Jehudijah is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Jehudijah appears only once in the King James Bible, in the genealogical records of the tribe of Judah. According to 1 Chronicles 4:18, she was the wife of a man named Mered, and she bore him three sons: Jered, who became the father of Gedor; Heber, who became the father of Socho; and Jekuthiel, who became the father of Zanoah. The source note confirms that she was the mother of these three men, and that is the sum of what Scripture records about her.
The setting of this passage is a series of family lists compiled to trace the descendants of Judah, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. These genealogies preserved the identity of clans and settlements within Judah after the return from exile, and they often note the founders of particular towns. In this case, Jehudijah’s sons are each identified by the towns or regions associated with their descendants—Gedor, Socho, and Zanoah—showing that her family line played a role in the settlement and organization of Judahite territory.
The verse also mentions that these sons were reckoned as the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took as a wife. This detail indicates that Jehudijah’s household was connected to an unusual union between a man of Judah and an Egyptian woman of royal descent. Scripture does not explain the circumstances of this marriage or Jehudijah’s relationship to Bithiah, nor does it record anything further about Jehudijah’s life, character, or later years. She is remembered simply as a wife and mother whose children were named among the families of Judah.
The Name
The name Jehudijah is a Hebrew name that appears to be built from the same root as “Judah” (Yehudah), which is related to the verb yadah, meaning “to praise” or “to give thanks.” The name is often understood to mean something like “Jewess” or “woman of Judah,” and some have rendered it “praised” or “praise of the Lord.” However, the precise meaning and derivation of this particular form are not entirely certain, and scholars have offered varying suggestions. What can be said with confidence is that the name is connected to the language of praise and to the tribe of Judah, but a single, firmly established meaning is not clearly recoverable.
A Closing Thought
Jehudijah is one of the many quiet figures in Scripture who appear in a single verse and then pass from the record. Yet her brief mention reminds us that God’s story is carried forward through ordinary faithfulness—through wives and mothers whose names we might otherwise overlook. Her sons became fathers of towns and clans in Judah, and their place in Israel’s history rested on the quiet work of a household. Not every life is given a long account, but no life lived in service to family and to God is forgotten by Him.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 4:18 — And his wife Jehudijah bare Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Socho, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered took.