Dictionaries :: Chaldee Language

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Chaldee Language:

employed by the sacred writers in certain portions of the Old Testament, viz., Dan 2:4-7, 28; Ezr 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Gen. 31:46; Jer 10:11. It is the Aramaic dialect, as it is sometimes called, as distinguished from the Hebrew dialect. It was the language of commerce and of social intercourse in Western Asia, and after the Exile gradually came to be the popular language of Palestine. It is called "Syrian" in 2Ki 18:26. Some isolated words in this language are preserved in the New Testament (Mat 5:22; 6:24; 16:17; 27:46; Mar 3:17; 5:41; 7:34; 14:36; Act 1:19; 1Cr 16:22). These are specimens of the vernacular language of Palestine at that period. The term "Hebrew" was also sometimes applied to the Chaldee because it had become the language of the Hebrews (Jhn 5:2; 19:20).