Aramaic word · H4779
מָרָד
maradeta'
rebellious
Rebellious, revolting. It is related to Aramaic and Hebrew mərad/mārad, 'to rebel', and to Ezra 4:15, 19 'rebellion' (mərad). The core idea is a subject breaking faith with its overlord: throwing off a treaty, refusing tribute, armed revolt.
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
rebellious
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
- Range of meaning
Rebellious, revolting. It is related to Aramaic and Hebrew mərad/mārad, 'to rebel', and to Ezra 4:15, 19 'rebellion' (mərad). The core idea is a subject breaking faith with its overlord: throwing off a treaty, refusing tribute, armed revolt. Hebrew mārad is used of Hezekiah rebelling against Assyria (2 Kgs 18:7, 20) and Zedekiah against Babylon (2 Kgs 24:20).
- Against the English
All major versions say 'rebellious', which is accurate. A modern reader may hear a disposition, as in a 'rebellious' teenager or a nonconformist streak. The Aramaic is a charge of political sedition.
- How it drifted
English 'rebellious' has broadened from armed revolt against a ruler to a general attitude of defiance. Here only the narrow political sense applies.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The LXX translates with apostatis, 'the city that revolts/defects'. In classical and Hellenistic Greek apostasis is the normal word for a subject state's political revolt. Only later did it come to mean religious 'apostasy'. Jerusalem's record of revolts against Assyria (701 BCE) and Babylon (598 and 587 BCE) would have stood in Mesopotamian archives, which is the 'book of records' of v. 15.
Where it appears
Ezra · 2
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Ezra 4:12 מָֽרָדְתָּ֤א <the> rebellious
Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring its walls and repairing its foundations.
Here: 'The rebellious one': a political charge. The word means a place that revolts against its overlord. It points back to Jerusalem's revolts against Assyria and Babylon, which the writers invite the king to check in his archives (v. 15).
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Ezra 4:15 מָֽרָדָ֗א rebellious
that a search should be made of the record books of your fathers. In these books you will discover and verify that the city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, inciting sedition from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.