A race of people, descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, living in Palestine when the land was promised to Abraham. Genesis 10:16; Genesis 15:21 . They were described by the spies as dwellers in the mountains. Numbers 13:29 . When the kings of the land combined against Gibeon for having made alliance with Israel, the Jebusites, who were apparently living in Jerusalem, were among them. They were defeated with great slaughter, and the king of Jerusalem was slain. Joshua 10:1-23 . They joined in another confederacy (Joshua 11:3 ) and were again defeated, but they were not rooted out of the land; and Israel mingled with them in marriage. Judges 1:21; Judges 3:5 .
When David came to Jerusalem he was defied by the Jebusite inhabitants, who apparently held it by a strong fort; but 'David took the stronghold of Zion,' and called it the city of David. Some of the Jebusites were however in Jerusalem long after; for it was the threshing floor of Araunah, or Ornan, the Jebusite, that David bought at the time of the plague. 2 Samuel 5:6,8;
2 Samuel 24:16,18 .