מָדַי (ma.day)
ma.day
Mede
N:N--LGQuick Reference
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
- Testament
- Old Testament
- Occurrences
- 2 verses
- Root
- —
- Part of speech
- N:N--LG
Word Overview
The noun maday refers to the Medes or their territory, Media. This land lay northwest of Persia proper, situated south and southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of Armenia and Assyria, and west of the great salt desert. The term identifies both the people group and the geographic region they inhabited.
Its etymology suggests "middle land," a description that fits its position between major empires. In Scripture, it appears in only two verses, specifically within the books of Ezra and Daniel. These passages highlight the political landscape where Jewish exiles lived under successive foreign powers, marking Media as a key player in the historical narrative of that era.
Based on public-domain lexicons (Strong's, Thayer, Gesenius, Brown-Driver-Briggs and others).
What This Word Means for Your Faith
The word maday points us back to the Medes, a people group and region that played a surprising role in biblical history. Though it appears only twice in Scripture, its presence reminds us that God’s plans unfold through real nations and political shifts. In Ezra, we learn where a crucial royal decree was stored, showing how God used foreign archives to preserve His promises for His people.
In Daniel, the word marks a turning point when Babylon falls and power passes to the Medes and Persians. This shift wasn’t random; it fulfilled prophecy and demonstrated that no empire lasts forever. For readers today, maday invites us to trust God’s sovereignty over history, even when the world around us feels unstable or uncertain.
How it's translated
How this word is rendered word-by-word in the 2 verses where it appears, by frequency.
- to/ Medes1×
- [is] in/ Media1×
Forms in the text
The inflected forms of this word as they appear in Scripture, by frequency.
- לְ/מָדַ֥י1×
- בְּ/מָדַ֥י1×
Key Verses
-
Ezra 6:2
A scroll was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, and in it this was written for a record:
This verse shows how God preserved a royal decree in Media, ensuring the return of exiles and the rebuilding of the temple.
-
Daniel 5:28
PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Here, maday signals the end of Babylon’s rule and the rise of the Medes and Persians, fulfilling Daniel’s earlier visions of shifting empires.