Another “original Greek” artifact includes an interesting piece of pottery with the creed written on it (Accession number: 69.74.312, Israel Museum, Jerusalem). And then there’s P. Oxy. 1784, which may even be earlier than P6! Read all about it in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Part XV by Grenfell and Hunt, page 17. You can check out an image of the papyrus P. Oxy. 1784 at the Atla Digital Library.

But I was unable to track down any complete copies of the Creed in ancient documents, so I decided I’d have to make my own!

First I had to locate a suitable blank piece of parchment, which I finally found at the British Library. Then I had to find a complementary font from my page of free Greek fonts. Next I took the digital text of the Nicene creed, removed all modern punctuation, spaces and diacritic markings, and arranged it on the parchment. I tried to match the line length and line spacing of the codex from the British Library as closely as possible to make it look realistic. Of course I needed to add some special effects to make the ink fade a little in places so it looked like it had been written several hundred years ago. Finally, I set it on a nice wooden table top!

It’s definitely not going to fool any paleographers, but I think it’s pretty cool, if I do say so myself!

Sources:

• Unicode text of the Nicene Creed – Σύμβολο της Πίστεως
• Blank parchment page – Royal MS 1 D VIII folio 1
• Free Greek uncial font – 0512 Dioskorides from KPS fonts
• Wooden texture – Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Since the resulting image was created with free resources, I am making it available for free as well. Feel free to use, share and copy it freely without any restrictions from me!

The Greek language seems to be more liberal with its vowels than English. There aren’t very many English words with more than two or three consecutive vowels. Sure, there are lists like this one, and funny articles like this one, but the vast majority of English words with lots of vowels are borrowed from other languages (like Greek ).

So let’s start with the big guys! Here’s a (very short) list of Greek words with six consecutive vowels. Not only are there six vowels all in a row, but these Greek words are made up only of vowels! No consonants allowed.

Hover (or tap) the footnote numbers to see what the word means, and where you can find an example of it being used.

Six Vowel Greek Words

• Εὐαῖοι¹
• Εὐαίου²
• Οὐήϊοι³

Interestingly, the six vowel words found above are “borrowed” too (or, more properly, transliterated from Hebrew and Latin, so they’re not technically “Greek” words, but loanwords.)

Five Vowel Greek Words

• οἴοιο⁴
• ἠοῖαι⁵
• ἰαυοῖ⁶
• Ὑαῖοι⁷
• ὠαιαί⁸
• ὠοιοί⁹

Four Vowel Greek Words

• αἰαῖ¹⁰
• αἰεί¹¹
• ἑοῖο¹²
• εὐαί¹³
• οὐαύ¹⁴
• οὐαὶ¹⁵
• οἴει¹⁶
• ὕεια¹⁷
• υἱοῦ¹⁸
• υἱοὶ¹⁹
• οἰοῖ²⁰

Three Vowel Greek Words

• ἀεί²¹
• εἴη²²
• υἱέ²³
• εἴα²⁴
• ἰοῦ²⁵

Greek Words With Only One Consonant (But lots of Vowels)

• εἰοικυῖαι²⁶
• Ἰουδαῖοι²⁷
• ἰοῦται²⁸
• ἑαυτοῦ²⁹
• ἐᾶσαι³⁰
• εἴασα³¹
• εἰσῄει³²
• εὐνοίᾳ³³
• οἴομαι³⁴
• ἠοίους³⁵
• ἔοικα³⁶
• ὑαίνῃ³⁷
• ἀθεεὶ³⁸
• ἐλεεῖ³⁹

Other Interesting Greek Words With Many Vowels

ἀάατος⁴⁰

How I Found These Words

When I first started looking, I just used some educated guesses. Then I tried typing random series of vowels into Accordance Bible Software‘s search bar, and looking down through the suggested results. Finally, I got more serious about finding the words, so I turned to regex. I used the following expression to search through both the Greek New Testament and the Greek Old Testament (LXX) for more words:

\b[αειουωηὰάὲέὴήὶίὸόὺύὼώ\x{1f00}-\x{1fff}]{4,}\b

Eventually, I found a better way to do the same search!

\b[[=α=][=ε=][=ι=][=η=][=ο=][=υ=][=ω=]]{4,}\b

Finally, I started turning to extra-biblical sources. I found several of the words by searching in this list of Greek headwords using my regex search above. Another invaluable tool was Perseus, which I used for finding examples of those words in Greek literature. A few more words were located by doing a wildcard search (e.g. for ‘*υιαι’) with University of Chicago’s PhiloLogic4 tool for Greek.

Did you find a word that I missed? Comment below, and I’ll add it to the list!

Hebrew – Abbott & Costello style

I came across the video above at www.exegeticaltools.com. If you’ve ever heard “Who’s On First” by Abbot & Costello, then you know how this one is going to go, Hebrew style…. (By the way, that site has some other great resources that I’d like to write about some time!)

Forgot the English Word

Reading in the “Original Greek”

Unfortunately, I can’t recommend the site where this comic comes from, but this one is too good not to share.

Psychotherapist

Church Disputes

Q: How do you settle church disputes?
A: With canons.

Why Learn A New Language?

A Swiss man, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Americans are waiting.

“Entschuldigung, koennen Sie Deutsch sprechen?” he asks. The two Americans just stare at him.

“Excusez-moi, parlez vous Francais?” he tries. The two continue to stare.

“Parlare Italiano?” No response.

“Hablan ustedes Espanol?” Still nothing.

The Swiss guy drives off, extremely disgusted. The first American turns to the second and says, “Y’know, maybe we should learn a foreign language.”

“Why?” says the other. “That guy knew four languages, and it didn’t do him any good.”

-Good Clean Funnies

Language in Context

Chick-fil-a

Here’s a gem that my librarian friend and fellow biblical languages geek shared with me.

Chick fil η   Chick fil αι
Chick fil ης Chick fil ων
Chick fil ῃ   Chick fil αις
Chick fil ην  Chick fil ας

I think this is the first time I’ve ever… declined Chick-fil-a!

-shared by Paul Ryan

English as She is Spoke

A hilarious book made by someone who didn’t know English (he used a dictionary to translate it). Read it here: English as She is Spoke, by Pedro Carolino. Here’s a little sample to whet your appetite:

The weather.

We shall have a fine weather to day.
There is some foggy.
I fear of the thunderbolt.
The sun rise on.
The sun lie down.
It is light moon’s.

Biblical Philologist

And I’ve saved the best for laughs last. Whoever came up with that song deserves at least an honorary title of “Biblical Philologist”!

If you like these quotes, check out the “Great Quotes about Bible Translation” page as well!

And yet who is there who does not know that every language, and the Greek language above all others, is rich in a variety of words, and that it is possible to vary a sentence and to paraphrase the same idea, so as to set it forth in a great variety of manners, adapting many different forms of expression to it at different times.¹

— Philo of Alexandria (about the LXX)

Latin scholarship, however elaborate, is maimed and reduced by half without Greek. For whereas we Latins have but a few small streams, a few muddy pools, the Greeks possess crystal-clear springs and rivers that run with gold. I can see what utter madness it is even to put a finger on that part of theology which is specially concerned with the mysteries of the faith unless one is furnished with the equipment of Greek as well, since the translators of Scripture, in their scrupulous manner of construing the text, offer such literal versions of Greek idioms that no one ignorant of that language could grasp even the primary, or, as our own theologians call it, literal, meaning.²

— Desiderius Erasmus

It was not for empty fame or childish pleasure that in my youth I grasped at the polite literature of the ancients, and by late hours gained some slight mastery of Greek and Latin. It has been my cherished wish to cleanse the Lord’s temple of barbarous ignorance, and to adorn it with treasures brought from afar, such as may kindle in hearts a warm love for the Scriptures.³

— Desiderius Erasmus

In so far as we love the Gospel, to that extent let us study the ancient tongues. And let us notice that without the knowledge of the languages we can scarcely preserve the Gospel. Languages are the sheath which hides the sword of the Spirit, they are the chest in which this jewel is enclosed, the goblet holding this draught.

So although the Faith and the Gospel may be proclaimed by preachers without the knowledge of languages, the preaching will be feeble and ineffective. But where the languages are studied, the proclamation will be fresh and powerful, the Scriptures will be searched, and the Faith will be constantly rediscovered through ever new words and deeds. ⁴

— Martin Luther

But tell me, what language has there ever been that men have successfully learned to speak as a result of grammatical rules? Are not rather those languages that adhere most closely to rules, such as Greek and Latin, nevertheless learned by using them? Therefore how great a folly it is in the instance of the sacred language, where theological and spiritual matters are treated, to disregard the particular character of the subject matter and to arrive at the sense on the basis of grammatical rules!⁵

