Lexical Summary Yehukal: Jehucal Original Word: יְהוּכַל Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Jehucal From yakol; potent; Jehukal, an Israelite -- Jehucal. Compare Yuwkal. see HEBREW yakol see HEBREW Yuwkal NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Originfrom Yhvh and yakol Definition "the LORD is able," a courtier of King Zedekiah NASB Translation Jehucal (1), Jucal (1). Brown-Driver-Briggs יְהוּכַל, יוּכַל proper name, masculine ᵐ5 Ἰωαχαλ (Manuscripts have ζ, χ, ς, for λ) (probably contracted from יהויוכל, ׳י is able) a courtier of king Zedekiah, ׳יְהוּ Jeremiah 37:3 = ׳יוּ Jeremiah 38:1. יְהוּכַל proper name, masculine see below יהוה above יְהַלֶּלְאֵל see below II. הלל above יַהֲלֹם see below הלם above יהץ (√ of following; Arabic יוּכַל proper name, masculine see יְהוּכַל above. Topical Lexicon Historical Setting Jehucal, son of Shelemiah, served in the closing years of the kingdom of Judah during the reign of King Zedekiah (circa 588 BC). Babylon had already carried off King Jehoiachin, installed Zedekiah as a vassal, and was now tightening its grip on Jerusalem. Court officials were divided between pro-Egyptian optimism and Jeremiah’s unpopular call to surrender to Babylon. Against this backdrop, Zedekiah dispatches Jehucal to the prophet, seeking divine intervention. Key Passage Jeremiah 37:3: “Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, requesting, ‘Please pray to the LORD our God for us!’”. (The same individual is called “Jucal” in Jeremiah 38:1.) Role in Jeremiah’s Ministry 1. Royal Emissary. Jehucal’s commission shows that even a resistant king still looked to the prophetic word when crisis loomed. Character and Motives While the text offers no explicit moral evaluation, the narrative context suggests that Jehucal served the king’s agenda rather than God’s. After Jeremiah’s continued warnings, the same Jehucal appears among the officials who later demand Jeremiah’s imprisonment (38:1-6). His progression from envoy to persecutor reveals a heart aligned with nationalistic optimism, not covenant obedience. Prophetic and Theological Implications • Reliance on prayer apart from repentance is futile. The king’s appeal through Jehucal sought blessing without submission, a pattern Scripture repeatedly exposes (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 1:15). Archaeological Confirmation A clay bulla unearthed in the City of David bears the inscription: “Belonging to Yehukal son of Shelemiah son of Shevi.” The correspondence of name and patronymic with Jeremiah 37:3 provides an extra-biblical witness to the historicity of both the official and the biblical narrative. Spiritual Lessons 1. Crisis often drives even reluctant leaders to seek prayer; genuine faith, however, requires submission to God’s revealed will. Related Figures • King Zedekiah – vacillating monarch who sent Jehucal. Summary Jehucal embodies the tension between political necessity and prophetic truth in Judah’s final hours. His brief appearance underscores the futility of seeking God’s help without heeding God’s word and serves as a sober reminder that the authority of Scripture stands firm amid the shifting allegiances of human history. Forms and Transliterations יְהוּכַ֣ל יהוכל yə·hū·ḵal yehuChal yəhūḵalLinks Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel TextsEnglishman's Concordance Jeremiah 37:3 HEB: צִדְקִיָּ֜הוּ אֶת־ יְהוּכַ֣ל בֶּן־ שֶֽׁלֶמְיָ֗ה NAS: sent Jehucal the son KJV: sent Jehucal the son INT: King Zedekiah Jehucal the son of Shelemiah 1 Occurrence |