Aramaic and the Medo-Persian Empire

• In the last few lessons, we looked at the Babylonian Empire, as well as the exile of the Jews into Babylon. Aramaic was the normal spoken language of both the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, and when the Jews were exiled into Babylon, Aramaic became more widely spoken amongst Jews than Hebrew, as their everyday language. Hebrew was regarded as the Holy Language, sacred, and it was used for worship, for reading the Hebrew Bible, and for prayers. Aramaic was used instead for secular, everyday use.