Amalek (ăm'a-lĕk), people of prey, booty. The son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau. Genesis 36:16; 1 Chronicles 1:36. He was probably the father of the Amalekites, an ancient and powerful people, Genesis 14:7; Numbers 24:20, who inhabited the regions on the south of Palestine, between Idumea and Egypt, and also to the eastward of the Dead Sea and Mount Seir. Judges 5:14; Judges 12:15; 1 Samuel 15:5. The Hebrews had scarcely passed the Red Sea, when the Amalekites attacked them; they were defeated by Joshua. Exodus 17:8. Saul destroyed them as a nation, 1 Samuel 15:2-33, and David utterly routed them. 1 Samuel 30:17. A small remnant seems to have escaped, till at last the word of the Lord was fulfilled, and their name was blotted from the earth, in their utter destruction. Numbers 24:20; 1 Chronicles 4:43. The "Agagite," in Esther 3:1; Esther 3:10; Esther 8:3; Esther 8:5, was probably an Amalekite, whose ancestor had escaped from the general carnage.