— Martin Luther

I would not have preachers in their sermons use Hebrew, Greek, or foreign languages, for in the church we ought to speak as we use to do at home, the plain mother tongue, which every one is acquainted with. It may be allowed in courtiers, lawyers, advocates, etc., to use quaint, curious words. Doctor Staupitz is a very learned man, yet he is a very irksome preacher; and the people had rather hear a plain brother preach, that delivers his words simply to their understanding, than he. In churches no praising or extolling should be sought after. St Paul never used such high and stately words, as Demosthenes and Cicero did, but he spake, properly and plainly, words which signified and showed high and stately matters, and he did well.⁶

— Martin Luther

Cursed are all preachers that in the church aim at high and hard things, and, neglecting the saving health of the poor unlearned people, seek their own honor and praise, and therewith to please one or two ambitious persons… When they come to me, to Melancthon, to Dr. Palmer, etc., let them show their cunning, how learned they be; they shall well put to their trumps. But to sprinkle out Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, in their public sermons, savors merely of show, according with neither time nor place.⁷

— Martin Luther

Young divines ought to study Hebrew, to the end that they may be able to compare Greek and Hebrew words together, and discern their properties, nature and strength.⁸

— Martin Luther

Since it becomes Christians then to make good use of the Holy Scriptures as their one and only book and it is a sin and a shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God, it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book. O how happy the dear fathers would have been if they had had our opportunity to study the languages and come thus prepared to the Holy Scriptures! What great toil and effort it cost them to gather up a few crumbs, while we with half the labor–yes, almost without any labor at all–can acquire the whole loaf! O how their effort puts our indolence to shame! Yes, how sternly God will judge our lethargy and ingratitude!⁹

— Martin Luther

The Hebrew language is the best language of all … If I were younger I would want to
learn this language, because no one can really understand the Scriptures without it. For although the New Testament is written in Greek, it is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions. It has therefore been aptly said that the Hebrews drink from the spring, the Greeks from the stream that flows from it, and the Latins from a downstream pool.¹⁰

— Martin Luther

“All right,” you say again, “suppose we do have schools; what is the use of teaching Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and the other liberal arts? We could just as well use German for teaching the Bible and God’s word, which is enough for our salvation.” I reply, Alas! I am only too well aware that we Germans must always be and remain brutes and stupid beasts, as the neighboring nations call us, epithets which we richly deserve. But I wonder why we never ask, “What is the use of silks, wine, spices, and other strange foreign wares when we ourselves have in Germany wine, grain, wool, flax, wood, and stone not only in quantities sufficient for our needs, but also of the best and choicest quality for our glory and ornament?” Languages and the arts, which can do us no harm, but are actually a greater ornament, profit, glory, and benefit, both for the understanding of Holy Scripture and the conduct of temporal government–these we despise. But foreign wares, which are neither necessary nor useful, and in addition strip us down to a mere skeleton–these we cannot do without. Are not we Germans justly dubbed fools and beasts?¹¹

— Martin Luther

Here belongs also what St. Paul calls for in I Corinthians 14, namely, that in the Christian church all teachings must be judged. For this a knowledge of the language is needful above all else. The preacher or teacher can expound the Bible from beginning to end as he pleases, accurately or inaccurately, if there is no one there to judge whether he is doing it right or wrong. But in order to judge, one must have a knowledge of the languages; it cannot be done in any other way. Therefore, although faith and the gospel may indeed be proclaimed by simple preachers without a knowledge of languages, such preaching is flat and tame; people finally become weary and bored with it, and it falls to the ground. But where the preacher is versed in the languages, there is a freshness and vigor in his preaching, Scripture is treated in its entirety, and faith finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and illustrations. Hence, Psalm 129 likens such scriptural studies to a hunt, saying to the deer God opens the dense forests; and Psalm 1 likens them to a tree with a plentiful supply of water, whose leaves are always green.¹²

— Martin Luther

It is a stupid undertaking to attempt to gain an understanding of Scripture by laboring through the commentaries of the fathers and a multitude of books and glosses. Instead of this, men should have devoted themselves to the languages. If you knew the languages, you could get further with the passage than they whom you are following. As sunshine is to shadow, so is the language itself compared to all the glosses of the fathers.¹³

