Nehemiah 13:24

24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or some other language and didn't know how to speak our language.

Nehemiah 13:24 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 13:24

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.

Nehemiah 13:24 In-Context

22 I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to go and guard the gates to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy. Remember me, O God, for this also, and spare me because of your great love.

23 At that time I also discovered that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or some other language and didn't know how to speak our language.

25 I reprimanded the men, called down curses on them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath in God's name that never again would they or their children intermarry with foreigners.

26 I told them, "It was foreign women that made King Solomon sin. Here was a man who was greater than any of the kings of other nations. God loved him and made him king over all of Israel, and yet he fell into this sin.