AGAREI or AGARENI (Heb. Hagri'îm; Septuagint: Ἀγαραῖοι or Ἀγαρηνοί). - An Arab tribe devoted to pastoralism, against which the Transjordanian tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh fought.
From the order in which the enemies are enumerated in Ps. 82 (83), 7, it would seem that the A. were settled in Transjordan east of Gilead, between Moab and Ammon. Some have supposed that the A. were descendants of Hagar, from whom they derived their name; indeed, the three tribes allied with the A. against the Israelites, Jethur (Itureans), Naphis, and Modob, correspond quite well to the descendants of Ishmael: Jethur, Naphis, and Kedemah (Gen. 25, 12-15); but the aforementioned psalm distinguishes the A. from the Ishmaelites. More probable is the identification of the A. with the Agraei (Ἀγραῖοι) mentioned by Strabo (XVI, 4, 2), Ptolemy (V, 18), and Pliny (VI, 28). In Saul’s time the A. were routed by the Reubenites, who settled in their region (I Par. 5, 10); shortly thereafter the Transjordanian Israelites finally defeated the A., from whom they took all their rich livestock (50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 asses; ibid. 5, 18-21). Thereafter the A. lived subject to the Israelites until “the deportation” (ibid. 5, 22). At an unspecified time, perhaps under King Josaphat, when the Moabites and Ammonites joined forces against the king of Judah, the A. entered the coalition (II Par. 20, 1 ff.; Ps. 82 [83], 7; Flavius Josephus, Ant. Ind., IX, 7). A Hagrite was chief shepherd of King David’s flocks (I Par. 27, 31).