AMASAI ə mā’ sī (עֲמָשַׂ֡י). 1. A descendant of Kohath, the son of Levi, by Elkanah (1 Chron 6:25). Somehow he also is linked with the genealogy of Heman the singer in 1 Chronicles 6:35 and thus is the father of Mahath.

2. One of the priests appointed by David to “blow the trumpets before the ark of God” (1 Chron 15:24).

3. The father of Mahath a Levite who served in the time of Hezekiah’s revival (2 Chron 29:12). Since Amasai ben Elkanah also has a son named Mahath (1 Chron 6:35) it might appear that they are the same persons except for the fact that the two references given in 1 Chronicles 6 refer to men serving during the time of Solomon rather than the times of Hezekiah given here.

4. The “chief of the captains” (i.e., the Thirty, David’s military elite, 1 Chron 12:18) who met him at Ziklag. Some identify him with Amasa, Absalom’s “captain of the host” (2 Sam 17:25) and others with Abishai, the brother of Joab (1 Chron 11:20; cf. 2 Sam 23:18; 1 Chron 2:16; 18:12). The problem remains, however, in that none of the three (Amasai, Amasa, or Abishai) appear in the lists of the Thirty given in 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11.

Bibliography E. L. Curtis and A. A. Madsen, ICC, Chronicles (1952), 189, 199.