Hebrew word · H805

אֲשׁוּרִי

'ashurim

Ashurite

A plural tribal name: 'the Asshurites'. It shares its consonants with Asshur (Assyria). Context and some ancient evidence point to a North Arabian group.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Someone descended from Asshur(?) of the Patriarchs, only mentioned at Gen.25.3; descended from Dedan (H1719C); along with Letushim (H3912) and Leummim (H3817)

§ Ashurites = "guided: blessed"

a tribe descended from Abraham and Keturah

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 Genesis 25:3

Range of meaning

A plural tribal name: 'the Asshurites'. It shares its consonants with Asshur (Assyria). Context and some ancient evidence point to a North Arabian group.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV and NASB keep the Hebrew form 'Asshurim'. BSB and NLT say 'Asshurites'. NIV has 'Ashurites'.

How it drifted

'Asshurites' sounds like 'Assyrians' to English readers. The Mesopotamian empire did not descend from Abraham, and Genesis 10:11 and 10:22 trace Asshur through other lines.

Used elsewhere in the period

South Arabian (Minaean) inscriptions mention a group called ʾšr connected with the Dedan area, and scholars often link the Asshurim to it. Some also suggest that the 'Asshur' of Num 24:22–24, and possibly Gen 25:18 ('as you go toward Asshur') and Ps 83:8, refers in places to an Arabian Asshur. Both proposals are debated.

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 25:3 אַשּׁוּרִ֥ם Asshurites

    Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites.

    Here: A plural tribal name, spelled here without the usual yod of the plural ending. Despite the sound, this is almost certainly a North Arabian group and not the empire of Assyria (Asshur).

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 2:9 הָאֲשׁוּרִ֖י the Ashurite[s]

    and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel.

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