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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites {is not yet complete}."
[The] Amalekites [are] living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites [are] living in the hill country; and the Canaanites [are] living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan."
Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, saying, "Let us go through your land; we will not turn aside into a field or vineyard; we will not drink well water along the way of the king until we have gone through your territory." read more. But Sihon did not allow Israel to go through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people and went out to meet Israel; he came [to] the desert, to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel. But Israel struck him with [the] edge of [the] sword, and they took possession of his land from Arnon to Jabbok, until the {Ammonites}, because the boundary of the {Ammonites} [was] strong. Israel took all these cities, and Israel inhabited all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its environs. Because Heshbon [was] the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from his hand until Arnon. Thus the ones who quote proverbs say, "Come [to] Heshbon! Let it be built! And let the city of Sihon be established. Because fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh. He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to the king of the Amorites, Sihon. We destroyed them; Heshbon has perished up to Dibon; we laid waste up to Nophah, which {reaches} Medeba." Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
And it happened, when all the kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who [were] by the sea heard that Yahweh dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of the {Israelites} until they crossed [over], their hearts melted, and {there was no courage left in them} because of the presence of the {Israelites}.
And the king of the {Ammonites} said to Jephthah's messengers, "Because Israel took my land from [the] Arnon up to the Jabbok and the Jordan when they came up from Egypt; so then, restore it peacefully."
and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth [were] from the land of the Canaanites, your father [was] an Amorite, and your mother [was] 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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And as for Seth, he also fathered a son, and he called his name Enosh. At that time he began to call on the name of Yahweh.
Then Abram said to Lot, "Please, let there not be quarreling between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we men [are] brothers.
Then they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that [is], Kadesh). And they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar.
Then they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that [is], Kadesh). And they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar.
And Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. And he took her and lay with her and raped her.
And I have given to you one slope [of land] rather than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites by my sword and with my bow."
So the Amalekites and the Canaanites who were living on the mountain descended, and they beat them down, up to Hormah.
So the Amalekites and the Canaanites who were living on the mountain descended, and they beat them down, up to Hormah.
Turn [now] and {move on}, and go [into] the hill of the Amorites and to all [of] the neighboring regions in the Jordan {Valley} in the hill country and in the Negev and in the coastal area along the sea, [into] the land of the Canaanites and [into] the Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates.
"Then we set out from Horeb, and we went [through] the whole [of] that great and terrible desert that you saw [on] the way [to] the hill country of the Amorites as Yahweh our God had commanded us, and [so] we came up to Kadesh Barnea. I said to you, '{You have reached} the hill country of the Amorites that Yahweh our God [is] giving to us.
The Amorites living in the hill country went out {to oppose you} and chased you as [a swarm of] wild honey bees do; and [so] they {beat} you down in Seir as far as Hormah.
The Amorites living in the hill country went out {to oppose you} and chased you as [a swarm of] wild honey bees do; and [so] they {beat} you down in Seir as far as Hormah.
"And so we took at that time the land from {the control of} [the] two kings of the Amorites who [were] {on the other side of the Jordan}, from the wadi of Arnon up to {Mount Hermon}. (The Sidonians called Hermon 'Sirion,' and the Amorites called it 'Senir.') read more. All of the towns of the plateau and the whole of Gilead and all of Bashan up to Salecah and Edrei, the towns of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. (For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth Peor in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who [was] reigning in Heshbon [and] whom Moses and the {Israelites} defeated {when they came out of Egypt}. And [so] they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan, {eastward}, read more. from Aroer, which [is] on the bank of the wadi of Arnon and as far as Mount Sirion; that [is], Hermon,
And Yahweh will do to them [just] as he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which he destroyed with them.
For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the waters of the {Red Sea} before you when you went out from Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that [were] beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
and of all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan--to Sihon king of Heshbon and to Og king of Bashan, who [was] in Ashtaroth.
And the men of Gibeon sent [word] to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, "{Do not abandon} your servant. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country have gathered against us."
And Yahweh threw them into panic before Israel, who struck them [with] a great blow at Gibeon and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
And Yahweh gave them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them and pursued them up to Great Sidon and Misrephoth Maim, and eastward up to the valley of Mizpeh. And they struck them until they left behind no survivor.
There was not a city that made peace with the {Israelites} besides the Hivites and the inhabitants of Gibeon--{all were taken in battle}.
