a king; a counselor
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
HAMMELECH occurs as a proper name in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] of Jer_36:26; Jer_38:6, but there is little doubt that the rendering ought to be the king, as in RV [Note: Revised Version.] and AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] .
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Jer_36:26; Jer_38:6. Jehoiakim at this time (the fifth year of his reign) had no grown up son. Jeconiah his successor was then but eleven (2Ki_23:36; compare 2Ki_24:8). We must not then, with Smith's Bible Dictionary, translated "the king," but as a proper name, Hammelech, father of Jerahmeel and Malchiah.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Ham'melech. Literally, "the king". Unnecessarily rendered, in the Authorized Version, as a proper name. Jer_36:26; Jer_38:6.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
ham?ē̇-lek (המּלך, ha-melekh, ?the king?): Wrongly translated as a proper name in the King James Version. It should be rendered ?the king,? as in the American Standard Revised Version (Jer_36:26; Jer_38:6).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Hammelech
(Heb. ham-Me'lek, הִמֶּלֶךְ', which is merely מֶלֶךְ', me'lek, king, with the article prefixed; Sept. translates ὁ βασιλεύς, Vulg. Amelech), the father of Jerahmeel, which latter was one of those commanded by Jehoiakim to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch (Jer_36:26). B.C. ante 605. It is doubtful whether this was the same with the Hammelech, father of Malchiah, into whose dungeon Jeremiah was afterwards cast (Jer_38:6). B.C. ante 589.'Others, however, regard the word in both cases as an appellative, referring in the first passage to Jehoiakim, and in the latter to Zedekiah. SEE HAMMOLEKETH.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.