Amal'ekites

Amal'ekites, a warlike, nomadic tribe in the SW. of Palestine and the peninsula of Sinai. From the very first, they manifested an uncompromising hostility to the Israelites, whose rear-guard they attacked after the passage through the Red Sea. In consequence of this, they received no mercy at the hands of the Israelites, when the latter had established themselves in Palestine. Saul nearly annihilated them. Twenty years later, David, while dwelling amongst the Philistines, penetrated into their land, and defeated them with dreadful slaughter. Another rising was mercilessly crushed by David, and the descendants of the survivors were finally extirpated in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, by the Simeonites.