Dehavites

The Dehavites were one of several peoples listed in Ezra 4:9 as signatories of a letter to Artaxerxes opposing the rebuilding of Jerusalem, described as peoples settled in Samaria by Asnappar (Ashurbanipal) of Assyria. The identification of the Dehavites is uncertain; many scholars read the Aramaic text as simply a form of the Aramaic word for that is, making it a connective particle rather than a proper ethnic name. If genuine, the Dehavites may have been a Mesopotamian or Iranian people. They appear only in this single verse and play no further role in biblical narrative beyond their opposition to the restoration of Jerusalem.