— Martin Luther

Do I understand Greek and Hebrew? Otherwise, how can I undertake, as every Minister does, not only to explain books which are written therein but to defend them against all opponents? Am I not at the mercy of everyone who does understand, or even pretends to understand, the original? For which way can I confute his pretense? Do I understand the language of the Old Testament? critically? at all? Can I read into English one of David’s Psalms, or even the first chapter of Genesis? Do I understand the language of the New Testament? Am I a critical master of it? Have I enough of it even to read into English the first chapter of St. Luke? If not, how many years did I spend at school? How many at the University? And what was I doing all those years? Ought not shame to cover my face?¹⁴

— John Wesley

„Meine Herren, haben Sie eine Septuaginta? wenn nicht, so verkaufen Sie Alles, was Sie haben, und kaufen sich eine Septuaginta!“¹⁵

[Gentlemen, have you a Septuagint? If not, sell all you have, and buy a Septuagint!]

— Ferdinand Hitzig

I first came across this quote in a video of Dr. Plummer speaking at a linguistics conference:

But since the Bible is written in part in Hebrew and in part in Greek . . . we drink from the stream of both—we must learn these languages, unless we want to be “silent” persons as theologians. Once we understand the significance and the weight of the words, the true meaning of Scripture will light up for us as the midday sun. Only if we have clearly understood the language will we clearly understand the content if we put our minds to the [Greek and Hebrew] sources, we will begin to understand Christ rightly.¹⁶

— Philip Melanchthon

Those who advise inexperienced young students, training for ministry, not to study the languages ought to have their tongues cut off.¹⁷

— Philip Melanchthon

I now studied much, about twelve hours a day, chiefly Hebrew; commenced Chaldee; perfected myself in reading the German-Jewish in Rabbinic characters, committed portions of the Hebrew Old Testament to memory, &c.; and this I did with prayer, often falling on my knees, leaving my books for a little, that I might seek the Lord’s blessing, and also, that I might be kept from that spiritual deadness, which is so frequently the result of much study. I looked up to the Lord even whilst turning over the leaves of my Hebrew dictionary, asking His help, that I might quickly find the words.¹⁸

— George Müller (Mueller)

There is in the originals of the Scripture a peculiar emphasis of words and expressions, and in them an especial energy, to intimate and insinuate the sense of the Holy Ghost unto the minds of men, which cannot be traduced into other languages by translations, so as to obtain the same power and efficacy. . . . It is [therefore] of singular advantage, in the interpretation of the Scripture, that a man be well acquainted with the original languages, and be able to examine the use and signification of words, phrases, and expressions as they are applied and declared in other authors.¹⁹

— John Owen

(In a letter “To a Student in Divinity”)

The original Scriptures well deserve your pains, and will richly repay them. There is doubtless a beauty, fulness, and spirit, in the originals, which the best translations do not always express. When a word or phrase admits of various senses, the translators can only preserve one; and it is not to be supposed, unless they were perfectly under the influence of the same infallible Spirit, that they should always prefer the best. Only be upon your guard, lest you should be tempted to think, that because you are master of the grammatical construction, and can tell the several acceptations of the words in the best authors, you are therefore and thereby master of the spiritual sense likewise. This you must derive from your experimental knowledge and the influence and teaching of the Spirit of God.²⁰

— John Newton

Men sometimes say they have forgotten their Latin and Greek and conclude that they were therefore poorly taught and that the time spent on them was wasted. Do they remember more than the scraps of other studies unless they have kept them up? Do they hold in active view many items of physics or chemistry or philosophy? Can they state accurately the law of gravitation or recall much of anything outside the studies of description and narration? Even there, how many can repeat from memory the list of our Presidents or recite The Star Spangled Banner? Try it. What we can remember is worth much, but what we had to nourish our minds in school and college counts for far more. It is like food. Who, unless he was on fixed diet, remembers what he ate a week ago last Thursday? or can recall his menu for each day of the past month? Yet the effects continue. And it is the nature of our diet in youth, as all know, which does much to determine our health in manhood.²¹

— Andrew F. West

We may sometimes be tempted to wish that the Holy Spirit had given us the Word of God in a language better suited to our particular race, in a language that we could easily understand; but in his mysterious wisdom he gave it to us in Hebrew and in Greek. Hence if we want to know the Scriptures, to the study of Greek and Hebrew we must go.²²

