Merodach-Baladan

Merodach-Baladan, son of Baladan, was a king of Babylon who sent envoys to Hezekiah after the Judahite king's illness and recovery. The episode is preserved in two parallel narratives, with the king's name spelled differently in each.

The embassy from Babylon

Both Kings and Isaiah anchor the visit to the period just after Hezekiah's near-fatal sickness. The Kings account uses the variant spelling Berodach-baladan: "At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick" (2Ki 20:12).

Isaiah preserves the more familiar form of the name and adds that the recovery had also reached Babylon: "At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick, and had recovered" (Isa 39:1). Both notices set up the showing of the treasures that follows in each chapter and the prophecy of Babylonian exile that closes the scene.