APHARSITES ə fär’ sīts (אֲפָֽרְסָיֵ֗א, RSV Persian). The Apharsites of Ezra 4:9 are prob. the “Persians” (פַּרְסַא), written with a prosthetic aleph. Cf. the RSV “Persian.” The meaning is not certain.

Bibliography

C. F. Keil, Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (1950), 66.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

A tribe transferred to Samaria by Asnappar of Assyria (Ezr 4:9). Rawlinson identifies them with the APHARSACHITES (which see), taking Apharsites to be an accidental repetition of the same word. He understands "the Persians" to be meant in both cases. Others identify them with a Median tribe mentioned in the inscriptions of Sennacherib as dwellers in the district of Parsua.