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THE OLD TESTAMENT AND ITS CORRUPTION 233

11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna andJoah unto Rab-shakeh, Speak,
I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand
it: and speak not to us in theJews' language, in the ears of the people
that are on the wall.
13 Then Rab-shakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews'
language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of
Assyria.

Such is the rendering in the KingJames Version, and the same phrase is
found in the New World Translation,23 the Holy Biblefrom the Ancient Eastern
'Text,24 the Revised Standard Version,25 and the Arabic Edition. These last three
substitute 'Aramaic' for 'Syrian language', but none of them designates the
other as Hebrew'" 2 Kgs 18:26 and 2 Ch 32:18 chronicle the same incident
and incorporate the same expression. In another chapter of Isaiah we read:

In that day shall fivecities in the land of Egypt speak the language of
Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, The city
of destruction.i"

The above translations unanimously agree on this phrasing; surely if
Hebrew had been founded by then the OT would bear testimony to it,
instead of vague wordings about the Jews' language' or the 'language of
Canaan.i" Given that the text makes the reference to the language of
Canaan generically - which, simply put, is Canaanite - we can infer that
the Israelites did not possess a unique tongue at the time of the Divided
Kingdoms of Israel andJudah.
In fact the word 'Hebrew' was indeed in existence, but it predated the
Israelites and did not refer to anything remotelyJewish. The words 'Ibri
(Habiru) and 'Ibrani (Hebrew) were in usage even before 2000 B.C.E. and
referred to a group of Arab tribes from the northern reaches of the
Arabian Peninsula, in the Syrian desert. The appellation spread to other
Arab tribes in the area until it became a synonym for 'son of the desert'.

23 New f;Vorld Translation ofthe HolyScriptures, WatchtowerBibleand Tract Societyof
NewYork, Inc., 1984.
24 George M. Lamsa's translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta,Harper, San
Francisco.
25 Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1952.
26 The Revised Standard Version uses"language ofJudah".
27 KJv, Isaiah 19:18.
28 Of all the Bibles in mycollection onlythe CEVexplicitly writesHebrewin Isaiah
19:18, Isaiah 36:11-13, 2 K 18:26, and 2 Ch 32:18. But the accuracyof this workis
highlysuspect, while the other versions adhere far more closely to the originaltext.
See this workpp. 293-4.