Chaldea was an ancient Mesopotamian empire, known for its astrologers and wise men, that played a significant role in the history of Israel, particularly during the Babylonian exile.
Also known as Chaldea,Chaldean · Babylon,Babylonian · Chaldean · astrologers · Leb-kamai · Leb Kamai · in the midst of those that rise up · Babylonians
Chaldea, also known as Babylonia, was an ancient empire located in southern Mesopotamia, in the region of modern-day Iraq. The Chaldeans were known for their expertise in astrology, astronomy, and other forms of wisdom. In the Bible, the term "Chaldean" is sometimes used synonymously with "Babylonian" or to refer specifically to astrologers and wise men from Babylon.
The Chaldeans played a significant role in the history of Israel, particularly during the Babylonian exile. In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered Judah and deported many of its inhabitants to Chaldea (2Ki.24.1-2). The prophet Jeremiah warned the people of Judah about the impending Chaldean invasion and the 70-year exile that would follow (Jeremiah 25:11-12).
During the exile, some Jews, such as Daniel and his companions, were chosen to serve in the Chaldean court due to their wisdom and knowledge (Dan.1.3-4). The Chaldeans are also mentioned in connection with the interpretation of dreams and visions (Dan.2.2-10; 4:7; 5:7-11).
The Chaldeans were also known for their military might and their role in the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC (2Ki.25.1-10). However, the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold the eventual downfall of Chaldea at the hands of the Medes and Persians (Isaiah 13:19; 47:1-5; Jeremiah 50:1-51:64).
Approximate location: 30.962, 46.104 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
The southern portion of Babylonia, Lower Mesopotamia, lying chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but commonly used of the whole of the Mesopotamian plain. The Hebrew name is Kasdim, which is usually rendered “Chaldeans” (Jer. 50:10; 51:24, 35). The country so named is a vast plain formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending to about 400 miles along the course of these rivers, and about 100 miles in average breadth. “In former days the vast plains of Babylon were nourished by a complicated system of canals and water-courses, which spread over the surface of the country like a network. The wants of a teeming population were supplied by a rich soil, not less bountiful than that on the banks of the Egyptian Nile. Like islands rising from a golden sea of waving corn stood frequent groves of palm-trees and pleasant gardens, affording to the idler or traveller their grateful and highly-valued shade. Crowds of passengers hurried along the dusty roads to and from the busy city. The land was rich in corn and wine.” Recent discoveries, more especially in Babylonia, have thrown much light on the history of the Hebrew patriarchs, and have illustrated or confirmed the Biblical narrative in many points. The ancestor of the Hebrew people, Abram, was, we are told, born at “Ur of the Chaldees.” “Chaldees” is a mistranslation of the Hebrew Kasdim, Kasdim being the Old Testament name of the Babylonians, while the Chaldees were a tribe who lived on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and did not become a part of the Babylonian population till the time of Hezekiah. Ur was one of the oldest and most famous of the Babylonian cities. Its site is now called Mugheir, or Mugayyar, on the western bank of the Euphrates, in Southern Babylonia. About a century before the…
more correctly Chaldae’a, the ancient name of a country of Asia bordering on the Persian Gulf. Chaldea proper was the southern part of Babylonia, and is used in Scripture to signify that vast alluvial plain which has been formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris. This extraordinary flat, unbroken except by the works of man, extends a distance of 400 miles along the course of the rivers, and is on an average about 100 miles in width. In addition to natural advantages these plains were nourished by a complicated system of canals, and vegetation flourished bountifully. It is said to be the only country in the world where wheat grows wild. Herodotus declared (i. 193) that grain commonly returned two hundred fold to the sower, and occasionally three hundred fold. Cities.—Babylonia has long been celebrated for the number and antiquity of its cities. The most important of those which have been identified are Borsippa (Birs-Nimrun), Sippara or Sepharvaim (Mosaib), Cutha (Ibrahim), Calneh (Niffer), Erech (Warka), Ur (Mugheir), Chilmad (Kalwadha), Larancha (Senkereh), Is (Hit), Durabe (Akkerkuf); but besides these there were a multitude of others, the sites of which have not been determined. Present condition—This land, once so rich in corn and wine, is to-day but a mass of mounds, “an arid waste; the dense population of former times is vanished, and no man dwells there.” The Hebrew prophets applied the term “land of the Chaldeans” to all Babylonia and “Chaldeans” to all the subjects of the Babylonian empire.
as demons, or as robbers
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
90 verses in 12 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H3778
During his father Terahʼs lifetime, Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.
The Lordalso told him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.
Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the kingʼs garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army was deserted him.
And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon.
And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”
In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
Then all the people small and great, together with the commanders of the army, arose and fled to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.
So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar,
But since our fathers angered the God of heaven, He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.
You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels, and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Look at the land of the Chaldeans— a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to ruin.
Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
“Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate.
“Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans. For you will no longer be called the queen of kingdoms.
Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORDʼs chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”
this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city.
Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who besiege you will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war.
In fact, I will hand you over to those you dread, who want to take your life—to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Chaldeans.
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
But when seventy years are complete, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, declares the LORD, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.
He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, where he will stay until I attend to him, declares the LORD. If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed.’”
See how the siege ramps are mounted against the city to capture it. And by sword and famine and plague, the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has happened, as You now see!
Yet You, O Lord GOD, have said to me, ‘Buy for yourself the field with silver and call in witnesses, even though the city has been delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans!’”
Therefore this is what the LORD says: Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it.
And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in, set it on fire, and burn it, along with the houses of those who provoked Me to anger by burning incense to Baal on their rooftops and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.
And fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.’
The Chaldeans are coming to fight and to fill those places with the corpses of the men I will strike down in My anger and in My wrath. I have hidden My face from this city because of all its wickedness.
So when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem to escape the armies of the Chaldeans and the Arameans.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”
Pharaohʼs army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
Then the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down.
This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will go away for good,’ for they will not!
Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans that is fighting against you, and only wounded men remained in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.”
When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaohʼs army,
But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”
“That is a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.
“This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword and famine and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; he will retain his life like a spoil of war, and he will live.
But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”
But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may deliver me into their hands to abuse me.”
All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”
But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.
The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.
As for me, I will stay in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine grapes, summer fruit, and oil, place them in your storage jars, and live in the cities you have taken.”
Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.
to escape the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of the Chaldeans because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
Rather, Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, so that they may put us to death or exile us to Babylon!”
This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans:
Flee from the midst of Babylon; depart from the land of the Chaldeans; be like the he-goats that lead the flock.
Chaldea will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill,” declares the LORD.
The LORD has opened His armory and brought out His weapons of wrath, for this is the work of the Lord GOD of Hosts in the land of the Chaldeans.
A sword is against the Chaldeans, declares the LORD, against those who live in Babylon, and against her officials and wise men.
Therefore hear the plans that the LORD has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the little ones of the flock will be dragged away; certainly their pasture will be made desolate because of them.
This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer.
And they will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in her streets.
Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” says the dweller of Zion. “May my blood be on the dwellers of Chaldea,” says Jerusalem.
“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the kingʼs garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.
And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem.
Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried all the bronze to Babylon.
the word of the LORD came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the LORDʼs hand was upon him.
And the Spirit lifted me up and carried me back to Chaldea, to the exiles in the vision given by the Spirit of God. After the vision had gone up from me,
But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and there he will die.
So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied!
But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,
wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.
At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses.
young men without blemish, handsome, gifted in all wisdom, knowledgeable, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the kingʼs palace—and to teach them the language and literature of the Chaldeans.
So the king gave orders to summon the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to explain his dreams. When they came and stood before the king,
Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”
The king replied to the astrologers, “My word is final: If you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be cut into pieces and your houses will be reduced to rubble.
The astrologers answered the king, “No one on earth can do what the king requests! No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or astrologer.
At this time some astrologers came forward and maliciously accused the Jews,
When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners came in, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me.
The king called out for the enchanters, astrologers, and diviners to be brought in, and he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this inscription and tells me its interpretation will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”
There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the days of your father he was found to have insight, intelligence, and wisdom like that of the gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners. Your own father, the king,
That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,
In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans— that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.