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| Nebuchadnezzar נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר |
After their victory the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem which resulted in Jehoiakim-king of Judah paying tribute to the Neo-Babylonian empire and young nobility of the kingdom of Judah (Bēyt Dāwīḏ in Aramaic) being transferred and kept hostages in Babylon.
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| Battle of Carchemish. |
But in 603BC Nebuchadnezzar's army was defeated by the Egyptians ruled by Nechu II and as a result Jehoiakim revolted against his Babylonian overlords refusing to pay tribute.
Nebuchadnezzar waisted no time and moved against Jerusalem again which was captured and utterly destroyed.
| The Jewish nobility and many others were forcibly exiled to Babylon. There they were forced to learn Aramaic the common language of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. |
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| Destruction of Jerusalem. Exile to Babylon. |
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| A ziggurat temple. |
After the fall of Babylon Cyrus allowed the exiled Jews to return to Judah. Many of them never returned settling in Lebanon, Syria and Upper Mesopotamia areas where Aramaic was the dominant language.
Others went back to Judah and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Second Temple.
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| Return to Zion. |
The exile to Babylon and the settlement of the Jews in Aramaic speaking areas resulted in Hebrew gradually falling out of use in favour of Aramaic.
Hebrew ceased to be a spoken language between the 2nd and 4th century C.E. after the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire.
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| Mered Bar Kokhba מֶרֶד בַּר כּוֹכְבָא |
Nevertheless it continued to be used as a liturgical language.
From this time on, a Bible interpreter -the meturgeman (translator) translated orally the Bible from Hebrew to the vernacular Aramaic. This practice lead to the targumim (translations).
The exile of Babylon in the Bible.
Ezra 1:1-4