Jesus has the habit of addressing God as Abba
(Aramaic for Father).
This became a norm on the early church as seen in Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6.
Aside this there was another common statement from the early Christians “
maranatha” which means “Our Lord, come
“1 Corinthians 16:22. This clearly shows Jesus and His Jewish followers
frequently used the Aramaic language in many of their conversations.

14. III. THE GREEK LANGUAGE.
A. Although the language mostly spoken by Jesus was Aramaic, the books which made the
New Testament were written in Greek.
1. The argument that the New Testament was first issued in Aramaic does not hold
since at that time the language which was many spoken and used was Greek.
Thus the saying Greek in the first century, as English is today was the “universal“
language.
2. We can attest to this by the many discoveries of “papyri”. Which emphatically state
that the “Semitic element of the New Testament were ingrained in the Greek
Language. Check Matthew Black “The Biblical Languages“

15. CONCLUSION
1. Our Bible is a collection of 66 books written over a period of thousand five hundred
(1500) years.
2. The growth of the Bible was gradual till it came to an end around A. D. 100
3. As a collection of books, the Bible over the years have been arranged in various ways.
4. The order of books in our English Old Testament goes back to the Greek version
which was used widely in the early church.
5. The languages of the Bible are three (3) namely: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.
Note: Some of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic, but the Hebrew
portion of it was predominant.
6. By first century, Greek had become a world-wide language, which accounted for
the New Testament being written in Greek.
We have gotten to know how our Bible came about now. Count these costs and live with it.
Be Blessed in Jesus mighty name . Amen

16. Thank you and let’s all keep studying for the day and the time is still unknown to
us.
Be blessed. Amen