Amalek
עֲמָלֵק · a.ma.leq · H6002Gעֲמָלֵקִי · a.ma.le.qi · H6003“a people that licks up” Hitchcock's 186946 mentions in 9 books, most in 1 Samuel (16)
Where it is
30.66° N, 34.84° E · region
Coordinates and map: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · drawn without map tiles
Mentioned most in
Counted from 46 references · STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
About this place
Amalek was a nomadic people group descended from Esau's grandson, Eliphaz (Genesis 36:12; 1Ch.1.36). They inhabited the desert regions of the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev. The Amalekites were the first nation to attack Israel after the Exodus, at Rephidim (Exodus 17:8-16). Moses, with the help of Aaron and Hur, interceded for Israel while Joshua led the army in battle. As a result, God declared that He would be at war with Amalek from generation to generation (Exodus 17:16).
The Amalekites, along with other enemies, continued to harass Israel during the period of the judges (Judges 3:13; 6:3,33; 7:12; 10:12). Saul, Israel's first king, was commanded to completely destroy the Amalekites (1Sa.15.2-3). However, he disobeyed by sparing their king, Agag, and some of the livestock (1Sa.15.7-9). This act of disobedience led to God's rejection of Saul as king (1Sa.15.23; 28:18).
During David's reign, the Amalekites were among the enemies he defeated (1Sa.30.1-20; 2Sa.8.12; 1Ch.18.11). The last mention of the Amalekites is in 1Ch.4.43, which records that some of the Simeonites destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites during the time of Hezekiah.
The Amalekites are also mentioned in prophetic and poetic texts as symbols of Israel's enemies (Numbers 24:20; Psalm 83:7). Their persistent opposition to Israel and their role in the narratives of Saul and David make them significant adversaries in the biblical history of Israel.
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
46 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Exodus7 mentions
Exodus 17:8Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.Exodus 17:9Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out to fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.”Exodus 17:10So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.Exodus 17:11When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.Exodus 17:13Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.Exodus 17:14Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.”Exodus 17:16He said, “Yah has sworn: ‘Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’”
Numbers5 mentions
Numbers 13:29Amalek dwells in the land of the South. The Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country. The Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along the side of the Jordan.”Numbers 14:25Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”Numbers 14:43For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you will fall by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh; therefore Yahweh will not be with you.”Numbers 14:45Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who lived in that mountain, and struck them and beat them down even to Hormah.Numbers 24:20He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall come to destruction.”
Deuteronomy2 mentions
Judges7 mentions
Judges 3:13He gathered the children of Ammon and Amalek to himself; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.Judges 5:14Those whose root is in Amalek came out of Ephraim, after you, Benjamin, among your peoples. Governors come down out of Machir. Those who handle the marshal’s staff came out of Zebulun.Judges 6:3So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.Judges 6:33Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together; and they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel.Judges 7:12The Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand which is on the…Judges 10:12The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.Judges 12:15Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.
1 Samuel16 mentions
1 Samuel 14:48He did valiantly and struck the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.1 Samuel 15:2Yahweh of Armies says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Egypt.1 Samuel 15:3Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”1 Samuel 15:5Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.1 Samuel 15:6Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of…1 Samuel 15:7Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Egypt.1 Samuel 15:8He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.1 Samuel 15:15Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God. We have utterly destroyed the rest.”1 Samuel 15:18and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’1 Samuel 15:20Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed Yahweh’s voice, and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.1 Samuel 15:32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekites here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”1 Samuel 27:8David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those were the inhabitants of the land who were of old, on the way to Shur, even to the land of…1 Samuel 28:18Because you didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice, and didn’t execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today.1 Samuel 30:1When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire,1 Samuel 30:13David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I got sick.1 Samuel 30:18David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
2 Samuel4 mentions
2 Samuel 1:1After the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had stayed two days in Ziklag,2 Samuel 1:8He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’2 Samuel 1:13David said to the young man who told him, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite.”2 Samuel 8:12of Syria, of Moab, of the children of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Amalek, and of the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
1 Chronicles3 mentions
1 Chronicles 1:36The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek.1 Chronicles 4:43They struck the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have lived there to this day.1 Chronicles 18:11King David also dedicated these to Yahweh, with the silver and the gold that he carried away from all the nations: from Edom, from Moab, from the children of Ammon, from the Philistines…
What the dictionary says
Dweller in a valley, the son of Eliphaz and grandson of Esau (Gen. 36:12; 1 Chr. 1:36); the chief of an Idumean tribe (Gen. 36:16).
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0 · www.openbible.info/geo/
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain