shrubby pegasus
Registered Senior Member
hey can anyone give me some background on this quote? for instance what context it was said in and stuff or a link talking about it, maybe the untranslated form, etc. thanks
truth will set you free
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Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
Sounds suspiciously like a homework assignment. 
shrubby pegasus
Registered Senior Member
nah im in graduate school for physics. this isnt a homework assignment. i was just curious about it. i think it is an interesting quote
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
It's "shall," not "will." That will make your research more productive. It's from the Book of John in the New Testament of the Bible.
John 8:32
"... and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
(King James translation.)
The Gospels were written in about the 2nd Century C.E., if memory serves me correctly. Starting around the 2nd Century BCE and continuing up until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th Century C.E., the most common spoken language throughout the entire region we now call the Mideast was Aramaic, a Semitic language related to Hebrew and Arabic.
However, the Levantine region was under the political influence of the Greeks until the Romans took over, and it remained under the cultural influence of the Greeks for a long time afterward, i.e., during the Roman reign in the first centuries C.E. Educated people -- in other words anybody who could read and write -- were fluent in Greek and were arguably more likely to write in Greek than in Aramaic.
Latin did not spread to Rome's eastern colonies as quickly as it did to Gallia and Iberia. The only people in Palestine who wrote in Latin were probably Roman administrators and their clerks.
And, of course, Jewish rabbis were fluent in spoken and written Hebrew.
Therefore, the original language of your quotation is either Aramaic or Greek. There is a lot of debate over this. I'm not a scholar in this area. Perhaps among scholars the question is settled, and if that is the case I'd guess that the consensus is Greek. However, many websites record a raging argument between the Aramaic and Greek factions. There is a small group who believe the Gospels were written in Hebrew, but they seem to get no respect. It does seem extremely unlikely that a rabbi would have written any part of the Christian holy book.
You should look into the arguments and decide for yourself. Greek and Aramaic are totally unrelated languages, so if the surviving Greek version of the New Testament is a translation from Aramaic, it's quite possible that some of the subtleties were lost.
John 8:32
"... and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
(King James translation.)
The Gospels were written in about the 2nd Century C.E., if memory serves me correctly. Starting around the 2nd Century BCE and continuing up until the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th Century C.E., the most common spoken language throughout the entire region we now call the Mideast was Aramaic, a Semitic language related to Hebrew and Arabic.
However, the Levantine region was under the political influence of the Greeks until the Romans took over, and it remained under the cultural influence of the Greeks for a long time afterward, i.e., during the Roman reign in the first centuries C.E. Educated people -- in other words anybody who could read and write -- were fluent in Greek and were arguably more likely to write in Greek than in Aramaic.
Latin did not spread to Rome's eastern colonies as quickly as it did to Gallia and Iberia. The only people in Palestine who wrote in Latin were probably Roman administrators and their clerks.
And, of course, Jewish rabbis were fluent in spoken and written Hebrew.
Therefore, the original language of your quotation is either Aramaic or Greek. There is a lot of debate over this. I'm not a scholar in this area. Perhaps among scholars the question is settled, and if that is the case I'd guess that the consensus is Greek. However, many websites record a raging argument between the Aramaic and Greek factions. There is a small group who believe the Gospels were written in Hebrew, but they seem to get no respect. It does seem extremely unlikely that a rabbi would have written any part of the Christian holy book.
You should look into the arguments and decide for yourself. Greek and Aramaic are totally unrelated languages, so if the surviving Greek version of the New Testament is a translation from Aramaic, it's quite possible that some of the subtleties were lost.
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shrubby pegasus
Registered Senior Member
cool thanks for the help
the catholic edition says "will"
Jesus then said to the Jews who believe in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
and then they all complain and say we've never been enslaved, how can you say we'll be free, yaddayaddayadda the end.
Jesus then said to the Jews who believe in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
and then they all complain and say we've never been enslaved, how can you say we'll be free, yaddayaddayadda the end.
