Reference: Amorites
American
A people descended from Emer, the fourth son of Canaan, Ge 10:16. They first peopled the mountains west of the Dead sea, near Hebron; but afterwards extended their limits, and took possession of the finest provinces of Moab and Ammon, on the east between the brooks Jabbok and Arnon, Nu 13:29; 21:21-31; Jos 5:1; Jg 11:13. Moses took this country from their king, Sihon. The lands which the Amorites possessed on this side Jordan were given to the tribe of Judah, and those beyond the Jordan to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. The name Amorite is often taken in Scripture for Canaanite in general, Ge 15:16; Am 2:9. See CANAANITES.
By the expression, "Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite." Eze 16:3, God reminds the Jews that they were naturally no more worthy of divine favor than the worst of the heathen Canaanites.
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But in the fourth generation they shall come here again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev, and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.
And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land; we will not turn into the fields or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the wells; but we will go along by the king's high way until we are past thy borders. read more. But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border; instead Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness; and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the sons of Ammon, for the border of the sons of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites in Heshbon and in all the villages thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken out of his hand all his land unto Arnon. Therefore those that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared; for there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it has consumed Ar of Moab and the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! thou art undone, O people of Chemosh; he has put thy sons to flight and thy daughters into captivity because of Sihon king of the Amorites. And Heshbon destroyed their kingdom even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah and Medeba. Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorite.
And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel until we had passed, that their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them before the sons of Israel.
And the king of the sons of Ammon replied unto the ambassadors of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok and unto the Jordan; now, therefore, restore those lands again peaceably.
and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said concerning Jerusalem: Thy habitation and thy race was of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite.
Easton
highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan (Ge 14:7), called Amurra or Amurri in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions. On the early Babylonian monuments all Syria, including Palestine, is known as "the land of the Amorites." The southern slopes of the mountains of Judea are called the "mount of the Amorites" (De 1:7,19-20). They seem to have originally occupied the land stretching from the heights west of the Dead Sea (Ge 14:7. Comp. Ge 13:8; De 3:8; 4:46-48), embracing "all Gilead and all Bashan" (De 3:10), with the Jordan valley on the east of the river (Ge 4:26), the land of the "two kings of the Amorites," Sihon and Og (De 31:4; Jos 2:10; 9:10). The five kings of the Amorites were defeated with great slaughter by Joshua (Jos 10:10). They were again defeated at the waters of Merom by Joshua, who smote them till there were none remaining (Jos 11:8). It is mentioned as a surprising circumstance that in the days of Samuel there was peace between them and the Israelites (1Sa 7:14). The discrepancy supposed to exist between De 1:44 and Nu 14:45 is explained by the circumstance that the terms "Amorites" and "Amalekites" are used synonymously for the "Canaanites." In the same way we explain the fact that the "Hivites" of Ge 34:2 are the "Amorites" of Ge 48:22. Comp. Jos 10:6; 11:19 with 2Sa 21:2; also Nu 14:45 with De 1:44. The Amorites were warlike mountaineers. They are represented on the Egyptian monuments with fair skins, light hair, blue eyes, aquiline noses, and pointed beards. They are supposed to have been men of great stature; their king, Og, is described by Moses as the last "of the remnant of the giants" (De 3:11). Both Sihon and Og were independent kings. Only one word of the Amorite language survives, "Shenir," the name they gave to Mount Hermon (De 3:9).
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And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Then Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my pastors and thine, for we are brethren.
And they returned and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the works of the Amalekites and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
And they returned and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the works of the Amalekites and also the Amorites that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her.
Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
Then the Amalekite came down and the Canaanite who dwelt in that hill and smote them and defeated them, pursuing them unto Hormah.
Then the Amalekite came down and the Canaanite who dwelt in that hill and smote them and defeated them, pursuing them unto Hormah.
turn and take your journey and go to the mount of the Amorite and unto all the places nearby, in the plain, in the hills, and in the valleys and to the Negev and by the sea side to the land of the Canaanite and unto Lebanon unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorite, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea. Then I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorite, which the LORD our God gives unto us.
And the Amorite, who dwelt in that mountain, came out against you and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
And the Amorite, who dwelt in that mountain, came out against you and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
And we also took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side of the Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto Mount Hermon (which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion and the Amorites call it Shenir) and read more. all the cities of the plain and all Gilead and all Bashan unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. For only Og, king of Bashan, had remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length thereof and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
on this side of the Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel smote after they were come forth out of Egypt; and they possessed his land and the land of Og, king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrising. read more. From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto Mount Sion, which is Hermon,
And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them whom he destroyed.
For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you when ye came out of Egypt and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed.
and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of the Jordan, and to Sihon, king of Heshbon, and to Og, king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy slaves; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.
And the LORD discomfited them before Israel and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and chased them along the way that goes up to Bethhoron and smote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah.
