What language did Jesus speak?

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Answer

Jesus, though born in Bethlehem of Judea, spent most of his life in the north - in Nazareth and the surrounding area of Galilee, where the local language is Aramaic. Therefore, as a citizen of Galilee, and not Judea, Aramaic was his mother tongue. This is born out in the incidents in the gospels where he uses it. These include the cry to Jairus' daughter "Talitha cumi" meaning 'Little girl, get up" [Mark 35:41] and the cry from the Cross as Jesus was separated from his Father at the moment he took all sin through his death - "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" - which means 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me'[Matt 27:46], - the first line of Psalm 22, spoken in Aramaic and not in the Hebrew of the scriptures. It is clear that in the latter case, the locals did not understand Jesus, thinking that he was calling on Elijah [Matt 27:47]. If Jesus had spoken Hebrew at this point, he would have used the word 'Adonai' for Lord - as this term replaced the unspeakable name of God (Yahweh) for the Jewish peoples. Aramaic is not a 'dialect' of Hebrew as some think, but a separate language more related to Arabic than to Hebrew. Aramaic is still spoken today in an area of the middle east north of Israel and south of Syria - in other words, near where Jesus grew up, and in Jesus' day was the mother tongue of the Galilee area much like Welsh ( a language totally unrelated to English) is the mother tongue of Wales although all Welsh people speak English as well.

Despite being technologically backward in those days, we must never underestimate the intelligence of those people, and therefore we know that many people in those days were multilingual. It is therefore certain that Jesus spoke Hebrew too (as the scriptures were written in Hebrew and Jesus was well versed in these), and probably quite a bit of koine Greek, as this latter language was regarded as the universal language, especially of the educated classes of the Roman Empire, much like English is counted as an international language today. Let's not forget that the New Testament was originally written in Greek by various authors (Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Peter etc), and therefore if these people could speak Greek, then it is likely that Jesus could too. Jesus was also likely to speak some Latin, picked up from the Roman occupation during the whole of Jesus' life on earth. Romans were notoriously reticent in trying to speak local languages - insisting on speaking Latin even if they could speak another language (much like the French today!), and so Jesus would also have a little Latin - enough to communicate with Pilate at his trial.

Therefore categorically, Jesus was a native Aramaic speaker and he would have spoken this language - his mother tongue - when conducting his mission in Galilee, where Aramaic was spoken widely. However, when reading the scriptures in the synagogue, and when conducting his mission in the Jerusalem area of Judea he would have converted to Hebrew.
 

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Jesus Christ, being a citizen of Judea, would have spoken Hebrew, Greek, and possibly Aramaic. Hebrew is the written and spoken language of Judea and the Old Testament is mainly written in this language.
Because the Greeks had conquered Judea about 200 years prior to Jesus' birth, Greek was the trade language of the region. The New Testament is written in Koine Greek, and is a good indication that there were two languages active in that time frame in that region. Archaeological evidence in burial sites shows that Hebrew was an active language of the time. He was the son of God he could speak any language he wanted to.
 

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The language of all Palestinian Jews in the time of Jesus was Aramaic. Apart from this, Greek Koine was spoken throughout the eastern Roman Empire, except Greece, where more cultured Greek was spoken. Jews of the diaspora also spoke Greek, rather than Aramaic. Hebrew was definitely not a language of everyday use in the first century.
 

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As a Palestinian Jew, Jesus would have spoken Aramaic. The gospels also portray him reading from the Hebrew scriptures, so he would also have known some Hebrew. However, the gospels tell us that his everyday companions were Palestinian Jews, as were those who came to listen to him and those wwho came to criticise him, so he would have conversed in Aramaic, regardless of any other languages he might have been capable of speaking.

It is possible Jesus could converse in Greek, as many of the people in Galilee were Greek-speaking pagans. Some Jews could also converse in Latin, the language of their rulers.

 

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Technically, since he is the son of God himself, he can speak whatever language he felt like speaking at any time. So, he has no native language, unless God has his own language. Who knows.........
We could become certain that Jesus spoke Aramaic as his primary language, but he certainly knew Hebrew and perhaps Greek as well. At the age of 12, he was teaching the theology doctors of his time. That fact tell us he did speak and read Hebrew.
By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the most common language in Judea, though Hebrew may have been dominant in certain areas, such as Jerusalem or the Qumran community by the Dead Sea. Greek usage was also widespread in those regions during the first century A.D.
Jesus spoke about the spirit. He did show up when people with other languages were reunited. The disciples began talking other languages so the persons who spoke another language could understand what was being thought. Those people were amazed.