Hebrew word · H1651

גְּשׁוּרִי

hageshuri

Geshurite

A name for a people, "Geshurite." The Old Testament seems to know two groups: a small Aramean kingdom of Geshur northeast of Galilee (Joshua 13:11, 13; 2 Samuel 3:3; 13:37), and a southern group near Philistia (Joshua 13:2).

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Group of ge.shur (גְּשׁוּר "Geshur" H1650)

§ Geshuri or Geshurites

1) inhabitants of Geshur

2) a tribe in south Palestine of or near the Philistines

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Samuel 27:8

Range of meaning

A name for a people, "Geshurite." The Old Testament seems to know two groups: a small Aramean kingdom of Geshur northeast of Galilee (Joshua 13:11, 13; 2 Samuel 3:3; 13:37), and a southern group near Philistia (Joshua 13:2).

Against the English

English versions agree on the name but give no signal that two groups may share it, so a reader can easily assume these are the people of David's father-in-law Talmai.

Used elsewhere in the period

Joshua 13:2 lists "all the Geshurites" with the regions of the Philistines, in the land still unconquered in Joshua's old age and reaching toward the border of Egypt. No inscription clearly identifies this southern group.

From the study of Joshua 13:2

Range of meaning

A Geshurite. The Old Testament mentions two groups by this name: (1) a southern people in the Negev or Sinai borderlands, raided by David alongside Girzites and Amalekites (1 Samuel 27:8); (2) the Aramean kingdom of Geshur east of the Sea of Galilee (Joshua 13:11, 13; 2 Samuel 3:3; 13:37).

Against the English

KJV and YLT read 'all Geshuri' as if it were a place name. Modern versions read 'the Geshurites', a people. The Hebrew form is a word for a people in the singular with the article ('the Geshurite'), standing for the group.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 27:8 places Geshurites 'from of old' on the way to Shur and Egypt, the same direction as the Shihor in Joshua 13:3. The northern Geshur shows up in Joshua 12:5 and 13:11, 13, and as the homeland of Absalom's mother Maacah.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 3:14 הַגְּשׁוּרִ֖י the Geshurite[s]

    Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.

Joshua · 4

  1. Joshua 12:5 הַגְּשׁוּרִ֖י the Geshurite[s]

    He ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, all of Bashan up to the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half of Gilead to the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.

    Here: Singular in form ('the Geshurite') but meaning the whole people. Geshur was a small Aramean kingdom on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan, which stayed independent (Josh 13:13).

  2. Joshua 13:2 הַגְּשׁוּרִֽי׃ the Geshurite[s]

    This is the land that remains: All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites,

    Here: Grammatically singular ('the Geshurite') but used for the whole people, as Hebrew often does with names of peoples. Because the verse sits next to the Philistines and the Egyptian border, it most likely means the southern Geshurites of the Negev borderlands (1 Samuel 27:8). The northern kingdom of Geshur in the Golan is probably not meant here.

  3. Joshua 13:11 הַגְּשׁוּרִ֣י the Geshurite[s]

    also Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all of Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah—

  4. Joshua 13:13 הַגְּשׁוּרִ֖י the Geshurite[s]

    but the Israelites did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites. So Geshur and Maacath dwell among the Israelites to this day.

    Here: The word is singular with 'the', which is a Hebrew way of naming a whole people ('the Geshurite' = the Geshurites). It refers to the Aramean people of Geshur, east of the Sea of Galilee. They are a different group from the southern Geshurites near Philistia in 13:2.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 27:8 הַגְּשׁוּרִ֥י the Geshurite[s]

    Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

    Here: Literally "the Geshurite," a singular standing for the whole people. These are the southern Geshurites near Philistia (Joshua 13:2), most likely not the northern kingdom of Geshur that later supplied David's wife Maacah.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.