— J. Gresham Machen

The Greek of the New Testament is by no means a difficult language; a very fair knowledge of it may be acquired by any minister of average intelligence. And to that end two homely directions may be given. In the first place, the Greek should be read aloud. A language cannot easily be learned by the eye alone. The sound as well as the sense of familiar passages should be impressed upon the mind, until sound and sense are connected without the medium of translation. Let this result not be hastened; it will come of itself if the simple direction be followed. In the second place, the Greek Testament should be read every day without fail, Sabbaths included. Ten minutes a day is of vastly more value than seventy minutes once a week. If the student keeps a “morning watch,” the Greek Testament ought to be given a place in it; at any rate, the Greek Testament should be read devotionally. The Greek Testament is a sacred book, and should be treated as such. If it is treated so, the reading of it will soon become a source of joy and power.²³

— J. Gresham Machen

If… the minister is a specialist—if the one thing that he owes his congregation above all others is a thorough acquaintance, scientific as well as experimental, with the Bible—then the importance of Greek requires no elaborate argument. In the first place, almost all the most important books about the New Testament presuppose a knowledge of Greek: the student who is without at least a smattering of Greek is obliged to use for the most part works that are written, figuratively speaking, in words of one syllable. In the second place, such a student cannot deal with all the problems at first hand, but in a thousand important questions is at the mercy of the judgment of others. In the third place, our student without Greek cannot acquaint himself with the form as well as the content of the New Testament books. The New Testament, as well as all other literature, loses something in translation. But why argue the, question? Every scientific student of the New Testament without exception knows that Greek is really necessary to his work: the real question is only as to whether our ministry should be manned by scientific students.²⁴

— J. Gresham Machen

The Greek New Testament is the New Testament. All else is translation. Jesus speaks to us out of every page of the Greek. Many of his ipsissima verba are here preserved for us, for our Lord often spoke in Greek. To get these words of Jesus it is worth while to plow through any grammar and to keep on to the end.²⁵

— A. T. Robertson

It ought to be taken for granted that the preacher has his Greek Testament. This statement will be challenged by many who excuse themselves from making any effort to know the Greek New Testament. I do not say that every preacher should become an expert in his knowledge of the New Testament Greek. That cannot be expected. I do not affirm that no preacher should be allowed to preach who does not possess some knowledge of the original New Testament. I am opposed to such a restriction. But a little is a big per cent on nothing, as John A. Broadus used to say. This is preeminently true of the Greek New Testament.²⁶

— A. T. Robertson

Now, the Greek New Testament has a message for each mind. Some of the truth in it has never yet been seen by anyone else. It is waiting like a virgin forest to be explored. It is fresh for every mind that explores it, for those who have passed this way before have left it all here. It still has on it the dew of the morning and is ready to refresh the newcomer. Sermons lie hidden in Greek roots, in prepositions, in tenses, in the article, in particles, in cases. One can sympathize with the delight of Erasmus as he expressed it in the Preface of his Greek Testament four hundred years ago: “These holy pages will summon up the living image of His mind. They will give you Christ Himself, talking, healing, dying, rising, the whole Christ in a word; they will give Him to you in an intimacy so close that He would be less visible to you if He stood before your eyes.”

Many who saw Jesus in the flesh did not understand Him. It is possible for us all to know the mind of Christ in the Greek New Testament in all the fresh glory of the Galilean Gospel of grace. The originality that one will thus have is the joy of reality, the sense of direct contact, of personal insight, of surprise and wonder as one stumbles unexpectedly upon the richest pearls of truth kept for him through all the ages.²⁷

— A. T. Robertson

The most perfect vehicle of human speech thus far devised by man is the Greek. English comes next, but Greek outranks it. The chief treasure in the Greek language is the New Testament. Homer and Thucydides and Aeschylus and Plato all take a rank below Paul and John and Luke. The cultural and spiritual worth of the Greek New Testament is beyond all computation. In the Renaissance the world woke up with the Greek Testament in its hands. It still stands before the open pages of this greatest of all books in wonder and in rapture as the pages continue to reveal God in the face of Jesus Christ.²⁸

— A. T. Robertson

The more a theologian detaches himself from the basic Hebrew and Greek text of Holy Scripture, the more he detaches himself from the source of real theology! And real theology is the foundation of a fruitful and blessed ministry.²⁹

— Heinrich Bitzer

I asked [Dr. Johnson] if he really thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential requisite to a good education. “Most certainly, Sir; for those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do not. Nay, Sir, it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon people even in the common intercourse of life, which does not appear to be much connected with it.”

“And yet, (said I) people go through the world very well, and carry on the business of life to good advantage, without learning.”

