(1 Chron. 3:17-19) Because of some unrecorded circumstance, Zerubbabel is also called the “son” of Pedaiah’s brother Shealtiel. Shealtiel may have adopted Zerubbabel if Pedaiah died when the boy was young; or, if Shealtiel died before fathering a son, Pedaiah may have performed brother-in-law marriage, fathering Zerubbabel in the name of his brother Shealtiel.—Ezra 5:2; Matt. 1:12.

4. A Benjamite whose descendant lived in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.—Neh. 11:4, 7.

5. A descendant of Parosh who helped Nehemiah repair Jerusalem’s wall.—Neh. 3:25.

6. A postexilic Israelite, probably a priest, who stood at Ezra’s left during the reading of Jehovah’s law to the assembled people.—Neh. 8:1, 4.

7. A faithful Levite whom Nehemiah, on his second visit to Jerusalem, assigned with Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the copyist to take charge of the contributed tithe.—Neh. 13:6, 7, 12, 13.

PEKAH

(Peʹkah) [(God) has opened (the eyes), sees].

King of Israel for a twenty-year period (778-758 B.C.E.), contemporaneous with Judean Kings Azariah (Uzziah), Jotham and Ahaz. Earlier Pekah had served as adjutant to Israelite King Pekahiah. But in the fifty-second year of Uzziah’s reign, Pekah the son of Remaliah, with the cooperation of fifty men of Gilead, assassinated Pekahiah and seized the kingship over Israel in Samaria. (2 Ki. 15:25, 27) During Pekah’s reign idolatrous calf worship continued. (2 Ki. 15:28) This ruler also formed an alliance with Rezin the king of Syria. Toward the close of Judean King Jotham’s reign (which began in the second year of Pekah) both Pekah and Rezin caused trouble for Judah.—2 Ki. 15:32, 37, 38.

After Jotham’s son Ahaz began his reign in the seventeenth year of Pekah, Rezin and Pekah invaded Judah, intending to dethrone that monarch and install a certain son of Tabeel as king. They did not succeed in taking Jerusalem (2 Ki. 16:1, 5; Isa. 7:1-7), but Judah sustained heavy losses. In one day Pekah killed 120,000 valiant men of Judah. The Israelite army also took 200,000 Judeans captive. However, on the advice of the prophet Oded, supported by a number of leading men of Ephraim, these captives were returned to Judah.—2 Chron. 28:6, 8-15.

Though assured through the prophet Isaiah that the Syro-Israelite combine would fail in deposing him as king (Isa. 7:6, 7), faithless Ahaz bribed Assyrian King Tiglath-pileser (III) to come to his assistance. In response, the Assyrian monarch captured Damascus and put Rezin to death. (2 Ki. 16:7-9) Apparently also at this time Tiglath-pileser captured the regions of Gilead, Galilee and Naphtali and a number of cities in northern Israel. (2 Ki. 15:29) Thereafter Hoshea the son of Elah killed Pekah and became Israel’s next king.—2 Ki. 15:30.

A fragmentary historical text of Tiglath-pileser (III) reports about his campaign against Israel: “All its inhabitants (and) their possessions I led to Assyria. They overthrew their king Pekah (Pa-qa-ha) and I placed Hoshea (A-ú-si-’) as king over them.”—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 284.

PEKAHIAH

(Pek·a·hiʹah) [Jehovah has opened the eyes].

King of Israel in Samaria, son and successor of Menahem. His brief reign of two years (c. 780-778 B.C.E.) was marked by the same idolatrous calf worship introduced by Jeroboam and permitted by Menahem. Pekahiah’s adjutant, Pekah, conspired against him, killed him and began to reign in his place.—2 Ki. 15:22-26.

PEKOD

(Peʹkod) [turn attention, bring punishment].

Apparently the name of an area in the vicinity of Babylon. Men of Pekod were to be included among the military forces to execute Jehovah’s judgment on unfaithful Jerusalem. (Ezek. 23:4, 22-26) Later, Pekod itself was to be devoted to destruction.—Jer. 50:21.

Pekod is usually identified with the Puqudu of Assyrian inscriptions. The “Nimrud Inscription” of Tiglath-pileser III indicates that Pekod was added to the Assyrian Empire and lay in the vicinity of Elam. Therefore, if correctly identified with Puqudu, Pekod would appear to have been located E of the Tigris and N of that river’s confluence with the Karkheh.

It has been suggested that at Jeremiah 50:21 the designation “Pekod” (like Merathaim) possibly is a poetic name for Babylon. In that case this text, by a play on words, would show that the inhabitants of one ‘bringing punishment,’ Babylon, would themselves be massacred. It is noteworthy that an inscription from the time of Nebuchadnezzar shows that Puqudu was under the control of Babylon. Therefore, when Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians, this must also have affected Pekod.

PELAIAH

(Pe·laʹiah) [Jehovah is wonderful].

1. A Levite who assisted Ezra in reading and explaining the Law to the Israelites assembled in Jerusalem’s public square. He is probably the same Levite (unless a representative of a family by that name is meant) who attested to the covenant of faithfulness put forward shortly thereafter.—Neh. 8:1, 5-8; 9:38; 10:1, 9, 10.

2. One of the last generation of David’s descendants mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures.—1 Chron. 3:1, 5, 10, 24.

PELALIAH

(Pel·a·liʹah) [Jehovah has judged].

A priest whose descendant Adaiah was among those serving at the sanctuary after the return from Babylonian exile.—Neh. 11:10, 12.

PELATIAH

(Pel·a·tiʹah) [Jehovah has provided escape].

1. One of four Simeonite chieftains who led 500 men against Mount Seir and struck down the remnant of the Amalekites, likely during Hezekiah’s reign.—1 Chron. 4:41-43.

2. Son of Benaiah; a prince of Israel whom Ezekiel saw in vision. Pelatiah, along with Jaazaniah, was “scheming hurtfulness and advising bad counsel” against Jerusalem. Ezekiel was inspired to utter a prophecy against the people of Israel, after which Pelatiah died.—Ezek. 11:1-13.

3. A distant descendant of David and grandson of Zerubbabel. (1 Chron. 3:19-21) Possibly the same as No. 4 below.

4. A family head represented in the signatures to the covenant promising not to take foreign wives.—Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 14, 22; see No. 3 above.

PELEG

(Peʹleg) [division; stream].

A son of Eber and father of Reu in the line from Shem to Abraham, and therefore an early ancestor of Jesus. Peleg lived 239 years (2269-2030 B.C.E.) and founded one of the seventy post-Flood families.—Gen. 11:16-19; 1 Chron. 1:24-27; Luke 3:35.

Peleg was so named, for “in his days the earth was divided.” (Gen. 10:25; 1 Chron. 1:19) The text of these passages does not say that this notable division came at Peleg’s birth a hundred years after the Deluge, but simply “in his days.” If the name was given him at birth, its bestowal was possibly prophetic of the scattering that stemmed from the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel.—Gen. 11:1-9; compare the name Noah (meaning “rest”) which also proved to be prophetic, Genesis 5:29.

PELET

(Peʹlet) [deliverance].

1. A son of Jahdai listed in the Calebite division of Judah’s genealogy.—1 Chron. 2:47.

2. One of the ambidextrous Benjamite mighty men who joined David at Ziklag; son of Azmaveth.—1 Chron. 12:1-3.

PELETH

(Peʹleth) [swiftness].

1. A Reubenite whose son On joined Dathan, Abiram and Korah in their rebellion.—Num. 16:1.