Nehemiah 13:24

And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, &c.— What the natural language of the Jews at this time was, whether Hebrew or Chaldee, is matter of some inquiry among the learned. Those who suppose that it was Hebrew, produce the books of Nehemiah, Ezra, and Esther, beside the prophesies of Daniel, which for the most part were written in Hebrew, and which they suppose the authors of them would not have done, if Hebrew had not been at that time the vulgar language. But to this it is replied, that these Jewish authors might make use of the Hebrew language in what they wrote, not only because the things which they recorded concerned the Jewish nation only, among whom there were learned men enough to explain them; but, chiefly, because they were inclined to conceal what they wrote from the Chaldeans, who at that time were their lords and masters, and, considering all circumstances, might not perhaps have been so well pleased with them, had they understood the contents of their writings. Since it appears then, say they, by several words recurring in the books of Maccabees, the New Testament, and Josephus, that the language which the Jews then spoke was Chaldee, that this language they learned in their captivity, and after their return never assumed their ancient Hebrew tongue so as to speak it vulgarly; it must hence follow, that what is here called the language of the Jews was at that time no other than the Chaldee; for the ancient Hebrew was only preserved among the learned. See Le Clerc.