Hebrew word · H1255

בְּרֹאדַךְ בַּלְאֲדָן

berodakh

Merodach-baladan

A personal name: the Hebrew form of the Akkadian Marduk-apla-iddina ('Marduk has given an heir'). It names Marduk-apla-iddina II, a Chaldean tribal chief from the Bit-Yakin tribe of the southern Mesopotamian marshes.

Appears 2 times in 1 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 2Ki.20.12;

son of: Baladan (H1081)

Also named: me.ro.dakh bal.a.dan (מְרֹדַךְ בַּלְאֲדָן "Merodach-baladan" H4757)

§ Berodach-baladan = "worshipper of Baal"

king of Babylon in the days of Hezekiah

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 2 Kings 20:12

Range of meaning

A personal name: the Hebrew form of the Akkadian Marduk-apla-iddina ('Marduk has given an heir'). It names Marduk-apla-iddina II, a Chaldean tribal chief from the Bit-Yakin tribe of the southern Mesopotamian marshes.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT and NASB keep the B-spelling of the Hebrew text of Kings ('Berodach'). BSB and ESV use 'Merodach' from Isaiah 39:1. NIV modernizes to 'Marduk-Baladan', which shows the reader the god's name inside it.

Used elsewhere in the period

He is well known outside the Bible. Assyrian royal inscriptions of Sargon II and Sennacherib name him as their persistent enemy. The Babylonian Chronicle and king lists record that he held Babylon's throne c. 722–710 BC (backed by Elam) and again briefly c. 703 BC, before Sennacherib drove him out. Assyrian texts call him 'son of Yakin', a tribal label. The Merodach form appears in Isaiah 39:1, and Marduk appears as 'Merodach' in Jeremiah 50:2.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 2

  1. 2 Kings 20:12 בְּרֹאדַ֣ךְ בַּ֠לְאֲדָן Merodach-, Baladan

    At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness.

    Here: First half of the king's name, standing for the god Marduk, chief god of Babylon. The Kings text spells it with a B, probably a copying slip for the M of Isaiah 39:1 (the Hebrew letters were easy to confuse).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.