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Read the Bible

JPS Old Testament

Nehemiah 13:24

and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ashdod;   Divorce;   Language;   Zeal, Religious;   Thompson Chain Reference - Hebrew;   Nehemiah;   Solomon;   The Topic Concordance - Marriage;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Alliance and Society with the Enemies of God;   Ammonites, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Marriage;   Philistines;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Foreigner;   Malachi;   Samaria, samaritans;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Hittites;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ashdod;   Giants;   Jew;   Malachi;   Nehemiah;   Noah;   Philistia;   Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ashdod;   Hebrew;   Malachi;   Nehemiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ashdod;   Nehemiah, Book of;   Text, Versions, and Languages of Ot;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Ammon, Ammonites, Children of Ammon;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Nehemiah;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Philis'tines;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Samaritans;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ashdod;   Genealogy;   Jew;   Languages of the Old Testament;   Philistines;   Stranger and Sojourner (in the Old Testament);   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ashdod;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Aramaic Language among the Jews;   Hebrew Language;   Marriage;   Moab;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.
Hebrew Names Version
and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Yehudim' language, but according to the language of each people.
King James Version
And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
English Standard Version
And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.
New Century Version
Half their children were speaking the language of Ashdod or some other place, and they couldn't speak the language of Judah.
New English Translation
Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned) and were unable to speak the language of Judah.
Amplified Bible
As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them knew how to speak [Hebrew] the language of Judah, but only the language of his own people.
New American Standard Bible
As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them knew how to speak the language of Judah, but only the language of his own people.
World English Bible
and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And their children spake halfe in ye speach of Ashdod, and could not speake in the Iewes language, and according to the language of the one people, and of the other people.
Legacy Standard Bible
As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but only the tongue of his own people.
Berean Standard Bible
Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.
Contemporary English Version
About half of their children could not speak Hebrew—they spoke only the language of Ashdod or some other foreign language.
Complete Jewish Bible
and their children, who spoke half in the language of Ashdod and couldn't speak in the language the Judeans spoke but only in the language of each people.
Darby Translation
And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
Easy-to-Read Version
And half of the children from those marriages didn't know how to speak the Jewish language. They spoke the language of Ashdod, Ammon, or Moab.
George Lamsa Translation
And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod and in the other half they could not intelligently speak in the Jewish language, but according to the language of each people.
Good News Translation
Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or some other language and didn't know how to speak our language.
Lexham English Bible
Half of their children spoke Ashdodite and could not speak Judean, but only the tongues of other nations.
Literal Translation
And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and to them there was no respecting to speak Jewish, but according to the language of each people.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and their children spake halfe in the speache of Asdod, and coulde not speake in ye Iewish language, but by ye tonge mighte a ma perceaue euery people.
American Standard Version
and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
Bible in Basic English
And their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And their children spake halfe in the speach of Asdod, and could not speake in the Iewes language, but according to the language of the one people and of the other people.
King James Version (1611)
And their children spake halfe in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speake in the Iewes language, but according to the language of ech people.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and did not know how to speak in the Jewish language.
English Revised Version
and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And her children spaken half part bi the speche of Ayotus, and kouden not speke bi the speche of Jewis, and thei spaken bi the langage of puple and of puple.
Update Bible Version
and their sons spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.
Webster's Bible Translation
And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews language, but according to the language of each people.
New King James Version
And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.
New Living Translation
Furthermore, half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of some other people and could not speak the language of Judah at all.
New Life Bible
Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod. They could not speak the language of Judah, but the language of their own people.
New Revised Standard
and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke the language of various peoples.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and, their children, were one-half speaking the language of Ashdod, and understood not how to speak the language of the Jews, - but after the tongue of both people.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And their children spoke half in the speech of Azotus, and could not speak the Jews’ language, but they spoke according to the language of this and that people.
Revised Standard Version
and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but the language of each people.
Young's Literal Translation
And of their sons, half are speaking Ashdoditish -- and are not knowing to speak Jewish -- and according to the language of people and people.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people.

Contextual Overview

23 In those days also saw I the Jews that had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; 24 and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. 25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God: 'Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless even him did the foreign women cause to sin. 27 Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to break faith with our God in marrying foreign women?' 28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. 30 Thus cleansed I them from everything foreign, and appointed wards for the priests and for the Levites, every one in his work; 31 and for the wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the first-fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

could not speak: Heb. they discerned not to speak

each people: Heb. people and people, Zephaniah 3:9

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:2 - and they Joshua 11:22 - Ashdod Joshua 15:46 - near Ezra 9:2 - taken of their Nehemiah 4:7 - Ashdodites Hosea 5:7 - begotten Malachi 2:15 - That he Matthew 26:73 - for

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod,.... Which they learned of their mothers, so that it was a mixed language they spoke, partly Jewish and partly Philistine; but some refer this not to their speech, but to the number of their children; that half of them, which Jarchi interprets many of them, spoke in the language of Ashdod, even as many as were most with their mothers, and chiefly brought up by them:

and could not speak in the Jews' language; not at all, or so much as to be understood well, which inclines to the last sense:

but according to the language of each people; their mothers were of, whether of Ashdod, or of Ammon, or of Moab.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The speech of Ashdod - The Philistine language, which was akin to that of Egypt.

According to the language of each people - The children spoke a mixed dialect - half-Philistine, half-Hebrew.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 24. Half in the speech of Ashdod — There were children in the same family by Jewish and Philistine mothers. As the Jewish mother would always speak to her children in Hebrew or Chaldee, so they learnt to speak these languages; and as the Ashdod mother would always speak to her children in the Ashdod language, so they learnt that tongue. Thus there were, in the same family, children who could not understand each other; half, or one part, speaking one language, and the other part another. Children of different wives did not ordinarily mingle together; and the wives had separate apartments. This is a better explanation than that which intimates that the same child spoke a jargon, half Ashdod and half Hebrew.


 
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