The towns which [the] Philistines had taken from Israel [were] returned to Israel from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territories from the hand of [the] Philistines. Then there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} 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
See Verses Found in Dictionary
[The] Amalekites [are] living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites [are] living in the hill country; and the Canaanites [are] living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan."
From there they set out and encamped beyond Arnon, which [is] in the desert that goes out from the boundary of the Amorites, because Arnon [is] the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and they captured it and drove out the Amorites who [were] in it.
(The Sidonians called Hermon 'Sirion,' and the Amorites called it 'Senir.')
And I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan; they fought you, and I gave them into your hand; you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them {before you}.
And Yahweh drove out all the people before us, the Amorites who live [in] the land. We will serve Yahweh, for he [is] our God."
The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain; the Amorites [were] determined to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy [on them], and they became [subjected] to forced labor. read more. The border of the Amorites [ran] from the ascent of Akrabbim from Sela and upward.
" 'And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, {your time of lovemaking had come}, and [so] I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'and {you became mine}.
You [are] a daughter of your mother [who] abhorred her husband and her children, and you [are] a sister of your sisters who abhorred their husbands and their children. Your mother [was] a Hittite, and your father [was] an Amorite.
Yet I destroyed the Amorite {before them}, {who was as tall as} cedars and was as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years to take possession of 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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then one who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. And he was living at the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. {They were allies with Abram}.
And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites {is not yet complete}."
[The] Amalekites [are] living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites [are] living in the hill country; and the Canaanites [are] living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan."
Israel sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, saying, "Let us go through your land; we will not turn aside into a field or vineyard; we will not drink well water along the way of the king until we have gone through your territory." read more. But Sihon did not allow Israel to go through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people and went out to meet Israel; he came [to] the desert, to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel. But Israel struck him with [the] edge of [the] sword, and they took possession of his land from Arnon to Jabbok, until the {Ammonites}, because the boundary of the {Ammonites} [was] strong. Israel took all these cities, and Israel inhabited all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its environs. Because Heshbon [was] the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from his hand until Arnon.
Arise, set out and cross [over] the wadi of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, the king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession of [it], and engage with him in battle.
And it happened, when all the kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who [were] by the sea heard that Yahweh dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of the {Israelites} until they crossed [over], their hearts melted, and {there was no courage left in them} because of the presence of the {Israelites}.
The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan to the hill country, and they did not allow them to come down to the plain; the Amorites [were] determined to live in Har-heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy [on them], and they became [subjected] to forced labor. read more. The border of the Amorites [ran] from the ascent of Akrabbim from Sela and upward.
They crushed and oppressed the {Israelites} in that year; for eighteen years they [crushed] all the {Israelites} who [were] beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, which [is] in Gilead.
So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah.
All of the people who were remaining from the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites who [were] not of the {Israelites}, their children who remained after them in the land, whom the {Israelites} were not able to completely destroy, Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, until this very day.
After finishing these things the officials approached me saying, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated from the people of the lands with their detestable things, and from the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For they have taken from their daughters for themselves and their sons. So the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands, and the hand of the officials and prefects were foremost in this sin.
