Person Old Testament
Hammelech
Also known as Hammelech =KJV; the king =ESV, NIV
Hammelech, meaning "the king," was the father of Jerahmeel and Malchijah (or 'Malchiah'), officials mentioned in the book of Jeremiah. Mentioned in 2 verses across 1 book, first at Jeremiah 36:26.
Why it matters. Father of Jerahmeel and Malchijah (or 'Malchiah'), officials during Jeremiah's time.
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Hammelech
Hammelech, which means "the king" in Hebrew, is mentioned in Jer.36.26 and Jer.38.6 as the father of two officials during the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. In Jer.36.26, Jerahmeel, the son of Hammelech, is identified as one of the officials sent by King Jehoiakim to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet after the king burned the scroll containing Jeremiah's prophecies. In Jer.38.6, Malchijah (or 'Malchiah'), another son of Hammelech, is mentioned as one of the officials who threw Jeremiah into a cistern at the request of the princes who opposed the prophet's message. The use of the term "Hammelech" in these passages has led some scholars to believe that it may be a title rather than a proper name, indicating that Jerahmeel and Malchiah were royal officials. However, the exact nature of their roles and their relationship to the king remains unclear.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 2 verses across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.