Evil Mero´dach, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who, on his accession to the throne (B.C. 562), released the captive king of Judah, Jehoiachin, from prison, treated him with kindness and distinction, and set his throne above the thrones of the other conquered kings who were detained at Babylon (; ) [CHALDEANS]. A Jewish tradition (noticed by Jerome on ) ascribes this kindness to a personal friendship which Evil-merodach had contracted with the Jewish king, when he was himself consigned to prison by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on recovering from his seven years' monomania, took offence at some part of the conduct of his son, by whom the government had in the meantime been administered. But this story was probably invented to account for the fact.