Edomite living at the time of the Patriarchs
Esau, also called Edom, was Isaac's firstborn son who sold his birthright to his twin brother Jacob and became the father of the Edomites.
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Also known as Edom
Esau, also known as Edom, was the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah and the twin brother of Israel (or 'Jacob') (Gen.25.25-26). He was a skillful hunter and his father's favorite son (Gen.25.27-28). Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew when he was famished (Gen.25.29-34). He married two Hittite women, causing grief to his parents (Gen.26.34-35). Esau lost his father's blessing to Jacob through deception (Genesis 27). He held a grudge against Jacob but later reconciled with him (Genesis 32-33). Esau settled in the hill country of Seir, which became known as Edom (Gen.36.8-9). He had five sons and became the father of the Edomites (Gen.36.1-43). The Edomites were later considered enemies of Israel (Num.20.14-21; 1Sa.14.47; 2Sa.8.13-14). God's love for Jacob and His rejection of Esau is used as an example of His sovereignty (Mal.1.2-3; Rom.9.13).
Part of: The patriarchal families
Seeing that Isaac disapproved of Canaanite wives, Esau married Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth, joining the two lines descended from Abraham outside the promised line.
Sources: Gen 28:8-9 · Gen 36:3
Twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob emerged holding Esau's heel. Esau sold his birthright for stew; Jacob took Isaac's blessing by deception, and Esau vowed to kill him. They reconciled after twenty years, then together buried Isaac.
Sources: Gen 25:24-26 · Gen 25:29-34 · Gen 27:30-41 · Gen 33:1-11 · Gen 35:29
Esau received the name Edom ("red") and settled in Seir; the Edomites descend from him. Deuteronomy calls Edom Israel's "brother", which explains both laws of relative kindness toward Edom and the long prophetic hostility (Obadiah, Malachi).
Sources: Gen 25:30 · Gen 36:1 · Gen 36:8 · Deut 23:7
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Hairy, Rebekah’s first-born twin son (Gen. 25:25). The name of Edom, “red”, was also given to him from his conduct in connection with the red lentil “pottage” for which he sold his birthright (30, 31). The circumstances connected with his birth foreshadowed the enmity which afterwards subsisted between the twin brothers and the nations they founded (25:22, 23, 26). In process of time Jacob, following his natural bent, became a shepherd; while Esau, a “son of the desert,” devoted himself to the perilous and toilsome life of a huntsman. On a certain occasion, on returning from the chase, urged by the cravings of hunger, Esau sold his birthright to his brother, Jacob, who thereby obtained the covenant blessing (Gen. 27:28, 29, 36; Heb. 12:16, 17). He afterwards tried to regain what he had so recklessly parted with, but was defeated in his attempts through the stealth of his brother (Gen. 27:4, 34, 38). At the age of forty years, to the great grief of his parents, he married (Gen. 26:34, 35) two Canaanitish maidens, Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Bashemath, the daughter of Elon. When Jacob was sent away to Padan-aram, Esau tried to conciliate his parents (Gen. 28:8, 9) by marrying his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael. This led him to cast in his lot with the Ishmaelite tribes; and driving the Horites out of Mount Seir, he settled in that region. After some thirty years’ sojourn in Padan-aram Jacob returned to Canaan, and was reconciled to Esau, who went forth to meet him (33:4). Twenty years after this, Isaac their father died, when the two brothers met, probably for the last time, beside his grave (35:29). Esau now permanently left Canaan, and established himself as a powerful and wealthy chief in the land of Edom (q.v.). Long after this, when the descendants…
(hairy), the eldest son of Isaac, and twin-brother of Jacob. The singular appearance of the child at his birth originated the name. (Genesis 25:25) Esau’s robust frame and “rough” aspect were the types of a wild and daring nature. He was a thorough Bedouin, a “son of the desert.” He was much loved by his father, and was of course his heir, but was induced to sell his birthright to Jacob. Mention of his unhappy marriages may be found in (Genesis 26:34) The next episode in the life of Esau is the loss of his father’s covenant blessing, which Jacob secured through the craft of his mother, and the anger of Esau, who vows vengeance. (Genesis 27:1) ... Later he marries a daughter of Ishmael, (Genesis 28:8,9) and soon after establishes himself in Mount Seir, where he was living when Jacob returned from Padan-aram rich and powerful, and the two brothers were reconciled. (Genesis 33:4) Twenty years thereafter they united in burying Isaac’s body in the cave of Machpelah. Of Esau’s subsequent history nothing is known; for that of his descendants see Edom, Idumaea Or Idumea.
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E'SAU, or E'DOM, son of Isaac and Rebecca, and twin brother of Jacob. Gen 25:25; Gen 36:1. The most important events of his life are so intimately connected with the life of Jacob that they will be considered under Jacob. His family settled on Mount Seir, east of Jordan, which was hence called Edom, and his descendants were the Edomites, one of the most powerful and formidable nations of that age. See Edom.
E'SAU, or E'DOM, son of Isaac and Rebecca, and twin brother of Jacob. Gen 25:25; Gen 36:1. The most important events of his life are so intimately connected with the life of Jacob that they will be considered under Jacob. His family settled on Mount Seir, east of Jordan, which was hence called Edom, and his descendants were the Edomites, one of the most powerful and formidable nations of that age. See Edom.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
84 verses in 9 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6215
The first one came out red, covered with hair like a fur coat; so they named him Esau.
After this, his brother came out grasping Esauʼs heel; so he was named Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.
Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.
One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished.
He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.)
“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”
Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,
Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,
Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.
And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.
Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”
So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.”
As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his fatherʼs presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt.
But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?” “I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
When Esau heard his fatherʼs words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”
But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.
So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”
And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,
Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abrahamʼs son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now.
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”
He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’
then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”
He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him.
Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.
Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.
“I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.”
“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir,
Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).
Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath gave birth to Reuel,
and Oholibamah gave birth to Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
Later, Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the people of his household, along with his livestock, all his other animals, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan, and he moved to a land far away from his brother Jacob.
So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the area of Mount Seir.
This is the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the area of Mount Seir.
These are the names of Esauʼs sons: Eliphaz son of Esauʼs wife Adah, and Reuel son of Esauʼs wife Basemath.
Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esauʼs son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esauʼs wife Adah.
These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the grandsons of Esauʼs wife Basemath.
These are the sons of Esauʼs wife Oholibamah (daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon) whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
These are the chiefs among the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,
These are the sons of Esauʼs son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the chiefs descended from Reuel in the land of Edom, and they are the grandsons of Esauʼs wife Basemath.
These are the sons of Esauʼs wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. They are the chiefs descended from Esauʼs wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
All these are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and they were their chiefs.
Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. They are the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants of Seir in the land of Edom.
These are the names of Esauʼs chiefs, according to their families and regions, by their names: Chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,
Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. Esau was the father of the Edomites.
and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.
Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as his possession.
So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.
The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)
just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.
The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
Then Hadad died. Now the chiefs of Edom were Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,
Magdiel, and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.
Turn and run! Lie low, O dwellers of Dedan, for I will bring disaster on Esau at the time I punish him.
But I will strip Esau bare; I will uncover his hiding places, and he will be unable to conceal himself. His descendants will be destroyed along with his relatives and neighbors, and he will be no more.
But how Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures sought out!
Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire, and the house of Joseph a burning flame; but the house of Esau will be stubble— Jacob will set it ablaze and consume it. Therefore no survivor will remain from the house of Esau.” For the LORD has spoken.
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacobʼs brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,
but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.
See to it that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.