You asked

What language was the Bible written in?

THE ANSWER

Three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

Hebrew Most of the Old Testament. The language of Moses, David and the prophets.
Aramaic Parts of Daniel and Ezra. It was also the everyday language Jesus spoke.
Greek The whole New Testament, plus some Old Testament books such as Wisdom and 2 Maccabees.

How it reached English

Around 400 AD, St Jerome translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. That Latin Bible is the Vulgate, and it became the Bible of the Western Church.

The Douay-Rheims, the English Bible quoted on this site, was translated from the Vulgate.

Keep exploring

Why Catholic Bibles have 73 books and Protestant ones have 66
Check it yourself: sources
  1. Daniel 2:4 to 7:28 and Ezra 4:8 to 6:18, 7:12 to 26: the Aramaic sections.
  2. St Jerome, the Latin Vulgate.
  3. The Douay-Rheims Bible, translated from the Vulgate.

Last updated 14 October 2026.