pe'-rez, fa'-rez (perets, "breach"): One of the twins born to Judah by Tamar, Zerah's brother (Genesis 38:29-30). In the King James Version Matthew 1:3 and Luke 3:33, he is called "Phares," the name in 1 Esdras 5:5. He is "Pharez" in the King James Version Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:20-21; Ruth 4:12,18; 1 Chronicles 2:4-5; 4:1; 9:4. In the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) 1 Chronicles 27:3; Neb 11:4,6, he is "Perez." He is important through the fact that by way of Ruth and Boaz and so through Jesse and David his genealogy comes upward to the Saviour. The patronymic "Pharzite" occurs in Numbers 26:20 the King James Version.

Perezites (Numbers 16:20, the King James Version "Pharzites"). The patronymic of the name Perez.

Henry Wallace

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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