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Was Jesus a carpenter? Well, maybe....
Matthew 13:55 notes that Joseph was a "τέκτων (tekton)" - the word in the original koine Greek. And your English translation almost certainly says "carpenter."
Mark 6:3 seems to suggest that Jesus too was a "τέκτων (tekton)" - which makes sense because in the vast majority of cases, Jewish boys followed in the vocational footsteps of their father.
Those are the only references to Jesus' job.
The issue is: What was a τέκτων (tekton)?
Literally, a tekton was anyone who worked with his hands. We get the word "technology" from the same Greek word. It indicates that one worked with his hands, and usually meant they were not businessmen or farmers or shepherds or a fisherman but a laborer of some kind, very likely a skilled laborer, a craftsman of sorts. COULD this mean Jesus was a woodworker? Certainly! Could it mean Jesus was a stonemason (a very common theory)? Yup. It COULD refer to a lot of jobs.... it simply means His vocation flowed from his hands; He was a skilled laborer.
So, why do virtually all translations say "carpenter" rather than "craftsman?" Tradition. It was a very early tradition that this specifically was his vocation. By the time St Jerome created the Latin Vulgate Bible, this was a given so he translates the Greek word "tekton" as "carpenter" in Latin and it just stuck. Virtually all translations after that followed that. Some hold it's far more likely He was a stonemason given where He lived and worked BUT it's entirely possible that He was a woodworker. The biblical text simply isn't specific enough to be certain.
- Josiah
.
Matthew 13:55 notes that Joseph was a "τέκτων (tekton)" - the word in the original koine Greek. And your English translation almost certainly says "carpenter."
Mark 6:3 seems to suggest that Jesus too was a "τέκτων (tekton)" - which makes sense because in the vast majority of cases, Jewish boys followed in the vocational footsteps of their father.
Those are the only references to Jesus' job.
The issue is: What was a τέκτων (tekton)?
Literally, a tekton was anyone who worked with his hands. We get the word "technology" from the same Greek word. It indicates that one worked with his hands, and usually meant they were not businessmen or farmers or shepherds or a fisherman but a laborer of some kind, very likely a skilled laborer, a craftsman of sorts. COULD this mean Jesus was a woodworker? Certainly! Could it mean Jesus was a stonemason (a very common theory)? Yup. It COULD refer to a lot of jobs.... it simply means His vocation flowed from his hands; He was a skilled laborer.
So, why do virtually all translations say "carpenter" rather than "craftsman?" Tradition. It was a very early tradition that this specifically was his vocation. By the time St Jerome created the Latin Vulgate Bible, this was a given so he translates the Greek word "tekton" as "carpenter" in Latin and it just stuck. Virtually all translations after that followed that. Some hold it's far more likely He was a stonemason given where He lived and worked BUT it's entirely possible that He was a woodworker. The biblical text simply isn't specific enough to be certain.
- Josiah
.
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