(Heb. Oded', עוֹדֵד, erecting; Sept. ᾿Ωδήδ v.r. Ἀδάδ), the name of two Hebrews.
1. The father of Azariah the prophet, who was commissioned to meet and encourage Asa on his return from defeating the Ethiopians (2 Chronicles 15:1-8). B.C. ante 953. It curiously happens that the address which at the commencement is ascribed to Azariah, the son of Oded, is at the end ascribed to Oded himself (15:8). But this is supposed to have been a slip of copyists, and the versions (Sept., Vulg., and Syr.) read the latter verse like the former.
2. A prophet .of Jehovah in Samaria, at the time of Pekah's invasion of Judah. B.C. 739. Josephus (Ant. 9:12, 2) calls him Obedas (᾿Ωβηδάς.). On the return of the victorious army with the 200,000 captives of Judah and Jerusalem, Oded met them and prevailed upon them to let the captives go free (2 Chronicles 28:9). He was supported by the chivalrous feelings of some of the chieftains of Ephraim; and the narrative of the restoration of the prisoners, fed, clothed, and anointed, to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, is a pleasant episode of the last days of the northern kingdom.