“Why, Sir, that may be true in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use; for instance, this boy rows us as well without learning, as if he could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were the first sailors.” He then called to the boy, ‘What would you give, my lad, to know about the Argonauts?’ ‘Sir, (said the boy,) I would give what I have. Johnson was much pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare. Dr. Johnson then turning to me, ‘Sir, (said he) a desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human being, whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge.’³⁰

— James Boswell

We opened our books at Iliad, Book 1. Without a word of introduction Knock read aloud the first twenty lines or so in the “new” pronunciation, which I had never heard before….He then translated, with a few, a very few explanations, about a hundred lines. I had never seen a classical author taken in such large gulps before. When he had finished he handed me over Crusius’ Lexicon and, having told me to go through again as much as he had done, left the room. It seems an odd method of teaching, but it worked. At first I could travel only a very short way along the trail he had blazed, but every day I could travel further. Presently I could travel the whole way. Then I could go a line or two beyond his furthest North. Then it became a kind of game to see how far beyond. He appeared at this stage to value speed more than absolute accuracy. The great gain was that I very soon became able to understand a great deal without (even mentally) translating it; I was beginning to think in Greek. That is the great Rubicon to cross in learning any language. Those in whom the Greek word lives only while they are hunting for it in the lexicon, and who then substitute the English word for it, are not reading the Greek at all; they are only solving a puzzle. The very formula, “Naus means a ship,” is wrong. Naus and ship both mean a thing, they do not mean one another. Behind Naus, as behind navis or naca, we want to have a picture of a dark, slender mass with sail or oars, climbing the ridges, with no officious English word intruding.³¹

— C. S. Lewis

[…] I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence which is a noble thing. And when in after years my schoolfellows who had won prizes and distinction for writing such beautiful Latin poetry and pithy Greek epigrams had to come down again to common English, to earn their living or make their way, I did not feel myself at any disadvantage. Naturally I am biassed in favour of boys learning English. I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honour, and Greek as a treat. But the only thing I would whip them for would be for not knowing English. I would whip them hard for that.³²

–Winston Churchill

The value of studying biblical languages does not reside in its potential for displaying exegetical razzle-dazzle. In fact, striking interpretations that lean too heavily, sometimes exclusively, on subtle grammatical distinctions are seldom worth considering. On the other hand, genuine familiarity with Greek (and Hebrew!) develops sensitivity and maturity in the interpreter and allows his or her decisions to be built on a much broader base of information. More often than not, the fruit of language learning is intangible: it remains in the background, providing the right perspective for responsible exegesis.³³

— Moisés Silva

Not even Jewish Palestine could be culturally and linguistically sealed off from the Hellenistic world; and the very words of Jesus come to us in Greek dress. The radical Stephen slashes at the heart of traditional Judaic religiosity about the Temple with the sabre of the Septuagint; and the process which called the Septuagint into being is given Gospel authentication as the Pentecost crowd of Dispersion Jews hears the wonderful works of God, not in the sacred language of the Temple liturgy (the object of their pilgrimage), but in the languages of the various nations that were their real mother tongues (Acts 2:11).³⁴

— Andrew F. Walls

The New Testament is written in first-century Greek: diction, grammar, and syntax are not subject to the whim of readers. Writings can say only what the Koine of that time allows them to say. The only truly responsible reading of the New Testament, consequently, is one based on the Greek text in its historical specificity.³⁵

— Luke Timothy Johnson

Another result when pastors do not study the Bible in Greek and Hebrew is that they, and their churches with them, tend to become second-handers. The harder it is for us to get at the original meaning of the Bible, the more we will revert to the secondary literature. For one thing it is easier to read. It also gives us a superficial glow that we are “keeping up” on things. And it provides us with ideas and insights which we can’t dig out of the original for ourselves. We may impress one another for a while by dropping the name of the latest book we’ve read, but secondhand food will not sustain and deepen our people’s faith and holiness.³⁶

— John Piper

[In a forum discussion about Greek “adverbial” participles:]

I have occasion to meet keen biblical students who are loath to learn Greek. They have it on hearsay the language is ambiguous. The reasoning appears to be that God spoke ambiguously in Greek and then invented English to speak more clearly. Participles are surely culprits here—they introduce concision at the expense of clarity.