and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth [were] from the land of the Canaanites, your father [was] an Amorite, and your mother [was] a Hittite. And [as for] your birth, {on the day you were born} your umbilical cord was not cut, and {you were not thoroughly washed clean with water}, and {you were not thoroughly rubbed with salt}, and {you were not carefully wrapped in strips of cloth}. read more. {No eye took pity on you} to do to you one of these [things] to show compassion for you, and you were thrown {into the open field} in [their] despising of you {on the day you were born}. " 'And I passed by you, and I saw you kicking about in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, "Live! Grow up; I will make you like a plant of the field." And you grew up, and you became tall and {reached full womanhood}. [Your] breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you [were] naked and bare. " 'And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, {your time of lovemaking had come}, and [so] I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'and {you became mine}. And I washed you with water, and I rinsed off your blood from on you, and I anointed you with oil. And I clothed you [with] beautiful finished cloth, and I put sandals [on] you [of] fine leather, and I bound you in fine linen, and I covered you [with] costly fabric. And I adorned you [with] ornaments, and I put a bracelet on your arms and a necklace on your neck. And I put an ornamental ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a {beautiful crown} on your head. And you adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing [was] fine linen and costly fabric and beautiful finished cloth; you ate finely milled flour and honey and olive oil, and you became exceedingly beautiful; {you were fit to be a queen}. And a name went out for you among the nations because of your beauty, for it [was] perfect because of my majesty that I bestowed on you,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh. 'And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every [one] passing by, [saying], "Let it be his." And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful shrines, and you prostituted on them; {this had not happened before}, and it {will not continue to happen}. And you took {your beautiful jewelry} [made] from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself {male images}, and you prostituted with them. And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set {before them}. And my bread that I gave to you, finely milled flour and oil and honey [with which] I fed you, then you set it {before them} as a {pleasing odor}, and so it was,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh. 'And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for me, and you sacrificed them to them to be eaten, {as if your whorings were not enough}. And you slaughtered my children, and you gave them {to be sacrificed to them}. And [in] all of your detestable things and your fornication you did not remember the days of your childhood {when you were naked and bare}, [when] you were kicking about in your blood. " 'And then after all of your evil! Woe, woe, to you!' {declares} the Lord Yahweh. 'And [then] you built for yourself a mound, and you made for yourself a high place in every public square. At [the] head of every street you built your high place and you disgraced your beauty and you spread your feet for every passerby, and you increased your whoring. And you prostituted with the {Egyptians}, your neighbors {who were sexually aroused}, and you increased your fornication to provoke me. And look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I reduced your portion, and I gave you into the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed because of your lewd {conduct}. And you prostituted with the {Assyrians} on account of {your insatiable lust}, and you prostituted [with] them, and still you were not satisfied. And you increased your fornication to [the] land of traders, [to] Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. How hot with fever [was] your heart!' {declares} the Lord Yahweh. '{When you did} all of these actions {of a headstrong female prostitute}, {when you built} your mound at [the] head of every street and your high place you made on every street, yet you were not like a prostitute, [as you were] scorning [your] harlot's wages. O, adulterous woman! In the place of her husband she received strangers. To all prostitutes they give a fee, but you, you gave your gifts to all of your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around in your whorings! And it was the opposite with you from the [other] women in your whorings; {no one solicited you as a prostitute}. {You gave} a harlot's wages, and harlot's wages [were] not given to you, and [so] it was [just] the opposite. " 'Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh. Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of the pouring out of your shame and [because] your nakedness was revealed in your whoring with your lovers, and on account of all of the idols of your detestable things, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them, therefore, look! I [am] gathering all of your lovers {whom you were pleased about}, and all of whom you loved in addition to all of whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from {everywhere}, and I [will] uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all of your nakedness. And I will judge you [with the] judgment of [women] committing adultery and shedding blood, and I will give you [the] blood of rage and jealousy. And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound, and they will break down your high places, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take {your beautiful jewelry}, and they will leave you naked and bare. And they will bring up against you a crowd, and they will stone you with stones, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords. And they will burn your houses with fire, and they will execute against you judgments {before} many women, and I will stop you from prostitution, and also a harlot's wages you will not give again. And I will satisfy my rage on you, and my jealousy will turn away from you, and I will be calm, and I will not be angry [any] longer. {Because} you did not remember the days of your childhood and you made me angry with all of these. And in turn I, look, I will return your way upon [your] head,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'and did you not [do] wickedness in addition to all of your detestable things?
Yet I destroyed the Amorite {before them}, {who was as tall as} cedars and was as strong as the oaks. I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness forty years to take possession of 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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
[The] Amalekites [are] living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and the Amorites [are] living in the hill country; and the Canaanites [are] living at the sea and on the banks of the Jordan."
From there they set out and encamped beyond Arnon, which [is] in the desert that goes out from the boundary of the Amorites, because Arnon [is] the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
Israel took all these cities, and Israel inhabited all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its environs.
And it happened, when all the kings of the Amorites who [were] beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who [were] by the sea heard that Yahweh dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of the {Israelites} until they crossed [over], their hearts melted, and {there was no courage left in them} because of the presence of the {Israelites}.
to the Canaanites in [the] east and [west], the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites {at the foot of} Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon; and Israel said to him, 'Please let us cross through your land {to our country}.'
They occupied all the territory of the Amorites from [the] Arnon up to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness up to the Jordan.