[7] Other Hellenistic Jewish writings include those of Jason of Cyrene, Josephus, Philo, Demetrius the chronographer, Eupolemus, Pseudo-Eupolemus, Artapanus of Alexandria, Cleodemus Malchus, Aristeas, Pseudo-Hecataeus, Thallus, and Justus of Tiberias, Pseudo-Philo, many Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible itself.
Thus Biblical Hebrew, which was still used for religious purposes, was not totally unfamiliar, but still, a somewhat strange norm that demanded a certain degree of training to be understood properly.
[12][13] Most scholars agree that during the early part of the first century Aramaic was the mother tongue of virtually all natives of Galilee and Judea.
[14] Most scholars support the theory that Jesus spoke in Aramaic and that he may have also spoken in Hebrew (Dalman suggests for the Words of Institution) and Greek.
[12][13][15][16] Stanley E. Porter concluded: "The linguistic environment of Roman Palestine during the first century was much more complex, and allows for the possibility that Jesus himself may well have spoken Greek on occasion.
The idea that an initial version of Matthew's Gospel was produced in Syriac has substantial historical attestation, including by Papias, Irenaeus, Eusebius, Origen and Jerome.
Although this view has its adherents, the vast majority of scholars dispute this position citing linguistic, historical, and textual inconsistencies.
[20] At any rate, since most of the texts are written by diaspora Jews such as Paul the Apostle and his possibly Gentile companion, Luke, and to a large extent addressed directly to Christian communities in Greek-speaking cities (often communities consisting largely of Paul's converts, which appear to have been non-Jewish in the majority), and since the style of their Greek is impeccable,[21] a Greek original is more probable than a translation.