Chaldeans (Chaldees)

The Chaldeans (Hebrew Kasdim) were a Semitic people who settled in the marshy lowlands of southern Mesopotamia (ancient Chaldea) and eventually seized control of Babylon, establishing the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nabopolassar (626-605 BC) and his son Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC). Under Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean empire reached its greatest extent, conquering Jerusalem, destroying the temple, and carrying Judah into exile — events that define a major portion of the OT prophetic corpus.

The term 'Chaldean' appears in Daniel as a designation for an elite scholarly and priestly caste skilled in astrology, divination, and sacred learning (Dan. 2:2; 4:7; 5:7), reflecting the specialization of Babylonian intellectual life. The biblical references to 'Ur of the Chaldees' as Abraham's hometown (Gen. 11:28, 31; 15:7; Acts 7:4) use a term that is technically anachronistic for the early second millennium BC, either reflecting later scribal updating or an earlier presence of Chaldean groups in southern Mesopotamia than the historical record currently documents. Jeremiah prophesied the Chaldean empire's judgment and fall (Jer. 25:12; 50-51), fulfilled when Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC.