Hammelech

Hammelech (meaning the king or a counselor) appears in two passages in Jeremiah (36:26; 38:6) as a personal name or title. Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech was one of three men sent by King Jehoiakim to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch after the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies was read to the king (Jer. 36:26). Malchiah the son of Hammelech owned the dungeon pit into which the officials cast Jeremiah during the siege of Jerusalem (Jer. 38:6).

The phrase son of Hammelech literally means son of the king in Hebrew (ben-hammelek), and many scholars interpret this not as a proper name but as a title designating royal princes or members of the royal family. If so, Jerahmeel and Malchiah were both members of the Davidic royal household acting in official capacities during the final years of the kingdom of Judah before the Babylonian conquest.