I did not know that Hebrew was only used for Holy Text until late 19th century.
"Eliezer Ben Yehuda is said to be the father of modern Hebrew. Born in Lithuania in 1858, he immigrated to Israel in 1881 and dedicated himself to the revival of the Hebrew language, which at the time was used only to read Holy texts and not spoken in everyday life. Ben Yehuda invented words in Hebrew for doll, bicycle, towel, and other modern items. Linguists continue to research the roots of the Hebrew language to coin words for terms like SMS and blog. There are 2,000 new words added to Modern Hebrew each year. (Ynet)" - source: Chosen People Ministry Inside Israel email news.