I love them.³⁷

— Robert Crowe

While you’re this age you ought to take New Testament Greek. I don’t see any reason not to do that. I mean, there must be a foreign language requirement or something. Why don’t you take Greek? And then you can read the New Testament in the original language. You can read and understand the very words that Paul or Luke wrote! How incredible to have the veil of English translation torn away and to be able to read these words in the original language in which God inspired them. So I would really encourage you at this young stage in your life with your whole life ahead of you – why not learn Greek, and then keep it up, and keep reading the New Testament in Greek the rest of your life?³⁸

— William Lane Craig

We ought to use Christian Sunday School classes in our churches to provide better training for our laypeople. Rather than simply giving devotional thoughts or lessons in our Sunday School classes, we ought to be having classes in church history, in Christian doctrine, even in New Testament Greek on an elementary level. We need to train our laypeople to be thinking Christians and to be intellectually engaged with their faith.³⁹

— William Lane Craig

To those who are thinking about committing their lives to a lifetime of service in the Church, and especially to a ministry of the Word, I urge you to take the high road. Don’t shortchange your education and don’t shortchange your flock. Log time—significant time—learning the languages. Go to a seminary that is strong in Greek and Hebrew. And when you get into ministry after your theological education, do not measure the success of the church by the size of the congregation but by its depth of devotion to Christ and the Word.⁴⁰

— Daniel B. Wallace

Jewish rabbis read the Torah in Hebrew. Imams read the Quran in Arabic. How many Christian leaders read the New Testament in Greek?⁴¹

— paraphased from Jordash Kiffiak

Footnotes:

Much thanks to Logos Bible Software for the Greek text, the SBLGNT Greek New Testament Reader for Android app for quick parsing and lexical hints, and StudyLight.org and Daily Dose of Greek for additional insights into the meanings of words I’ve never heard of before.

Mark Chapter 1

(Smart, in this case having a very broad semantic range, of course.) So, without further preamble, let’s get to some of my recommendations for “smart” apps that can come in handy to a student of Greek.

• SBLGNT Greek New Testament Reader
• Bible Lexicon: Bible Study
• MicroParse Greek
• Anki Droid
• Tecarta Bible

SBLGNT Greek New Testament Reader

Of all the apps on my phone that fall into the Greek category, this is the one I currently use the most. Note that I do not recommend reading your Bible, (whether Greek or English) on your phone, (or any other electronic device, for that matter.)** I use this app mainly as a quick reference when I need to quickly look up a passage in Greek or a particular word’s definition or parsing.

What I like about it:

• The font! I’m rather picky about Greek fonts, (some are just plain awful!) but this one is pretty nice.
• One-tap glosses and parsing! This is really nice for those obscure words or parsings that stump you.
• 
  • I’m not sure where the parsing info comes from, but the definitions are from Mounce’s Concise Greek-English Dictionary. Take note of the “concise” in the title of that dictionary. This is not BDAG, so you’ll only get one or two of the “main” meanings, but it’s still very helpful for a quick reference.

What could be improved:

• The app needs a little “polishing.” Often when I want to scroll quickly to the end of a chapter, the page will “stick” to my finger, instead of using the “inertial scroll” that most smartphone users are accustomed to.
• I’d love to see an improved navigation system similar to the way the Tecarta Bible app does it; just type in the reference and chapter number, and hit enter. Presto, there’s the passage you’re looking for!
• The audio player doesn’t seem to work, (at least not on my older device).

The Greek New Testament Reader also has some other neat features that I don’t even use! You can choose from several different Bible reading plans, including some by Daniel Wallace that will hopefully motivate you to read your Greek New Testament more!

It also has a handy little vocabulary tool that evidently allows you to study the vocabulary of a particular chapter of the Bible in order to brush up on your skills before you plow through the chapter.

Bible Lexicon: Bible Study

This app is by far the most versatile of the bunch! Want to look up Mounce’s, Strong’s, or Thayer’s definitions of a Greek word? No problem, the Bible Lexicon can do it for you! (After you download the appropriate modules, of course). Want to look up a specific edition of the Greek text? (e.g. the SBL, BYZ, LXX, WH or the TR?) They’re all available to download for free! What if you want to compare a particular verse in all those different editions? It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

This app leaves a few things to be desired in terms of its user interface as well, but its versatility definitely makes up for the little quirks in the UI.

MicroParse Greek

This little app costs $0.99, but it’s worth every penny, especially if you are studying Greek using Bill Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek (BBG), since it was intended to be used together with that course.

