Aramaic word · H4076

מָדַי

madai

Mede

Media and Persia, or the Medes and the Persians. These were two related Iranian peoples. Cyrus II, a Persian, conquered the Median kingdom around 550 BC and ruled both.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

also called Mede frequently

Aramaic of me.dan (מְדָן "Medan" H4091)

§ Medes = "middle land"

1) the territory inhabited by the Medes

2a) located northwest of Persia proper, south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of Armenia and Assyria, and west and northwest of the great salt desert of Iram

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 Daniel 5:28

Range of meaning

Media and Persia, or the Medes and the Persians. These were two related Iranian peoples. Cyrus II, a Persian, conquered the Median kingdom around 550 BC and ruled both.

Against the English

English 'the Medes and Persians' is accurate. Modern readers may not know that by 539 BC this was one empire with a double name, not two allied states.

Used elsewhere in the period

The prophets predicted that Media would attack Babylon (Isa 13:17; 21:2; Jer 51:11, 28). The pair 'Medes and Persians' appears in Dan 6:8, 12, 15 ('the law of the Medes and Persians') and in Esther (1:3, 14, 19), and Daniel 8:20 pictures it as a two-horned ram.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 6:2 בְּמָדַ֥י [is] in Media

    And a scroll was found in the fortress of Ecbatana, in the province of Media, with the following written on it: Memorandum:

Daniel · 4

  1. Daniel 5:28 לְמָדַ֥י to Medes

    PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

    Here: "To the Medes / to Media." These are the Iranian people whom the prophets had named as the destroyers of Babylon (Isa 13:17; Jer 51:11, 28). By 539 BC they were part of Cyrus's empire.

  2. Daniel 6:8 מָדַ֥י [the] Medes

    Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”

    Here: Media, the Iranian kingdom to the north-west of Persia. Daniel always puts Media before Persia (5:28; 6:8, 12, 15; 8:20), which fits the book's 'Darius the Mede'.

  3. Daniel 6:12 מָדַ֥י [the] Medes

    So they approached the king and asked about his royal decree: “Did you not sign a decree that for thirty days any man who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions?” The king replied, “According to the law of the Medes and Persians the order stands, and it cannot be repealed.”

  4. Daniel 6:15 לְמָדַ֣י of [the] Medes

    Then the men approached the king together and said to him, “Remember, O king, that by the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or ordinance established by the king can be changed.”

    Here: "Of Media." Daniel puts Media first ("Medes and Persians"), which fits a story set under Darius the Mede. Esther reverses the order ("Persians and Medes").

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