All of the ancient manuscripts of the New Testament are in Greek. Although people are surprised to hear this, except for the Dead Sea Scrolls, by far the oldest Old Testament manuscripts are also in Greek. Why? After Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world in about 300 BC, everyone spoke Greek, even the Jews. The Hebrew speaking Jews needed a new translation of their scriptures for the new Greek speaking generation of Jews. That translation, the Septuagint, is the Old Testament from which the New Testament quotes. Jesus quotes from the Greek Old Testament, and so does Mark, Luke, Paul, Peter, Jude and other New Testament writers. In this edition of Religion Today, Martin Tanner explains how understanding the Greek Old Testament quotes in the New Testament, will greatly enhance your understanding of the New Testament.