Perizzites - villagers; dwellers in the open country, the Girgashite Canaanite nation inhabiting the fertile regions south and south-west of Carmel. "They were the graziers, farmers, and peasants of the time." They were to be driven out of the land by the descendants of Abraham (Gen. 15:20; Ex. 3:8, 3:17; 23:23; 33:2; 34:11; Jg. 1:4-1:5). They are afterwards named among the conquered tribes (Josh. 24:11). Still lingering in the land, however, they were reduced to servitude by Solomon (1 Kings 9:20).
This article incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), a publication now in the public domain.