27 APRIL 1951, Page 18

Hebrew or Aramaic?

the time, of Christ Hebrew occupied the same position as Latin 'in the Middle Ages. In the synagogue the Law was read in Hebrew by the reader, and then paraphrased by the Meturgeman or interpreter in _the vernacular (see Luke iv, 16). There is little doubt, however, that Jesus knew Greek. James and Jude, "the brothers of the Lord," wrote their epistles in Greek, which was the language of the apostles Peter and His beloved disciple John. Jesus must have used Greek at his trial before Pontius Pilate. New Testament writers, when they quote from the Old Testament, use the Septuagint and not the original Hebrew.—Yours, &c., H. G. RAWLINSON.