Hebrew

Hebrew as an ethnic and linguistic designation applies to the Israelites, though its origins and usage are more complex than a simple synonym for "Israelite." In the Old Testament, "Hebrew" (ibri) is typically used when an Israelite speaks to or is described by a non-Israelite (Genesis 39:14; 41:12; Exodus 1:19), or when an Israelite identifies himself to a foreigner (Genesis 40:15; Jonah 1:9), suggesting it was the outsider's term for the people — or a term of self-identification in cross-cultural contexts. The derivation is traditionally traced to Eber (Genesis 10:24; 11:14–17), the ancestor through whom the line of Abraham descended, making "Hebrew" an ethnic designation for the children of Eber.

In the New Testament, Paul identifies himself as "a Hebrew of the Hebrews" (Philippians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 11:22) — a pure-blooded member of the Hebrew-speaking Jewish community, not a diaspora Jew who had adopted Greek as his primary language. Acts 6:1 distinguishes "Hellenists" (Greek-speaking Jewish Christians) from "Hebrews" (Aramaic-speaking Jewish Christians) in the early Jerusalem church. The "Hebrew tongue" mentioned in Acts 21:40, 22:2 and Revelation 9:11; 16:16 refers to the Aramaic spoken by Palestinian Jews in the first century, though Hebrew proper remained the language of synagogue reading and religious scholarship.