Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
Speak ... in the Syrian language - rather, Aramean. The language spoken north and east of Palestine, and understood by the Assyrians as belonging to the same family of languages as their own, nearly akin to Hebrew also, though not intelligible to the multitude (cf. 2 Kings 5:5-7). Aram means a high land, and includes parts of Assyria as well as Syria.
Speak ... the Jews' language. The men of Judah, since the disruption of Israel, claimed the Hebrew as their own peculiarly, being now the only true representative of the whole Hebrew Twelve tribes.
In the ears of the people that (are) on the wall. The interview was within hearing distance of the city. The people crowded on the wall, curious to hear the Assyrian message. The Jewish rulers fear that it will terrify the people, and therefore beg Rabshakeh to speak Aramean.