Esau
עֵשָׂו · e.sav · H6215GἨσαῦ · Ēsau · G2269G1 other spelling“he that acts or finishes” Hitchcock's 186984 mentions in 9 books, most in Genesis (64)
Who he was
Esau, also known as Edom, was the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebekah and the twin brother of Israel (or 'Jacob') (Genesis 25:25–26). He was a skillful hunter and his father's favorite son (Genesis 25:27–28). Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew when he was famished (Genesis 25:29–34). He married two Hittite women, causing grief to his parents (Genesis 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 (Genesis 36:8–9). He had five sons and became the father of the Edomites (Genesis 36:1–43). The Edomites were later considered enemies of Israel (Numbers 20:14–21; 1 Samuel 14:47; 2 Samuel 8:13–14). God's love for Jacob and His rejection of Esau is used as an example of His sovereignty (Malachi 1:2–3; Romans 9:13).
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Family
FatherIsaacMotherRebekahSiblingsIsraelSpouseOholibamah, Judith, Adah, MahalathChildrenEliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, KorahFoundedEdom
Family relations: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
84 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Genesis64 mentions
Genesis 25:25The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.Genesis 25:26After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.Genesis 25:27The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.Genesis 25:28Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob.Genesis 25:29Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.Genesis 25:30Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.Genesis 25:32Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”Genesis 25:34Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.Genesis 26:34When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.Genesis 27:1When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”Genesis 27:5Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.Genesis 27:6Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,Genesis 27:11Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.Genesis 27:15Rebekah took the good clothes of Esau, her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.Genesis 27:19Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”Genesis 27:21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”Genesis 27:22Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”Genesis 27:23He didn’t recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him.Genesis 27:24He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”Genesis 27:30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.Genesis 27:32Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”Genesis 27:34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father.”Genesis 27:37Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you…Genesis 27:38Esau said to his father, “Do you have just one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.” Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.Genesis 27:41Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”Genesis 27:42The words of Esau, her elder son, were told to Rebekah. She sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to…Genesis 28:5Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.Genesis 28:6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a…Genesis 28:8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father.Genesis 28:9So Esau went to Ishmael, and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.Genesis 32:3Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.Genesis 32:4He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.Genesis 32:6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”Genesis 32:8He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.”Genesis 32:11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children.Genesis 32:13He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother:Genesis 32:17He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’Genesis 32:18Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’”Genesis 32:19He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.Genesis 33:1Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants.Genesis 33:4Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept.Genesis 33:9Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.”Genesis 33:15Esau said, “Let me now leave with you some of the people who are with me.” He said, “Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”Genesis 33:16So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.Genesis 35:1God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”Genesis 35:29Isaac gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.Genesis 36:1Now this is the history of the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).Genesis 36:2Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon, the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, the Hivite;Genesis 36:4Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz. Basemath bore Reuel.Genesis 36:5Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.Genesis 36:6Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, with his livestock, all his animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of…Genesis 36:8Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.Genesis 36:9This is the history of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir:Genesis 36:10these are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Adah, the wife of Esau; and Reuel, the son of Basemath, the wife of Esau.Genesis 36:12Timna was concubine to Eliphaz, Esau’s son; and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the descendants of Adah, Esau’s wife.Genesis 36:13These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the descendants of Basemath, Esau’s wife.Genesis 36:14These were the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.Genesis 36:15These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,Genesis 36:17These are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs who came of Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Basemath…Genesis 36:18These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs who came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.
Deuteronomy6 mentions
Deuteronomy 2:4Command the people, saying, ‘You are to pass through the border of your brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful.Deuteronomy 2:5Don’t contend with them; for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for a possession.Deuteronomy 2:8So we passed by from our brothers, the children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion Geber. We turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of…Deuteronomy 2:12The Horites also lived in Seir in the past, but the children of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place, as Israel did to the land of his…Deuteronomy 2:22as he did for the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and lived in their place even to this day.Deuteronomy 2:29as the children of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, until I pass over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God gives us.”
Joshua1 mention
1 Chronicles4 mentions
1 Chronicles 1:34Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.1 Chronicles 1:35The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.1 Chronicles 1:51Then Hadad died. The chiefs of Edom were: chief Timna, chief Aliah, chief Jetheth,1 Chronicles 1:54chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom.
Jeremiah2 mentions
Jeremiah 49:8Flee! Turn back! Dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him when I visit him.Jeremiah 49:10But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His offspring is destroyed, with his brothers and his neighbors; and he is no more.
Obadiah2 mentions
Malachi2 mentions
What the dictionary says
Hairy, Rebekah’s first-born twin son (Gen. 25:25).
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain