IEBUSEI. - The gentilic name of an ancient clan (Hebr. [ha] - Jēbhūti, always with the article, except in II Sam. 5, 8; I Par. 11, 6; Zach. 9, 7, and in the singular; Septuagint: ὁ Ἰεβουσαῖς), settled in Canaan (Gen. 10, 16; I Par. 1, 14), always included, as a secondary group, in the northern list of peoples whom Israel was to conquer (Deut. 7, 1; 20, 17; cf. Gen. 15, 21; Ex. 3, 8, 17, etc.). Together with the Amorites and Hittites they inhabited the mountainous region (Num. 13, 30), but their centre was the slope of the hill (kheteph ha-Jēbhūti) of the city of Jerusalem, which they designated, according to an ancient usage, Jēbhūs (Iudc. 19, 10; I Par. 11, 4). Their king was slain by Joshua (Ios. 10, 23-26), but the I. resisted all the attacks of the tribe of Benjamin, to which the city had been assigned (Ios. 18, 28), as well as those of the neighbouring tribe of Judah (Ios. 15, 63; Iudc. 1, 21; 19, 11), and remained in the city even after David's conquest (II Sam. 5, 6-7).
Areuna, from whom David bought the site for the construction of the Temple, was a Jebusite (II Sam. 24, 16, 18; II Par. 3, 1). Compelled by Solomon to perform building works (I Reg. 9, 20), the I. eventually dispersed and were assimilated by the Israelites. Donato Baldi