Hebrews

Hebrews refers to an ancient Semitic people who inhabited the Levant in the late Bronze Age and Iron Age, including the later Israelites and Jews. The term derives from Hebrew and Ivri, used in biblical and classical sources to designate the people and their culture. In the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrews are portrayed as the descendants of the patriarchs who became the Israelites, formed the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and experienced exile and return. Archaeology provides a complex picture, with linguistic and material evidence showing both continuity and change in the region.

Over time, the term broadens to cover the language they spoke, Hebrew, a Northwest Semitic language. The Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with later portions in Aramaic. The language later evolved under various influences and was revived in the 19th–20th centuries as Modern Hebrew, the official language of the State of Israel.

In the New Testament, Hebrews refers to the Epistle to the Hebrews, an anonymous letter in Greek traditionally associated with Paul or a Pauline circle; most scholars date it to the late 1st century CE. The letter presents Jesus as the supreme revelation and high priest, arguing that the new covenant in Christ fulfills and transcends the old covenant, emphasizes faith and perseverance, and quotes extensively from Hebrew Scriptures.

The term Hebrews therefore covers both a historic ethnolinguistic group and a New Testament manuscript, distinct in genre and period but linked by shared biblical and religious heritage.