# New Testament in Greek **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914 "2012-05-14T18:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/1 "2012-05-14T18:28:20Z")
Any dopers know how many Greek words are used in the original New Testament? I want to learn Greek to read the NT in its original; how many words would be involved? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/2 "2012-05-14T18:48:23Z")
I have no special knowledge in this area, but I took this as a challenge to my Google-fu. The Wikipedia article on [Strong’s Concordance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong's_Concordance) mentions “The 5624 Greek root words used in the New Testament,” so **5624** may be the answer to your question. I also ran across [this site](http://greek2u.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/all-the-vocabulary-words-found-in-the-greek-new-testament-alpha-numeric-by-10x-frequency-pdf/) which claims to offer a list of the **1067** words that are used 10 times or more in the Greek New Testament. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/3 "2012-05-14T19:35:24Z")
Thank you, Mr. Boink! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/4 "2012-05-14T19:44:06Z")
I clearly misunderstood the question, as my answer was going to be “pretty much all of it”, since the original NT was written in Greed. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/5 "2012-05-14T20:51:51Z")
_Blessed are the Greek…_ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/6 "2012-05-14T21:50:36Z")
I don’t know how much you know about classical Greek, so forgive me if this is old hat, but there’s a lot more involved than just reading the words. The Greek of the New Testament is a declensional language, meaning that the role of a word in a sentence is indicated by its ending, not its position. You’ll have to spend a fair amount of time learning grammar before you really have a shot at reading it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/7 "2012-05-14T21:51:17Z")
> [@11811](#): > > Any dopers know how many Greek words are used in the original New Testament? I want to learn Greek to read the NT in its original; how many words would be involved? You’re going to need to learn more than just the roots. Words have cases, verbs have tenses and four voices (active, passive, subjunctive, and optative!), so it’s not going to be that easy a job. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/8 "2012-05-14T21:53:24Z")
I think it was Churchill who said that learning Greek was a treat to be given to those who did wel learning latin? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/9 "2012-05-14T22:56:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > since the original NT was written in Greed. I’m sure there are some who would disagree with you. And some who would agree. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/10 "2012-05-14T23:31:07Z")
the New Testament was not written in Classical Greek. It was written in post-classical Koine Greek, somewhat different. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/11 "2012-05-15T00:58:02Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > the New Testament was not written in Classical Greek. It was written in post-classical Koine Greek, somewhat different. And much, much easier. A disciplined student can be up and running reading Koine fairly comfortably within a few months. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/12 "2012-05-15T01:44:23Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m sure there are some who would disagree with you. > > And some who would agree. > > 😛 Good catch. I think my fingers are dyslexic. “D” being the same distance to he left of “gh” as “k” is to the right. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/13 "2012-05-16T16:57:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I clearly misunderstood the question, as my answer was going to be “pretty much all of it”, since the original NT was written in Greed. “Greek is good.” Gordon Gekko ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-testament-in-greek/621914/14 "2012-05-16T17:05:57Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > “Greek is good.” Gordon Gekko Isn’t Gorkon Geddo?