Hebrew word · H6003

עֲמָלֵקִי

'amalki

Amalekite

"Amalekite": a member of a mobile desert people ranging across the Negev and northern Sinai, traced to Esau's line in Genesis 36:12.

Appears 12 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Someone descended from Amekek

Group of a.ma.leq (עֲמָלֵק "Amalek" H6002)

§ Amalekite, of Amalek "people of lapping"

descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau

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

"Amalekite": a member of a mobile desert people ranging across the Negev and northern Sinai, traced to Esau's line in Genesis 36:12.

Against the English

The English name is accurate, but it carries none of the weight it had for an Israelite hearer.

Used elsewhere in the period

Attack on Israel at Rephidim and the vow of war against them (Exodus 17:8-16); the command to blot out their memory (Deuteronomy 25:17-19); Saul's campaign "from Havilah as you come to Shur" (1 Samuel 15:7); Saul's rejection recalled (28:18); Amalekite raid on Ziklag (30:1). No securely identified reference to them survives outside the Bible.

From the study of 1 Samuel 30:1

Range of meaning

Gentilic (people-name) adjective, "Amalekite." In the singular with or without the article it can stand for the whole people collectively, as here.

Against the English

All English versions rightly render it as a plural, "the Amalekites." What gets lost is the Hebrew word order. The noun comes first and breaks the chain of "and then… and then" verbs, which marks a flashback: "the Amalekites had (meanwhile) raided."

Used elsewhere in the period

Amalek is Israel's archetypal enemy in the Torah: attacking Israel in the wilderness (Exod 17:8–16), and remembered in Deut 25:17–19 for striking the weary stragglers at the rear. In 1 Sam 15 Saul is rejected for not carrying out the ban (total destruction) against Amalek. Amalekites appear as camel-riding desert raiders in Judg 6:3–5 and 1 Sam 30:17.

From the study of Numbers 14:43

Range of meaning

Gentilic noun (name for a people): an Amalekite, a member of the semi-nomadic tribe that roamed the Negev and Sinai. As here, often used in the singular for the whole people.

Against the English

Translations vary between singular ('the Amalekite', WEB/YLT) and plural ('Amalekites', BSB). Both are correct; the singular reflects the Hebrew habit of naming a people as one person.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 36:12 (descended from Esau); Exodus 17:8–16 (first battle, at Rephidim, won while Moses' hands were raised); Numbers 13:29 ('Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev'); Deuteronomy 25:17–19; 1 Samuel 15.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 14:7 הָעֲמָלֵקִ֑י the Amalekite[s]

    Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

Numbers · 3

  1. Numbers 14:25 וְהָֽעֲמָלֵקִ֥י and the Amalekite[s]

    Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.”

  2. Numbers 14:43 הָעֲמָלֵקִ֨י the Amalekite[s]

    For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you.”

    Here: Singular with 'the', standing for the whole people. Amalek was Israel's first enemy after Egypt (Exodus 17), so the name carries the weight of an old, bitter rivalry.

  3. Numbers 14:45 הָעֲמָלֵקִי֙ the Amalekite[s]

    Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.

    Here: 'The Amalekite.' A singular with 'the' that stands for the whole people, so 'the Amalekites.' These are the semi-nomadic raiders of the Negev the spies had reported (13:29), and the same enemy YHWH had beaten for Israel at Rephidim (Exodus 17).

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 12:15 הָעֲמָלֵקִֽי׃ פ the Amalekite[s]

    Then Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, died, and he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

1 Samuel · 5

  1. 1 Samuel 15:6 עֲמָלֵקִ֗י [the] Amalekite[s]

    And he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go on and get away from the Amalekites. Otherwise I will sweep you away with them.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

  2. 1 Samuel 15:15 מֵעֲמָלֵקִ֣י from [the] Amalekite[s]

    Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”

  3. 1 Samuel 27:8 וְהָעֲמָלֵקִ֑י and the Amalekite[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: Israel's oldest named enemy, a desert people of the south. The name is loaded here because Saul lost his throne over his dealings with them (1 Samuel 15; 28:18).

  4. 1 Samuel 30:1 וַעֲמָלֵקִ֣י and [the] Amalekite[s]

    On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

    Here: A singular form used for the whole group: "the Amalekite" = the Amalekites as a people. Because it comes before its verb, it opens a background clause: "while the Amalekites, for their part, had raided…"

  5. 1 Samuel 30:13 עֲמָֽלֵקִ֔י Amalekite

    Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” “I am an Egyptian,” he replied, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago when I fell ill.

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 1:8 עֲמָלֵקִ֖י [am] an Amalekite

    ‘Who are you?’ he asked. So I told him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’

  2. 2 Samuel 1:13 עֲמָלֵקִ֖י an Amalekite

    And David inquired of the young man who had brought him the report, “Where are you from?” “I am the son of a foreigner,” he answered. “I am an Amalekite.”

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