The question of the identification of the troops or bands of warriors designated by the Akkadian compound SA-GAS is, however, of still greater importance. Most Assyriologists regard them as being identical with the Ḫabiri, mentioned in the letters of Abdi-tâbu or Ebed-tob. This, of course, is possible, but it is unfortunate that no direct confirmation of this identification exists. In the bilingual lists of Babylonia and Assyria, the expression SA-GAS, duly provided with the determinative prefix indicating a man or a class of men, occurs, and is always translated by the word _ḳabbatu_, the probable meaning of which is “robber,” from the root _ḫabātu_, “to plunder”. It is also noteworthy that there is a star called SA-GAS, and this is likewise rendered by the same word, namely, _ḫabbatu_. The fact that it is once provided with the determinative _ki_ (“place”) does not help us, for this may be simply an oversight or a mannerism of the scribe. Moreover, the difficulty of identifying the SA-GAS with the _Ḫabiri_ of the inscriptions of Abdi-ṭâba is increased by the word occurring in these texts (Winckler’s No. 216, l. 11), followed by the explanation (_amēlūti ḫabati_), an arrangement which we find in others of these letters, when an ideograph has to be explained; and when they are, as here, Akkadian ideographs and Babylonian words, the second is always the pronunciation of the first—never the alternative reading. Indeed, in the present case, such an explanation would be misleading instead of helpful (were the word SA-GAS to be read _Ḫabiri_), for the scribe tells you to read it _ḫabati_—the same word as is given in the bilingual lists, but spelled with one _b_ instead of two. In all probability, therefore, the _ḫabati_ were wandering hordes differing from the Sutites in not having any special nationality, and being composed of the offscourings of many peoples of the ancient East. They were probably included in the _ḫabiri_, together with the nations with which they were afterwards associated. The _ḫabiri_ were not the Hebrews, neither the word nor the date being what we should expect for that nationality, who were still in Egypt. The best identification as yet published is that of Jastrow, who connects it with the Hebrew Heber, the patronymic of various persons. Better still, however, would be the Heb. _ḥaber_, pl. _haberim_, “companions,” also used of tribes joined together to form a nation. Whether an advance guard of the Hebrews is to be included in this term or not, must be left to the judgment of the student.