Geshurites

The Geshurites were the inhabitants of Geshur, the small Aramean kingdom in the Transjordan northeast of the Sea of Galilee. In Joshua 12:5 and 13:11, their territory is listed as part of the domain of Og king of Bashan before the conquest, and in Joshua 13:13 they are explicitly noted as a people whom Israel did not drive out — they continued to dwell among the Israelites. The failure to dispossess the Geshurites, like the Maacathites their neighbors, is catalogued as part of the incomplete conquest.

A separate group called the Geshurites is mentioned in 1 Samuel 27:8, located in the southern Negev region between the Philistine territories and Egypt. David raided these Geshurites along with the Girzites and Amalekites during his time with the Philistines under Achish, leaving no survivors who might report his activities. These southern Geshurites appear to be a distinct group from the Transjordanian Geshurites, sharing the name but occupying a completely different geographic region. The two groups are generally treated as unrelated tribes that happened to bear the same name.