Hebrew word · H4757

מְרֹדַךְ בַּלְאֲדָן

bal'adon

Merodach-baladan

A personal name. It renders the Akkadian (Babylonian) Marduk-apla-iddina, "Marduk has given an heir". Marduk was the chief god of Babylon. The second element, apla-iddina, means "he gave an heir/son".

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)

Another spelling of be.ro.dakh bal.a.dan (בְּרֹאדַךְ בַּלְאֲדָן "Merodach-baladan" H1255)

§ Merodach-baladan = "Marduk has given a son"

king of Babylon in the days of king Hezekiah of Judah

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 Isaiah 39:1

Range of meaning

A personal name. It renders the Akkadian (Babylonian) Marduk-apla-iddina, "Marduk has given an heir". Marduk was the chief god of Babylon. The second element, apla-iddina, means "he gave an heir/son".

Against the English

English versions all transliterate the name, which is right, but readers lose the fact that it contains the name of Babylon's god. The same god appears in Jeremiah 50:2: "Merodach is shattered."

Used elsewhere in the period

Marduk-apla-iddina II is one of the best-documented figures of the period. He was a Chaldean chief of the tribe of Bit-Yakin in the southern marshes of Mesopotamia. He seized Babylon's throne in 721 BC and held it until Sargon II of Assyria drove him out in 710. He took it back briefly, for about nine months, in 703 before Sennacherib defeated him. Assyrian royal annals (translated in ANET) call him a rebel and "son of Yakin". His own building inscriptions present him as Babylon's legitimate king. The Babylonian Chronicles and King List record both reigns.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 39:1 מְרֹדַ֣ךְ 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 and recovery.

    Here: The first part of the king's name. It is the Hebrew form of Marduk, the patron god of Babylon. A Judean listener would hear a foreign god's name in the very name of the king.

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