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Nehemiah 13:24

in Nehemiah 13

Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

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.

KJV

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.

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This verse in Nehemiah 13

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

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.

This site's exposition

married wives of Ashdod

on Nehemiah 13:23-24

The last reform returns to the crisis Ezra had already fought once: Jews who had married wives of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, the same nations named in the chapter's opening reading. The children of these marriages could no longer speak the language of Judah, only the speech of Ashdod or whichever mother raised them, a household split in two tongues under one roof. Clarke pictures brothers in the same family unable to understand each other, half raised in Hebrew and half in a foreign speech. Gill notes Ashdod itself was not one of the seven nations under the old conquest ban, yet intermarriage with it still corrupted the people's language and worship alike.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It was the honour of Israel, and the greatest preservation of their holiness, that they were a peculiar people, and were so to keep themselves, and not to mingle with the nations, nor suffer any of them to incorporate with them.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

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.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וּבְנֵיהֶ֗םand children their

    uveneihemH1121 →4930 times

  • חֲצִי֙half

    chatziH2677 →125 times

  • מְדַבֵּ֣ר[were] speaking

    medaberH1696 →1141 times

  • אַשְׁדּוֹדִ֔יתAshdodite

    ʾashdoditH797 →

  • וְאֵינָ֥םand not they

    veeinamH369 →789 times

  • מַכִּירִ֖ים[were] knowing

    makirimH5234 →

  • לְדַבֵּ֣רto speak

    ledaberH1696 →1141 times

  • יְהוּדִ֑ית[in] Judean

    yehuditH3066 →

  • וְכִלְשׁ֖וֹןand according to [the] language of

    vekhilshonH3956 →

  • עַ֥םpeople

    ʾamH5971 →1873 times

  • וָעָֽם׃and people

    vaamH5971 →1873 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Zephaniah 3:9

    For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 11:1

      Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.

    • Isaiah 19:18

      In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the…

    • Psalms 22:27

      All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.

    • Zechariah 2:11

      “On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me…

    • Psalms 86:9–10

      All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.

About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Nehemiah: the study guide →Read Nehemiah 13 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Nehemiah 13 →