And their children spoke half in the speech of Azotus, and could not speak the Jews' language, but they spoke according to the language of this and that people.

And their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.

And of their sons, half are speaking Ashdoditish, and are not knowing to speak Jewish, and according to the language of people and people.

And their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples.

And their sons spoke partly in the speech of Ashdod, and they did not know how to speak the Jewish language, and they were speaking according to the language of one people or another.

The speech of Ashdod - The Philistine language, which was akin to that of Egypt.
According to the language of each people - The children spoke a mixed dialect - half-Philistine, half-Hebrew.

Half in the speech of Ashdod - There were children in the same family by Jewish and Philistine mothers. As the Jewish mother would always speak to her children in Hebrew or Chaldee, so they learnt to speak these languages; and as the Ashdod mother would always speak to her children in the Ashdod language, so they learnt that tongue. Thus there were, in the same family, children who could not understand each other; half, or one part, speaking one language, and the other part another. Children of different wives did not ordinarily mingle together; and the wives had separate apartments. This is a better explanation than that which intimates that the same child spoke a jargon, half Ashdod and half Hebrew.

And their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod,.... Which they learned of their mothers, so that it was a mixed language they spoke, partly Jewish and partly Philistine; but some refer this not to their speech, but to the number of their children; that half of them, which Jarchi interprets many of them, spoke in the language of Ashdod, even as many as were most with their mothers, and chiefly brought up by them:
and could not speak in the Jews' language; not at all, or so much as to be understood well, which inclines to the last sense:
but according to the language of each people; their mothers were of, whether of Ashdod, or of Ammon, or of Moab.

could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people--a mongrel dialect imbibed from their mothers, together with foreign principles and habits.