Imiona królów judzkich – kilka spostrzeżeń

The biblical tradition has preserved many variants of the Judahite royal names. Some of these variations can be classified as orthographic irregularities, scribal confusions or the misinterpretations of the archival sources. However, there are also some examples that cannot be explained philologically. This applies particularly to the names of the following Judahite kings: Uzziah aka Azariah, Jehoahaz aka Shallum and Mattaniah aka Zedekiah. I suggest that in all three cases we are not dealing with a diversity of onomastic variants, but with six different pretenders to the David’s throne.