JEDAIAH jĭ da’ yə (יְדָיָ֥ה, God has favored, [A. below], ידַעְיָ֖ה, God has known, [B. below]. LXX shows great variety in its spelling of this name. See below.)

A. Jedaiah (יְדָיָ֥ה). 1. A prince of the tribe of Simeon, ancestor of Ziza, one of the returning exiles (1 Chron 4:37, LXX Ιεδια).

2. One of the repairers of the wall under Nehemiah (Neh 3:10, LXX Ιεδαια).

B. Jedaiah (ידַעְיָ֖ה). 1. Chief of the second division of priests as appointed by David (1 Chron 24:7, LXX Ιδεϊα). Perhaps the ancestor of the 973 returned priests as mentioned in Ezra 2:36 (LXX Ιεδουα) and Nehemiah 7:39 (LXX Ιωδαε).

2. One of the priests returned from exile (1 Chron 9:10, LXX Ιωδαε). The parallel passage (Neh 11:10, LXX Ιαδια) calls the following person on the list, Joarib, Jedaiah’s father. This Jedaiah appears to be mentioned again in Nehemiah 12:6, 19. (These verses do not appear in LXX, but cf. 1 Esd 5:24, Ιεδδου.)

3. Evidently another priest of the same name, since he is referred to in the same lists as 2 (Neh 12:7, 21, LXX Ιεδεϊου).

4. One of three returned exiles of undefined cultic status, bearers of gold and silver from Babylon (Zech 6:10, 14, names do not appear in LXX). The prophet was directed to make a crown as a “reminder” (?) to the three. Identification with 2 or 3 is uncertain.

Bibliography M. Noth, Die Israelitschen Personnamen (1928), 182; R. A. Bowman, “Exegesis of Nehemiah,” IB, III (1954), 785.