Shortly after the death of Judas Maccabatus (B.C. 161), "the children of Jambri" are said to have made a predatory attack on a detachment of the Maccabean forces, and to have suffered reprisals (1 Maccabees 9:36-41). The name does not occur elsewhere, and the variety of readings is considerable: Ι᾿αμβρί, Ι᾿αμβρεϊ v ν, Ἀμβροί, Ἀμβρί; Syr. Ambrei. Josephus (.At. 13:1, 2) read οί αιου παῖδες, and it seems almost certain that the true reading is Ἀμρί (-εί ), a form which occurs elsewhere (1 Kings 16:22; Joseph. Ant. 8:12 5, Ἀμαρῖνος; 1 Chronicles 27:18, Heb. עָמְרַי,Yulcg. Atmri; 1 Chronicles 9:4, Ἀμβραϊ v μ, i.e. Amorites.
It has been conjectured (Drusius, Michaelis, Grimm, 1 Maccabees 9:36) that the original text was בני אמורי, "the sons of the Amorites," and that the reference is to a family of the Amorites who had in early times occupied the town Medeba (1 Maccabees 9:36), on the borders of Reuben (Numbers 21:30-31).