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• Thus, in Babylon, Jews began their new life. As we have seen, Aramaic was the official language of the Babylonian empire, and the language of the common people. Thus, the Jews had, of necessity, to learn Aramaic. But Hebrew and Aramaic are closely related, and so there would have been little resistance to Aramaic, and the Hebrew-speaking Jews would have not have found it difficult to learn Aramaic.
• Amongst the people who were deported into Babylon were those in the royal household. Daniel the prophet, who we have already looked at in the previous lesson on the Babylonian Empire, was amongst those taken into captivity. Let us continue reading from Daniel chapter 1: