PERIZZITES

(Perʹiz·zites).

One of the tribes that inhabited the land of Canaan before the Israelites occupied it. (Ge 13:3-7; 34:30; Ex 3:8, 17) They are not mentioned in the list of 70 families after the Flood, which names “the families of the Canaanite.” (Ge 10:15-18) Their ancestry is unknown.

The Perizzites were one of the tribes whose land God promised to Abraham’s seed. (Ge 15:18-21; Ne 9:7, 8) At the time of the Israelite conquest of the Promised Land, Perizzites lived in the mountainous region of Canaan. (Jos 11:3) When the tribe of Judah moved into its assigned territory, it defeated the Perizzites and the Canaanites at Bezek, which appears to have been W of Jerusalem. (Jg 1:4, 5; Jos 24:11) After the land of Canaan was divided by the Israelites, some Perizzites remained in the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh.​—Jos 17:15-18.

The Perizzites were one of the seven populous and mighty nations that Jehovah repeatedly commanded Israel to exterminate upon entering the Promised Land. No covenant or marriage alliance was to be made with them, nor was favor to be granted them. (Ex 23:23, 24; 33:2; 34:11-13; De 7:1-3; Jos 3:10) However, the Israelites failed to exterminate them, and as foretold, the Perizzites became a snare to Israel.​—De 7:4; 20:17, 18; Jg 3:5, 6.

In Solomon’s time some remaining Perizzites were conscripted for forced labor. (1Ki 9:20, 21; 2Ch 8:7, 8) Ezra found that the Jews who had returned from Babylonian exile had entered into marriage alliances with them. However, on his counsel they put away such foreign wives. (Ezr 9:1, 2; 10:11, 12, 44) The Perizzites are not mentioned in later Bible history.