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Apostles

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THE APOSTLES : M.M.NINAN<br />

Close-up of the Aramaic inscription: "Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua" ("James, son of Joseph,<br />

brother of Jesus")<br />

In Aramaic, the inscription reads "Yaakov bar Yoseph akhui d'Yeshua."<br />

Aramaic, as you probably know, was the language of first century Jerusalem. "Yaakov" means<br />

"James". "bar" means "son". "Yoseph" is obviously "Joseph". "akhui" is a rather unusual but<br />

legitimate spelling for "brother". "Yeshua" is "Jesus". And the "d" in front of Yeshua is an Aramaic<br />

prepositional form indicating "belonging to".<br />

Stone bone-boxes ("ossuaries") of this type were used from about 20 B.C. to A.D. 70. The box is<br />

made of limestone of exactly the type that was quarried in first-century Jerusalem for many

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