You can parse nouns, verbs, and participles using words that you are already familiar with, and even select which chapter of BBG you’re on, so you aren’t seeing words or parsings that you haven’t learned yet! It also has a vocabulary section for reviewing your vocab, but I found that it did not follow Mounce’s definitions exactly, so after a little research, I found a better solution for reviewing vocab….

Anki Droid

Anki is a flashcard memory system that is specially engineered to help you memorize, and then review what you memorized to keep it in your memory. They call it “spaced repetition.” Obviously this app has much wider applications than just Greek, but I was happy to find a shared deck on the Anki website that contained all of Mounce’s 1000 flashcards! With a little customization, it fit my purposes admirably, and I owe my Greek quiz grades partly to this app.

Here’s my customized version of the 1000 flashcard deck. My customizations include: adding Chapter tags to the first 320 cards that are used in BBG, so that the chapters can be studied individually, adding roots in bold to all the verbs, and tweaking some of the definitions to match what Mounce gives in his 3^rd edition of BBG.

Tecarta Bible

This is my favorite Bible app, and the reason I include it in this lineup is because it offers a Bible version called “Strong’s Concordance w/KJV,” which is just a KJV Bible with the English words keyed to Strong’s numbers/definitions. Just tap and hold the English word you want to look up, and you’ll get a menu with an option to view the Strong’s entry for the underlying Greek word, as well as a link to search all the occurrences of that word in the rest of the Bible. Very handy for a quick word study when you’re in the middle of a debate with a friend!

You can use most of the different Bible versions, including the one mentioned above for free with an internet connection, or you can pay $4.99 to download it for offline use as well.

As I already mentioned above, I like the navigation options for quickly finding references in Tecarta.

Conclusion

Hopefully this post inspires you to use your smartphone for something smart! I use these apps frequently, and recommend them for all Android users who want to sharpen their Greek skills.

**Please note that linking to an external website does not at all constitute an endorsement of that site or its content. It is unfortunate that so many sites with otherwise useful content are plagued with awful content in the sidebars and “recommended content” sections. Please use good judgement. I highly recommend using an ad-blocker (I use this ad-blocker) and/or a browser that automatically blocks ads that allows you to also hide sidebars (and elements other than ads) that are not suitable for a Christian’s eyes.

However, it can be rather complicated and frustrating to type on a regular QWERTY keyboard and have Greek letters come out. Even if you manage to figure out how to set your PC’s keyboard language to Greek, (Mac users see here for instructions) chances are that the letters are not arranged in a logical order that would make sense, (i.e. you would expect that the “u” key would produce the ύψιλον (υ) character, but that is not always the case.)

Another important consideration is how to add all those “little squiggles,” (breathing marks, accents, circumflexes and subscripts). Unless you happen to have Google DuckDuckGo handy to help you figure out how to input Greek breathing marks and accents on a PC, you’ll probably be lost.

On top of that, it can get rather confusing and a little annoying to constantly have to switch keyboard languages.

Ideally, someone would invent a keyboard that is intelligent enough to type Greek characters “normally” for people who are accustomed to typing with a plain old QWERTY keyboard.

With this keyboard, I would type “d” to get a δ, and “u” to get an υ! In addition, if I need to add a rough breathing mark or an accent, I can use a key that makes logical sense and is easy to remember. (For example, the “(” key could be used for the rough breathing mark.)

TypeGreek.com

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you: typegreek.com! All you have to do is to start typing, and it will take care of transliterating your English characters into the proper Greek ones automagically! And if you do struggle for some reason, and can’t figure out how to input a particular letter or accent, just check out the handy alphabet key that tells you everything you need to know!

Keyman Greek keyboards

If you prefer an offline method for typing in polytonic Greek that works with any software on your computer, then you’ll definitely want to check out the excellent Keyman keyboards as an alternative to the built-in keyboards that you can get with Windows or Mac machines. I currently use Keyman’s Galaxie Greek/Hebrew (Mnemonic) keyboards, and I love them! They are intuitive, and fulfill my wish for a keyboard that maps “δ” to “d” and “υ” to “u”, and so on… It’s almost as easy as typing in English (but not quite, because English doesn’t normally use accents.) Check out their handy documentation to learn which keys to use for inputting accents and subscripts. Once you learn them it feels very natural and easy!

Now you can type things like this!

ἡ χάρις μεθ᾿ ὑμῶν (Colossians 4:18)

ἀμἠν

They probably won’t be posted very regularly, and they may not make much sense, except to fellow Greek geeks.

Have fun!