Syriack for Simple Folk

Texts: 2 Kings 18:26, Ezra 4:7 (twice), Is. 36:11, Dan. 2:4

Note on post title: All material in this post is taken from the AV text alone, which most people have access to, and not extra-Biblical sources, which may or may not refer to it as Syriack, its proper Biblical name.

This language is mentioned five times in the AV. It is also referred to as Chaldean (center column references in the AV) and Aramaic. It is the underlying text for Ezra 4:7-6:18, 7:12-26; Jer. 10:11; and Dan. 2:4b-7:28, for a total of 168 verses. A few notes on this language, arranged by verses that refer to it:

1. 2 Kings 18:26. Spoken by the Assyrians. Jewish rulers knew it, but not the common people. The prophet Jonah knew it too, since he visited Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and prophesied to them in a language they understood, most likely their own.

2. Dan. 2:4ff. Spoken by the Chaldeans or Babylonians; Babylon was a city in the region of Chaldea.

a. Daniel and his companions knew it, since they communicated with Nebuchadnezzar and his servants in it. Rulers subject to Neb also knew it, since they gathered to worship the idol he made, and the herald likely spoke to them in Syriack (Dan. 3:1-4).

b. Jeremiah knew it, and he or Baruch, his scribe, wrote one verse in Syriack (10:11). In context, that verse was spoken to "the nations" as a whole (10:10), so Syriack had become an international language by this time. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, speaks to Jeremiah in Jer. 40:1-5, likely in Syriack, though he probably knew some Hebrew too.

3. Ezra 4:7. Spoken by the Persians...and Ezra, who wrote part of his book in it (see above).

This language emerges in scripture with the rise of the Assyrian empire then continues to be used by the succeeding Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires. Syriack is used by certain Jews pre- and post-captivity, and they likely continued to use it as long as they were subject to the Persians and before Alexander took control of Palestine in the fourth century B.C.