Pekod

Pekod was a region and probably a tribe in eastern Babylonia, mentioned in Jeremiah 50:21 and Ezekiel 23:23 in oracles against Babylon. In Jeremiah 50:21, God commands the invaders of Babylon: Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod — where Merathaim (double bitterness) and Pekod (visitation) may function as symbolic wordplays on the judgment theme as well as geographical references.

In Ezekiel 23:23, Pekod is listed alongside Shoa and Koa as Babylonian and Chaldean forces associated with the lovers of Oholibah (Jerusalem), who will turn against her in judgment. Assyrian records mention a people called the Puqūdu in the marshlands and eastern border regions of Babylonia, identified with the biblical Pekod. The name's Hebrew meaning (visitation or punishment) lent itself to prophetic wordplay in contexts of divine judgment.