A people descended from Canaan
The Bible introduces the Amorites in the table of nations after the flood. They are listed among the descendants of Canaan, who was a son of Ham and a grandson of Noah (Genesis 10:15-16). So, in the Bible's family picture of the ancient world, the Amorites were Canaanite peoples, not Israelites.
The name Amorite can sound like it refers to one small tribe, but Scripture uses it in more than one way. Sometimes it names a particular people among other Canaanite nations. At other times, it seems to stand for the peoples occupying the land God promised to Abraham's descendants (Deuteronomy 7:1). That wider use helps explain why the name turns up in several different places and settings.
And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,
Where did they live?
When Moses' spies surveyed Canaan, they reported that the Amorites lived in the mountains, while other peoples occupied the coast and the Jordan valley (Numbers 13:29). Moses also refers to the hill country as the mountain of the Amorites (Deuteronomy 1:7). This places many Amorite communities in the central highlands of the land later associated with Israel.
Other Amorite kingdoms lay east of the Jordan River. Israel encountered Sihon, king of the Amorites, when travelling towards the promised land. After Sihon refused Israel passage and attacked, Israel defeated his army and occupied his cities (Numbers 21:21-25). Soon afterwards, Israel also defeated Og of Bashan, whose territory was nearby (Numbers 21:33-35).
And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.
They were not always enemies
It is easy to picture every Amorite simply as an enemy, but the Bible gives a more human picture. While Abram was living near Hebron, he had an alliance with Mamre, Eshcol and Aner, described as Amorite brothers. They went with Abram when he pursued the kings who had captured Lot (Genesis 14:13-14).
That moment doesn't erase the later conflicts, but it does show that the Amorites were real communities and families, not merely a label in a battle report. Abraham lived among Canaanite peoples long before Israel became a nation, and his story includes both peaceful relationships and serious tensions.
Why do they matter in Israel's story?
God told Abraham that his descendants would one day return to Canaan, but not immediately. The delay was connected with the moral evil of the Amorites, which God said had not yet reached its full measure (Genesis 15:16). This presents God's judgement as patient rather than impulsive.
Later, as Israel prepared to enter the land, Moses made clear that Israel was not receiving it because of its own goodness. God was acting against the wickedness of the nations already there, while also keeping his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 9:4-5). The Bible's focus is not ethnic superiority. It is God's faithfulness and his serious response to evil.
In Joshua's day, five Amorite kings joined forces against Gibeon after its people made peace with Israel (Joshua 10:5). Their defeat became part of Israel's difficult conquest of Canaan. Yet the larger story keeps pointing beyond battles: God was forming a people through whom he would bring blessing to all nations, as he had promised Abraham (Genesis 12:3).
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.