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gē´shur (גּש×וּר, geshuÌ„r, “bridgeâ€): An Aramean kingdom () of no great size which lay probably to the South of Maacah, and formed with it the western boundary of the land of Bashan (; ; ). The territory of these two probably corresponded roughly with modern JaulaÌ„n. It may not have reached quite to the Jordan on the West; in which case the Geshurites literally dwelt “in the midst†of Israel (), since they were not expatriated by the half-tribe of Manasseh, and they retained their independence. David married Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, who became the mother of Absalom and Tamar (). To Talmai Absalom fled for safety after the murder of Amnon ( f), and thence Joab brought him back to Jerusalem (). The Geshurites and Aram are said to have taken the cities of Jair - i.e. Havvoth-jair - which lay in the land of Gilead (). It is possible that “Geshurites†should be read, with Vulgate, Syriac, etc., instead of “Ashurites†in . The only difficulty is that Geshur was an independent kingdom, and there is nothing to show how it was brought under the sway of the son of Saul. In the catalogue of land still to be possessed in , the King James Version reads “Geshuri,†the Revised Version (British and American) “the Geshurites,†referring evidently to a district bordering on the Philistines. Both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render the same word by “Geshurites†in , where apparently the same territory is indicated as invaded by David. In neither passage is the text above suspicion; in Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus omits the name. No satisfactory explanation has been suggested.