Hebrew word · H2069

זְבַדְיָהוּ

zevadyahu

Zebadiah

From the verb zabad, 'to give, endow, bestow a gift (often a marriage gift)' (Gen 30:20), plus the divine name Yah: 'Yah has bestowed.' It is a thank-you name, the kind parents gave a child they saw as a gift from God.

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man of the tribe of Benjamin living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, only mentioned at 1Ch.8.15;

son of: Beriah (H1283I);

brother of: Arad (H6166B), Ahio (H0283H), Shashak (H8349), Jeremoth (H3406I), Eder (H5738), Michael (H4317L), Ishpah (H3472) and Joha (H3109)

§ Zebadiah = "endowment of Jehovah"

1) a Benjamite of the sons of Beriah

2) a Benjamite of the sons of Elpaal

3) one of the sons of Jeroham of Gedor and one of David's men

4) son of Asahel, brother of Joab, and one of David's men

5) son of Michael, of the sons of Shephatiah

6) a priest of the sons of Immer, who had a foreign wife in the time of Ezra

7) a Levite, 3rd son of Meshelemiah the Korhite

8) a Levite in the reign of Jehoshaphat

9) son of Ishmael and prince of the house of Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat

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 1 Chronicles 12:7

Range of meaning

From the verb zabad, 'to give, endow, bestow a gift (often a marriage gift)' (Gen 30:20), plus the divine name Yah: 'Yah has bestowed.' It is a thank-you name, the kind parents gave a child they saw as a gift from God.

Against the English

English 'Zebadiah' is a fair transliteration. The name's meaning, 'gift of Yah,' is lost on readers who don't know Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

At least eight or nine different men in Chronicles and Ezra bear the name, including a Benjaminite in 1 Chr 8:15, 17, a son of Asahel among David's officers (1 Chr 27:7), and a judge under Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 19:11). Related names include Zabdi, Zabad, and Zebedee, which comes into the New Testament through Greek.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 5

  1. 1 Chronicles 8:15 וּזְבַדְיָ֥ה and Zebadiah

    Zebadiah, Arad, Eder,

  2. 1 Chronicles 8:17 וּזְבַדְיָ֥ה and Zebadiah

    Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber,

  3. 1 Chronicles 12:7 וּזְבַדְיָ֛ה and Zebadiah

    and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.

    Here: A common Israelite name meaning 'Yah has given' or 'Yah has bestowed.' It appears here in the short form ending in -yah rather than the longer -yahu.

  4. 1 Chronicles 26:2 זְבַדְיָ֙הוּ֙ Zebadiah

    Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,

  5. 1 Chronicles 27:7 וּזְבַדְיָ֥ה and Zebadiah

    The fourth, for the fourth month, was Joab’s brother Asahel, and his son Zebadiah was commander after him. There were 24,000 men in his division.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 17:8 וּזְבַדְיָ֡הוּ and Zebadiah

    accompanied by certain Levites—Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah—along with the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

  2. 2 Chronicles 19:11 וּזְבַדְיָ֨הוּ and Zebadiah

    Note that Amariah, the chief priest, will be over you in all that pertains to the LORD, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all that pertains to the king. And the Levites will serve as officers before you. Act resolutely; may the LORD be with the upright!”

Ezra · 2

  1. Ezra 8:8 זְבַדְיָ֖ה Zebadiah

    from the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;

  2. Ezra 10:20 וּזְבַדְיָֽה׃ ס and Zebadiah

    From the descendants of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

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