And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them and chased them unto great Zidon and unto the hot springs and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward; and they smote them, until they left them no one remaining.
There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon; they took all the others in battle.
And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto Gath with their borders, and Israel delivered them out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorite.
And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them: (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).
Hastings
An ancient people whose presence can be traced in Palestine and Syria and also in Babylonia. From De 3:9 it appears that their language differed only dialectically from Canaanite, which was Hebrew. This view is confirmed by many proper names from the monuments. They were accordingly of the same race as the Canaanites. Contract tablets of the time of Hammurabi (b.c. 2250) show that Amorites were in Babylonia at that time (cf. Meissner, Altbab. Privatrecht, No. 42). At this period their country was designated by the ideogram MAR-TU. It has long been known that this ideogram stood for Palestine and Syria. At that time, then, the Amorites were already in the West.
Because of the identity of their proper names, it is believed that the Amorites were identical in race with that Semitic wave of immigration into Babylonia which produced the first dynasty of Babylon, the dynasty of Hammurabi (cf. Paton, Syria and Palestine, 25
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Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev, and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.
From thence they removed and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the borders of the Amorite; for Arnon is the border of Moab between Moab and the Amorite.
And the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorite who was in it.
(which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion and the Amorites call it Shenir) and
And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you, but I delivered them into your hands that ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
And the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore, will we also serve the LORD, for he is our God.
And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the mountain, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley. And the Amorites desired to dwell in Mount Heres in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; yet when the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, they made them tributaries. read more. And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent to Akrabbim from the rock and upward.
And I passed by thee and looked upon thee; behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my mantle over thee and covered thy shame; and I gave thee an oath and entered into a covenant with thee, said the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine;
Thou art thy mother's daughter that discarded her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters who discarded their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as an oak; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years through the wilderness that you might possess the land of the Amorite.
Morish
Am'orites
A people descended from Canaan, son of Ham. Ge 10:16, They dwelt in the mountains, as their name signifies, and were apparently at times in the mountains both east and west of the Jordan. Nu 13:29; Jos 5:1; Jg 1:34-36; 10:8; 1Ki 4:19. Being the most dominant and the most corrupt people or tribe they sometimes represent the Canaanites generally. Ge 15:16; 1Ki 21:26. When Abraham was at Hebron some confederated with him. Ge 14:13. A remnant out of the Gentile nations was thus associated with the heir of promise, though Lot (a type of Israel after the flesh) had separated from him.
When Israel approached the promised land, they were in the east, and refused to let Israel pass; but they were overcome, their cities taken, and the people slain, with Sihon their king. Nu 21:21-26; De 2:24; Am 2:9-10. Some must have escaped, for we read of them later, and one of the controversies Jehovah had with Israel was for worshipping their gods. Ezr 9:1-2. Solomon made them tributary. 1Ki 9:20-21; 2Ch 8:7-8. The Gibeonites were a remnant of the Amorites. 2Sa 21:2. After this nothing is heard of them. The low state of Jerusalem (Judah) by nature is described by stating her origin, her father being an Amorite and her mother a Hittite, but God in grace had compassion upon her in her degradation, and raised her into great glory; though, alas, she was shamefully unfaithful. Eze 16:3-43.
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And one came that had escaped and told Abram the Hebrew, who dwelt among the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram.
But in the fourth generation they shall come here again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev, and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.
And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, Let me pass through thy land; we will not turn into the fields or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the wells; but we will go along by the king's high way until we are past thy borders. read more. But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border; instead Sihon gathered all his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness; and he came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the sons of Ammon, for the border of the sons of Ammon was strong. And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites in Heshbon and in all the villages thereof. For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken out of his hand all his land unto Arnon.
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass the river Arnon; behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, and his land; begin, take possession and contend with him in battle.
And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel until we had passed, that their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them before the sons of Israel.
And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the mountain, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley. And the Amorites desired to dwell in Mount Heres in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; yet when the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, they made them tributaries. read more. And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent to Akrabbim from the rock and upward.
who dashed in pieces and crushed the sons of Israel for eighteen years, all the sons of Israel that were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorite, which is in Gilead.
And the king called the Gibeonites and said unto them: (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn unto them, and Saul had sought to slay them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah).
And all the peoples that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the sons of Israel, their children that were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, upon those Solomon levied a tribute of bondservice unto this day.
Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, doing according to their abominations, for they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed is mingled with the peoples of the lands; and the hand of the princes and of the governors has been foremost in this trespass.
and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said concerning Jerusalem: Thy habitation and thy race was of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. read more. No eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have mercy upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field with little value given to thy life, in the day that thou wast born. I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, and I said unto thee, In thy blood thou shalt live; yea, I said unto thee, In thy blood thou shalt live. In ten thousands, as the grass of the field, have I placed thee, and thou wast increased and made great, and thou art come to be adorned with excellent ornaments; thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair is grown; but thou wast naked and bare. And I passed by thee and looked upon thee; behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my mantle over thee and covered thy shame; and I gave thee an oath and entered into a covenant with thee, said the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine; and I washed thee with water and washed away thy blood from upon thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I clothed thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy arms and a chain on thy neck. And I put nose rings upon thy nostrils and earrings in thine ears and a diadem of beauty upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen and silk and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour of wheat and honey and oil: and thou wast made exceeding beautiful, and thou hast prospered even until thou hast reigned. And thy renown went forth among the Gentiles for thy beauty; for it was perfect because of my beauty which I placed upon thee, said the Lord GOD. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty and didst play the harlot because of thy renown and didst pour out thy fornications on every one that passed by; thou wert his. And of thy garments thou didst take and make altars of divers colours and play the harlot thereupon; the like shall not come again, neither shall it be so. Thou hast taken likewise the vessels of thy beauty of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee and made to thyself images of men and didst commit whoredom with them And thou didst take thy garments of many colours and cover them; and thou hast set my oil and my incense before them. My bread also which I had given thee; the fine flour and the oil and the honey with which I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour; and thus it was, said the Lord GOD. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these thou hast sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast sacrificed my children and given them over to them that they might cause them to pass through the fire unto them? And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms hast thou not remembered the days of thy youth when thou wast naked and bare? Thou wast polluted in thy blood. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe unto thee! said the Lord GOD) that thou hast also built unto thee a high place and hast made thee an altar in every street. Thou hast built thy altar at every head of every way and hast made thy beauty abominable and hast opened thy thighs to every one that passed by and multiplied thy whoredoms. Thou hast also committed fornication with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbours, great of flesh, and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee and have diminished thy liberty and delivered thee unto the will of those that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of thy lewd way. Thou hast played the whore also with the sons of Assyria because thou wast insatiable; thou hast played the harlot with them and yet could not be satisfied. Thou hast likewise multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan and of the Chaldeans, and yet thou wast not satisfied with this. How inconsistent is thy heart, said the Lord GOD, having done all these things, the work of a powerful harlot: building thine altars at the head of every way and making thine altars in every street! And thou hast not been as a harlot in that thou scornest hire, but as a wife that commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! They give gifts to all whores, but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers and givest them offerings that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. And in thee it is to the contrary from other women in thy whoredoms; and after thee, there shall never be whoredom like unto thine because in giving thy gifts when gifts are not given unto thee, it has been backwards. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because thy nakedness has been uncovered, and thy confusion has been manifested to thy lovers in thy whoredoms and to the idols of thy abominations and in the blood of thy children which thou didst give unto them; therefore, behold that I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure and all those that thou hast loved, with all those that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. And I will judge thee by the laws regarding women who commit adultery and those that shed blood; and I will give thee away in blood of fury and of jealousy. And I will deliver thee into their hand, and they shall destroy thy high place and shall break down thy altars; they shall strip thee also of thy clothes and shall take the vessels of thy glory and shall leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall burn thine houses with fire and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women; and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet and will no longer be angry. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth but hast provoked me to anger in all this; therefore, behold I also have recompensed thy way upon thine head, said the Lord GOD; for thou hast not even thought regarding all thine abominations.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as an oak; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years through the wilderness that you might possess the land of the Amorite.
Watsons
AMORITES, the descendants of Amori, or Haemorri, or Amorrhaeus, Ge 10:16, the fourth son of Canaan, whose first possessions were in the mountains of Judea, among the other families of Canaan: but, growing strong above their fellows, and impatient of confinement within the narrow boundaries of their native district, they passed the Jordan, and extended their conquests over the finest provinces of Moab and Ammon; seizing and maintaining possession of that extensive and almost insulated portion of country included between the rivers Jordan, Jabbok, and Arnon. This was the kingdom, and Heshbon the capital, of the Amorites, under Sihon their king, when the Israelites, in their way from Egypt, requested a passage through their country. This request, however, Sihon refused; and came out against them with all his force, when he was slain, his people extirpated, and his kingdom taken possession of by the Israelites. It was subsequently divided between the tribes of Reuben and Gad, Nu 13:29; 21:13,25; Jos 5:1; 11:3; Jg 11:19,22.
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Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev, and the Hittite and the Jebusite and the Amorite dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.
From thence they removed and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the borders of the Amorite; for Arnon is the border of Moab between Moab and the Amorite.
And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites in Heshbon and in all the villages thereof.
And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel until we had passed, that their heart melted, and there was no more spirit in them before the sons of Israel.
and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west and to the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the mountains and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.
And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon, king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
And they possessed all the border of the Amorites from Arnon even unto Jabbok and from the wilderness even unto the Jordan.