Dehaites, Dehavites

DEHAITES, DEHAVITES (דִּהוּא, דֶּהָיֵ֖א, meaning uncertain). Identification uncertain.

In an Aram. list prepared for Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:9), the “Dehaites” are grouped with Elamites and others who were transferred to Samaria by the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal. They were protesting the rebuilding of Jerusalem. According to some, they were the ancient inhabitants of Dehistan or Daikh, E of the Caspian Sea. However, no satisfactory identification has been made. For this reason, Hoffmann has made the plausible suggestion that the word be vocalized דִּי הוּא, “that is.” This agrees with two MSS and LXX (B) hoi eisin. The resultant tr. would be, “the Shushanchites (or Susians), that is, the Elamites”; cf. G. Hoffmann, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, II (1887), 54.